Climate action to close the gender gap in Nepal

Climate change disproportionally affects women and girls. It magnifies inequalities. Poor women whose livelihoods depend on agriculture and natural resources are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as extreme weather events, droughts, floods and temperature rise. The impacts of climate change have a ripple effect on their lives, jeopardising food security, income and well-being.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are scaling up investments in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector to empower women as equal advocates for climate solutions. Gender action is interwoven into FAO’s entire GCF project portfolio – valued at USD 937.7 million – to ensure that women and girls have a leading role to play as change-makers in the transition towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.

Here is an example of how an FAO-led GCF project in Nepal – with USD 47.3 million in climate investments – is giving women a voice in climate change adaptation and mitigation action on the ground.

Empowering women for climate resilience in Nepal

Around 3.2 million women and men in Nepal’s Churia region depend on local natural resources for food, water and energy, but the area is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as extreme rainfall and flash flooding. The river and forest ecosystems are also under pressure because of unsustainable land use, deforestation and forest degradation.

FAO is working with Nepal’s Ministry of Forests and Environment on a flagship GCF project that breaks down inequalities by increasing women’s participation in climate-resilient and sustainable natural resource management.

Local communities have been taking part in an FAO-designed critical ecosystem restoration plan, involving twenty-six vulnerable river systems in the region. So far, over four hundred women and men have participated in consultations that will help promote the adoption of climate-resilient land use, thereby reducing deforestation and forest degradation.

“I feel proud to walk together with the ward chairperson, government officers, and other highly knowledgeable people,” says Narayani Pokharel, a member of the ‘Women Saving and Credit’ group of the Chaarnath River system, Dhanusha District. “I’ve never been involved in an activity like this and I hope it addresses our problems.”

Narayani Pokharel, with her five-year-old daughter, is a member of the ‘Women saving and credit’ group, who participate in consultations on ecosystem restoration plans in the Chaarnaath River system, Nepal. Photo credit: ©FAO/Sangita Budhathoki

Amplifying women’s voice

Over six hundred women and women-led organizations will ultimately lend their voice to sustainable natural resource management plans that will have a positive impact on their lives. The critical ecosystem restoration plan – known as CERP – breaks down barriers for women and girls; it recognises their leading role as promoters of sustainable land-use practices that help communities adapt to a changing climate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“As women, our voice is usually not heard and we are not considered valued decision-makers, but now we are a part of the planning process, so I hope our voice will be incorporated into the final plan,” says Urmila Paswan, who lives by the Chaarnaath river system in the Chaarnaath municipality in Nepal’s Dhanush district.

The ecosystem restoration plan directly addresses the challenges facing around one million women and men living in both the upstream and downstream areas of Churia’s river systems. Under the project, farmer field schools are being set up in the most vulnerable areas to train both women and men farmers from community-based organizations who will, in turn, teach and train other farming households on climate-resilient agricultural techniques. These measures include learning how to reduce loss and damage from landslides by stabilizing slopes (with agroforestry, terracing, grass strips, and alley crops), and improving livestock practices (such as stall feeding and fodder banks).

Added project benefits include reducing the time it takes to collect water, a burden often borne by women and girls, so that more time can be allocated to education – an essential component under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 and 5 to ensure inclusive quality education, and achieve gender equality.

Working alongside the Government of Nepal, FAO will involve 750 community-based organizations in project activities that will strengthen women’s, men’s and indigenous peoples’ roles in land-use planning.

Equal benefits for effective climate action

Women’s participation in decision-making processes combined with equal access to land and resources makes for greater gender equality, improved food security and enhanced climate change adaptation and mitigation. Ultimately, climate action is a catalyst for gender equality today, and a sustainable tomorrow.

• Learn more about FAO’s work with the Green Climate Fund here
  
• Get quick facts about the FAO-led GCF project in Nepal here
  
• Visit the GCF website here