Case studies
We will now look at some case studies or examples of women leading sustainability efforts in their communities around the world.
Activity
For all the cases studies think about:
- how women may be doing non-traditional activities as leaders and change agents; and
- whether individuals like yourself could duplicate some of these actions or start similar actions in your community.
Case study
Chipko movement
The Hindi word chipko means “to hug” or “to cling to.” The Chipko protest movement originated in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh) and quickly spread throughout the Indian Himalayas. The first Chipko protest occurred in 1973, near the village of Mandal in the upper Alaknanda Valley. The protest was against the government, which had denied approval to the villagers to use a small number of trees to build agricultural tools but had given approval to a sporting goods manufacturer to cut down many trees. Chandi Prasad Bhatt led villagers into the forest, where they surrounded the trees to prevent logging. The logging company was prevented from cutting down the trees, and the government later cancelled the company’s logging permit and granted the village cooperative, the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal (DGSM), approval for their original request.The next major protest occurred in 1974, near the village of Reni, when a large student-led demonstration protested against a plan to fell more than 2,000 trees. The government insisted that all the men from the surrounding villages go to a nearby city to receive compensation, but this was seen as a plot to allow the loggers to proceed unhindered. The women and girls who remained in the villages, led by Gaura Devi, got together to hug the trees and refused to move out of the way of the loggers. They bravely stood up to the loggers, all of whom were men. In response to the protest actions, the government established an investigation into the demonstrations and finally declared a ten-year ban on commercial logging in the area.
The Chipko movement became a popular peasants’ and women’s movement for forest rights. Chipko protesters used a variety of non-violent techniques grounded in Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha (non-violent resistance), such as fasting and tying sacred threads around the trees while reading from the Bhagavadgita. In 1978, in Pulna Village in the Bhyundar Valley, the women took away the loggers’ tools and left “receipts” for the tools to be returned only if the loggers withdrew from the forest.
The protests gradually expanded across the entire region, ultimately becoming the Save Himalaya movement. In the 1980s, the protests were focused on the Tehri Dam limestone mining operations, and resulted in the closure of at least one limestone quarry. Large-scale reforestation resulted in the planting of more than 1 million trees in the region.
After the ten-year ban, the government resumed large-scale logging, but the protests continued.
The video The Chipko Movement: A Milestone in Ecofeminism, by Feminism in India, provides some background and original pictures of the Chipko Movement.
Activity
The video The Chipko Movement: A Milestone in Ecofeminism ends with a question: Why do you think ecofeminism is essential to our survival?
Think about this question and write your thoughts in your journal. Alternatively, the facilitator may ask you and the other participants to discuss your thoughts.
Case study
Planting resilience to climate change
In 1998 in Honduras, Central America, flooding and landslides caused by Hurricane Mitch killed more than 7,000 people and eroded the landscape and coastlines. An estimated 1.5 million people were displaced. A year or so later, wind blowing in from the sea created large sand dunes. The mounds of sand began to spread into the community and covered a row of houses. Hundreds of residents were forced to leave their homes and relocate.
Attempts by outside organisations to restore the beach with non-native vegetation failed. A group of local Garifuna women and OFRANEH (the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras) established a nursery that produced 3,600 seedlings of native shrubs and trees. The women planted cocoplum, sea grape and other native coastal plants on and around the sand dunes in an effort to halt the advancing sand and prevent further displacement of the residents of the Santa Rosa de Aguán community. Over the years, the vegetation thrived. Today, the vegetation planted around the community by Garifuna women helps to prevent the dunes from building up and creates a natural protection barrier from coastal erosion due to climate change events.
Adapted from Cuffe, S. (2017, 24 July). Planting resilience to climate change. Earth Island Journal. https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/planting_resilience_to_climate_change/
Licence: see Republication Guidelines: Earth Island Journal
Case study
Women-led community water governance safeguards for drinking water in Bangladesh
In 2015, the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCBD) established a community-led water management system in response to a local drinking water crisis. In three coastal districts that were experiencing increased soil salinity, the women who collected drinking water for their households formed groups to identify and discuss the challenges they faced. They also discussed potential solutions to their challenges. They subsequently began to collect and store rainwater during the monsoon season in ponds, and used pond sand filters to provide a safe source of drinking water for sustainable, participatory water governance systems.
The approach was known as Bring Women into Action, and it was designed to give the women decision-making power at the local district level to manage the new water system. As the women gained access to powerful leadership positions, they also gained technical and governance skills. The inclusive and participatory approach to climate action was successful in improving acceptance of the new system. The water collection and storage project enhanced the livelihoods of over 4,500 residents.
