This summer, hundreds of thousands of hectares burned across Victoria as extreme heat and violent winds forced to flee their homes and cut holidays short. While Australia burned and sweltered through record‑breaking temperatures, cities across the United States were plunging to their coldest lows in 150 years. And in southern Africa, weeks of relentless rain created the worst floods in living memory in Mozambique – flooding entire districts, affecting more than 700,000 people and spreading cholera as water systems collapsed.
Fire, freezing, flooding – no matter where you are around the world right now, the impacts of climate change are being felt with full force. And as with any crisis, the impacts are not evenly shared, with women often bearing the burden.
Every degree deepens inequality
Every degree increase in global average temperatures increases domestic violence globally by nearly five percent. In Australia, a study has found that domestic violence increases by 40 percent when daily temperatures exceed 34°C. It’s alarming to imagine what happened when Sydney experienced consecutive days above 42°C this summer.
In Mozambique, as extreme flooding forced women into overcrowded temporary evacuation centres, they faced increased risk of violence and exploitation with inadequate privacy, lighting and support. My colleagues who are supporting the emergency relief efforts have shared stories of a pregnant woman who waited on a rooftop for three days to be rescued, while another was forced to give birth in the flood waters on top of a desk in a shelter. These harrowing stories paint a stark picture of the impact of climate disasters on women’s health and safety.
This human cost is matched by a growing financial toll. The 2025 UN Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction reported that disasters cost approximately US$202 billion annually. It’s in the trillions if you consider the cascading and ecosystem costs.
Prevention is the solution
Disasters are bankrupting governments around the world, plunging many into debt. As we know too well in Australia, homes have become uninsurable as the constant threat of flooding or fires becomes too greater risk, leaving the most vulnerable without protection.
The solution to this crisis is no secret, but it’s going to require courageous leadership from governments around the world.
Governments must allocate their budgets differently if we are to reduce the incessant risk of extreme weather events. Humanitarian aid budgets can no longer cope with putting out the metaphorical fires. Disaster preparedness has become the only rational economic choice.
Currently only five percent of humanitarian budgets globally are spent on reducing disaster risk. We seem more intent on cleaning up from death and destruction in a time of crisis than preventing it in the first place. Yet we know that for every dollar invested in preparing for a disaster saves up to $14 in humanitarian losses.
Women leading the way
ActionAid’s women-led disaster early warning system in Vanuatu is an example of this. SMS messages alert communities to impending cyclones and disasters, and share practical strategies on how to prepare. This initiative has delivered a 1 to 4 dividend, reducing disaster losses in one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Just as importantly, programs like this ensure women can lead emergency efforts and not be left behind when a disaster strikes.
It is positive to see the Australian Government and private sector support these strategies in the Pacific region. However, it is time to dramatically scale up these solutions if we are serious about saving lives.
In a world of increasing humanitarian need, declining global aid budgets and growing setbacks to women’s rights, we urgently need to shift resources from putting out the fires to preventing them in the first place.
Reducing disaster risk by supporting frontline communities to prepare, investing in early warning systems, and strengthening locally led protection mechanisms to prevent violence against women are essential in a world that’s warming at an alarming rate.
Disaster risk reduction is about public safety. It’s about women’s safety. Continuing to deny the risk or to direct more funding to the problem rather than the solution, is costing us all. The evidence is overwhelming: preparing for disasters saves money, prevents suffering, and protects those most at risk.
Australia can no longer afford to fund response while starving prevention, domestically or internationally. We need to listen to the science and rapidly shift resources to reducing disaster risk, and reject the climate denial that keeps us stuck in a cycle of destruction.