Women Climate Warriors

"I’ve got a 25-year-old son named Abe. I’ve got a 20-year-old daughter named Jessie. I would throw myself in front of a bus if it was coming at them. We all need to throw ourselves in front of this bus called climate change."

— Mindy Lubber, one of Vogue's 13 Climate Warriors 

Have you seen the absolutely stunning piece VOGUE published just as COP21 was getting underway? The article—and the profoundly beautiful photographs by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin that accompanied it—feature 13 of the formidable women leading the way on climate action.

Elizabeth Yeampierre. Photo: Vogue

Meet all 13 of these fierce women by checking out the full article here.

While we so deeply respect these women climate warriors and all they do, we also recognize that there are many more women living on the frontlines of climate change and taking action to protect their communities.  We are humbled and honored to support a number of these women and communities.

An Anthem of Climate Action and Hope

This inspirational music video from 1 Million Women, calling women from around the world to speak up about climate change and hope, is out-of-this-world amazing!

As we all look over the Paris Agreement, adopted just two days ago at COP21, and consider the message of hope it brings, this anthem is being spread around the world, creating sparks and starting discussions about how climate policies can be created and enhanced—a critical message as countries decide whether to ratify the Agreement.

You can read more about 1 Million Women’s anthem and movement here.

Women are the victims of climate change – and the keys to climate action

Are you keeping an eye on the goings on at COP21 in Paris?  We are, and we're especially interested to see if/how a gendered perspective is incorporated into any (and, hopefully, every!) discussions and mechanisms for moving forward on climate action in a sustainable way.

For more of our take on COP21, read our recent post here, and for an even deeper look at why a gendered lens is so integral to developing effective solutions around climate change, check out this article from The Guardian.

Photo: The Guardian

"As the nations of the world meet in Paris to address climate change, it is critical that women play a central role in these historic negotiations. Gender equality is central to effective climate action. The world cannot afford to neglect the needs of half the world’s population, nor ignore their talents and potential in innovating solutions...

The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security recently released a new study that examines climate change as a human rights imperative, global security threat and a pervasive strain on economic stability. The report highlights how women bear severe gendered impacts of climate change – including adverse health, economic, social and physical consequences – but systematically lack equal representation in decision-making. 

The report also demonstrates – through a plethora of examples from around the world – that women are critical agents of change. Despite their vulnerabilities, women contribute to both adaptation and mitigation efforts in many parts of the world through creative, localized solutions. Numerous mediating institutions are working to provide women with opportunities to create their own sustainable businesses that also serve to reduce the global threat of climate change"

We'd love to hear what you think about COP21!

COP21: Time to Put a Cap on Global Gender Inequality

By: Katie Douglas, WEA Intern

“I will ensure this… the climate battle must be fought for, and with, women,” stated Laurent Fabius, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development. These words are Fabius’ bold commitment for the 21st session of the Conference of Parties (COP) which starts today in Paris, over which he will preside as President. For WEA and our global allies, his declaration is a real opportunity for world leaders to highlight and recommit themselves to addressing the intersectional relationship of women and the environment on an international level. The only question is whether Fabius and other decision-makers have the gumption to follow through on such promises made months ago? Or will COP21 be yet another international meeting that renders gender equality irrelevant to climate change, and creates an environmental protocol without the mechanisms to enforce it?

COP began as an international response to climate change with the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale. COP21 represents a chance for representatives from over 190 countries to cooperatively create universal agreements, all in the aim of keeping our climate below 2°C or 3.6°F. The U.S., the European Union., Russia, China, and India will largely negotiate the next 50 year agenda, as they are all among the highest emitters of greenhouse gases. However, in the past these powerhouse countries have failed to prioritize the critical role of and impacts on women in the global environmental movement.

