Climate change is an urgent existential threat, challenge and opportunity for the human race. At present, we have a global consensus but a lot of work to do.

Bhutan is a country highly vulnerable to the impacts of rising temperatures with threats from glacial lake outburst floods, shifts in weather cycles and changing monsoon patterns that can lead to increased flooding and landslides.

These erratic weather events pose risks to agriculture, infrastructure and water resources, with dire implications for the well-being of Bhutanese farms that largely operate via subsistence farming and have monsoon-dependent growing seasons. Farmers are left to bounce back and adapt to the effects of climate change, with higher risks for women and girls due to gender norms and roles within farming and agricultural practices.

In the face of these challenges, Bhutan has taken on ambitious climate goals through its climate leadership and environment stewardship. It also has a strong track record in gender-focused education milestones with over 90% school enrollment at gender parity and a largely matrilineal society with women’s equal access and ownership of property.

However, efforts within the 3 areas of climate, gender and education still mostly exist in silo, with very little inter-sectoral collaboration.

Bringing climate, gender and education together

I propose gender-transformative climate literacy (GTCL) as a solution path for a green and gender equal future. As a 2023 Echidna scholar with the Center for Universal Education of Brookings Institution, my ongoing research strives to understand and identify a set of structural and policy adjustments for a resilient green future combined with a GTCL-enabling community of practice within Bhutan and globally.

At the nexus of climate, gender and education, GTCL is an interdisciplinary approach that challenges underlying gender inequalities within the context of climate change while endeavoring to reshape societal gender norms and attitudes.

My theory of change is that with GTCL interventions and approaches, we can move to a desired state where climate change and gender are embedded in the learning systems of education and skilling for a gender-balanced green workforce, which in turn would be one of the main drivers to sustain Bhutan’s climate ambition of carbon neutrality.

GTCL for a resilient future and green growth

The education system is an untapped space to advance climate action by developing skills for a climate-informed and resilient individual.

Incorporating GTCL within education presents a window of opportunity to explicitly incorporate the importance of gender dynamics and climate literacy. It is ever more timely as National Education policy in Bhutan is currently under review.

During my field research, I spoke and interviewed several stakeholders including girls, educators, the government, youth/women/climate civil society and international development partners.

Based on focus group discussions with girls ages 13 to 18, whom I connected with through school management and civil society organization partners, I developed a framework to contextualize what is needed to develop GTCL in Bhutan:

Insights from the girls who participated in focus groups highlighted the need for a gender-informed climate knowledge and skills learning system that empowers individuals to adapt and thrive in a climate-impacted world.

In my ongoing research, my main recommendation is GTCL as the solution pathway supported by a few sub-recommendations to achieve it.

Bhutan’s Department of School Education is already a step ahead in this direction with their recently launched competency-based curriculum. The set of gender-transformative literacy strategies proposed here is intended to complement the curriculum.

In my several years of working with young people, it’s clear that they have so much curiosity and yearning to learn and most importantly, are focused on how they can apply themselves in a way that makes sense to them as well as the country and the world.

There’s a heightened call for youth and women engagement in climate issues, and with the call for climate action, it’s equally important to provide the right knowledge, skills, platform and guidance.

I believe embedding GTCL within education systems, in both learning approaches and spaces, can provide and prepare young people with a strong foundation for their green futures.

Read all the blogs in this series on climate change and education