Breaking the silence: the complex nexus of gender and climate change in Nepal

Abstract Nepal recognizes climate change as a significant threat to its economy, communities, and environment. Climate variability is one of the major causes of food insecurity, poverty, and inequality in the country. Marginalized and vulnerable communities, particularly women, suffer the most severe consequences of climate change. In this paper, we qualitatively analyze primary and secondary data to understand how gender considerations are integrated into agriculture and climate change policies. It aims to identify gaps in integrating gender considerations into policies and practices. Climate change’s challenges on agriculture and food security have been identified in most agricultural policies; however, those policies remain quiet on the gender-specific impacts of climate change. Representation mandates are not sufficiently linked with officials’ overall performance, resulting in limited representation of women in budget formulation, project and program design, planning, and resource and opportunity allocation. As a way forward, our analysis suggests addressing the gaps at the policy and institutional levels. For instance, to effectively address climate change, policies should be developed with a gender-inclusive approach, along with budgetary allocations that consider the gender-specific impact of climate change. Promoting gender equality in climate-resilient agriculture in Nepal requires measures such as empowering women’s networks, establishing linkages with extension services that focus on women-led cooperatives, and investing in affordable and climate-smart tools and machinery that are women-friendly. The study offers important insights for policymakers to create gender-inclusive policies. It highlights the opportunity to coordinate inter-agency responses among stakeholders and sustain ongoing national policy dialogues to identify actions required to meet the nationally determined contributions’ commitments.