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.
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1. Introduction: climate vulnerability and gender inequality
Nepal is vulnerable to climate change because of its mountainous topography and ecosystems, variable monsoon-driven hydrology, unplanned settlements, and a lack of resilient infrastructure (World Bank 2022). While the country experiences huge loss of life and property annually due to climate-induced disasters like floods, landslides, windstorms, and wildfires, the adverse consequences of climate change have been experienced across all sectors.
Despite its richness in geographic and socio-cultural diversity, Nepal remains an economically poor country where food insecurity and malnutrition have persisted for a long time, for example, 3.86 million people are still food insecure (National Planning Commission and World Food Program 2019). Aside from food insecurity and malnutrition, patriarchy has led to deep-rooted discrimination against women and girls across the nation.
More than 80% of women work in agriculture, contributing over 60% to the agricultural economy, whereas only 56.3% of men contribute 39.5% (FAO 2019). Women in remote areas and mountains who practice subsistence agriculture are particularly vulnerable to climate change risks (ICIMOD 2021).
Gender inequality is the main cause of women's vulnerability to climate change, and the disproportionate impacts of climate change worsen gender inequality. This disparity severely affects women's resilience and adaptive ability, and existing inequalities are likely to increase during climate disasters.
Women and men experience and respond to the impacts of climate change differently because of their gendered roles and responsibilities and socioeconomic circumstances. For instance, women's livelihoods are negatively impacted by climate change-induced water availability variability, and they are forced to spend long hours on farming work due to the hardening of agricultural soils and the emergence of new crop diseases (Gurung and Bisht 2014).
The intersections of climate change, gender, and adaptation occur at various levels, including at the household, community and markets. Adaptive capacities are influenced by power dynamics, available information, services and resources. As a result, gender-responsive policies and action plans fortified by institutional capacity-strengthening mechanisms and budgets are crucial to ensuring gender equality.
1.1. Intersection of gender policies and climate-smart agriculture
Failure to adopt gender-responsive policies, strategies, and action plans may exacerbate pre-existing gender inequalities, which have led to disparities in resource access, services, information, training, and decision-making. Ensuring the implementation of gender-specific measures is critical for increasing women's access to benefits, developing their resilience, and achieving sustainable development goals (Asian Development Bank 2020).
An integrated and comprehensive approach is necessary to enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of climate-vulnerable populations, including women, to achieve sustainable development goals 2, 5, and 13 (zero hunger, gender equality, and climate action). These goals can be achieved by promoting gender-responsive policies and practices.
To effectively incorporate the gender agenda into climate-resilient agriculture, it is crucial to implement gender-responsive policies, strategies, and action plans. This requires a harmonized approach to gender mainstreaming across all governance levels supported by operational coordination mechanisms and budgetary allocations. Integrating the gender mainstreaming process enables countries to raise their ambitions in climate action by ensuring that the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are equitable, effective, and feasible, while also taking into account social factors (UNFCCC 2021).
This recognition has had an impact on Nepal's acknowledgment of the importance of gender equality and women's empowerment in addressing climate change and agriculture. Since the introduction of the new constitution in 2015, Nepal has been reviewing its policies. In keeping with the new federal governance structure, Nepal supported the climate change policy 2019 and submitted NDC 2020 in December 2020.
In addition to policy-based approaches, the gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) strategy and action plan in climate change (2020–2030) and the disaster risk reduction strategic action plan (2018–2030) emphasize the importance of a gender-sensitive approach and the integration of a range of perspectives, including gender, age, disability, and culture, in all policies. Despite these efforts, implementation has proved challenging. Nepal needs to take further steps to meet the sectoral targets laid out in the NDC.
By investing in climate-resilient agriculture 3 and closing the gender gap in agriculture in the context of climate change, Nepal can not only create opportunities for women's empowerment and resilience but also contribute towards wider goals of equality and sustainability particularly in the context of changing temperature (Bajracharya et al 2023).
Climate smart agriculture (CSA) has the potential to narrow the gender gap by offering a range of benefits for women. However, for CSA to be gender-responsive, differences in priorities and abilities between men and women to adopt new practices must be taken into account (Huyer et al 2021). Women are more likely to adopt and implement CSA practices and technologies as men if they have access to CSA technologies and climate-related information (Gumucio et al 2020).
Effective adaptation strategies require gender-responsive policies and actions, and sustainable outcomes can be achieved only by ensuring gender equality. Overall, this paper has examined and assessed national-level policy documents on climate change and agriculture through a gender lens. The following research questions were addressed:
- 1.How is the design of agriculture and climate change policies affected by gender considerations?
- 2.What gaps exist in integrating gender considerations into policies and practices?
- 3.What recommendations can be made to promote gender equality in future policy design and implementation?
The insights gained from this paper can be valuable for policymakers and practitioners seeking to comprehend gender-specific impacts of climate change, gender roles, and climate action, and develop policies, strategies, and programs/projects to address them.
After presenting our methods, we highlight the gender-specific impacts of climate change on agriculture, including key factors identified during stakeholder consultations that amplify women's vulnerability and gender inequality to climate change. We then examine the integration of gender considerations into policy design and implementation, including institutional coordination mechanisms for gender consideration. Lastly, the paper presents best practices and recommendations for promoting gender-responsive climate actions in policy design.
2. Method
The study adopted the qualitative approach and the initial phase of the study involved desk research to identify relevant literature, organizations, stakeholders and experts. The desk research also helped finalize the methodology and collect primary and secondary information to prepare data instruments. The secondary data were collected from various data records and through complimentary discussions, meetings, workshops, interactions, and dialogues with key stakeholders.
