Q&A with Prem Prakash Nepali

National Land Rights Forum (NLRF) is dedicated to a self-reliant and dignified life for landless individuals by advancing the organized power and ideological capacity of land-deprived communities to claim land rights at all levels. NLRF uses policy advocacy, issue-based campaigns, and facilitation of enabling policies to increase access to and ownership over land. Women's land rights and sustainable management of land resources are NLRF’s core mechanisms to advance women's economic empowerment, gender justice, and climate resiliency.

Q:  What are the key climate-related risks faced by communities and in particular women in your country? 

Community focus group discussion on women, land and climate change

Globally, Nepal is ranked fourth in vulnerability to climate change. Recent developments at local and national levels in Nepal are focused on infrastructure, road expansion, and building construction, which can lead to haphazard excavation of land resources and deforestation, thereby changing land use patterns, accelerating loss of agricultural land, and extending likelihood of landslides and floods. Extreme use of chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides in promotion of modern and commercial agriculture increases chronic disease, malnutrition, and anemia mostly for women and girls. Key climate change hazards affecting Nepali households and livelihoods include river flooding, heat exposure, drought, landslides, and air pollution, causing a loss of forest resources, land degradation, fewer livelihood resources, water scarcity, food and nutrition insecurity, human-animal conflict, a loss of biodiversity, displacement, landlessness, migration, and loss of life.

As Nepal is mostly an agriculture-based country with diverse geography, the poor, landless women and marginalized populations—especially from rural areas—are more harshly affected by climate change impacts. Women face disputes, harassment, gender-based violence, insecurity, and loss of dignity. Because of low agricultural income, youth migration for job opportunities has increased feminization in agriculture and women's responsibilities in the family, community, and society are extremely overloaded, limiting their economic empowerment, capacity development, and decision-making abilities.

Q:  What role do land rights and sustainable land-based solutions have in combatting these challenges?

Local capacity development on women's land rights, land use plans, and local adaptation plans of action

Land ownership is a fundamental right that determines an individual and household's social status. It is the strongest asset to use as collateral for access to finance and credits and is considered a strong proof for receiving government services, grants, subsidies, and compensations, for example in relocation and rehabilitation following an earthquake.

Equitable land rights and sustainable land-based solutions are key to equality, empowerment, and climate resiliency for landless women and smallholders. In rural Nepal, land is almost always entitled to the man. But when a woman gains land rights, she can gain economic empowerment, stronger social connections, and confidence, leading to greater resilience and decision-making ability. Constitutional provisions in Nepal guarantee equal lineage rights without gender-based discrimination and state a husband and wife shall have equal right to property and family affairs. However, this is not fully articulated into climate management policies and reality, leaving a significant national advocacy opportunity.

Managing land sustainably means optimal use of land resources while conserving land resources for future generations. A sustainable land use plan shows a road map through land classification and identifies a development plan for conserving our forest, managing our settlements, protecting our productive land, beautifying our cities, conserving our cultural heritage, ensuring industrial areas are safe, and revitalizing degraded land resources. We have an opportunity to implement these policies into practice at the local level and advocate for the same in national policy spaces.

Q:  Explain the work of this project and the approach of working with coalitions, capacity building, and advocacy. What makes this approach so meaningful or impactful?

National advocacy capacity development training

The Women-led Collective Advocacy for Climate Action project in Nepal works to interlink land rights and sustainable land management solutions with climate management policies at local to national levels. The project builds women-led and women-focused coalitions and enhances the capacity of coalition members for collective efforts on land rights and sustainable land management for evidence-based policy advocacy. We formed a national coalition composed of diverse CSOs in land, forest, and natural resource management, developed a common strategy for advocacy actions, and trained coalition members on land rights, sustainable land use planning, and climate change management. The project provides advocacy opportunities for coalition members, landless farmers, and women farmers at local and national levels and facilitates formulation of local sustainable land use policies. The project also provides cross-learning opportunities for coalition members, local governments, and national policy makers through policy dialogues.

Q:  How have coalition building and collaboration helped to advance your work?

Working with diverse coalition members from forest federations, research organizations, land rights CSOs, and women-focused CSOs created bigger learning opportunities that provide spaces to share wider knowledge and experiences on policies, approaches, interventions, and advocacy efforts.

Q:  A cornerstone of this project is to advance women’s leadership in climate action and to strengthen and sustain women-led civil society organizations. Can you reflect on that approach and why it is important to center women’s voices in collective action on climate change?

Policy advocacy on women's land rights at the World Social Forum 2024

Land rights for women ensure not only women's livelihoods, nutrition, income, and access to credit and government subsidies, but also women's decisive role in a family, community and society to foster gender equality, women's economic empowerment, social justice, and women's leadership.

Women’s land rights are vital to combat the disaster risk and climate hazards because safer habitants, self-sustained livelihoods, and government's facilities are based on a land ownership certificate in Nepal. With the Women-led Collective Advocacy for Climate Action project, coalition building, networking, capacity building, and collective advocacy approaches have led to better understanding, stronger women's advocacy capacities, and better networked women-focused CSOs.

Q:  What is one piece of advice you would offer to other organizations interested in working at the intersection of climate, gender, and land rights?

Equitable land rights and sustainable land management are at the heart of ensuring fundamental rights, gender equality, and climate justice. Land rights advocacy work takes plenty of time, effort, and resources to achieve scalable results due to its complex nature. It also needs technical expertise like cadastral mapping, geo-spatial surveying, and technical knowledge of handling databases, geo-apps, and equipment for the government-ratified model.