Parallel Session 10: Building an inclusive future: gender and intergenerational equity

The climate crisis disproportionately affects women, girls, children, youth, the elderly, people with disabilities, and indigenous peoples in marginalized communities – particularly in the Global South – despite their minimal contribution to emissions. Indigenous communities endure land loss, displacement, and cultural erosion due to the adverse impacts of Climate Change. Climate action would fail to bring the intended result without addressing the climate-induced vulnerabilities of these groups and centering them as vital agents. For a just, climate-resilient society, it is imperative to promote gender equality, intersectionality, and intergenerational equity.

Limited access to resources, decision-making, and finance, combined with gendered care burdens, heightens the vulnerability of women, especially indigenous women, whose knowledge is often excluded or overlooked in climate policies. They are likely to face higher risks of poverty, displacement, food insecurity, etc. During disasters, women and girls suffer more due to mobility restrictions, school dropouts, and health issues. According to recent UN publications, women and children face disproportionate impacts from climate change. Women and children are more likely to die in climate disasters (UN Women, 2018); 90 per cent of children breathe polluted air; and 820 million suffer from heat waves (UNICEF, 2021). Moreover, Climate Change may push an additional 158.3 million women and girls into poverty by 2050 (UN Women & UN DESA, 2023).

The regional impact of Climate Change in South Asia and the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) is alarming. For example, 600 million children in South Asia are exposed to floods, droughts, and cyclones. Women in the Asia-Pacific are twice as likely to experience extreme poverty from climate impacts. The HKH is warming twice as fast as the global average, threatening water security and livelihoods. Further, climate events in the HKH’s hill and mountain areas have transboundary impacts on food security, economies, infrastructure, ecosystems, and social equality in downstream regions (State of Gender Equality Report).

In Nepal, rural women face disproportionate workloads  due to climate disruptions, while  Indigenous communities risk losing traditional knowledge, land, and culture. Similarly, because of the outmigration of men, women now make up over 70 per cent of the agricultural labour force, underscoring the need for targeted disaster preparedness support (HRM Nepal, 2022).

Objectives:

  1. Highlight gender-responsive, youth-led and indigenous community-curated climate innovations.
  2. Explore finance mechanisms ensuring equitable access for vulnerable groups.

Moderator

Ms. Sumnima Udas

Founder & Executive Director at the Lumbini Museum; Former CNN International Correspondent

Sumnima Udas is the Founder and Executive Director of the Lumbini Museum Initiative—a mission to create a state-of-the-art museum in one of the world’s most important historical, cultural and spiritual sites—Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Buddha. Currently under renovation, the Lumbini Museum is poised to become an anchor experience that re-positions Lumbini, transforming the visitor experience and uplifting the communities that live there. Prior to this latest venture, Sumnima worked as an award-winning international journalist and TV personality with 15 years of experience leading CNN International’s news and features coverage from New Delhi, Hong Kong and New York.  Udas was most recently based in New Delhi as CNN International’s South Asia correspondent covering key political, economic, social, environmental and general interest stories from the region and beyond. In addition to breaking news coverage, Udas anchored and presented CNN International’s flagship thirty-minute features show CNN Silk Road—Past Present Future, travelling on a nine month journey from China to Italy along the ancient trade route, exploring how tradition, culture and trade have developed in the 21st Century. Udas holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Washington and Lee University in Broadcast Journalism and a Masters Degree from Oxford University’s Modern History faculty.

Keynote Speaker

MS BANDANA RANA

Member, UN CEDAW Committee

Ms. Bandana Rana is a key leader of the women’s movement in Nepal. She brings three decades of experience promoting women’s rights and gender equality. She has led advocacy programmes linking United Nations frameworks provided by the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), International Conference on Population and Development, and Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. As a broadcast journalist for two decades, she led communication and media programming to challenge gender stereotypes. She is the former Chair of the National Women’s Commission Nepal. Rana is currently the Vice-Chair of the CEDAW. She was a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Group for UNSCR 1325 and UN Women’s Global Civil Society Advisory Group. In 2016, she received the Woman of Distinction Award from NGO CSW New York

Panelists

Mr. Abdus Miya

Youth Leader & Inspirational Speaker

Abdus Miya stands as a paragon of youthful dynamism and visionary leadership. Ascending to prominence as the youngest candidate in his party during the last federal elections, Abdus has swiftly etched his name among the nation’s most promising political figures. His intellectual vigor, coupled with his acute sense of public duty, has rendered him an influential opinion leader, a familiar face in public debates, and a frequent presence on television, where his cogent arguments and clarity of thought have made him a trusted voice in national discourse. His multifaceted contributions extend beyond mere political rhetoric. As the Secretary of the Central Department of Disaster Management & Volunteering at his party, Abdus is spearheading efforts to enhance disaster resilience and preparedness—an indispensable agenda for a nation susceptible to natural calamities. Concurrently, his role as a board member at the Trade Union Policy Institute under GEFONT places him at the vanguard of labor reform, where his nuanced understanding of policy intricacies is shaping more equitable and sustainable economic frameworks. Abdus Miya’s trajectory is emblematic of a new generation of leaders who combine traditional values with modern sensibilities, driven by an unwavering commitment to both their constituents and the global challenges of our time.

Mr. Jaibal Naduvath

Vice President and Senior Fellow, Observation Research Foundation (ORF), India

Jaibal is Vice President and Senior Fellow of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India’s premier think tank. His research focuses on issues of cross cultural representation, particularly identity formation, governance, technology and media. Jaibal is an alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Fudan University, Shanghai.

Ms. Patricia Fernandez-Pacheco Estrada,

Country Representative, UN Women

Patricia Fernandez-Pacheco Estrada is the UN-Women Representative to Nepal. She served as the Deputy Country Representative at UN Women Colombia and in Vietnam as part of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office. She has also worked with UN Women in Ecuador, in New York as well as in the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama.

Ms. Izabella Koziell

Deputy Director General, ICIMOD

Izabella Koziell is Deputy Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and the first woman to hold the role. Based in Kathmandu, she oversees ICIMOD’s programmatic portfolio and led the development of the organisation’s Strategy 2030 and Four-Year Action Plan to accelerate impact across the Hindu Kush Himalaya.

With over 25 years of experience in climate, environment, biodiversity, and development across the Global South, Izabella has held senior leadership roles at CGIAR’s International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID, now FCDO) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). She began her career in community-based development in Tanzania and has consistently championed inclusive, locally led approaches.

A passionate advocate for gender equality and climate justice, she received the UN Women USA “Rise and Raise Others” Award for her leadership in promoting women in climate action.