After desk research, we identified and mapped the key stakeholders involved in policy design, development, and implementation processes related to promoting gender equality in agriculture and climate change adaptation. To better understand their roles and areas of focus, we consulted with various experts, project sector specialists, and sector focal persons from nodal ministries. These consultations helped us identify the relevant ministries and through an internal consultative process, we shortlisted the key stakeholders. This was followed by the conduction of the national-level workshop to understand the current policy context and select the relevant policies, plans, strategies and frameworks for climate change, gender mainstreaming and agriculture sectors.
A comprehensive set of questionnaires was utilized for both key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). Data collected from various sources was triangulated and analyzed to identify the gender-differentiated impact of climate change on agriculture, policy, and institutional mechanisms, budgetary allocations, good practices, and gender gaps in policies and practices.
To ensure the accuracy and reliability of the findings, a workshop was conducted to present the draft report to key stakeholders from the ministry of agriculture and livestock development (MoALD), national agriculture research council (NARC), department of agriculture (DoA), ministry of women, children and senior citizens (MoWCSC) and the agriculture training center. Their feedback was solicited to enhance the report's credibility. The draft report was revised to incorporate the comments received during the validation workshop. Before finalization, the draft is reviewed by two experts and the UNFCCC national gender and climate change focal person. All inputs and feedback received are incorporated while finalizing the paper.
The content analysis and assessment of the identified policy documents 4 are done to understand how gender considerations have been integrated by using gender inclusion criteria previously used by the CGIAR research program on climate change, agriculture and food security and others (WEDO 2016, Aura et al 2017, Paudyal et al 2019). The criteria are adapted and refined according to the country context for this assessment in stakeholder consultation workshops and meetings. The gender integration criteria used for assessing the policy documents are as follows:
1. Reference to gender and/or women in agricultural and climate change policy documents
This criterion includes the context for the reference to gender and/or women and the way the reference is made in policy documents. For example, are they being referred to as direct beneficiaries and stakeholders, as agents of change, or only as vulnerable groups.
2. Recognition of gender-differentiated impacts of climate change in agriculture
This criterion suggests how women's roles in agriculture are being identified in the policy document and whether it highlights the specific impacts of climate change on female and male farmers. For instance, whether the policy has considered the uneven impact of climate change on men and women because of their traditional gender roles, and their differentiated access to and control over productive resources.
3. Policy provision for climate change adaptation in agriculture
This criterion represents the extent to which gender-sensitive provisions in climate adaptation are mentioned in the policy. This focuses not only on recognized gender-differentiated impacts of climate change in agriculture but also on specified necessary measures for adaptation with proper plans for and allocation of resources based on women's vulnerability and adaptive capacity.
4. Provision of women's participation and engagement in planning, budgeting, and monitoring
This criterion facilitates the assessment of whether any policy provisions are suggested to ensure equal representation and participation of women, as key stakeholders in policy planning, budget formulation, design of program and project activities, implementation, and monitoring.
Table 1. Assessment of climate change, adaptation and mitigation policies, strategies, and framework using gender inclusion criteria.
| Policies, strategies, and guidelines analyzed | Reference To gender or women | Recognition of gender-differentiated impacts of climate change on agriculture | Mention of gender-sensitive provision measures for climate change adaptation | Provision of women's participation and engagement in planning, budgeting, and monitoring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate change policy 2019 | Has prioritized gender mainstreaming in climate change and recognizes women and disadvantaged groups' contributions to agriculture and sector-related livelihoods | Considers the gender-differentiated impact of climate change, highlighting the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and other disadvantaged groups | Has included gender-specific adaptation options. Emphasis has been on promoting resilient livelihoods through increased access to resources, services, and information | Encourages sectors to mainstream gender equality in sectoral policy-making, and climate change mitigation and adaptation programs. Included climate budget code (CBC) within sectoral plans |
| Climate resilient planning 2011 | Gender considerations and women's concerns are mentioned sporadically | Neither acknowledges women's roles in agriculture nor the impacts of climate change | Does not mention any word on gender-specific adaptation measures | Nothing has been mentioned about women's participation and engagement in planning, budgeting, and monitoring |
| Climate change financing framework | Refers to gender inclusion and acknowledges the challenges to integrating gender budget within the climate budget as well as into sectoral planning, and implementation of specific adaptation options | Recognizes the absence of information on how climate change will impact different sectors and how will it affect GoN's efforts in meeting the SDGs, including gender and equitable development | Encourages gender consideration in climate financing and assessing resources available to address climate change mitigation and adaptation during the medium- and long-term planning processes | Recognizes the need for capacity building of planning officers, climate focal persons, and gender focal persons of the sector ministries on using CBC in the ministries before planning and linking with gender budget |
| LAPA framework 2019 | Has considered gender mainstreaming in the climate change adaptation process | Has recognized women as vulnerable groups and their dependence on local resources | Mentioned women's and other vulnerable groups' participation in vulnerability assessments and prioritization of adaptation options | Participation and engagement of marginalized groups and women in planning, budgeting, and monitoring have been proposed |
| Second nationally determined contribution (NDC), 2020 | Aims to prepare climate-resilient and gender-responsive adaptation plans across all local-level governments | Has mentioned the impact of climate change on women and marginalized livelihoods | Highlights the need for increased access of women and smallholder farmers to CSA technologies and equitable carbon and non-carbon benefits | Promotes leadership and negotiation capacity of women, participation in decision-making, and benefit-sharing. Has encouraged to development specific programs with dedicated resources (human and financial) to ensure the full participation of women |
| National adaptation plan 2021–2050 | Refers to gender consideration explicitly under the cross-cutting area | Mentioned women's major risks and vulnerabilities as well as the impact of climate change | Suggests a priority adaptation program on gender equality and social inclusion to address vulnerabilities of women and other marginalized groups | Mentions about the need for gender-sensitive budgets, women's engagement and participation in planning and monitoring |
| Gender and social inclusion in climate change strategy and action plan 2020 | Gender consideration has been well articulated and harmonized with agriculture, climate change, and gender mainstreaming policies | The impact of climate change on agriculture and food security, including related sub-sectors being identified for women and other marginalized groups | Strategies and action plans are suggested to promote CSA, considering the gender-specific adaptation needs across all aspects of agriculture and related sub-sectors | Has emphasized gender equality at all levels and encouraged to break the stereotypes and discriminatory practices, with clear monitoring indicators |
