Português (Brasil) 
English (United Kingdom) About the project
Tropical forests, crucial for mitigating global climate change, are vanishing due to the demands of distant markets. They represent complex local-global entanglements of people and nature characterised by deep power asymmetries.
Entangled Forests (2024-2026) addresses this challenge through a research initiative that aims to support a new policy agenda advancing women's safe, empowering and effective climate activism led by women environmental defenders in the Brazilian Amazon and the Philippines. It is an 18-month-long project funded by the British Academy.
The research aims are to:
- 1) Increase understanding of the experiences, constraints and opportunities for women-led climate action,
- 2) Identify women-led climate strategies, solutions and leverage points for sectoral change in addressing escalating climate disruption, and
- 3) Identify how this crucial activism can become safer and more effective.
These aims are being addressed through an exciting and novel methodology involving social media and political economy analysis, qualitative and creative inquiry for targeted practice-based and policy impact.
The project uses two key participatory methods. First, interviews with women environmental defenders by women environmental defenders – to ensure that research is grounded in lived experience and local context. Second, the project uses creative methods, including storytelling, to support women to craft personal and collective narratives around climate action led by women defenders themselves.
Interim findings from these participatory engagements in the two countries are presented below for COP30 and highlight women's diverse strategies of resistance and collective care amid escalating climate threats and political pressures. The project is revealing how women defenders in different geopolitical spaces safeguard forests, rivers, and traditional knowledge while facing multiple threats to their lives and livelihoods. It calls for transformative policy action to ensure gender equity, environmental justice, and the protection of defenders as fundamental pillars of nature and human flourishing.
What it means to be a woman environmental defender
- Women environmental defenders understand their role as diverse and deeply rooted in specific cultural and ecological contexts. Their roles in protecting land, resources, and community well-being challenge established norms and power structures which often bring backlash.
- Women describe their role as not only about advocacy but about learning and passing on knowledge, values and responsibilities to daughters, families, and communities. Their efforts involve daily acts of resistance and care, from food choices to nurturing land, and they work in solidarity with others for environmental justice and the rights of women who protect nature.
Achievements
Women environmental defenders have played a transformative role in advancing gender and environmental justice. For example, in southeastern Pará, Brazil, women defenders helped establish the Escola Família Agrícola (Agricultural Family School), providing access to education for rural youth and laying the foundation for Latin America's largest Educação do Campo collective – a movement that defends land rights through rural education. In the Philippines, women defenders have been actively resisting a large dam project. Their actions have led to formal protection agreements, participation in environmental programs and representation at regional levels.
Our strategies
| Focus Area | Core Message |
|---|---|
| Collective Organising | "Our strategy is not to stand alone. Our main strategy is to act collectively – through social and political organization. Strong, community-based networks amplify impact across riverside, forest, and extractive communities." |
| Capacity strengthening as Strategy | "Building knowledge and capacities expands strategies and ensures public policies reflect community needs." "I used to be a woman who had no knowledge of or interest in social and political issues. Now, I am known for advocating for women's rights and defending the environment. I achieved this by becoming part of an organization. I went through many trainings, studies, and capacity-building activities, dedicating time and effort to learn and share what I've learned through organizing." |
| Protests and demonstrations | "We secure permits from the local government (for these activities) so there is no issue. We invite local government to join our activities so they are a part of it." |
| Livelihood support for other women | "This is very important for women because women need secure sources of income. As an organiser then we need to provide women with livelihoods opportunities because it is so important." |
| Community exchanges | "You must have the community's support for your actions." "Women defenders should be on the same page with the whole community. The whole community should understand so they will be protected so they are not left behind." |
| Youth Engagement | "Training young activist leaders safeguards territories and guarantees continuity for the future." |
| Communication | "...communicating with grassroots organisations and women to ensure that actions are locally owned and meaningful." |
| Formal complaints and orders | "We file appropriate formal complaints and follow up to ensure that the State fulfils its duties in guaranteeing citizens' rights and protections." "If politicians are not supportive, we draft an ordinance and present it publically. We have done this with watershed management and it was passed and enacted." |
Initial reflections on how to ensure the work women environmental defenders is more effective and impactful
| Need | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Increase resources to women environmental defenders | "Defenders cannot sustain triple workloads – paid work, caregiving, and volunteer defence work – without support." "I am a mother who just works, works and works" "Lack of resources limits the scale and impact of actions, restricting networked work." "I place great value on communication and invest in reliable equipment to ensure safety and foster transparent exchanges between myself, the women defenders I work with, and their grassroots groups, while highlighting the important work they lead in their communities." |
| Ensure physical and emotional safety of defenders | "We also hope that those of us on the frontlines of environmental defence will be given appropriate protection. In this way, we can better communicate the importance of our advocacy—that caring for the environment is not just the responsibility of a few, but a duty of all." "We are emotionally and mentally affected by this work and because of this, other women do not want to participate." "There are unique threats faced by women. There are very misogynistic remarks and threats". |
| Support women environmental defenders publicly and often | "There are rumours and gossip about women advocates". "We want people to know about indigenous people and their territories, and how women have become environmental defenders and their situation. This will be a good source of inspiration for others." |
| Prioritise policy actions that enable both nature and community-based flourishing | "Decision-makers must recognise the climate and environmental impacts on Indigenous territories, and protect their livelihoods, food, water, and biodiversity for present and future generations." |
| Invest in strengthening the leadership and advocacy capacities of women and youth environmental defenders | "We need learning opportunities that will help deepen and improve our knowledge as WEDs... and share it with our communities" |
| Promote inclusive education that promotes collective flourishing | "I want to believe that one day we will achieve an education model grounded in the pedagogy of the forest—one that empowers young people and educates them in ways that align with their own aspirations, without disconnecting them from their roots." "There needs to be greater consciousness about women's rights and the rights of women to their territories... I think there is a challenge with education." |
| Freedom of Speech | "In my workspaces, I need the freedom to think, act, connect, and produce results. I want the conditions to see those results—and, when they do not come, to understand what was missing. I need my work to be tangible and meaningful." |
| Stronger Civil Society | "There is a need to strengthen civil society social movements so that we can have easier access to resources aimed at ensuring food security and well-being in our communities." |
A call to action for COP30 leaders from women defenders
Land, rivers & forests need people
"A forest cannot stand alone... Living forests need living, responsible people. Leaders must act now to safeguard both people and tropical forests through strong, transparent public policies in education, health, land rights, and sustainable livelihoods."
Protect people and the planet
"There are many laws for environmental protection and land rights, but these are often used in ways that further abuse the very people they were meant to protect."
"We must ensure Indigenous peoples and traditional communities can live safely on their lands, women defenders are free from violence, and forests are preserved for future generations. Governments must unite beyond ideology to uphold justice, environmental integrity, and harmony with nature."
Never Back Down
"No defender should retreat an inch in the fight – for forests, waters, dignity, and rights. Even when danger is near, hope is resistance."
Grow your support and commitment to women environmental defenders
"Push for changes that protect us from threats and negative perceptions so that more rural women can become aware, get involved, and become environmental defenders".
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