The 65 million people living in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are on the front lines of the climate crisis.

Climate-related disasters – which are becoming stronger and more frequent – pose a risk to people’s lives, livelihoods, homes, safety and access to services.

This risk is not gender neutral. During a crisis, incidences of gender-based violence (GBV) increase, while services, including GBV support and life-saving maternal and newborn health care, are disrupted – at a time when they’re most needed.

We see, here in the Pacific, some of the ways that UNFPA is responding in order to protect women and girls living in climate crisis zones – and the impact on the lives of people who are least responsible for the climate emergency.

Eroding access to health care

Dr. Leeanne Panisi is the Solomon Islands’ first and only female obstetrician. She leads a team managing obstetric complications and emergencies for the Solomon Islands’ Ministry of Health, based at the National Referral Hospital in the capital, Honiara. Dr. Panisi sees how climate disasters are eroding women’s access to life-saving care.

“Climate change has definitely affected health services in the Solomon Islands,” says Dr. Panisi. “In places where there used to be roads, there are now rocks; the sea has broken the road. Imagine a pregnant woman seeking help to go to the nearest clinic when she has to travel through that.” Dr. Panisi plays a key role in keeping UNFPA’s midwifery training up to date.

Retired midwives in reserve

UNFPA maintains a roster of retired midwives in Fiji who are trained to work in humanitarian contexts. The midwives, with their wealth of experience, can be called upon during disasters, in Fiji and beyond. With UNFPA’s support and training, they set up women-and-girl-friendly spaces and birthing spaces and provide surge staffing that is so desperately needed in an emergency.

Litia Naralulu is a retired Fijian midwife who has lived and worked through multiple climate disasters. She recalls a deployment to Vanuatu following Cyclone Pam in 2015, one of the most intense tropical cyclones to hit the South Pacific Ocean. “When we got there, it was chaotic. The nurses and other health care workers had been working non-stop at the hospital. They hadn’t gone to their homes or seen their families in weeks. So we stepped in and relieved them for a few weeks so they could go and be with their families and most importantly, get some rest,” she says.

The care and support that midwives are able to provide is far reaching, as Sister Aiva Pikuri, a senior midwife in Goroka, Papua New Guinea, explains. “Trained midwives can deliver services beyond antenatal care, labour and delivery: They offer family planning, postnatal care, as well as addressing gender-based violence and adolescent health services.”

Aiva would like to see more training for specialist midwives, including counselling skills. “Midwives are on the front line to screen for gender-based violence and offer help,” says Aiva. Specialist GBV services must be a key component of any climate crisis response, during which women and girls who have been displaced by destruction are rendered more vulnerable.

Climate crisis = gender equality crisis

The climate crisis is rolling back progress on maternal health and gender equality.

As the 4th International Conference on Small Islands Developing States meets 27-30 May 2024 in Antigua and Barbuda, it is imperative that wealthy countries responsible for climate damage extend financial and technical support to nations that are disproportionately affected. And the rights of women and girls must be central to the response.