| National disaster risk reduction policy 2018 | Considers gender inclusion in all aspects and steps of disaster management | Considers the different needs of women and other minority groups and their vulnerability | Aims involvement and partnership of all stakeholders and prioritizes gender and social issues. | Mentions about ensuring women's access, representation, and meaningful participation. Encourages to allocate a certain percentage of the budget for DRRM in the annual budgets of federal, provincial, and local governments |
| Disaster risk reduction strategic action plan (2018–2030) | Mentions about implementing gender-sensitive and inclusive approaches in all the processes of Disaster Risk Management | Considers the gender-differentiated vulnerability to disaster | Intends to mainstream climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the overall development process | Aims to promote the leadership of women and youth and strengthen risk informationsharing with women. Intends to follow GRB while preparing programs and budgets and allocating adequate budgets across all levels of the government |
| Local disaster risk reduction action plan guideline 2021 | Explicitly refers to gender and social inclusion aspects | Considers the impact of climate change and disasters on women | Suggests including gender inclusion in activity outcomes and indicators of DRR | Reservation for women's representation in the task force for action plan preparation. Suggest allocating budget from the annual budget of local government |
Table 2. Assessment of agriculture of policies, strategies, and frameworks using gender inclusion criteria.
| Policies, strategies, and guidelines analyzed | Reference To gender or women | Recognition of gender-differentiated impacts of climate change on agriculture | Mention of gender-sensitive provision measures for climate change adaptation | Provision of women's participation and engagement in planning, budgeting, and monitoring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture policy, 2004 | Women's roles in agriculture and farming-related livelihoods have been acknowledged | Has not considered the impact of climate change on agriculture, nor has considered the gender-differentiated impact | No gender-specific adaptation options are suggested but has encouraged the access of women to productive agricultural resources | Not specified any provisions for women's participation in planning, budgeting, and monitoring |
| Gender mainstreaming strategy (2006), MoAD | Has recognized the gender-differentiated roles and women's contribution to agriculture | Does not recognize the gender-differentiated impact of climate change | Emphasis has been on capacity building, institutional arrangement, income generation, and commercialization of agriculture | Seeks gender equality by promoting 50% participation of women in agriculture interventions and prioritizes women farmers' livelihoods in local government's planning and budgeting |
| Agribusiness promotion policy, 2063 | Mentions gender inclusion sporadically | Has not recognized the impact of climate change | Has encouraged women to establish agri-enterprises | Nothing on women's participation in the agri-business promotion process, and in planning, budgeting, and monitoring |
| Climate change and disaster risk management in agriculture: priority framework for action (2011–2020) | Has identified gender equity as a cross-cutting priority and referred to women's and marginalized groups' vulnerabilities in the context of livelihoods related to farming | Has considered women's limited access to land and property, and the fact that they are the hardest hit by climate extremes and other risks | Encourages efforts towards innovative and gender-sensitive agriculture technology for climate adaptation as well as capacity building of the officers at relevant departments | No regular budgeting provision for climate change adaptation, through institutional arrangements and coordination mechanisms for gender mainstreaming and women's participation in planning and monitoring are suggested |
| National agricultural research center (NARC) vision (2011–2030) | Has recognized the gender-differentiated-roles in agriculture | Recognizes the impact of climate change on agriculture, including provisions for climate change adaptation in agriculture and provisions for women | Underlines the need for gender-sensitive research, development, and dissemination of agricultural technologies to improve agricultural productivity | Highlights capacity building of women farmers and promotion of equal access to resources, information, technology, skills, and services, but hasn't specified any financial provisions |
| Irrigation policy (revised) 2013 | Highlights gender inclusion and ending gender inequality in irrigation | Has not considered the gender-differentiated impact | No gender-specific provisions for climate change adaptation | Has encouraged to promotion of women's representation in user committees, but nothing on budget provisions on |
| National seed vision (2013–2025) | Mentioned the promotion of inclusive and equitable development by ensuring women's participation | Has recognized the gender-differentiated roles in agriculture and the impact of climate change on agriculture and food security | Includes the policy provisions for women in agriculture and aims to promote value chains with a focus on poor, women, and disadvantaged communities | Has not stated about promoting women-specific measures to increase their access and affordability to improved seed varieties that suit the climate condition, and nothing on budgeting and monitoring |
| Agriculture mechanization promotion policy 2014 | Identified women's drudgery and workload in agriculture and suggested ways to reduce it | Has not considered the gender-differentiated impact of climate change | Aims to reduce the workload of women and increase their productive time through the mechanization of agriculture but nothing on gender-specific adaption options | The agriculture mechanization committees do not consider women's representation and it is not clear how they will be involved in planning, budgeting, and monitoring |
| National agro biodiversity policy 2006 (revised 2014) | Has recognized women's roles and contributions to agriculture | Has not considered the gender-differentiated impact of climate change | Has not identified the specific adaptation needs of women farmers in the process of identification, conservation, promotion, and sustainable use of agro-biodiversity | Although the equitable distribution of agricultural resources is mentioned, there is no mention of women's engagement in planning, budgeting, and monitoring. |
| Food and nutrition security plan of action 2016 | Highlights the issue of access to and control of women and girls to food and nutrition | Identifies the impact of climate change, but not its impacts on food security at the local level | No gender-specific climate adaptation measures are suggested | Provision for women's participation in planning, budgeting, and monitoring has not been stated |
| National agroforestry policy 2019 | Has considered the increased work burden of rural women and recognized women's roles in agriculture and forestry | Has not identified any specific impacts of climate change on women and other vulnerable groups | Does not include gender-specific climate adaptation options, except for a few capacity-building support | No specific provisions for financial resources nor women's participation in planning and monitoring |
| Agriculture development strategy (2015–2035) | Has highlighted gender equality in all sub-sectors of agriculture and food security | Has recognized the impact of climate change on agriculture only, but not with a gender analysis that explains impacts on women's and men's livelihoods | Mentions of the increasing resilience of farmers to climate, but no specific provision for women's resilience building are identified | Aims to increase inclusive participation and accountability in planning, implementation, and monitoring processes. Has Indicated budget allocations for gender and inclusion |
3. Results
3.1. Gender-differentiated impacts of climate change
The data and information received from stakeholder consultations and a review of secondary data on the gender-differentiated impacts of climate change highlight key factors, such as societal norms and gender roles, access to and control of assets and services, and decision-making and representation. These factors are analyzed and presented in this section.
