Women and climate-vulnerable groups must drive the conversation at the Africa climate summit

As African leaders, climate experts and global partners meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2), they have an opportunity that the global community desperately needs: to demonstrate how inclusive governance can transform adaptation outcomes.

All too often, international climate negotiations stall on technical details. Africa can instead showcase practical approaches that put women and vulnerable communities at the core of climate solutions – approaches that evidence shows deliver better results for everyone.

This summit comes after the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025 warned that environmental threats top the world’s long-term risks, with extreme weather ranked as the most pressing over the next decade. Accordingly, the urgency for climate adaptation is undeniable.

At the same time, it has been estimated that advancing gender equality could add $12 trillion to global GDP in the decade leading to 2025, highlighting how making women equal partners with men can benefit both society and the economy.

Taken these two observations together, the message is clear: inclusive climate governance is not only a moral imperative but an economic one – and women can play a key role.

Climate change is already destabilizing health systems in multiple ways: rising temperatures increase heat-related illness and expand disease vectors like malaria-carrying mosquitoes; droughts and floods disrupt food systems and contaminate water supplies; extreme weather destroys health infrastructure.

Scientists have established that women face heightened risks through each pathway. Pregnant women are more vulnerable to heat stress, and women and girls often bear the responsibility of securing food and water during times of crisis.

Plus, the health services they depend on – maternal care, reproductive health services and primary care – are frequently the first to collapse when disasters hit, as was witnessed in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi during Cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019.

These disparities reflect the systemic exclusion of women from decision-making processes. When they are not included in adaptation planning, critical health needs are overlooked, infrastructure fails to account for local realities and resources are directed toward solutions that fail to address the vulnerabilities communities actually face.

Research consistently demonstrates that gender-inclusive governance yields stronger outcomes. World Economic Forum analysis highlights that when projects integrate gender across their design and implementation, they achieve results that are more sustainable and better aligned with real community needs.

Examples across Africa bear this out. In Tanzania, the Tuungane community conservation programme – the name of which references the Swahili word meaning ‘together’ – documented how women-led resource management reduced harmful farming practices by 40% while boosting crop yields by 35%.

Meanwhile, the Adaptation Learning Programme for Africa (ALP) found that for every dollar invested in women-led adaptation, there was a $4.20 return in economic returns over a four-year period, compared to $2.80 for conventional programmes.

Critics may argue that inclusive processes can slow decision-making in emergencies or that they may be too cumbersome. These concerns deserve some consideration but the evidence suggests otherwise.

When communities are involved in the planning process, implementation accelerates because solutions enjoy greater trust and buy-in, thereby reducing resistance and conflict in the long run.

If ACS2 is to move beyond rhetoric, leaders must commit to accountability frameworks that make inclusive adaptation real. Three steps could set a new global standard:

The world is watching what happens at ACS2. It can be another summit where the words are right but the follow-through is thin. Or it can be the moment Africa claims leadership by showing that inclusion is not just aspirational. We must seize the opportunity to act.