Eng. Fidaa Ali Al-Rawabdeh
Women play a pivotal role in the management of natural resources and adaptation to climate changes, especially in developing communities, which necessitates their involvement in climate action to be the major contributor in facing these increasing challenges imposed by global climate change. Therefore, empowering women is one of the fundamental tools to achieve sustainable development and comprehensive environmental justice.
The Sustainable Development Financing report for 2026, released by the United Nations in April of the same year, indicated that conflicts, climate crisis, and geopolitical tensions have reduced development funding and pushed development goals off their correct course for achievement according to the Sustainable Development Plan 2030. Therefore, empowering women is not an end in itself but one of the means that contribute to achieving many sustainable development goals across its various branches, which is clearly shown in the first goal (ending poverty in all its forms everywhere), and the second goal (ending hunger and ensuring food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture), and the third goal (ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages), and the fourth goal (ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all), and the fifth goal (achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls), and the eighth goal (promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all), and the tenth goal (reducing inequality within and among countries), and the sixteenth goal (peace, justice, and strong institutions), and the seventeenth goal (strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development). Therefore, investing in empowering women is considered a practical response to the challenges that have weakened funding and contributes to achieving development goals despite global crises in various forms.
Globally, many inspiring experiences emphasize the effectiveness of empowering women in climate action, where women in rural areas in India lead initiatives to reforest degraded lands, and in several African countries, pioneering projects led by women in converting waste to energy or recyclable materials are widespread. In Scandinavian countries, there is a significant presence of women in climate decision-making positions. Overall, these models confirm that investing in empowering women not only reflects on improving her individual ability but also extends its impact on communities in enhancing adaptation to climate change and achieving sustainable development.
It is known that women, especially in rural areas, play a major role in securing family needs for food, water, and energy as they interact daily with natural resources and climate changes directly, and women possess traditional knowledge inherited in the field of natural resource management such as water conservation methods and the use of medicinal and aromatic plants, vegetable cultivation and preservation, dealing with energy sources, and agricultural manufacturing, among other knowledge. Her role is not limited to this, but sometimes extends to providing practical solutions in adaptation, which necessitates her active participation in formulating and implementing climate policies and providing her with opportunities to access various resources, knowledge, and financial and decision-making positions.
Data issued by the Jordan Statistics Department indicate that the participation rate of women in the paid agricultural sector ranges between 15%-20% in addition to a large percentage of unpaid work within agricultural families working in the sector, which highlights the importance of the presence of women despite the major challenges they face.
The empowerment process requires a comprehensive set of means that support her role and ability to impact through education and training in the fields of the environment, renewable energy, natural disaster management, agriculture, and agricultural manufacturing, which enhances her participation in climate action, along with promoting economic empowerment by supporting green projects and facilitating her access to financing, including encouraging women's participation in environmental, climate, and agricultural organizations and showcasing successful models with a focus on the most vulnerable groups in rural areas and those with special needs to ensure comprehensive efforts cover all relevant groups.
Women's empowerment issues include many sectors, some of the most important are water, environment, agriculture, energy, education, health, alongside policies, leadership, industry, and entrepreneurship. The agricultural sector is one of the most prominent as women constitute 43% of the agricultural workforce in developing countries and despite her vital role, she still faces significant challenges including limited land ownership, funding, modern technologies, and production inputs. With the increasing phenomenon of drought and desertification, the burden on women in rain-fed agriculture increases, thus facing the challenge of food insecurity and declining production and economic instability. This shows the need to enhance her capabilities through training in climate-smart agriculture and facilitating access to financial and technological resources along with working to ensure legal rights. All of this contributes to improving agricultural production as a fundamental step in enhancing environmental sustainability and achieving food security.
In the energy sector, women directly face challenges especially in developing countries in light of their reliance on traditional fuels for cooking and heating purposes. Estimates indicate that more than one billion people around the world depend on these sources, which exposes women to increased health risks especially in the respiratory system resulting from indoor fume pollution. Here empowering women in training on using renewable energy systems including solar energy is required, in addition to supporting projects in the field of clean energy and encouraging the use of eco-friendly stoves to reduce emissions. An example of successful international experiences, in India, the "Barefoot College" initiative where women in rural communities including uneducated women were trained on the installation and maintenance of solar energy systems, which contributed to economic empowerment and improving the quality of life and reducing dependence on traditional energy sources.
The water sector is one of the sectors most affected by climate change, and developing countries bear a very big responsibility in the process of securing water especially with the exacerbation of the water scarcity problem resulting from climate changes, which necessitates the need to actively involve women in managing water resources at the family and community level by supporting the use of water conservation technologies and rainwater harvesting projects and building capacities in the field of water recycling and increasing water use efficiency. Successful international experiences in this field in Kenya where initiatives led by women established cooperative societies for rainwater harvesting and distribution to homes, which enhanced the efficiency of resource management at the local level.
In the health sector, women are among the groups most affected by climate disasters whether floods, fires, diseases, and pandemics, which necessitates the need to train and integrate them in emergency and climate response plans to deal with climate crises at the community level to help improve the quality of services and enhance women's resilience in facing climate challenges.
In the industry and entrepreneurship sector, it is clearly necessary to empower women in accessing green funding and opportunities for innovation and leadership in all fields through the establishment of women's business incubators that support entrepreneurship and innovation in the fields of recycling and clean energy and assist in expanding the support network and networking for women in sustainable industries to enhance her capabilities and increase the chances of project success.
At the leadership and policy level, it is necessary to represent women in making environmental decisions and negotiations at the local and international levels to formulate appropriate environmental solutions, and from international experiences on this indicator, Costa Rica has adopted measures that support women's participation in implementing climate policies within its national frameworks, which reflects a practical orientation in promoting equality and ensuring more effective participation in environmental decision-making.
In conclusion
It is necessary to work on empowering women in climate change by integrating gender issues in all national and local climate policies, allocating climate funding directed towards women especially in rural areas, developing indicators to measure the impact of women's participation in climate action, and building partnerships between the government, civil society, and the private sector to support women, and benefiting from success stories at the local, Arab, and global levels.
# Supporting Jordanian farms is a national duty that surpasses all duties because it is the main arm of food security#
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