Environment & Climate Resilience
Deforestation, land degradation and climate variability threaten the livelihoods of rural women who depend on natural resources. Women are hit hardest by climate shocks and remain underrepresented in the decisions about them.
50,000
Trees to be planted with communities and school clubs by year three
SDG 13
Climate action, through women-led community initiatives
Women
Positioned as environmental champions, not only as those affected
The challenge
Most affected, least consulted
Deforestation, land degradation and climate variability are threatening the livelihoods of rural women who depend on natural resources. Women are disproportionately affected by climate shocks yet remain underrepresented in environmental decision-making.
That combination is the problem in miniature. The people with the most direct knowledge of how land, water and fuel supply are changing are the least likely to be in the room when decisions are taken about them.
How environmental pressure reaches a household
- Deforestation lengthens the journey for firewood — another unpaid hour taken from women and girls.
- Land degradation reduces yields on plots women farm but frequently do not own.
- Rainfall variability makes subsistence farming unpredictable and savings essential.
- Waste accumulation in growing settlements drives preventable illness.
- Climate shocks fall hardest on households with no financial buffer — disproportionately women-headed ones.
What we do
Community-led environmental action, with women in the lead rather than consulted afterwards.
01
Community tree planting and reforestation
Planting with communities and school environmental clubs, with responsibility for aftercare agreed before the first tree goes in.
02
Waste management and clean community campaigns
Organised clean-ups paired with the collection and disposal arrangements that stop waste simply returning.
03
Climate-smart agriculture training
Practical techniques for women farmers to protect yields against rainfall variability and soil degradation.
04
Women as community environmental champions
Training and positioning women to lead environmental initiatives and to sit in the forums where land and resource decisions are made.
05
Renewable energy awareness
Solar and biogas alternatives that reduce dependence on firewood and the hours spent collecting it.
06
Conservation education in schools
School environmental clubs that combine conservation education with the practical work of planting and maintaining.
Who we serve
Who this programme is for
We work with those whose daily livelihood depends most directly on the condition of the land around them.
- Rural women and girls
- Women farmers and smallholders
- Youth and school environmental clubs
- Communities in areas of visible environmental degradation
- Communities exposed to climate variability and shocks
- Households dependent on firewood for fuel
How we work
Environmental programming is community-led by design. Interventions that communities have not chosen are not maintained after the funding ends, so ownership is treated as a delivery requirement rather than a principle.
- SDG 13 — Climate Action
- Do No Harm
- Core Humanitarian Standard
- Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanism
- Environmental policy
- PSEA
What we are working towards
Targets drawn from our organisational framework, with the horizon against which we will report progress.
- Year 1 Establish school environmental clubs and community clean-up campaigns in target communities.
- Years 2–3 Plant a minimum of 50,000 trees through community mobilisation and school environmental clubs.
- Years 2–3 Deliver climate-smart agriculture training to women farmers across target communities.
- Years 4–7 Establish women as recognised participants in local environmental decision-making forums.
- Years 4–7 Replicate the community environmental model in at least four regions of Cameroon.
Back women-led climate action
Trees, training and clean communities — led by the women who live with the consequences of environmental decline.
