State of gender equality and climate change in South Asia and the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Aditi Kapoor

Aditi Kapoor is the co-founder of Alternative Futures and Technical Advisor, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (RCCC). She has worked for over 30 years in the Asia-Pacific region on issues of environment, climate change, and development, with a strong focus on gender and inclusion. Her expertise lies in research, policy analysis, training and capacity strengthening, and communications. She has extensive experience in rural and urban field-based research and specialises in connecting field realities with state-, national- and global-level policies and programmes. Her PhD thesis focuses on three disaster-prone areas –
floods, drought, and cyclones – to discuss climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector from a gender lens.

Kapoor has worked at The Times of India, Oxfam GB and Oxfam International. She has also worked with the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent, UNDP, UN Women, World Food Programme, the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centres, Asian Development Bank and several central and state-level government departments and institutions. She has several research-based and media publications to her credit and has been on the boards of several non-profits, including the India Water Partnership, Climate Action Network – South Asia and the World Resources Institute, Washington D.C.

Dechen Dema

Dechen Dema is an Executive Engineer working with the Department of Renewable Energy (DRE) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Bhutan. Prior to joining DRE, she worked with the Department of Engineering Services under the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement. She has more than 10 years of experience working with the Royal Government of Bhutan. Currently under DRE, she is pursuing to learn more about renewable energy and energy efficiency and is working towards promoting the use of clean, affordable, and reliable renewable energy systems as well as energy efficiency and conservation measures through energy efficient technologies and appropriate behavioural changes. She holds a master’s degree in renewable and sustainable energy from Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering in electrical engineering from the College of Science and Technology in Rinchhending, Bhutan.

Farida Perveen

Farida Perveen is a GIS and remote sensing scientist and a climate change scientist. She is the Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension under the Ministry of Agriculture, Bangladesh and the Deputy Project Director in the National Adaptation Plan and Nationally Determined Contribution support project under GIZ and Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Bangladesh. Prior to this, Perveen worked for the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation and the Bangladesh Civil Service, Department of Agricultural Extension under the Ministry of Agriculture.

Perveen has 20 years of experience in GIS and remote sensing and its applications in agriculture. She has been intensively involved in the research on agriculture, climate change, landscape ecology, natural resources management, water resources, disaster management, climate-affected natural hazards, forest monitoring, fire monitoring, sustainable development, and environmental studies. She has bachelor’s degree in agriculture with a specialisation in crop science from Bangladesh Agricultural University and a masters and PhD degree from Tottori University Japan in geographical information systems and remote sensing technology for agricultural applications.

Linxiu Zhang

Linxiu Zhang is the Director of the UNEP-International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP), a joint center between the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and UNEP. She leads the implementation of a UNEP flagship programme focusing on the nexus of climate change, ecosystem services, and sustainable livelihoods (CEL) through South-South cooperation. She is a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), senior research fellow of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research at CAS, and the adjunct professor at Colleges of Economics and Management of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS). Her research covers policy relevant studies on rural development, particularly employment and migration, land tenure, public goods and services provision, poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods, climate change adaptation, and gender.

Sajida Taj

Sajida Taj is a Principal Scientific Officer and Program Leader in the Social Sciences Research Institute at the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council. She brings more than two decades of practical experience working as an interdisciplinary social scientist (gender and community development), specialising in the social aspects of sustainable community development. Her research focuses on the social dimensions of communities to improve livelihoods, gender equity, food security, manage natural resources and enhance human nutrition.
Throughout her extensive agricultural research career, she has employed techniques to engage communities to strengthen their capacities and overcome barriers in development. She has collaborated with ACIAR, FAO, ICARDA for research and development projects focusing on small holder farmers especially women and marginal communities in agriculture. Sajida Taj obtained her PhD in Gender and Community Development from the University of Canberra, Australia.

Shobhana Gurung Pradhan

Shobhana Gurung Pradhan is the Nepal Country Director for BBC Media Action, the international development wing of the BBC. She leads BBC Media Action’s projects and programmes in Nepal around climate change and resilience, governance, and health. Her work focuses on building resilience and tackling climate change at various levels of the government and community. She has been in the international development field for over 25 years working with bilateral agencies, international, and national non-governmental agencies across various sectors such as governance, youth, migration, health, and resilience. She has a master’s degree from the Asian Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines with advanced training in many countries including the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands.