The 9th Edition of the Indigenous Women’s Annual National Conference brought together Indigenous women, including pastoralists, fisherfolk, hunter-gatherers, women with disabilities, and youth from Indigenous and marginalized communities across Kenya and also from Uganda, Tanzania, and Haiti.
The conference focused on the opportunities and challenges faced by Indigenous women and youth in climate change negotiations, land, and natural resource governance.
Speakers from diverse backgrounds highlighted the issues impacting Indigenous women due to diverse climate change including poverty, food insecurity, land tenure insecurity, conflicts and displacement. The discussions aimed to adopt and promote alternative economic activities, such as shifting to drought-resilient livestock, dryland restoration, improved traditional water harvesting methods, and adherence to traditional early warning systems. Emphasis was also placed on leveraging traditional knowledge to mitigate and solve climate change challenges.
And Indigenous women often being excluded from decision-making spaces, demanded representation and advocacy for their rights in climate change negotiations, natural resource governance and leadership platforms. They urged governments and stakeholders to involve Indigenous women in discussions and decisions affecting them, emphasizing that only Indigenous women can fully understand and address their unique challenges.