One of the many reasons women are so incredibly impacted by the effects of climate change is due to the vital role they play in securing the natural resources that their families depend upon for survival, such as clean water, food, and fuel. Around 70% of women work in agriculture in low-income food-deficit countries, though generally women own less than 10% of the land. These women are already forced to mitigate the effects of climate change that drive soil erosion, drought, and food scarcity, and through traditional methods and knowledge these women are able to adapt successfully. The 2014 Copenhagen Consensus stated that agriculture research is the single most effective way to invest in fighting malnourishment. Combine this with the fact that agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to pollution, and the answer is straightforward: Invest in women as keepers of traditional knowledge and stewards of natural resources, provide them with the support and networks necessary to develop their community-based, sustainable solutions, and witness how the ripple of their efforts become a wave of transformation.

But one of the biggest challenges in constructing an effective international protocol is designing the mechanisms to enforce it. Past COPs have only created legally non-binding frameworks for treaty negotiations, such as the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. So long as countries can opt out of ratifying treaties that might actually impact their emission levels, there seems little prospect for any sort of enforcement on pollutant control. However, at COP21 there is hope for change as the conference’s main goal is to, for the first time, create a universal, legally binding agreement with which to effectively combat climate change. A global accord where individual countries are actually held accountable to their actions is an opportunity to create environmental protocols that invest in the women leaders who are already adapting to these changes.

For WEA and our allies around the world, we can only hope that this rare opportunity for change will not overlook women—who are critical agents in any long-term plans for our earth and future generations—and that those world leaders like Laurent Fabius will hold true to their words. Because it’s time for a protocol that doesn’t merely cap our emissions, but asks us to restructure our world to a more sustainable way of life. So let’s make a change and invest in women to invest in a sustainable future.

___________________
Further Reading:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laurent-fabius/taking-climate-action-for-and-with-women_b_6819596.html
http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/06/carl-pope-paris-climate-talks/

Weathering the Storms Together: Grassroots Women’s Response to Climate Change

WEA shares our thoughts on women, climate change and more in Earth Island Journal's online edition.

"Tomorrow, September 29, is Global Women's Climate Justice Day of Action. As nations prepare for the UN COP21 climate negotiations in Paris, women across the world will tell their stories, demonstrate their solutions, and demand that our world leaders take meaningful action on climate change. As the late Dr. Wangari Maathai said, "...not only are women bearing the brunt of environmental and development setbacks — they are also a powerful source of hope in tackling climate and other environmental threats, and their voices must be heard." 

On this day of action, we have a chance to remind our global community that when we invest in women, we invest in food and economic security, community health and protection of land and our precious natural resources. Join us as we deepen the conversation: how can we powerfully stand with the leadership of grassroots women leaders who are on the forefront of struggle and transformation? Because when grassroots leaders can share best practices, access resources, and take collective action, they build a foundation that communities can stand on to weather storms together."

Read the full article here.  And we'd love to hear how women in your life are driving solutions to change!

In the News: How Climate Change Impacts Women the Most

Photo by: Rucha Chitnis

"Climate change directly impacts the ability of women to achieve their own human rights and increases gender inequalities," Eleanor Blomstrom, program director for the Women's Environment and Development Organization, told VICE News.

Despite the greater threat to women, their needs are often neglected in sustainability planning, said Nisha Onta, a gender and climate change expert with the women's rights organization WOCAN. Under UN climate change guidelines, for example, developing countries are expected to submit plans for how they will adapt to a changing climate. But those plans are often made without incorporating plans for addressing gender inequality, like the fact that a lower-class woman in Bangladesh might not be allowed to use a new water pump, which is seen a important tool for managing changing precipitation patterns.

"The needs and reality of women are lacking and the work of women is kind of taken as a given," Onta told VICE News. "[Developers say,] 'We will go in and we will have water, we will make water accessible.' How are you going to do that? Women are going to collect this water. Have they been consulted? Do they have time?"

Read more about the differentiated impacts of climate change, and how the UN hopes to address this with it's Sustainable Development Goals in this great article from VICE News.

[Did You Know?] Climate Change Impacts on Navajo Nation

In it's recent report, Climate Change Impacts in the United States, the U.S. Global Change Research Program found that "Indigenous communities in the Southwest are more vulnerable to climate change than ever before.  30% of the Navajo population not served by municipal systems like water will face even greater challenges with increased threats from: drought, higher temperatures and severe storms."

