Women Hold the Solutions to Tackling Climate Change and Hunger. Just Ask Them

Sep 4, 2024 | Michelle Nunn
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In Diffa, one of the poorest regions of Niger, climate change has led to more frequent droughts and floods that have created severe food insecurity and malnutrition. But despite entrenched gender inequality, communities in Diffa are seeing what happens when women lead and power resilient climate adaptation.

Women small-scale farmers have stepped up and joined forces to change the landscape of possibility. With support from local civil-society and aid organizations, these women learned about climate change, found new ways to collect and conserve rainwater, and scheduled plantings of millet, okra, and peanuts for when rain was predicted.

They set aside savings against anticipated bad weather. They convinced the local government to build new wells. Today they have a voice in the local government’s scenario planning and spending decisions. Their lives, livelihoods, families, and communities are at less risk from climate change and from hunger.

In order for this story to become the rule instead of the exception, we desperately need to scale up this proven strategy: integrated climate and food-security responses that are locally led – and developed by and for women.