Art empowers women as changemakers

Women are key to protecting the ecosystems that sustain livelihoods in Nepal's Churia hills. Over 3 million people depend on the area's twenty-six river systems for natural resources. 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.

Empowering women in natural resource management is an integral part of the Building a Resilient Churia Region in Nepal (BRCRN) project, led by FAO with the financial support of the Green Climate Fund. One of the ways used to address gender inequality in the context of climate change is through art.

Twenty-three women from community-based organizations took part in an event in December 2022, called “My Life Journey”, in the Siraha district, which is part of the project target area and home to the Bataha river system. Experiences that were difficult to express in words – such as gender-based discrimination and gender-based violence – were drawn on paper, under the guidance of youth volunteers.