The Threat to Sacred Waters and Ways of Life for California Indigenous Communities

By: Sophie Sparksworthy, WEA Intern

"Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources." — Article 29, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The Klamath River, Northern California.
Photo source: USFWS Pacific Southwest Region

--> The physical health and cultural well-being of Indigenous communities are threatened by increasing environmental degradation.  Negative ecological impacts from extractive industries, energy plants or refineries, and the contamination of hazardous waste on Indigenous lands compromises the survival of Indigenous communities both globally and locally.  Indigenous communities are in an ongoing fight to restore their ecosystems to meet their present needs, but they are also challenged with ensuring the integral parts of the environment remain intact for future generations.

The continued degradation of each component of our ecosystem has serious implications for the species and cultures that inhabit them.  Of these impacted components, water—which for many Indigenous cultures in inextricably linked to subsistence, spiritual practices, and traditions—has become increasingly threatened by prevailing long-term issues and the emergence of new ones.  Along with long-standing water related issues like contamination, Indigenous communities are also faced with increased threats to water supplies from climate change.  This is especially true in California, where the third year of drought has created a state of emergency.  The effects of the drought combined with California's attempts to follow the national push towards energy independence through increased fracking poses an even greater threat to the vitality of Indigenous lifeways and the ecosystems we all depend on.

Mercury Contamination in California

"Indigenous women are life givers, life sustainers and culture holders.  Our bodies are sacred places that must be protected, honored and kept free of harmful contaminants in order for the new generations of our Nations to be born strong and healthy." — Declaration for the Health, Life and Defense of Our Lands, Rights and Future Generations, Report of the International Indigenous Women's Environmental and Reproductive Health Symposium, 2010.

For California Indigenous communities, the fight to protect the quality and supply of water has been a very real threat for centuries, particularly due to the regions history of mining and gold extraction.  Sediments and other hazardous materials like methylmercury have contaminated land and aquatic habitats and have had adverse health effects that vary based on the age and level of exposure an individual has.  This exposure can cause damage to both the nervous and immune systems, with the worst case scenario being death.

Photo source: Coastal Creature

Indigenous communities have experienced the impacts of mercury poisoning first hand, with deaths among older generations who had been chronically exposed without their knowledge.  Unfortunately, the threats of contamination are still present, especially for future generations.  For pregnant women, mercury can cause irreversible damage to unborn children, inhibiting normal brain development, and in more severe cases causing developmental and mental birth defects.  For Indigenous communities in which fish is a traditional food source and whose cultures cannot be separated from this critical relationship, the tragic choice becomes one between health and identity.

These issues of water contamination in California are also not isolated, with high levels of mercury found in waterways such as: Lake Berryessa, Clear Lake, New Almaden and New Idria, the American, Bear, Feather and Yuba Rivers, and the San Francisco Bay.  The international and regional response by authorities to the contamination issues California tribes such as the Pomo, Maidu, Yurok, Karuk and Winnemem Wintu face has been minimal in comparison to the scale of the problem.

Indeed, while EPA clean ups have been more frequent since the 1990's and advisory warnings about fish contamination have been issued, this has done little to address the fact that tribes are unable to exercise their traditional fishing treaty rights—and the threat of further pollution is ongoing.  To this end, in 2005, the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) filed an international complaint against the United States asserting that the contamination Indigenous communities faced was a human rights violation.  In the complaint, the National Tribal Environmental Council (NTEC) provided testimony which stated:

"The proposed UMR [the EPA's Utility Mercury Reduction] rule fails to protect and preserve federal treaty trust resources, such as hunting and fishing rights, which are considered integral to many tribes continued existence...Instead, EPA instructs these groups—and particularly children and women of childbearing age—to reduce or eliminate fish from their diets in order to 'avoid' the risks of mercury contamination.  Thus, rather than take steps to reduce meaningfully the sources of these risks, EPA shifts the burden to those who are exposed and asks them to protect themselves."

While these and other efforts are critical and ongoing, some communities fear that the response—if any— will be too slow to address the severity of the issue.  California's Indigenous tribes are at an extremely high risk for ongoing contamination, with some estimates stating that the current rate of clean up will leave the land and water contaminated for the next 10,000 years.  Despite the slow progress of the State and Federal governments, organizations like IITC and the California Indian Environmental Alliance, alongside a network of Indigenous and environmental groups, have helped communities fight for the right to information about contamination, and to expedite the process to have their ecosystems and traditional ways of life protected.

