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Youth and Women’s Leadership in Contexts of Climate-Induced Displacement

Year: 2025

Country:

Costa Rica

Topics:

Community EducationHealthy Ecosystems

Region:

Latin America and the Caribbean

About

On Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, people face not only natural hazards but also structural and extractive violence that has destroyed the region’s ecosystems and livelihoods, increasing their vulnerability to climate disasters and their inability to adapt and build climate resilience. Through participatory dialogues, feminist popular education, and storytelling, this project documents experiences of climate induced displacement and challenges the structural drivers of ecological destruction, such as illegal mining, deforestation, and settler invasions. A digital observatory hosted on Ciudadanic.org gathers testimonies and community research to amplify the voices of women and young people, long silenced in climate and migration debates.

Climate Impact

By strengthening the political agency of displaced women and youth, the project enhances their capacity to respond collectively to the impacts of climate related disasters.
Raises awareness and provides evidence of the structural causes of climate induced displacements, and the socio-ecological impacts of extractive practices such as illegal mining, deforestation, and settler invasions.
By exposing how extractive practices fuel ecological collapse, the project links climate justice to territorial defence and biodiversity protection.

Gender Impact

Afro-descendant and Indigenous women lead dialogues, research, and advocacy, transforming their lived experiences into tools for political influence and advocacy.
The solution incorporates emotional and psychosocial support in all stages, recognising the weight of sharing traumatic experiences and resisting extractive research dynamics.
By framing displacement through a human rights lens, the project asserts women’s right to migrate with dignity, to be heard, and to shape climate and democratic agendas.

Scalability/Replicability

Beyond climate, the project strengthens peace building, psychosocial well-being, and democratic participation – showing how climate justice is inseparable from social justice and human rights.
Digital tools, testimonies, and community research are hosted online, making the methodology available to and adaptable for displaced communities in other regions.
Built on the trust and knowledge of displaced Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities, the model can be adapted wherever exile and resistance intersect.