Outcome COL_D_3.1

By 2027, Colombia will have made progress in adapting to and mitigating the effects of the triple planetary crisis - climate change, biodiversity loss and degradation, and pollution reduction (verbatim UNSDCF Outcome 4.1).

In 2025, Colombia advanced toward gender-responsive climate action through observable shifts in how climate governance and climate-security work is carried out : women—particularly Indigenous, Afro-descendant, rural and young women environmental defenders—secured more consequential and safer entry points into climate and environmental decision-making, and public institutions demonstrated stronger responsiveness in relation to access to information, participation, and environmental justice. These shifts strengthened the nexus between gender equality, environmental sustainability, and peacebuilding in priority territories. Women environmental defenders and their territorial allies translated strengthened organizing into applied protection and advocacy practices . Nine women-led environmental defender organizations and 14 territorial allies adopted and operationalized organizational strengthening plans and risk-prevention protocols, enabling 489 women to engage more consistently in environmental governance and protection-related dialogue while mitigating socio-environmental and gender-based risks. In parallel, women-led initiatives moved from informal economic activities to more structured green livelihood pathways , including achieving 12 Green Business certifications and implementing nature-positive, climate-resilient livelihood actions that improved market access and economic resilience. Territorial governance processes also showed concrete changes in practice. In Magdalena Medio, structured dialogues between women leaders and institutional actors shifted engagement from ad hoc participation to more structured route-building , strengthening proposals for protection pathways and supporting the replication of community agendas for environmental participation. With the active engagement of 41 women leaders, evidence-based reporting on socio-environmental conflicts, ecosystems at risk, and gender-based violence increased the visibility of environmental risks and women’s role in environmental defense, supporting more informed community action and strengthening the basis for institutional response. At the national level, operational pathways to implement access rights are advanced . A Territorial Implementation Mechanism for the Escazú Agreement—proposing Territorial Water Councils—was presented to the Ministry of Environment, strengthening the feasibility of embedding transparency, participation, and environmental justice in territorial governance structures. In parallel, engagement with public officials on access rights and gender contributed to stronger institutional accountability and improved readiness to address the differentiated risks faced by women environmental defenders. Through the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) Climate Security and Justice window, five Action Projects and four Small Grants were implemented across the Pacific region (Chocó, Cauca, Valle del Cauca and Nariño), reinforcing women- and youth-led actions on climate justice, conflict prevention, and socio-economic recovery. More than 130 young women leaders completed certified training in climate justice, and partner organizations strengthened organizational accountability practices by adopting anti-fraud measures, PEAS policies, organizational baselines, and improved data systems. Women’s leadership also gained visibility in national and global climate security spaces, including COP-related fora and the Berlin Climate Security Conference, expanding the legitimacy and reach of women-led climate-security agendas. UN Women contributed by combining technical assistance and convening power to enable multi-stakeholder coordination among environmental authorities, Indigenous authorities, community councils, academia, and human rights institutions. This support helped ensure safer and more meaningful participation of women environmental defenders, advanced proposals to operationalize Escazú at the territorial level, and strengthened the connection between women’s leadership, climate-resilient livelihoods, and institutional action on access rights.