The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has published a report titled 'Women's Empowerment at the Frontline of Adaptation: Emerging Issues, Adaptive Practices, and Priorities in Nepal.' The publication outlines the vulnerabilities of women in Nepal, especially as climate change threatens rural livelihoods, and examines women's roles in adapting to a changing climate and natural resource base.
14 August 2014: The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has published a report, titled ‘Women’s Empowerment at the Frontline of Adaptation: Emerging Issues, Adaptive Practices, and Priorities in Nepal.’ The publication outlines the vulnerabilities of women in Nepal, especially as climate change threatens rural livelihoods, and examines women’s roles in adapting to a changing climate and natural resource base.
According to the report, rural woman in the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) have adopted a range of adaptive practices, such as, inter alia, installing permanent water tanks, deep boring, rainwater harvesting, using food storage techniques, vegetating slopes, using agricultural residue and animal dung, planting fuelwood and fodder grass, inter cropping and altering planting times. Besides these community- and household-level practices, the report also summarizes organizations’ adaptation techniques.
In addition, the report makes several recommendations for gender-sensitive adaptive practices, including: enhance women’s engagement in local-level climate change planning and implementation processes; strengthen local-level women’s organizations and networks; separate or create specific funds and resources for women; promote time-saving, appropriate and alternative technologies; support the collection of disaggregated data for targeting and monitoring women; increase investment in adequate and skilled local-level service providers (quality and quantity); enhance the capacity of national and local-level institutions for gender equality; include or provide for gender experts within national and local-level climate change-related institutions; conduct awareness raising; and strengthen and develop male gender champions.
The report was launched on 14 August 2014, at a seminar in Arendal, Norway, celebrating the 25th anniversary of GRID-Arendal, a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) collaborating center, and Arendalsuka (Arendal Week), which brings together Norwegian political, business and community leaders each year. [Publication: Women’s Empowerment at the Frontline of Adaptation: Emerging Issues, Adaptive Practices, and Priorities in Nepal] [IISD RS Sources] [Climate Change Policy & Practice story on MOU signed during GRID-Arendal’s anniversary]