3.1.1. Societal norms and gender roles
Several studies have demonstrated that pre-existing gender inequalities result in varying abilities of women and men to adapt to climate change (Buchy and Subba 2003, Bennett 2008, Rai et al 2021). For instance, in the Kailali district of Nepal, male and female households' adaptation practices differ considerably: men are more likely to have access to irrigation and use more pesticides and fertilizers, whereas women rely more on practices such as weeding (Huyer et al 2021).
Consequently, men and women in different social groups will have varying needs and priorities for training, technology, and resources according to their division of labor. Men and women possess unique knowledge, priorities, and criteria for selecting crop varieties and implementing cultivation, harvesting, and post-harvest activities. For instance, women bear responsibility for their family's health, nutrition, and food security, and prefer to cultivate numerous food crops to meet their family's requirements whereas men prefer short-rotation crops with high commercial value.
The data on female labor force participation demonstrates that crop production and post-harvest-related activities involve more women than men, yet women receive wages about 25% lower than men, despite the legal provision of equal pay. Nepal has a relatively high female labor force participation rate of 85.4% in South Asia, mainly due to high male out-migration and/or delayed retirement of older women (FAO 2019). However, in Nepal, women's participation in agriculture is generally informal, insecure, or low-paid.
Our FGDs suggest that female labor force participation is higher in crop production and post-harvest activities than men. However, women in these roles receive 25% lower wages than their male counterparts, despite the existence of legal provisions mandating equal pay. Moreover, women's participation in these roles is characterized as informal, insecure, and vulnerable. Climate change has an intense impact on women's health, livelihoods, and gender roles.
KIIs suggest that an increase in temperature leads to a surge in pests and diseases. New crops associated with new insects are emerging which has increased the time and workload of women farmers, as they are involved in weeding, seed collection, grading, storage, and other post-harvest activities.
As livestock has also been decreasing due to the shortage of fodder, water, and labor, livelihoods in animal husbandry have been decreasing as well. This has impacted women's and men's farmers' independence on chemical fertilizers since the availability of dung for biogas and manure is not as abundant as before. In recent years, resource-poor farmers (including women) have taken more loans due to decreased agricultural production caused by climate change (Adhikari et al 2023). As employment opportunities in the agriculture sector continue to shrink, men and women are seeking off-farm opportunities.
Our analysis suggests that several factors influence female labor force participation, including education, cultural and social norms, economic conditions, government policies, and access to childcare, among others. Therefore, it is crucial to establish equal opportunities and eradicate gender-based discrimination to promote greater female involvement in the labor force and empower women in climate actions.
3.1.2. Rights to assets and services
The impact of climate change can widen the existing gender inequalities in agriculture and community forestry. For example, Nepali women involved in the collection and sale of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are negatively affected as a result of the reduced availability of NTFPs including fuelwood, grass, and medicinal plants. This has resulted in a decrease in their overall income. Unfortunately, limited education, knowledge, and mobility restrict their ability to switch to alternative livelihood options.
It is estimated that approximately three-quarters of the Nepali population work in the agricultural sector. This sector alone contributes one-third of the country's gross domestic product, making women's contribution crucial since about 80% of them are engaged in agriculture and allied activities. Despite this, women continue to have limited access to productive assets and services such as land, water, seeds, training, extension, credit, and the market. FAO (2019) indicates that only 19.7% of women own five percent of the total land in Nepal and that only 10% of arable land is either solely or jointly owned by women.
Our analysis suggests that farmers with access to land, water, fertilizers, extension services, financial resources, technology and other inputs, including the knowledge of sustainable agriculture practices, are more likely to adapt to the impact of climate change. While efforts have been made towards enhancing the adaptive capacity of farmers by introducing new technology, women's specific needs and concerns, including their physical endowment, have yet to be adequately addressed.
3.1.3. Representation and decision-making
Stakeholder consultations suggest that despite provisions aimed at promoting women's participation in various structures, women are often insufficiently represented in the decision-making process. While women hold over 30% of elected positions across all three levels of government, their representation in leadership positions falls short of what is necessary (Rai et al 2021, Pradhan et al 2021).
Access to technology and information presents another challenge for decision-making, particularly within rural communities in Nepal, where gendered disparities are particularly pronounced. The promotion of technology has traditionally favored male-dominated cash crops, creating a need for women to access technology better suited to their unique agricultural needs. To address this issue, women must have access to credit and subsidies, and receive training on technology adoption and use, alongside the introduction of appropriate technology (MoFE 2021).
