Overview and Policy Issue

What is the purpose of integrating the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda with disaster response? How can Canada learn from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) disaster management governance regime and its overlap with the WPS agenda? This policy brief argues that Canada has a vested interest in learning from similarly climate-affected regions, particularly the Asia-Pacific given the recent focus on the region by the Government of Canada (see the Indo-Pacific Strategy 2022). Furthermore, integration and application of the Women, Peace and Security agenda at the national and local levels is the most effective way to understand the risks posed by climate-induced instability.

2023 in Canada is remembered as a year of record-setting wildfires, a haze of smoke across the country and entire communities evacuated to escape the devastation (Canada 2023). Destructive floods, extreme temperatures, and hurricanes added to a reported aggregate loss of almost 3.5 billion CAD (Canada 2023). With record-breaking disaster years continuing to occur, climate-induced instability in Canada is likely to rise, raising questions about Canada’s current response systems, policies, and next steps. With these concerns at the forefront, Canada has an opportunity to learn and adapt knowledge from other regions that experience similar disasters to improve response, mitigation, and management. 

Across the Pacific Ocean, the world’s most disaster-prone region, the Asia-Pacific, also experienced a record year of climate events in 2023 (UNESCAP 2023). The Asia-Pacific region encountered climate change-induced disasters that caused 57 billion USD in economic damage in 2023, alongside fatalities and forced displacements. These climate-induced disasters are expected to increase annually as extreme weather events become more severe and more frequent (UNESCAP 2023). Southeast Asia is one of the most affected sub-regions, and ASEAN has invested large amounts of resources to deal with one of the most pressing issues in the region. Founded in 1967, ASEAN is composed of 10 Member States who strive to promote political and  economic harmony throughout the region, along with cultural development and social progress. To effectively deal with the high number of disasters faced by its member states and the impact on its three pillar areas – Political-Security Community, Economic Community, and the Socio-Cultural Community – ASEAN has invested heavily in its disaster governance regime. Relatively recently, this has included an awareness of gender issues in disaster response policy, something that has been researched significantly in academic circles but failed to be properly integrated into policy beforehand. This has been tied to ASEAN’s additional investment in the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, culminating in a Regional Plan of Action in 2022.

The notion that disasters are gendered is increasingly accepted in policymaking, enhancing the understanding that pre-existing vulnerabilities impact the ways communities and individuals are able to prepare for and respond to disaster (Ahmad 2018; Bell and Folkerth 2016; Fisher 2010). However, women remain excluded from decision-making process, at various levels of governance (Bradshaw 2004; Bradshaw and Fordham 2015). This is echoed in the security sector, where women are often excluded from decision-making processes, particularly in regard to issues surrounding peacemaking (UNSCR 1325, 2000). Since 2000, the Women, Peace and Security agenda has been the major international instrument attempting to reconfigure the way security is viewed, increase the role of women in decision-making processes and integrate gendered perspectives into security topics, including disaster response. The expansion of the WPS agenda to include other issue areas, such as disaster response, provides a significant opportunity to expand on the integration of gender-based policymaking in disaster governance, in ASEAN, Canada and beyond.  

At the intersection of Canada’s strategy to increase engagement in the Indo-Pacific, increased climate change-induced disasters, and greater awareness of the necessity to include gender in all security issues, this is an opportune moment for the exchange of ideas between Canada and ASEAN on the integration of the WPS agenda and disaster governance.

Results

Greater integration of gender – and consistent understanding of what this entails across all Member States – in ASEAN Disaster Policy is required:

In 2018, leaders from the various National Disaster Management Organizations of ASEAN member states committed to “pursue new initiatives on women, peace and security and [to] strengthen efforts in promoting gender mainstreaming on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation” (Relief Web 2018). The NDMOs are the leading national agencies in dealing with climate change, and have worked well to coordinate response, maintain communication across the region and provide insight to the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre). This includes regional support in the case of a major disaster. Due to the siloed nature of ASEAN issue-areas, the move to pursue gender mainstreaming in disaster response activities is notable step. Yet, ASEAN has much work to do in integrating gender and WPS into disaster response programming. The ASEAN Vision 2025 on Disaster Management report only mentioned gender once, referring to the need to ensure women and girls can “act as agents in their own response,” yet the consideration of structural barriers, unequal power structures or discrimination remain unmentioned (ASEAN 2016, 5). Furthermore, while the more recent ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency (AADMER)Work Programme 2021-2025 focuses on gender and social inclusion as a guiding principle, it does this through inclusion of women as one of many vulnerable groups, rather than a gendered approach to response. Thus, while there remain varied understandings of gender across ASEAN and its member states, the integration of disaster response into the Regional Plan of Action on WPS (2022) demonstrates a recognized need to integrate these two agendas. This involves highlighting the importance of mainstreaming gender into non-traditional security issues, including disaster management and response and greater cooperation on this between all relevant actors (ASEAN RPA on WPS 2022, 10).

The current reliance on the Canadian Armed Forces to respond to disasters in Canada has left a system that is overwhelmed and unprepared, which will affect Canada’s long-term mitigation and response efforts.

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are most often the first responders to domestic disasters. If a province is overwhelmed, the CAF helps to stabilize the situation and respond efficiently to climate-induced disasters through Operation LENTUS (Canada 2023). However, the CAF self-advocates as the last resort for disaster response operations, particularly as the demand for support rises as the number of emergencies do (Brewster 2023). In 2023 military supported civilian authorities’ response to disasters for a record of 141 days (Brewster 2023) . This has been increasing in recent years, with the number of disasters requiring CAF response almost doubling every five years from 2010 to 2023 (CAF 2023). Furthermore, the Canadian Standing Committee National Defence called for a permanent disaster response workforce but lack specifics of how this could occur (House of Commons 2024; Brewster 2024). A lack of long-term investment in disaster mitigation has led the Government of Canada to continue dealing with disasters as “unexpected humanitarian crises” (Greaves and Su 2022). This has led to a system that is unable to effectively respond to the increasing number of severe disasters.

Furthermore, ASEAN’s development and coordination of disaster governance across the region over the past twenty years can provide support to Canada, strengthening its investment in this critical issue area. Sharing lessons learned, technological advancements for mitigation (for example through logistics and GIS systems), and how to establish communication pathways in disaster prone regions are all areas where transboundary cooperation is an opportunity to decrease risk and even save lives. ASEAN has invested heavily in disaster governance infrastructure, beginning in 2003 with the introduction of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (2003), the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (2009) and the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance (AHA) Centre in 2011. The AHA Centre has streamlined ASEAN’s response activities, integrating stakeholders of all kinds from across the region. It organizes its activities based on four core functions: Coordination, disaster information management, knowledge and outreach, and resources management (AHA Centre 2024). Thus, a key strength of ASEAN’s institutional progress is its focus on the entire disaster cycle, clear communication across actors involved in all stages of disaster governance and its ability to learn from previous mistakes. These ideas are incredibly applicable to Canada’s federal system of governance as response activities deal with a wide variety of stakeholders, financial commitments and questions around prioritization.

An exchange of support is an ideal pathway to continue strong ASEAN – Canada relations: Canada can provide ASEAN with support for implementation of the WPS agenda, while ASEAN can support Canada’s development of effective disaster governance and long-term mitigation:

Canada has made their involvement with the WPS agenda clear at home and abroad, through their commitment to the development, investment and monitoring of WPS National Action Plans, the third iteration of which was published in 2024. The first two versions focused on WPS abroad, while the third installment has turned a much-needed focus on Canada’s domestic WPS issues and concerns. Canada has been an active supporter of the WPS agenda in Southeast Asia, including the 2021 “Empowering women for sustainable peace: preventing violence and promoting social cohesion in ASEAN” initiative. At home, Canada published its Third National Action Plan on WPS (2024) and Canada hosted a series of WPS dialogues with ASEAN in 2023, focusing on its RPA (Prime Minister of Canada 2023). With this in mind, an important part of Canada’s support to ASEAN must be a reciprocal exchange of expertise. While Canadian experts can help support the establishment, integration, and longevity of the WPS initiative, ASEAN experts can do the same for the integration of WPS into disaster response activities and policy development. Under the ASEAN-Canada Action Plan (2021-2025) Canada has already committed to providing assistance to “climate change and disaster resilience” in the region, but the integration of the gender in this planning – particularly given the overlapping nature of disaster response and military assistance in the region – is critical to long-term success.

Policy Lessons

Canada must maintain its vested interest in supporting the integration of the WPS Agenda in ASEAN:

Through the Indo-Pacific Strategy (2022), Canada has promised to build partnerships, encourage stability, and strengthen capabilities of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, particularly noting its regional partners (i.e., ASEAN). As a strategic partner of ASEAN, Canada has a vested interest to deepen its relationship with the regional organization. Significant economic and security ties to ASEAN illustrate Canada’s commitment to the region and the importance of continued engagement in the region (including ongoing negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement [Canada 2023]). This must remain in place regardless of any changes in government within Canada. Integration of the WPS agenda in ASEAN will continue to strengthen the region, empower the next generation, and generate stronger response to critical security issues affecting ASEAN member states and beyond.

Opportunity for Canada to learn from and exchange ideas with experts:

Beyond Canada’s strategic interests in the region, there is an opportunity for Canada to learn from and exchange ideas with ASEAN. Planning for and responding to climate-induced instability alongside integration of the WPS agenda in this is at the forefront of overlapping short- and long-term concerns. Canada has a significant opportunity to not only strengthen ties with one of the fastest growing regions in the world, but to learn from the seasoned experts within ASEAN’s many bodies. Expertise is at the forefront of positive change, and greater integration of the WPS agenda in combination with disaster response can help mitigate climate-induced instability in both Canada and ASEAN.