On May 22, 2025, I had the privilege of attending the Consultation Meeting on “Gender-Just Climate Solutions (GJCS): Principles and Indicators.” It was co-organized by Prakriti Resources Centre (PRC) and Tewa. As an intersectional climate justice advocate, the event reaffirmed to me why integrating gender in climate solutions is essential.
At first glance, the nexus between gender and climate change might not seem clear. But as we look closer and see how the climate crisis is not just a planetary issue, it’s a deeply social, political, gendered and justice one. This reality shaped the conversations during the consultation, where I joined researchers, experts, and grassroots civil society leaders to explore necessary questions: What do truly just climate solutions look like? And more importantly, who gets to define justice?
In Nepal and beyond, women lead climate action while bearing the greatest burdens of climate crisis. Yet they are often overlooked as “beneficiaries” or “vulnerable” instead of leaders and right holders. However, this consultation honored women’s identities as foundational to climate solutions. It emphasized the urgent need to move from exclusion to justice. That shift requires frameworks rooted in strong principles and backed by practical tools. This is where the co-creation by PRC and Tewa, Gender-Just Climate Solutions: Principles and Indicators, plays a role.
In 2022, PRC, in collaboration with Tewa – the Women’s Fund, published “Gender-Just Climate Solutions: A Discussion Paper” to foster a shared understanding of the term Gender Just Climate Solution. Given the complexity and multi-dimensional nature of Gender Just Climate Solution, the concept is often interpreted differently by various stakeholders, making it challenging to establish a universally accepted definition.
To further this work, PRC and Tewa released Gender-Just Climate Solutions: Principles and Indicators, Volume 1 in 2024, which focused on the first four principles of Gender Just Climate solution. Building on this foundation, Volume 2 is set to be developed this year, capturing the remaining five principles: gender-responsive budgeting, equitable benefit sharing, gender-sensitive climate action, accountability towards women and the most marginalized, and transformation through positive shifts in gender relations and local gender roles.
The consultation was thoughtfully structured. After an introduction to the new principles, Participants were divided into five working groups, each selecting the principle that resonated most with their personal or professional journeys. Each group unpacked the challenges, explored gaps, and then dived into given domains and indicators that could make these principles measurable and actionable. All groups, despite different thematic principles, conversations were grounded in common realities. A recurring theme surfaced across all groups, the challenge of operationalizing intersectionality. Though widely cited, intersectionality often gets lost in practice. Women’s experiences, shaped by caste, geography, class, ability, and more, are frequently flattened into a single, monolithic category. But within these layered injustices, we also found stories of resistance and transformation. Women leading climate actions. Community leaders are pushing back against exclusionary policies.
Another engaging component of the session was the revisiting and revision of the indicators outlined under each domain of the five to Nine principles of Gender-Just Climate solutions. This process moved beyond passive review. It called on us to critically interrogate whether each proposed indicator truly aligned with structural realities of women. Often, “indicators” sound dry and technical, but I’ve come to see them as deeply political tools. What we choose to measure sends a message about what we value. If we do not track how benefits are shared across gender, we risk reinforcing the same exclusions we claim to dismantle. This session challenged each of us to think critically, revise and develop additional indicators that serve people first, not systems. In a way, this session became a mirror, not just of the systems we want to build, but of the assumptions we still carry.
One of the most inspiring moments of the day was when PRC screened a powerful video showcasing an initiative by Mahila Jagaran Samuha, a women’s group based in Banepa Municipality, Kavre. Their ongoing work in nature-based farming stood out not just as an agricultural practice, but as a living example of a locally- led, gender-just climate solution. The video captured a story of women reclaiming their agency over land, food systems, and local ecosystems. This story grounded the consultation on what’s truly at stake.
Overall, this consultation left me with cautious optimism. The work ahead will be neither easy nor quick, but what made me hopeful is that a solid foundation of principles, domains, and indicators will pave a smooth way for a truly gender-just climate solution. Achieving these demands deliberate intentionality, accountability, and a commitment to intersectionality. Without these, climate interventions risk remaining extractive, top-down, and blind to structural inequalities.
