International women and girls NGO, CARE Australia, is calling for increased focus on the climate crisis in the Pacific region, ahead of the global feminist conference, Women Deliver, which begins in Melbourne next week.
This year marks the first time that the gender equality conference, which takes place every three years, will be hosted by the Oceanic Pacific region.
For Pacific women already living with rising seas and intensifying natural disasters, Women Deliver represents a rare moment for their lived experience of the climate crisis to be heard on a global stage.
CARE has decades of experience working across the Pacific, with teams in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste, and partnerships with local organisations across Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Samoa and Fiji.
Communities are supported by CARE to adapt to the changing climate, by diversifying food production and income, introducing drought resistant seeds, climate-resilient livestock and water-saving technologies.
CARE also invests in disaster preparation programs, including community-based early warning systems and supporting governments to improve their disaster forecasting and climate policies.
Additionally, crisis response forms a significant area of climate programming. In recent years, CARE has responded to the 2024 Enga landslide in Papua New Guinea, a result of excessive rainfall, and the 2025 drought in the Bougainville atolls.
Importantly, CARE and partners’ work recognises that the climate crisis is a gender equality crisis, with women being significantly more likely to die in climate related disasters than men.
Environmentalist and CARE supporter Natalie Kyriacou OAM says:
‘When climate disasters hit, whether it’s a tsunami or drought, women die in far greater numbers than men. Many women stay behind to care for children and the elderly. Male violence against women also increases in times of disaster. And too often, safety systems aren’t designed with women in mind.”
However, whilst women are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, they are also the strongest agents of change. A recent survey by CARE showed that 4 in 5 women in crisis-affected areas are working to make their communities safer.
CARE ensures women are consulted, and at the centre of disaster preparedness and response efforts, and that local women’s voices are amplified and heard.
Jane William, Gender Project Manager at CARE Vanuatu says:
“Women are more vulnerable in times of climate-driven disaster. This is why their engagement and leadership are critical during times of crisis, to speak and act on behalf of those most impacted.”
Senior Gender and Advocacy Officer at CARE Timor Leste, Celestina Perreira says:
“Women Deliver presents an important moment in time to highlight challenges like the climate crisis, that women and girls face in our region, and how we are working to address these.”
Ahead of the conference, CARE Australia has signed an international cross-sector call to action on Women Deliver, calling on the Government and the Australian philanthropy movement to invest in transformative action that advances the rights of girls and women across our region and globally. It calls for multi-year, at scale investments in intersectional leadership for gender justice, climate action and girls’ resilient futures.
Women Deliver will be taking place in the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre, from Monday 27 – Thursday 30 April.
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For media enquiries contact Briony FitzGerald on 0404 117 927 or Marianne Murat on 0466 440 160
About CARE Australia
CARE Australia supports women and girls around the globe. CARE Australia is part of an international confederation, working to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. We work in partnership with local communities to provide equal opportunities for women and girls that they have long been denied: the ability to earn an income, gain access to their fair share of resources, to lead and participate in decisions that affect their lives, and to be able to withstand the increasing impacts of climate disasters and other crises. www.care.org.au
