Climate change contributes to violence against women by triggering conflict, displacement, and migration, but further research may be needed to connect temperature-related aggression with increased domestic violence and rape, SciDevNet reports.
“According to the study in Science, past climatic events have exerted significant influence on human conflict, from domestic violence to riots, civil wars, and the break-up of institutions,” gender and social development consultant Henrietta Miers writes. “Re-analyzing data from 60 papers representing different disciplines, the study warns that rising greenhouse emissions could lead to even greater conflict if today’s populations respond in the same way as past ones.”
The Science paper, among other sources, linked climate change to sexual harassment in displacement camps, domestic violence, and rape, but Miers suggests that displacement is itself the intervening variable. “In the light of the importance that the international community is placing on the