Although there have been some changes in the traditional roles of women in agriculture, the control over decision-making regarding cropping choices is still mostly in the hands of men due to their greater access to productive and financial resources. Without access to and control over agricultural services and technology, along with limited influence over adaptation decisions, women's workloads can increase, and gender inequality can widen.
In situations where men opt for labor-intensive crops like buckwheat, women may suffer the most significant impact, compromising their ability to engage in other activities. Improving women's access to technology geared toward their needs is a crucial step in increasing their agricultural productivity, as historically, technology promotion has favored cash crops dominated by men (Gartaula et al 2023).
Gender inequality and women's vulnerability determine the differentiated risk and impact of climate change on women and men (In addition to the factors already discussed, women also face challenges related to limited access to education and exposure, restricted access to markets, credit, and land rights, constrained control over natural resources by socio-political dynamics, and limited decision-making roles related to resource management.
3.2. Gender considerations in policies
3.2.1. Climate change policies, strategies, and frameworks
We have reviewed and assessed a total of 22 national policy documents concerning climate change, disaster risk reduction (10), and agriculture (12). Our assessments are conducted using gender-inclusion criteria, as detailed in the methodology section. Figure 1 outlines the timeline of Nepal's policy formulation related to climate change, while table 1 presents the details of our assessment findings.
Figure 1. Timeline of climate change and DRR policy formulation in Nepal.
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Standard image High-resolution imageAccording to our analysis, the climate-resilient planning: a tool for long-term climate adaptation 2011 policy neglected gender-specific approaches, actions, monitoring, and the provisions for women's participation, access to financial resources, and opportunities. Similarly, the climate change financing framework 2017 acknowledges the challenges of integrating gender into climate budgets and suggests the need for capacity building among planning officers, climate focal persons, and gender focal persons within sector ministries, for including gender budgeting in planning.
Five other documents—the second NDC 2020, gender and social inclusion in climate change strategy and action plan (2020–2030), the national adaptation plan (NAP) (2021–2050), the climate change policy (2019), and local adaptation plan of action (LAPA) framework 2019—focus on gender and social inclusion in the context of climate change and adaptation efforts.
They acknowledge the existing inequalities and barriers experienced by women and vulnerable communities affected by climate change, increasing increase their access to resources and decision-making processes. Moreover, these documents emphasize the importance of gender-responsive planning, budgeting, and knowledge creation and dissemination. The documents also mention the development of specific strategies and plans to address gender and social inclusion in climate change adaptation, such as the GESI and climate change strategy and action plan.
The primary differences among these documents lie in their specific focus and approach. The second NDC concentrates on ensuring equal and significant participation for women in climate-smart agricultural technologies, while the gender and social inclusion in climate change strategy and action plan has a broader scope, aiming to increase access for women and climate-vulnerable people to resources and decision-making across all sectors.
The NAP takes a sectoral approach, explicitly identifying gender-differentiated risks and vulnerabilities and emphasizing the need for capacity-building activities to reduce vulnerabilities among women and marginalized groups.
The climate change policy 2019 lacks provisions related to women-friendly tools/technology development, information dissemination, capacity-building, disaggregated data, and active targeting of women or gender impact assessment. Additionally, it does not include specificities of the mountain ecosystem.
Conversely, the LAPA framework 2019 provides a list of potential adaptation activities and practices in ten different sectors, including agriculture and food security. However, it lacks provisions related to women's empowerment and capacity-building to work effectively on climate change adaptation at local levels.
Three other documents focused on disaster risk reduction- NDRRP 2018, the disaster risk reduction strategic action plan (2018–2030), and the local disaster risk reduction strategic action plan guideline 2021- share the same goal of reducing disaster risks and vulnerability in specific groups. Yet, they differ in some of their specific focuses and approaches.
For example, the NDRRP 2018 prioritizes establishing inclusive monitoring mechanisms and promoting insurance for crops, businesses, and livestock. Furthermore, it highlights the need for meaningful participation and representation of women and minority groups in disaster risk reduction structures.
In contrast, the disaster risk reduction strategic action plan (2018–2030) emphasizes the promotion of women's and youth's leadership and capacity building in vulnerable communities. Meanwhile, the 2021 guideline for local disaster risk reduction emphasizes gender and social inclusion in disaster risk reduction strategies to address any potential violence toward women and enhance their capacity-building in disaster management.
Moreover, it for disaster risk reduction activities, outcomes, and indicators, emphasizing the importance of integrating climate change adaptation into the initiatives.
3.2.2. Agricultural policies, plans, and strategies
The assessment of agriculture policy covers a total of 12 documents (figure 2), which include plans, strategies, and frameworks aimed at addressing issues related to agriculture, food security, climate change, gender equality, and social inclusion. Although most of the policies acknowledge the significance of gender equality and seek to improve women's roles and participation in agriculture-related activities, some gaps need to be addressed to align with current priorities such as the SDGs and national climate change and gender-related policies.
Figure 2. Timeline of agricultural policies in Nepal.
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Each policy has varying focus areas and strategies. For example, the five-year plan (2021–2026) aims to reform the existing legal and institutional provisions through the utilization of rights-based gender equality and inclusion, with a focus on integrating population and development issues into mainstream policies. Regarding agriculture and climate change, the five-year plan (2021–2026) focuses on gender mainstreaming in agriculture and climate change aiming to address gender inequalities in agriculture by increasing women's access to resources and providing training and capacity-building programs. The plan pursues a locally led adaptation approach to implement the NDC prioritizing setting up climate-smart farms, and climate-resilient agriculture practices to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities through the establishment of women's cooperatives and networks and improving food security and livelihoods.
