Mar 23, 2021
Blog by Ezgi Canpolat, Dora N. Cudjoe, and Cristina Coirolo
Indigenous women face particular disadvantages as they experience “triple-discrimination.” They are discriminated not only for being women or for being Indigenous, but also for being Indigenous women. But Indigenous women also have tremendous potential to be champions of climate action. They are custodians of Indigenous knowledge rooted in cultural and spiritual identities that value living in balance with nature. Indigenous women are often organizers and leaders at the local level in the fight against climate change, despite limiting patriarchal norms. Their traditional knowledge and practices build the resilience of Indigenous and local communities to climate change and other shocks.
This raises important questions for development and climate practitioners:
- How can we learn from Indigenous women for effective, sustainable, and inclusive climate solutions?
- How can we support and empower them to integrate their traditional knowledge and practices in climate mitigation and adaptation solutions?
Thanks to Indigenous women, CIF has been able to answer these questions in a recently published report. For this report, CIF consulted more than 50 stakeholders including Indigenous women, Indigenous and women’s groups, and development professionals in Multilateral Development Banks. The report documents cases across regions of Indigenous women applying traditional knowledge and practices to climate solutions and gives practical recommendations on how their knowledge and practices can be integrated into climate investments.
From tree replanting to pest management: innovations from Indigenous women
Perhaps the best way to illustrate the valuable knowledge we can learn from Indigenous women is to look at several examples of their innovative climate resilient practices. Take the example of their rich traditional knowledge around indigenous tree species. In Kenya and the Colombian Amazon, Indigenous women have been using this knowledge to combat deforestation and support ecological restoration, thereby contributing to mitigation objectives while protecting their livelihoods and supporting the adaptive capacity of their communities. As Edna Kaptoyo interviewed for this study explains, Indigenous women in Kenya have been “working with the forestry department as the main supplier of native indigenous tree species and also supporting community restoration initiatives in their communities.”
Indigenous women around the world share a sacred connection to the spirit of water. They are often called “water protectors” as they provide, protect, and nurture water. In Sri Lanka, they identify water collection points based on their traditional knowledge of depth of water, distance between water collection points, and presence of trees near water to assess water quality for use. In Bangladesh, Indigenous women harvest and recycle rainwater by tying sections of Borack bamboo along the margin of the roof, using Cement jars to collect the runoff, which is then used for washing purposes. These water management strategies help improve community resilience to the effects of climate change such as droughts.
Indigenous women have been also using their traditional knowledge for weather forecasting. Because they are often the main providers of food and water, they have the most intimate knowledge of indicators of the health of plant and animal species. As one of the interviewees for the report mentions, “it is the women who will tell you ‘the acacia is flowering, so it is the onset of the rainy season.’” Their observations of these indicators help them forecast weather patterns which, in turn, help communities to take cultivation decisions and improve the adaptive capacity of their communities.
Indigenous women also help increase agricultural production through their innovative methods. Local women in Bangladesh spread ash mixed with kerosene over vegetable gardens infected with aphid as a pest control method. Many women also use ash as a vegetable fertilizer. To prevent bird attacks on vegetable plots, women hang banana leaf threads over brinjals (eggplants). Women also practice cutting narrow incisions in the stem of papaya and betel nut plants to increase fruit production. In communities practicing shifting cultivation in South Asia, they perform about 70 percent of the work that sustains these food production systems, which enable greater carbon sequestration, enhance biodiversity, and support crop in-situ conservation.
Indigenous women have been using their traditional knowledge and practices to increase community resilience to other shocks such as COVID-19. They have been at the forefront of responding to the health and economic impacts of the pandemic by adopting innovative measures. These strategies have been aimed at preventing contagion through providing culturally appropriate information, masks, and hand washing resources. They have been instrumental in supporting families in caring for high-risk individuals using traditional immune boosting medicines and in creating the conditions for individual and collective physical and mental survival.
Four lessons from Indigenous women
The report provides recommendations to climate practitioners for empowering Indigenous women to integrate their traditional knowledge and practices into climate solutions. Four notable recommendations are:
1) There is a need to research, document, and showcase Indigenous knowledge and practices held by Indigenous women. Indigenous women’s intellectual property rights to their traditional knowledge and practices should be protected.
2) Practitioners should build the capacity of Indigenous women’s groups and networks. Climate programs can provide tailored training on topics such as climate change, resilience, Indigenous women’s rights to land and natural resources, and engagement with government and decision-making processes.
3) Climate solutions should support Indigenous women to engage in climate projects and decision-making. In parallel, increase the capacity of state actors and donors on the value of traditional knowledges and practices held by Indigenous women.
4) We need to embrace a co-design approach in climate investments and see Indigenous women as partners in identifying priorities for investment and in the design and implementation of programs.
Indigenous women are change-makers that we need to engage and learn from as leaders and decision-makers for just and inclusive transitions towards low-carbon and climate-resilient economies. Read our report, share it with your networks, and help sustain the dialogue on the crucial role of Indigenous women in the fight against climate change!
You can read the report summary and full report here.
