Supporting Women Environmental Defenders for Transformative Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal

The document highlights how women, Indigenous peoples, and Dalits in Nepal are disproportionately vulnerable to disasters due to social norms and inequalities, yet are critical, often overlooked actors in disaster risk reduction. It identifies 'transformative DRR' as an approach that addresses the root causes of vulnerability through education, legal advocacy, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. The briefing details the contributions of various organizations—such as the Women-Friendly Disaster Management group and ProPublic—and recommends that decision-makers align national laws with international human rights frameworks, ensure accountability for infrastructure projects, and provide better resources and visibility for grassroots women defenders.

• Social stratification in Nepal creates structural challenges for women, Indigenous peoples, Dalits, and rural communities, including limited education, formal employment barriers, and lack of secure land tenure, which increases their vulnerability to disasters.
• Marginalized groups contribute essential, though often overlooked, knowledge and roles to community resilience: women as primary caregivers in disaster aftermaths, Dalits as essential service sector workers, and Indigenous peoples through empirical knowledge of sustainable resource use.
• The Women-Friendly Disaster Management (WFDM) group, representing Dalit, Indigenous, Muslim, disabled women and the LGBTQ+ community, has successfully advocated for gender-sensitive post-disaster needs assessments through the Kathmandu Declaration.
• Transformative DRR is enabled by civil society organizations that empower marginalized women through education on constitutional rights and by using legal frameworks to challenge environmentally harmful infrastructure projects.
• There is a significant gap in visibility and resources between institutionalized organizations and grassroots women defenders; the former often have international networks and financial backing that grant them authority with State authorities, while the latter remain invisible.

APA

Pross, C., Kim, D., & Vigil, S. (2022). Supporting Women Environmental Defenders for Transformative Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/brief-wed-nepal-09.09.2022.pdf

Chicago

Pross, Camille, Dayoon Kim, and Sara Vigil. Supporting Women Environmental Defenders for Transformative Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/brief-wed-nepal-09.09.2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Pross |first1=Camille |last2=Kim |first2=Dayoon |last3=Vigil |first3=Sara |title=Supporting Women Environmental Defenders for Transformative Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/brief-wed-nepal-09.09.2022.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{pross2022supporting, author = {Pross, Camille and Kim, Dayoon and Vigil, Sara}, title = {{Supporting Women Environmental Defenders for Transformative Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/brief-wed-nepal-09.09.2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }