Nature’s Leading Women
Growing a movement of women across the globe leading conservation and climate action.
As the world grapples with the escalating climate crisis and the unprecedented degradation of nature, we must confront several hard truths: these global challenges disproportionately impact women and girls; and women are consistently excluded or marginalized from decision-making processes related to climate change, conservation and natural resource management.
Despite being the most affected, women are frequently underrepresented in leadership roles. Currently, women hold less than 15% of environment minister positions, and only 12.3% of top climate scientists are women. According to United Nations estimates, 80% of climate-displaced individuals are women, and women and children are 14 times more likely to die in extreme weather events.
Various factors explain this disparity: women are less likely to have been taught to swim, which increases their risk of drowning during floods; they often stay behind to care for the elderly and young during extreme weather; and in drought-stricken areas, women are typically responsible for gathering increasingly scarce water for their households.
Transformative change requires bold action and courageous leaders. That’s why The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is dedicated to supporting and amplifying the impact of women champions through initiatives like Nature’s Leading Women.
Nature’s Leading Women 2024
NLW 2024 will take place in Cavanbah (Byron Bay) on Arakwal Country, NSW, Australia this December.
Supporting Women on the Frontlines of Climate Change
The evidence is clear: when women are involved in conservation and land management, their experiences and perspectives lead to more effective and sustainable decisions. This, in turn, strengthens their communities and enhances their well-being.
However, women face barriers to fully realizing their potential in conservation. To address this, TNC launched Nature's Leading Women in 2017, a platform for women conservation leaders from the Asia Pacific region and beyond.
Through this initiative, TNC provides connection, influence and access to ongoing support—needs identified by the women themselves, financial or otherwise. By convening again in 2024, Nature's Leading Women aims to ignite and strengthen a movement that empowers women to take the lead in tackling our planet's most pressing environmental challenges. This will be the first of many opportunities to bring this movement together.
NURTURING A GLOBAL SISTERHOOD OF CONSERVATION LEADERS
Quote: -Nature’s Leading Women 2017 participant
Before [this program], I was thinking conservation was mostly male-dominated, but the Nature’s Leading Women program really opened my eyes—that women, we can really lead in conservation.
Since 2011, TNC has actively engaged with women across the Asia Pacific region to amplify their voices, enhance their knowledge and equip them to lead transformative change in their communities. Now, this is becoming a global movement.
NATURE’S LEADING WOMEN 2024
Our goals are to:
- Grow and support a movement of women leading conservation and climate action;
- Actively connect women and feminist leaders to strengthen the movement; and
- Provide women and feminist leaders with the support and resources they need to build and lead their own solutions
The official kick-off for the convening will be a weekend of celebrating women, art and conservation at the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art—a flagship series showcasing contemporary regional artists to an international audience.
Hosted by Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), curators have commissioned KAWAKI, a women’s network in the Solomon Islands, to create an exhibit for the Triennial in collaboration with the Dreamcast Theatre collective.
NATURE’S LEADING WOMEN 2017
2017 Outcomes
In October 2017, over 30 women leaders across the Pacific arrived in Magandjin/Meanjin (Brisbane), Australia for the inaugural Nature’s Leading Women. The week-long conference offered participants training in business development, leadership, marketing and mentoring. It also fuelled the growth of several community-based conservation organizations.
KAWAKI Women’s Group
With a mission to connect conservation, community and culture across their country, four women from the Solomon Islands communities of Katupika, Wagina and Kia came together in 2016 to form KAWAKI. The group leads conservation advocacy work focused on issues such as turtle conservation, waste management and logging, and is currently focused on eco-tourism opportunities in the remote Arnavon Islands. Membership has steadily surged and now stands at more than 400 members.
Mangoro Market Meri
Women in Papua New Guinea established this initiative (translated to Mangrove Market Women) following NLW 2017 to better manage local mangroves and advance sustainable livelihoods. This collaboration has helped TNC to develop gender-based analyses and training programs, and sparked local interest in blue carbon as a climate mitigation and conservation funding solution.
Wuyagiba Study Hub
In the wake of NLW 2017, members of the Ngukurr community in northern Australia established a two-way learning exchange in partnership with Macquarie University—a first in the country. The study hub increases access to university for Indigenous students in remote Arnhem Land (located in Australia’s Northern Territory) and recently celebrated the first university graduate in 30 years from the community.
What Participants Say about Nature's Leading Women
“[This event] opened up opportunities to expand our ideas and dreams and make them become realities. I learnt how to dream ideas and transform them into workable plans.”
-Nature’s Leading Women 2017 participant
“This week, as a group, even though we came from different islands, [we] believe that by continuing to support the revival of traditional resource management practices and preserving our cultural values, we can ensure food security for our people, improve our health, empower women and continue building communities that are climate resilient.”
-Berna Gorong, Partnership and Communications Coordinator, TNC Micronesia
“The exclusion of women significantly slows progress in solving the very crises market-based solutions are intended to resolve. Nature’s Leading Women was convened to help reset and realign this reality. It will take a deliberate and sustained investment of money, time and resources to address deep disparities and gender-based injustice.”
-Robyn James, Global Director of Gender Equity, TNC
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