Rural women at the frontline of climate change are taking action through innovation
Rural women around the world are faced with the most extreme effects of climate change and are forced to confront the worst impacts on a daily basis, carrying the burden of responsibility for providing their families with food and water.
Through initiatives like the Indigenous Information Network (IIN), women are building their resilience in the face of issues such as droughts. Training is provided to teach women to harvest rainwater and install storage tanks. Empowered by this, other women activists are building strategies to advocate to their local and national governments for climate change action.
Other women are using their own ingenuity and self-confidence. Eunice, a Kenyan community-health worker, and her mother built their own closed clay ovens. These local designs are saving women from breathing and respiratory ailments as a result of traditional indoor, open cook fires. They are also limiting smoke pollution and the amount of firewood used.