About

In the era of the climate crisis, the burden of care work escalates exponentially for women and girls in all their diversities, especially during disasters, severe weather events, and other climate-related impacts. The increase is largely due to socio-cultural norms and unequal power dynamics.

Existing vulnerabilities and inequalities further undermine efforts to achieve sustainable development. A look at Goal 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reveals that we are critically lagging behind, according to the 2024 Asia-Pacific SDG Progress Report. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, emphasizing the urgent need to prioritize climate action strategies.

This underscores the importance of further enhancing civil society organizations’ (CSOs’) capacities in technical expertise, leadership, advocacy, and organizational strengthening.

It is in this context that the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) has partnered with UN Women Asia and the Pacific for the project “Strengthening Human Rights and Gender Equality through Climate Change Action and Disaster Risk Reduction” (EmPower: Women for Climate-Resilient Societies Project). Through this partnership, ARROW seeks to raise voices, build power, and co-create spaces for gender-responsive climate action.

The programme is jointly implemented by UN Women and the UN Environment Programme, with support from the governments of Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Between 2000 and 2019, the vulnerability of countries in the Asia-Pacific region increased considerably—eight out of the top ten countries by disaster occurrence, and seven out of ten countries by disaster-affected population, are in the Asia-Pacific region (UNESCAP).

Gender inequalities disproportionately impact people living in vulnerable situations and hinder sustainable development. Effective governance for climate action requires institutional coordination, a rights-based approach, and the inclusion of diverse groups—such as youth, women, Indigenous peoples, and local communities—in decision-making.

Women, in all their diversity, have largely been missing as key actors in climate negotiations, and gender considerations in decision-making are still not a priority for some governments.

The Community of Practice (CoP) is a knowledge sharing platform and will strengthen linkages on evidence-based research, policy and practice on gender responsive climate action in the Asia and the Pacific region.

The CoP will include an intergenerational women-led, youth led, indigenous and disability serving CSOs, climate change, SRHR organizations, human rights institutions, CSOs, research organizations, academic institutions, UN agencies working towards advance gender responsive climate action in the region.

The CoP will meet regularly, once a month to share good practices, challenges, solutions among respective organisations and stakeholders in integrating a gender responsive lens to climate policy and practice in the region.

GOAL: An enabling multi-stakeholder knowledge sharing and learning platform, bolstered by intersectional, rights-based, gender-responsive lens, which will contribute to meaningful gender responsive climate policy, and practice learnings and actions in Asia and the Pacific region. 

JOIN US! The CoP is facilitated by the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), through support from  UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and UN Women, that will document and share learning amongst the community, link with existing CoPs in the region and globally. Join us in this space for sharing stories and knowledge, towards linking and learning! Click here to sign up today.

As part of our work, currently, 150 diverse climate and gender champions from across Asia and the Pacific are engaging in the Gender Action and Climate Champions Academy, under the EmPower: Women for Climate-Resilient Societies (EmPower) programme. 

The Gender Action and Climate Champions Academy is a knowledge- and skills-sharing platform designed to foster solidarity and build movements at the intersections of gender and climate action. 

The academy aims to ensure that gender and climate champions across intersectionalities can advance regional and global advocacy efforts that push forward climate justice and gender empowerment.

The champions were selected from over 700 applications received from across the region, highlighting the strong demand for climate and gender capacity-strengthening initiatives. The selected participants include 85 from South Asia, 40 from Southeast Asia, 17 from the Pacific Islands, and 4 from East Asia.

The champions will complete a five-part webinar series, after which 25 participants will be selected based on their level of participation and leadership potential to attend on-site engagements.