Taking Stock: Sexual and Reproductive and Health and Rights in Climate Commitments: An East and Southern Africa Review

The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are the most central and globally representative climate policy documents that outline the national climate plans of countries that have ratified the Paris Climate Agreement. Submitted every five years, the NDCs indicate the voluntary commitments of countries to achieving agreed-upon mitigation and adaptation goals.

With climate impacts increasing in scale and intensity, communities on the frontlines are becoming more vulnerable, especially women and girls. As the year 2023 marked the conclusion of the first global stocktake of the Paris Agreement, this report reflects on how East and Southern African NDCs incorporated SRHR issues, and seeks to inform the third cycle of NDCs to be submitted in 2025 from the region. It is equally timely with the 30th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) re-establishing the powerful links between population, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, and climate change.

UNFPA, in collaboration with Queen Mary University of London, conducted a systematic content analysis of SRHR references and related thematic areas in NDC documents for 19 of the 23 East and Southern African countries. 

This regional report examines the integration of sexual reproductive health and rights and related themes - including health, gender, population dynamics, youth,  human rights, vulnerable groups and participation - in the NDCs of countries from 2020. It offers recommendations on how the next submissions can more effectively  address these intersections in terms of impact, commitments, budget and other critical actions. 

Following the outcome of COP28 in Dubai, countries were requested to submit their next NDCs “at least 9-12 months in advance” of COP30 in Brazil at the end of 2025, these reports will help guide stakeholders across the region to ensure that the next submissions of NDCs have a full and substantive reflection of the intersections climate, SRHR, GBV and harmful practices. 

Access the report summary here.