The national agriculture policy 2004 recognizes gender-differentiated roles in agriculture and promotes gender equality and inclusion in all possible agricultural activities. The gender mainstreaming strategy 2006 acknowledges women's contribution to agriculture and their differentiated roles. The agribusiness promotion policy 2006 has provisions to encourage marginalized groups, including women, to start and manage enterprises.
The climate change adaptation and disaster risk management in agriculture: priority framework for action (CCADRMA-PFA) (2011–2020) acknowledges the importance of gender mainstreaming for successful implementation but fails to identify key focus areas and corresponding activities and indicators for monitoring.
The agriculture development strategy (2015–2035) acknowledges the impact of climate change on agriculture and promotes the resilience of farmers by encouraging the adoption of stress-tolerant crops and animals while allocating a budget for gender inclusion. This strategy is notable for recognizing the negative effects of climate change on agriculture productivity and the need for appropriate adaptation mechanisms, including CSA.
However, other policies like the national agribusiness promotion policy 2006 and agriculture mechanization promotion policy 2014 do not outline institutional mechanisms to ensure women's representation in their structures. The agriculture mechanization directorate committee and agriculture mechanization technical committee are identified, but women's representation is not guaranteed. These policies also have differing provisions for institutional mechanisms to ensure women's representation and engagement in planning, budgeting, and monitoring processes. For example, the gender mainstreaming strategy 2006 and food and nutrition security plan of action FNSPA (2016) prioritize building systems to ensure women's adequate representation in development processes.
The national seed vision (2013–2025), NARC vision (2011–2030), and irrigation policy (2013) fail to address the specific needs and priorities of women and marginalized groups. They lack gender-specific provisions for climate change adaptation and irrigation technologies that are accessible to women farmers and smallholders. Despite promoting gender equality, limited access to extension services and affordable technologies continue to pose barriers.
3.3. Institutional and financial provisions
The MoWCSC is responsible for ensuring gender equity and overseeing gender mainstreaming, while the MoALD oversees agriculture-related concerns at the federal level. The planning and development cooperation coordination division (PDCCD) within the MoALD is obligated to integrate gender mainstreaming into the ministry's programs and those of related agencies.
The government of Nepal (GoN) has implemented measures to ensure that GESI focal persons are appointed at both ministry and department levels. The PDCCD's human resource and GESI section functions as the focal point for gender mainstreaming in the MoALD. However, there is a gap in linking gender mandates to officials' overall performance, and gender auditing has yet to be enforced.
Our KIIs suggest that currently, the MoALD has about 13% junior and 9% senior female staff, while the MoFE has approximately 25% female staff, including one heading a technical unit. Both the DoA and the department of livestock services are mandated to support agriculture through extension services and capacity-building, implemented through DADOs and DLSOs across Nepal's districts.
The Nepal agriculture research council (NARC) prioritizes and conducts agricultural research, while also offering consultancy services. NARC is also tasked with coordinating, monitoring, evaluating, and disseminating agricultural research activities and outcomes. Within NARC, the national agricultural environment research center collaborates with stakeholders to address environmental issues in the agricultural sector. However, due to a lack of clear gender mandates, gender-responsive tools, and technical capacity among researchers, gender and climate change issues have not been effectively integrated into agricultural research.
The national farmers' commission strives to safeguard the rights and welfare of peasants and enhance the dignity of agriculture as a profession by identifying policy gaps and recommending improvements. At the provincial level, the ministry of land management, agriculture, and cooperatives (MoLMAC) oversees agriculture, while municipalities and rural municipalities oversee agriculture-related affairs at the local level through their agriculture, livestock, and cooperatives offices. Lastly, the provincial agriculture research directorates under NARC are responsible for managing and overseeing multidisciplinary research activities.
To enhance financial accessibility, Nepal has put in place measures such as gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) and a climate change budget code to cater to the needs of women, men, and children in the national budget and to monitor climate expenditures. The national budget undergoes assessment based on gender-responsiveness indicators and their interrelation with climate change, with the purpose of promoting gender mainstreaming and addressing climate change-related concerns.
Some of the key informants revealed that the adoption of GRB has led to an almost four-fold increase in direct budgetary benefits for women from 11.3% to 38.18%. Although the MoALD has established sub-sectoral guidelines for combating climate change, there remain deficits in gender co-targets and limited comprehension and technical proficiency at the provincial and local levels. Action plans and budget allocation for gender inclusion are inadequate, while GRB and CCBC have not been fully embraced because of limited understanding and technical capacity.
At the provincial and local levels, ad hoc budgeting and priority-setting take place without assessing the effectiveness of climate change budgets. Aligning the codes for climate change and gender inclusion will offer an opportunity for more effective outcomes in terms of climate action.
Our analysis reveals that despite citing gender co-targets, several climate change projects do not prioritize gender equality. For example, between 2013 to 2016, 61% of adaptation finance projects failed to consider gender equality, despite more than half of the projects in Nepal claiming to have gender objectives.
The absence of a gender-responsive budget at the local level is a result of the lack of knowledge among policy-makers and decision-makers, which further leads to a failure to integrate gender perspectives in planning and budgeting. Additionally, the ineffective implementation of projects can be attributed to the lack of action plans and budget allocation provisions in policy documents.
3.4. Good practices
The data and information collected from both stakeholder consultations and KIIs were analyzed and presented in this section. The section describes gender-sensitive CSA practices in several recently completed and ongoing projects in Nepal. The key criteria used to select projects and programs for consideration are: (1) projects that are or have been successfully implemented with gender-sensitive activities, and (2) projects with the potential for scaling up and/or replication. Gender-sensitive programs and projects refer to initiatives that strive to ensure women and men are included and have their voices heard, and their opinions valued (UNDP 2015).
