Gender issues in mountains
Women and men play key roles with respect to environmental protection and social and economic development in mountain areas. Women are often the primary managers of mountain resources, guardians of biodiversity and the main actors in terms of agriculture, animal husbandry and other small scale economic activities. In mountain communities, women are keepers of traditional knowledge, custodians of local culture and experts in traditional medicine.
However, women mountain dwellers are often invisible and their voices go unheard. They rarely participate in decisions affecting the management and use of local resources; they often lack basic rights, have little access to ownership and land tenure rights, education, health services and training. Since women and girls have less access to household resources, they are at a greater risk of hunger and malnutrition.
As men migrate to lowlands areas or abroad in search of better income, women are left to manage the farm and household and participate in small trade and income-earning activities. Yet lack of access to credit hampers efforts to improve or expand their farm activities and earn cash incomes.Inaccessibility shapes the lives of mountain communities. Further, the challenges men and women face in mountain regions is intensified by altitude, steep terrain and isolation.
Members’ voices: Mathew John, Last ForestnewsLast Forest is a social enterprise pioneering sustainable living choices by connecting communities to markets. We promote eco-friendly, thoughtful and meaningful products made by indigenous communities in the mountains of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in South India. Indigenous communities represent 8.6 percent of the population of India. They are the...
|
MP's dialogue highlights sustainable food systems in mountainsnewsThe diversity of mountain food systems and the role of mountain people as custodians of knowledge and agrobiodiversity were highlighted in an Independent Dialogue organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat to inform the first-ever UN Food Systems Summit. This milestone Summit, which will take place in New York in September...
|
Mountains and sustainable food systems: Drivers of sustainable developmenteventAs a contribution to the UN Food Systems Summit 2021, the Mountain Partnership Secretariat will host an independent dialogue on "Mountains and sustainable food systems: Drivers of sustainable development" on 18 May. The dialogue aims to show the specificity of mountain food systems as well as generate innovative and...
|
IPROMO 2021 call for applications: Post COVID-19 recovery in mountain areaspeak to peakThe May 2021 issue of Peak to Peak announces the call for applications for the fourteenth annual IPROMO Summer School, this year to focus on "Post COVID-19 recovery in mountain areas." Members' Voices features a blog post from the Feminist Hiking Collective sharing reflections from the mountain women that participated in their global Earth Day... Download » |
Highlighting sustainable food systems in mountains for the UN Food Systems Summit 2021publicationAs a contribution to the discussion on sustainable food systems in mountains in the lead up to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, an info sheet has been developed by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat and Theresa Tribaldos, Centre for Development and Environment. Mountain agriculture and food production sustain the livelihoods of... Download » |
Utah students advocate for mountain women at CSW65newsMembers of the Utah International Mountain Forum (UIMF), a coalition of student clubs at Utah Valley University (UVU), showcased Utah as a promising model for sustainable mountain development during a parallel event at the sixty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) on 22 March....
|
Mountain Partnership
| Our work
| Focus areas
| Follow Us
Subscribe to Peak to Peak Newsletter
|
