climate change impacts

Introduction Climate change impacts are not gender-neutral, yet standard reporting relies on aggregate household indicators that obscure intra-household power dynamics and diverse individual vulnerabilities. This review assesses gender-differentiated climate resilience in rural farming households and evaluates the extent to which empirical evidence aligns with the gender-responsive, participatory and transparent mandates of the Paris Agreement. Methods Peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2025 were retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, AJOL and Google Scholar following PRISMA guidelines. A total of 117 eligible studies were screened and analysed thematically using a hybrid inductive–deductive approach in R. Methodological quality was appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT), and evidence coverage was characterised using GRADE-CERQual adequacy criteria. Policy alignment was mapped against Articles 2.1b, 7.1, 7.5, 11 and 13. Results Eight interrelated resilience domains were identified: livelihood, water, food, ecological, social, community, agricultural and economic. The review reveals a significant implementation gap between the Paris Agreement and ground-level reality. While Articles 7.5, 11 and 13 emphasise equity and participation, resilience is often achieved through paradoxes of depletion. We propose the Gendered Resilience Paradox Framework (GRPF), a novel theoretical model encompassing resilience as a distributive process rather than a neutral capacity. The framework identifies five interlocking mechanisms—workload-resilience, biological buffer, mobility-stability, restoration-marginalisation and hydrological time-poverty—through which household resilience is achieved via the systematic transfer of adaptation costs onto women’s bodies, time and agency. These paradoxes form a self-reinforcing Depletion Cycle, creating a resilience debt that may compound intergenerationally. A co-occurrence network (n = 117) shows that workload-resilience is the most frequently documented paradox (53.0%) and reveals that embodied paradoxes remain the least studied. Articles 2.1b and 7.1 show partial alignment; Articles 7.5, 11 and 13 show misalignment. Men also face climate-related hardships, including psychosocial stress, migration-induced vulnerabilities and systemic exclusion from aid. Discussion Resilience achieved through depletion is not resilience but a debt. Closing the implementation gap requires distributional indicators, time-releasing infrastructure, secure land tenure, and bundled interventions that address multiple paradoxes simultaneously. Systematic review registration Open Science Framework (OSF https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WFR7Q ).

Africa is central to the world's future. The continent holds immense human potential, vast natural wealth, and a very young population. Yet, historical trauma from colonialism and ongoing neocolonial practices still hold African nations back. Unfair global financial rules, high borrowing costs, and severe climate impacts create deep systemic barriers. Africa contributes barely 4% of global carbon emissions, yet suffers massive economic losses from climate change. The concept of "Africa Rising" must move beyond simple economic metrics. It requires structural justice, genuine self-directed development, and local academic agency. This special issue grounds these global debates in concrete African realities through eight insightful studies. Their authors offer practical solutions to pressing challenges: curbing conflict through trade and gender inclusion, combining indigenous justice rituals with state law, fighting carbon market fraud, and introducing novel economic models to combat financial exclusion. Other studies advocate for youth civic agency through non-formal education, pharmaceutical sovereignty to lower medicine prices, and reframing forced migration as a driver of regional integration through the African Union's Free Movement Protocol. Recent global governance reforms, such as the African Union joining the G20, now G21, offer a vital platform for procedural justice. However, a seat at the table is not enough on its own. Africa must activate its internal institutions, financial markets, and academic community. As demonstrated by the authors in this collection, local experts provide the essential evidence needed to drive real progress. Only through genuine partnership, ethical global frameworks, and grounded African agency can the continent realise its true development potential.

آفریقا در مرکز آینده جهان قرار دارد. این قاره دارای پتانسیل انسانی عظیم، ثروت طبیعی فراوان و جمعیتی بسیار جوان است. با این حال، آسیب‌های تاریخی ناشی از استعمار و تداوم رویه‌های نواستعماری همچنان کشورهای آفریقایی را عقب نگاه داشته است. قوانین ناعادلانه مالی جهانی، هزینه‌های بالای استقراض و پیامدهای شدید تغییرات اقلیمی، موانع ساختاری عمیقی ایجاد می‌کنند. آفریقا تنها حدود ۴٪ از انتشار کربن جهانی را به خود اختصاص می‌دهد، اما متحمل خسارات اقتصادی گسترده‌ای از تغییرات اقلیمی می‌شود. مفهوم «آفریقا در حال صعود» باید فراتر از شاخص‌های ساده اقتصادی برود. این امر مستلزم عدالت ساختاری، توسعه خودمحور واقعی و عاملیت دانشگاهی محلی است. این شماره ویژه، این مباحث جهانی را از طریق هشت مطالعه عمیق در واقعیت‌های عینی آفریقا ریشه‌یابی می‌کند. نویسندگان این مقالات راه‌حل‌های عملی برای چالش‌های فوری ارائه می‌دهند: مهار منازعات از طریق تجارت و شمول جنسیتی، ترکیب آیین‌های بومی عدالت با حقوق دولتی، مبارزه با تقلب در بازار کربن و معرفی مدل‌های اقتصادی نوین برای مقابله با محرومیت مالی. سایر مطالعات بر عاملیت مدنی جوانان از طریق آموزش غیررسمی، حاکمیت دارویی برای کاهش قیمت داروها و بازتعریف مهاجرت اجباری به‌عنوان محرکی برای یکپارچگی منطقه‌ای از طریق پروتکل آزادی جابجایی اتحادیه آفریقا تأکید دارند. اصلاحات اخیر در حکمرانی جهانی، مانند پیوستن اتحادیه آفریقا به گروه G20 که اکنون G21 است، بستری حیاتی برای عدالت رویه‌ای فراهم می‌کند. با این حال، صرفاً داشتن جایگاهی در میز کافی نیست. آفریقا باید نهادهای داخلی، بازارهای مالی و جامعه دانشگاهی خود را فعال کند. همان‌طور که نویسندگان این مجموعه نشان می‌دهند، کارشناسان محلی شواهد اساسی لازم برای پیشبرد واقعی را ارائه می‌کنند. تنها از طریق شراکت واقعی، چارچوب‌های اخلاقی جهانی و عاملیت ریشه‌دار آفریقایی است که این قاره می‌تواند به پتانسیل واقعی توسعه خود دست یابد.