Climate change is not neutral. Although it affects everyone, the intensity differs according to the vulnerability and coping abilities. Climate change impacts both men and women, but differently. Gender issues are often wrongly understood as being only women's issues, whereas it is about both men and women and their roles and relations. It is usually perceived that the impacts of climate change are mostly physical and economic and are equal, but, there are social and cultural impacts distributed unequally.
The mountain areas are at greater risk than the flat lands due to their fragile ecosystem, vulnerability and lack of proper adaptation mechanisms. The Himalayas have been an important source of livelihood, as it is also known as the water tower of Asia, the source of ten of its largest rivers. Difficult climatic conditions, geographical terrain, inaccessibility make life in the mountain regions very difficult. And, with the changing environment, unpredictable weather changes, mountain people become the worst victims of global warming, due to lack of unpreparedness and vulnerability. Although they contribute least to climate change, they are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Women in the mountains are double marginalized firstly as women and then as mountain women. In addition to the challenges of living in the mountains, like harsh climate and inadequate infrastructures, they experience unequal treatment based on traditional gender relationships that deprives them from equal access to health, education, property and wellbeing. In Nepal, women consistently face hardships, due to lack of access to market, education, exposure, information and communication, contributing to their increasing vulnerability to climate change.