Climate Change and Drought in the West

Effect of the drought on the Uvas Reservoir.
Photo source: Don DeBold

For Indigenous communities, the fear of losing traditional ways of life connected with water is further exacerbated by another devastating issue.  The third year of drought in California has forced Governor Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency.  As a result of water resource allocation focused on supplying both Southern California's reservoirs and the water needed for the State's massive agricultural industry, much of the limited water supply in Northern California's reservoirs has already been drained.


For tribes in Northern and Central California, this means that traditional species of fish like steelhead and chinook salmon will no longer be protected as their habitats shrink to meet the demands of the rest of the state's water needs.  Indeed, proposed solutions to meet the state's water demands include constructing large underground pipes to transport water from the top of the state to the bottom.  The Winnemem Wintu have been some of the strongest voices opposing this plan because it threatens the survival of salmon and other native fish populations that many in California—Native and non-Native alike—rely on.

Don't Frack California

Indigenous communities often face more than one threat at a time to their ecosystems and cultural survival.  Instead, we see the threats to traditional ways of life coming from multiple directions at once.  Thus, along with efforts to reduce contamination and water supplies, tribes must also resist the forces of extractive industries, which leave ecosystems traumatized.  Some of the most recent national and local resistance against extractive industries has focused on hydraulic fracturing, the high pressure blasting of water and chemicals in the earth in order to produce gas and oil—commonly known as fracking.

Not only does fracking contribute to water, air and land pollution, as well as climate change, but the human health hazards are equally frightening, with chemicals used in the blasting being linked to birth defects, and even infertility.  In California, though resistance is gaining in strength, the mainstream debate as to whether or not to continue fracking is still underway.

In recent months, the Don't Frack California campaign has gained significant momentum, with over 4,000 people—including Indigenous community members, environmental advocates, and concerned citizens—expressing their opposition to fracking in Sacramento on March 15th.  As a result of the efforts leading up to this rally, in February a moratorium (SB 1132) was introduced to prevent continual and future extractive industries like fracking from operating in the state.  California's resistance to fracking is only part of a national resistance movement that is supported by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous advocates and activists alike.

Women's Earth Alliance encourages all our friends to be good allies: learn more about these critical issues California Indigenous peoples face and do your part to support efforts to end the destruction of their traditional lands, waters, and ways of life. 

For more information on mercury contamination, please visit the International Indian Treaty Council or Earthjustice's Cleaning Up Mercury, Protecting Our Health Campaign.  To learn more about the effects of California's drought on Indigenous communities and native species, visit Restore the Delta and the National Resource Defense Council.  And to further understand how the drought effects Indigenous communities in Northern California, please visit the tribal website of the Winnemem Wintu and the Yurok people.

Recognizing Women's Leadership to Mitigate Conflict & Climate Change

Blog post by: Rucha Chitnis, Director of Grantmaking (@ruchachitnis)

Manipur, a state in India bordering Burma, is part of the "Seven Sisters" -- seven contiguous states in Northeastern India, known for their rich ethnic diversity, bountiful natural resources, as well as political conflict and turmoil.  For over 50 years now, Manipur has been bound by the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which grants extraordinary powers to the Indian armed forces to suppress separatist insurgencies in the region.  This act has been fiercely criticized by human rights groups for its abuse by the Indian Army through arbitrary killings, torture, enforced disappearances and violence perpetrated against women.

Northeastern states, like Manipur, are also ecologically fragile lands, and are part of the Eastern Himalayan tracts that are considered a major biodiversity hotspot.  In recent times, big dams, mining and oil exploration activities and rapid forest degradation have deeply concerned environmental advocates, especially as the impacts of climate change are worsening economic and food security in the region.

Women play a crucial role in all socio-economic aspects Manipur and are key food producers.

