gender and sustainable mountain development in a changing world

The international conference will bring together stakeholders from the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region and beyond to set new agendas and strategize the way forward for gender-positive change

Mountain women are often the most affected by various factors of climate change owing to social norms and practices like limited ownership and access to resources, multiple roles and responsibilities, gender division of labor, and exclusion from decision and policy making processes.

But women often have critical knowledge and experience in adapting to climate change and managing natural resources due to the high rate of male outmigration.

They sustainably manage, generate, conserve and use natural resources such as water, land, forest, pastures, and biodiversity within and across diverse environments.

They are also the backbone of mountain agriculture, livelihoods, and natural resources management.

Keeping these mountain gender issues in mind, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) based in Nepal, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests and the National Commission for Women and Children in Bhutan will be organizing an international conference titled “Bhutan+10, Gender and Sustainable Mountain Development in a Changing World” in Thimphu next week.

The conference will bring together mountain women and men, researchers, policy makers, and development practitioners from the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region and around the world for a comprehensive update, stock taking, and new agenda setting.According to the ICIMOD, globalization, climate change and other drivers of change are creating new challenges and dilemmas, as well as opportunities, for mountain women and men.

The international conference is aimed at setting new agendas and strategizes the way forward for gender-positive change and responsive research, policies, and institutions in a changing world.

The five-day conference will have six different themes. These include Climate Change; Gender and Adaption, Livelihoods: Inclusive Sustainable Development, Governance: Gender-Responsive Policies and Plural Institutions, Gender-Positive Change: Successes, Challenges, and Agenda-Setting for Gender ‘Mainstreaming’, Ecosystems: Benefit Sharing, Access, and Equity in Diverse Environments and Common Property Regimes, Water: Equitable Access, Control, and Benefits of Water Resources.

For example, the conference will look at key and emerging gendered adaptation practices, opportunities, and challenges for women and men in mountain context and how various factors have had different impacts on the livelihoods of men and women.

During the conference, participants are expected to share new and state of the art knowledge and best practices on gender and natural resource management, focus on equitable and inclusive ways of integrating gender analysis, methodologies, and best practices into sustainable mountain development.

The conference will also take critical stock of the fragmentation, successes, and challenges of gender ‘mainstreaming’ efforts, Strategize ways to address lack of traction and unequal power relations and Share innovative adaptation strategies, approaches, and methods and the ways in which women and men are negotiating their own futures in culturally specific mountain contexts.

It will also look at successes, best practices, and challenges faced by gender mainstreaming and bring out key messages and recommendations and ways forward for policy practice related to gender and emerging issues in mountain contexts in a post Rio+20 world.