Agrobiodiversity Management for Gender-Equitable Adaptation to Climate Change: Investigating the Gendered Roots of Vulnerability in the Nepal Himalayas

Abstract

The Himalayan region has a long history of managing agrobiodiversity as a source of livelihood, a practice that has withstood multiple forms of climatic, social and ecological risks. In the recent decades of agricultural modernization, research and development projects have sought to improve productivity of agriculture focusing on high-yielding varieties and other modes of technical efficiencies, while agricultural landscapes are undergoing rapid transformation such as rural to urban migration. In such context, there is a dilemma as to how agricultural development can be adapted to tackle climatic and socio-economic drivers, in a way that can lead to gender equality and social justice. Combining social-ecological systems approach with feminist political ecology lenses, this chapter examines the interplay between gender equity and adaptation in the Nepal Himalayas. A case study of farm-level practices with a focus on rice cultivation in a mountain village in Nepal shows how gender roles and relations are influenced by wider socio-economic changes and discusses how gender roles shape adaptation practices as households adopt high-yielding low land rice variety and abandon upland rice cultivation. The chapter concludes that agricultural modernization has not only exacerbated gender inequality but also made the farming communities more vulnerable to climate change. It is argued that a more holistic approach to agricultural research and development is needed, with full appreciation of gender-based differentiations in knowledge, management and policy, so that agriculture can withstand the impact of climate change and the socio-economic changes that the Himalayan region is undergoing.