Earlier this year, I traveled to Manipur to learn about the emerging priorities and strategies of women's groups to promote sustainable development and livelihoods in the midst of political tensions, militarism and ecological vulnerabilities. Our grantee partners in Manipur, Rural Women Upliftment Society (RWUS) and Weaker Sections Development Council, (WSDC) are using holistic multi-pronged approaches to promote food security, advocate for peace and security, and raise awareness on climate change among vulnerable Indigenous hill tribes.

A women's group in Chandel district that is growing and processing organic turmeric as a collective

Ignored by History: Recognizing Manipuri Women's Role in Social Movements

Shangnaidar Shangdar, leader of WSDC, is passionate about highlighting the role of women in Manipur to forge long-term movements to bring peace and security in the region. Historically women in Manipur have also led brave social movements, including fighting British imperialism. Known as Nupi lan, or women’s war, women in Manipur led a successful brave agitation in 1939 protesting exploitative British free trade laws that precipitously raised the price of rice by increasing exports, and adversely affected local communities and small traders through food shortages. Sadly, these crucial resistances by Manipuri women are largely invisible and unknown in mainstream India's historical chronicles.

During my visit, Shangnaidar took me to Ima Keithel, also known as Mother's Market, which is a sprawling market in the capital city of Imphal, where all stalls are run by women. Mother's Market stands out as a proud, unique heritage of Manipur, which speaks powerfully to the crucial role women play in socio-eonomic realms here.

These women are promoting inter-tribal peace building efforts & are training women affected
by gun violence and HIV/AIDS on weaving and other livelihood generation activities

WSDC raises awareness among women widowed by gun violence and HIV/AIDS on their rights and entitlements from the state, including widow pension and food security provisions. They are also training communities on organic farming practices, raising awareness on the rights of small farmers, and are supplementing women’s income through diversifying their livelihoods by soap making, weaving and artisanal bamboo products.

Both of our grantee partners recognize that empowering women, and promoting their political, social and cultural rights, is crucial for peace building and strengthening civil society and ushering sustainable development.  WSDC and RWUS also organize trainings and educational activities to promote women’s role in governance and in conflict resolution.

Recently RWUS conducted several workshops to raise awareness on climate change among women in the hilly tribal areas of Churachandpur, the largest district of the Manipur.

“Being largely an agrarian economy, climate change is affecting the economy of the state over time. Unnoticed by the policy makers, one of the major victims of climate change have been the marginalized women of the society, who have always suffered for being financially weak and also for lacking the power of decision making in the society.”  RWUS further notes that climate change is affecting water availability in the region and is making agriculture increasingly harder for small farmers.

A small grant from WEA is enabling RWUS to organize women in 15 vulnerable tribal villages affected by climate change.  With WEA's support, RWUS is raising awareness on the crucial need to protect Manipur’s forest biodiversity and other natural resources, and the key role women can play in protecting their environment and promoting sustainable livelihoods.

“The impact of climate change has already forced many to abandon their existing professions and search for alternatives. Many women particularly youth are forced to move out of home to seek employment elsewhere because agriculture has become unsustainable,” notes the RWUS team.

In the near future, RWUS plans to organize workshops for women on dams and mining and how they impact Indigenous livelihoods, culture and way of being, as well as continue their assessment on the impact of climate change on women and promote women’s role as environmental advocates.

RWUS shares how one of the participants of the climate change training called Sangpui, a mother of three, began taking personal responsibility to protect the environment. Sangpui went on to plant over 1000 saplings and is slowly recognizing how forest degradation affects her community. “Each time I plant a tree, I realize I am contributing to sustain the livelihood of forest dependents, like me,” she says.

Weathering the Storm: Gender Dimensions of Haiyan & Climate Change

Rucha Chitnis: Director of Grantmaking, Women's Earth Alliance @ruchachitnis

As Philippines grasps the devastating scale of the destruction unleashed by Super Typhoon Haiyan, the global community must prioritize those who are being disproportionately impacted by this natural disaster—women and girls.  The typhoon has impacted over 11 million people and aid gridlocks are paralyzing relief operations with poor access and communications.  As aid and relief agencies scramble to deliver critical services to survivors, it is crucial to keep in mind the gender dimensions of natural disasters, and existing inequalities facing girls and women.