Adapted from: Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh. (n.d.). Women-led community water governance safeguards drinking water in Bangladesh. Women and Gender Constituency. https://womengenderclimate.org/gjc_solutions/women-led-community-water-governance-safeguards-drinking-water-in-bangladesh/
Case study
Community Baboon Sanctuary
The Community Baboon Sanctuary (CBS) in Belize covers 5,179 hectares (20 square miles). It was initially established in 1985 to protect the habitat of black howler monkeys (called baboons by the locals). The CBS closed in 1996, but in 1998, women leaders in seven villages in the Belize River Valley created the Community Baboon Sanctuary Women’s Conservation Group (CBS WCG).
The CBS WCG implements climate-resilient practices among 300 farmers to reduce deforestation of the monkeys’ prime habitat. The group also protects other fauna and flora found within the sanctuary. The women distribute Maya nuts and cacao seeds to local growers because these crops are drought- and flood-resistant. Many of the women are involved in eco-tourism activities such as catering, handicraft production, processing and preserving food, homestays and tour guiding.
The group is also involved in educating community members. Community rangers are trained and equipped with clothing, training tools and other equipment, and volunteer students and youth groups are responsible for data collection to monitor the monkey population, river species, water quality and wildlife.
The CBS WCG board of directors is made up of one woman representative from each of the seven villages. The organisation represents women with different livelihoods, religions, cultures and educational qualifications who collaborate on different social issues while promoting sustainable livelihoods.
Adapted from: One Earth. (n.d.). Protecting Belize’s biodiversity and enhancing community livelihoods through women-led conservation. https://www.oneearth.org/projects/protecting-belizes-biodiversity-and-enhancing-community-livelihoods-through-women-led-conservation/
Licence: Open access (see https://www.oneearth.org/terms/)
Case study
Female climate fighters in the Pacific Islands
AnnMary Radiva is sometimes called The Pacific’s Greta (Thunberg). She is a climate activist in Fiji, in the Pacific Islands, who is collaborating with a group of friends to take action against rising sea levels caused by climate change. Since 2018, they have planted 10,000 mangrove seedlings which have grown into mangrove forests. The roots of the shrub form a mesh in the salty water which stops the sea from moving inland.
These mangrove forests, like other mangroves, also help to absorb up to 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually. AnnMary thinks that because she and her friends cannot attend international conferences, demonstrations or strikes, their actions and activism are real rather than symbolic solutions. She says the mangrove is the real hero in the fight against climate change, though.
You can see AnnMary Radiva in the video The Female Climate Fight for the Pacific Islands by BBC News. The case study on AnnMary starts at the 7:23 minute mark in the video.
Case study
Team Lioness
In Kenya, Team Lioness is a group of eight young Maasi women aged 20–28. They are the first all-women group of community wildlife rangers. Being a wildlife ranger is considered a non-traditional career for women in Kenya, where women do not have many opportunities to support themselves and usually depend on their families to survive. The rangers risk their lives to protect the wild animals from poachers. One advantage of the team being all women is that other women in the community feel more comfortable sharing information about poaching activities with them. By gaining access to information about poaching before it happens, they are able to detain poachers and reduce the killing of rhinos, elephants, giraffes and smaller animals such as antelopes, impalas and gazelles. The reduction in poaching contributes to tourism in the area, which benefits many in the community. The members of Team Lioness act as role models for the next generation who will be inspired to protect their communities and earn independent incomes.
Adapted from: Silva, D. (2020, 22 September). Canopy conversations: Team Lioness engages women in wildlife conservation. CIFOR–ICRAF Forests News. https://forestsnews.cifor.org/67411/canopy-conversations-team-lioness-engages-women-in-wildlife-conservation?fnl=
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (see https://www.cifor-icraf.org/about/privacy-notice/)
Case study
Young environmental and climate change activist
Ugandan climate activist Leah Namugerwa has been a local environmentalist in her country since the age of 15, advocating for changes such as banning unnecessary plastic to reduce waste. In 2019, Leah began to speak up for the environment and founded Fridays for Future Uganda, a movement inspired by Fridays for Future, founded by Greta Thunberg a young eco-activist from Sweden.
Uganda experiences mudslides and severe flooding because of climate change, and so Leah advocates for Uganda to fully commit to the Paris Climate Agreement. As a climate change activist, she celebrated her 15th birthday by planting 200 trees. She also launched the Birthday Trees project which distributes seedlings to anyone who wants to do the same.
Adapted from: Leah Namugerwa. (2023, 5 December). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah_Namugerwa
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