Donor-funded initiatives, like adaptation for smallholders in hilly areas, agriculture and food security project, integrating agriculture into (NAP-Ag) program, Jalabayu Maitri Krishi Pariyojana (climate-friendly agriculture project), scaling-up CSA in Nepal (CSA) and Prime Minister agriculture modernization program, give paramount importance to developing gender-sensitive methodologies, tracking indicators, and engaging social and gender experts to execute action plans and measure the impact on women and marginalized communities.
LI-BIRD and the MoLMAC have released a compendium of climate-smart agriculture technologies and practices. The compendium highlights the use of integrated home gardens and sustainable farming principles to help communities cope with climate change. It emphasizes the use of innovative techniques such as drip irrigation, intercropping, and integrated crop-pest management. Home gardens have been particularly successful in engaging women farmers, leading to improvements in nutrition, food security, and income. Additionally, they reduce the workload of women by providing easy access to fodder, water, and manure. The use of gender-friendly tools also saves time and increases income.
These projects and programs show unwavering dedication to promoting social inclusion and women's empowerment through the introduction of female-friendly technologies such as micro solar systems, biogas plants, improved water mills, and cookstoves. In many ways, these undertakings are instrumental in materializing the agricultural development strategy 2015–2035, which itself serves as an exemplar of best practices.
These projects and programs show unwavering dedication to promoting social inclusion and women's empowerment through the introduction of female-friendly technologies such as micro solar systems, biogas plants, improved water mills, and cookstoves. In many ways, these undertakings are instrumental in materializing the agricultural development strategy 2015–2035, which itself serves as an exemplar of best practices.
Non-governmental organizations, development partners, and donors are actively contributing to the integration of GESI policies within institutions and programs. This has been achieved by implementing mandatory provisions for gender analysis and gender action plans (GAP). As an exemplar, the green climate fund mandates the inclusion of a comprehensive gender assessment accompanied by a GAP and gender budget for all proposals submitted to the fund. Furthermore, they have put in place a robust mechanism to review gender-specific activities in alignment with their gender strategy and environmental and social safeguards policy.
Incorporating a GESI approach and establishing an efficient monitoring and evaluation system, while ensuring gender-sensitive indicators are in place for donor and government-funded agriculture and climate change projects and programs, is pivotal in achieving GESI outcomes over the long term.
The results of our analysis and the recommendations offer a window of opportunity not only to sectoral line ministries and departments like: PDCCD, agricultural development division of the MoALD, climate change management division of ministry of forests and environment and MoWCSC, but also to development partners, practitioners and CBOs, towards effective implementation of the policies, strategies and action plans with due consideration to inclusivity.
The findings also present an opportunity for convening a national policy dialogue to further discuss and identify action areas for meeting Nepal's commitments to NDC, translating national climate change GAP commitments into sectoral strategies and investment plans, and addressing climate impacts with a gender-informed approach.
4. Discussion and conclusion
The review and assessment of agricultural policy documents showed that while acknowledging gender dimensions in the sector, most policies failed to prioritize provisions and activities intended to promote gender equality. For example, CCADRMA-PFA (2011–2020) has highlighted the significance of mainstreaming gender priorities in all activities as the key to successful implementation, but fails to provide the identification of priority areas of focus and their corresponding activities and indicators for monitoring.
Many policies also overlooked existing socio-structural inequalities and barriers, resulting in generalized assumptions about women without proper gender analysis or data. The policies failed to recognize intersectionality among women and the existing discriminatory social practices and unequal power relations, which limit women's empowerment and resilience. There is a lack of identification of priority areas, activities, and indicators for monitoring gender priorities in policies. Policies such as agriculture policy 2004, agribusiness promotion policy 2063, agriculture mechanization promotion policy 2014, national agro biodiversity policy 2014, and national seed vision strategy (2013–2025) are silent on supporting women's empowerment and building their resilience.
Our analysis suggests it is unclear how climate-smart agricultural practices and innovations have impacted women and other marginalized groups since there is no comprehensive data that analyzes how different groups are vulnerable to climate risks. However, recent policy documents have shown an increased focus on gender issues. This could be due to the growing attention towards gender in recent years and pressure on national policy-making processes. For example, the climate change policy of 2019, the NDC of 2020, and the NAP of 2021 have incorporated gender-specific adaptation provisions to address the impacts of climate change on women and other vulnerable groups. These policies prioritize the promotion of climate-resilient livelihoods by providing greater access to resources, information, and technology. In addition, they call for gender equality to be integrated into sectoral policy-making to ensure that gender-sensitive budgets are implemented in climate adaptation planning across all levels.
The agriculture development strategy and NARC Vision both contain provisions for addressing climate change adaptation. These forward-thinking documents specifically promote the use of CSA technologies and practices, such as the cultivation of climate-resilient crops and livestock, sustainable soil and water management, and on-farm agro-biodiversity management.
DRR policies have also shown a level of sensitivity and awareness toward intersectional disparities. Although gender considerations are featured in many DRR policy documents, the focus tends to be on response rather than preparedness and resilience-building for female farmers in diverse geographic and cultural contexts. For example, early warning systems often lack gender inclusivity, although men and women process, interpret, and respond to signals differently.
Gender bias in data is a major challenge in disaster risk management and climate change sub-sectors. This is due to the patriarchal ownership practices, which often registers the loss and damage of assets and property caused by disasters in the name of a male member of the family. In most instances, women are not officially listed as farmers, as they lack legal ownership of land and household head status. Our stakeholder consultation and KIIs have shown that gender mandates are not effectively linked with the performance of concerned officials under the institution and implementation area.
The GESI section under the PDCCD at the MoALD being the focal point for gender mainstreaming, it is responsible for the implementation of gender-responsive policies and standards through various programs and projects.