Why Gender Lens Is Crucial

Climate change and natural disasters are not gender neutral:  Women and girls face multi-faceted discrimination and inequalities globally.  Prevailing social norms – which leave women economically and culturally vulnerable in the best of times – impede women’s ability to recover from natural disasters and receive adequate support for their unique health, safety and other well-being needs.  According to a report, Because I am A Girl, women and children are 14 times more likely to die in disasters than men.

Escalation of violence against women and girls:  Disasters, such as the Super Typhoon, create crippling social breakdowns, including in law enforcement services. A study of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law conducted in four camps of internally displaced persons around Port-au-Prince, Haiti, revealed alarming data: Of the households surveyed 14% “reported that, since the earthquake, one or more members of their household had been victimized by rape or unwanted touching or both.” The typhoon in Philippines is no different, and human rights groups are raising concerns of escalating violence against women and girls, including risks of trafficking, forced marriages and rape.

Lack of adequate healthcare: UNFPA estimates that nearly 200,000 pregnant women need additional support, with stories surfacing of women giving birth amidst the rubble. Approximately 40% of women in the Philippines deliver at home, so there is an urgent need for groups like UNFPA to provide clean delivery kits to partners and midwives. 

Women's groups in Manipur are raising awareness on climate change
and promoting women's role in governance

Way Forward: What We Are Learning From Women’s Groups  

Around the world, women’s groups, solidarity networks and movements are demanding urgent climate action and a re-examination of a carbon-fueled development paradigm. Indigenous and rural women recognize that as mothers, caregivers, food producers, water and environmental stewards, they bear a disproportionate burden from these climate-induced disasters.  Here are some holistic ways in which our grassroots partners and allies in South Asia and beyond are taking proactive steps to build community resiliency.

Empowering Women & Promoting Rights:  HIMANWANTI, Women’s Earth Alliance partner in Nepal, works to promote the rights of rural women in forest and natural resource management.  HIMAWANTI believes that it is crucial to strengthen the role of women in the management and protection of biodiversity, as well as promote equitable access to natural resources and benefits generated from its use.  They are also strengthening political literacy to build networks of healthy, conscious and empowered women throughout Nepal. 

Ending Climate Denial and Demanding Accountability to Grassroots Women:  A diverse gathering of women leaders from around the world in New York this year urged the world’s governments to make commitments to avoid a global temperature rise of 2.0 C degrees. Women also reminded the global community that citizens in industrialized nations have a responsibility to educate themselves and their worldviews and to divest from dirty fossil fuel developments, such as Tar Sands and fracking. Click here to read this powerful International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit declaration.

Promoting Women’s Decision-making:  Our partner in Manipur, India, Rural Women Upliftment Society works to holistically build the leadership of indigenous women.  RWUS promotes women’s participation in local governance, and provides capacity building support in sustainable agriculture and livelihoods to strengthen women’s food and economic security in the face of climate variability.

Respecting Women’s Knowledge and Expertise:  Across the Global South, women farmers and Indigenous women’s networks and movements are positioning themselves as knowledge holders, equipped with a powerful agency to build holistic climate solutions.  Women farmers are also seed savers, who have immense knowledge about native food crops, such as drought-resistant millet varieties that thrive in dry land areas and need little water for cultivation.

Women farmers in Karnataka are planting drought-resistant millets
and raising awareness on climate change through street theater and other activities 

Our partner in India, the GREEN Foundation, believes it is vital to value women’s knowledge and expertise to promote food security and build community resiliency. GREEN is mentoring a group of women farmers in a drought-prone region in Karnataka in community radio production, where they will share information on climate change, early warning weather signs and promote sustainable agriculture as an important strategy to promote food security and healthy ecosystems.

There is an undeniable link between existing gender inequalities and how they exacerbate women’s vulnerabilities in the face of climate change and natural disasters. Women’s rights advocates note that it is crucial to include women’s leadership and decision-making in all aspects of climate change and disaster management program implementations and policies.  Women’s participation is key in not only post disaster recovery efforts but also in proactive disaster prevention and climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.  If you wish to donate to grassroots women’s groups that are leading recovery efforts for Typhoon Haiyan, consider donating to the Global Fund for Women. Also here’s an appeal with a list of organizations to support Indigenous peoples affected by this crisis.

Climate Change Resilience Begins With Women

Blog post by Rucha Chitnis, WEA's South Asia Program Director

Twitter: @ruchachitnis

Women farmers, like Manju, play a crucial role in building the resilience
of their communities in the face of climate change

Manju Devi is a farmer, a single mother of three and a dedicated field worker with a local grassroots organization called Nav Jagriti in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India. Manju is on a mission to build the self-reliance of women in her community who are affected by poverty, food insecurity and climate change. Women farmers in her community are particularly affected by floods and prolonged waterlogging issues.

Manju was one of the participants of the Women, Food Security and Climate Change Training program that was designed and coordinated by Women’s Earth Alliance’s partner, Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), a grassroots organization working with small and landless women farmers through a people-centered approach focusing on their participation and empowerment for sustainable development. GEAG's efforts also target poverty and hunger reduction by connecting women farmers with sustainable agricultural training, advocacy and networking support.

The goal of this training was to facilitate a regional exchange between women farmers and rural NGO workers from four flood-affected states to share their personal experiences with climate change and its impact on their health, livelihoods and food security. The training equipped women with information about sustainable agricultural practices, such as mixed farming--growing diverse food crops on small farms and making natural pesticides and fertilizers using farm inputs.  Participants also learned about local and regional campaigns to advance women’s rights as farmers. Manju was particularly inspired meeting women from a community in Sahranpur, who were successful in winning back their forest rights access from a corrupt contractor who had exploited them for years. The women shared with, much pride, how they finally won their rights through a long sustained joint solidarity struggle.

Manju set up an organic kitchen garden as a
demonstration site for other women farmers

Manju was clearly inspired and invigorated by the training, and she returned to her community with a plan to make a difference. First, she set up her own organic kitchen garden as a demonstration site to show women farmers how they could grow a variety of vegetables right at home even if their farms were flooded. She went on to organize 11 women’s groups, training 144 farmers on seed-saving practices and growing a variety of vegetables and grains using mixed farming techniques. Finally, she educated women on their rights as farmers and shared information on beneficial government programs that women could access to improve their economic and food security. 

"My vision is that women in my community stand on their own feet and embrace organic farming practices.  I am leading by example to show how this can be achieved," she proudly beamed. Women farmers, like Manju, clearly demonstrate how they play a crucial role in building the leadership capacities of other vulnerable women in their communities who are acutely affected by climate challenges, such as floods and droughts.  As cultural and natural resource stewards of their communities, they are positioned to make a difference by using their traditional ecological knowledge systems of farming, seed saving of robust indigenous crops like millets, which require little to no water for irrigation, and by engaging actively in the political and civic affairs of their communities.

Farmers like Manju recognize that one sure way of increasing the resilience of rural communities in the face of climate change is to end the inequalities and discrimination that rural women face so that they can access critical information, useful agriculture extension training services and increase their participation in disaster management programs.  

This farmer started her own organic kitchen
garden after being trained by Manju

Another woman farmer has a steady supply of vegetables
after starting an organic kitchen garden at home

WEA on KPFA

Check out our interview on KPFA from this morning!
Today was the final installment of Claire Cummings’ "Countdown to Copenhagen" series and focused on women, indigenous communities and climate change. The interview starts at around minute 34.
Click here to listen!
It was an honor to share the mic with Jihan Gearon of Indigenous Environmental Network and Wahleah Johns of Black Mesa Water Coalition, one of WEA’s International Advisory Board members.
Thanks to Claire Cummings and her series about climate change and the road to Copenhagen. Click here to learn about our recent conference call about climate change and how it’s affecting indigenous people.

Climate change’s affect on poor women

A new report out by the United Nations Population Fund has warned that women in developing countries will be the most vulnerable to climate change. 

“[Women] do most of the agricultural work, and are therefore affected by weather-related natural disasters impacting on food, energy and water, the report said.”

Read an article about it from the BBC here.  And read the full report here.