The agriculture sector has published two reports on GESI progress for FY 2015–2016 and 2016–2017, but no recent reports have been released. Additionally, MoWCSC lacks the capacity and mechanisms to monitor gender outcomes in sectoral implementation plans, and there is no established coordination mechanism between MoWCSC, MoALD, and the focal ministry for climate change and the environment (MoFE). Furthermore, ministries and departments at the provincial and local levels with similar roles also lack coordination.
Women face limited representation as key stakeholders throughout the planning processes, budget formulation, design of programs and projects, monitoring mechanisms, and lack of detailed action plans to ensure inclusive adaptation outcomes. This presents additional challenges. Despite mandatory provisions for the representation of women, there are very few opportunities for their involvement in policy-level decisions. A small number of women professionals occupy senior-level government positions.
Women still face many challenges with formal representation and exclusion from extension services. Gendered decision-making in households and communities, the responsibility of care work, limited access to information and extension services, economic dependence on men, and restricted mobility have also hindered women's equitable access to benefits arising from CSA programs and projects. Nepal has made commitments to international treaties and frameworks and must urgently shift focus toward the effective implementation of policy provisions to meet inclusion targets by 2030.
Moving forward, based on our analysis, we propose the following key recommendations to support the advancement of gender equality in the design and implementation of policies for climate-resilient agriculture.
4.1. Policy design and process
- Revise or amend policies to include social and gender analysis which will effectively promote women's empowerment by offering opportunities for economic stability through climate-resilient agriculture. Climate change problems experienced by agricultural communities must be assessed through a lens of intersectionality which incorporates aspects such as ethnicity, class, caste, geographic location, disability, age and sexual orientation, among others.
- Develop sector-specific GESI policies and strategies to improve the resilience of women and marginalized groups to the impacts of climate change. Both horizontal and vertical integration across key sectors and governments should be emphasized to achieve this objective.
- Ensure the full and active participation of women at every level of policy processes. This will increase their capacity to influence policy decisions and promote the implementation of inclusive policies and practices. To achieve this, relevant mandatory provisions should be introduced in policy design. At the very least, an equal representation of women should be guaranteed in stakeholder consultations, agenda-setting, problem identification, agenda adoption, plan formulation, and drafting and review committees.
- A comprehensive impact evaluation is required to assess the effectiveness of the national seed vision (2013–2025), agriculture development strategy (2015–2035), and CCADRMA-PFA (2011–2020) in addressing the challenges related to GESI within the realm of food security, employment, and climate change adaptation.
- Policies and strategies related to disasters and agriculture need to include provisions for recovery and building resilience against a potential situation caused by any COVID-19-type crisis.
- Safeguard all agriculture and disaster management policies by prioritizing recovery and resilience with contingency plans, adaptive strategies, and resource allocation to respond to unforeseen crises like COVID-19.
4.2. Implementation
- Invest in developing the capacity of stakeholders at federal, provincial, and local levels to integrate gender mainstreaming into climate-resilient agriculture. This will guarantee that all stakeholders are well-versed in the concepts, tools, and techniques that promote gender equality. Building capacity for all stakeholders on gender mainstreaming is vital to inclusive policymaking and effective implementation.
- Institutionalize GRB at both the federal and provincial levels, with periodic reviews of sectoral spending in comparison to allocations. This will enable monitoring of whether the budget allocation produces intended gender-inclusive outcomes. Supporting the alignment of GRB with the climate change budget code will help monitor progress in inclusive climate adaptation planning and implementation in the agriculture sector.
- Promote a gender-sensitive approach while developing and promoting technology and tools to ensure their effectiveness in decreasing the workload and tediousness of tasks, as well as increasing the efficiency and productivity of women farmers. It is necessary to include issues related to women's empowerment during the revision of the 2014 Agriculture Mechanization Promotion Policy.
- Improve and bolster women's networks to enhance their connections with extension services that focus on cooperatives led by women. Investments should be directed toward developing climate-smart tools and machines that are affordable and appropriate for women. Additionally, if women farmers are connected to government and non-governmental CSA programs and projects, these technologies can be promoted using subsidy and tax exemption strategies.
- Promote and support the efficient use of loans for income-generating activities within agriculture-based enterprises. One way to accomplish this is for microfinance institutions to establish stronger links with the agriculture sector and women's networks. Furthermore, these organizations need to improve their monitoring capabilities to guarantee that loans are used appropriately and to empower women's groups in promoting their products.
Acknowledgments
This study is a part of the Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CARE) for South Asia project, which is being implemented by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) with support from the World Bank. The project consists of three primary components: agriculture, water, and resilient transport infrastructure, as well as two overarching themes: policy, planning and finance, and gender mainstreaming. The funding entity did not have any direct involvement in the research or creation of the article.
Data availability statement
The data cannot be made publicly available upon publication as they contian some sensitive information. The data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request from the authors.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they do not have any known financial or personal conflicts of interest that could have influenced the findings or presentation of this paper.
Contributions
The study design and methodology were conceptualized by the corresponding author, Bhawana Upadhyay in close coordination with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center project implementation unit and the sector specialists. Independent Gender Consultant, Aditya Bastola conducted stakeholder consultations and analyzed data with inputs from the corresponding author. The research findings were presented at the 'Advancing Women's Leadership in Climate Action: Lessons from Within and Beyond Adaptation' session at Adaptation Future 2023 in Montreal, Canada.
Footnotes
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Climate-resilient agriculture refers to the ability of an agricultural system to maintain its viability even when exposed to variable and extreme climatic conditions (Huyer et al 2021). In this study, the term 'climate-resilient agriculture' is used interchangeably with 'climate-smart agriculture (CSA)' as CSA has emerged as a predominant approach for adapting agriculture to the changing climate in the South Asian context. Climate-smart agriculture CSA aims to increase productivity sustainably, while also helping farmers adapt their farming practices to climate change and manage climate-related risks more effectively.
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