On the 5th and 6th of November, 21 women from Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR) and Chhattisgarh flocked together (15 in-person and 6 online from Chhattisgarh) as birds of the same feather for the country-level discussions on Women Environment Human Rights Defenders (WEHRD). The room was lit with a new energy of togetherness, laughter, songs, dance, thoughts and experiential sharing for two days.
The day started with a participatory activity about finding the commonalities amongst them and one of the common things that emerged was that they all are women and leaders in their own ambit. Adding to the discussion, Snehlatha Nath (Founder Director of Keystone Foundation) introduced the concept of WEHRD, the objectives of the retreat and how women face challenges at different levels.
The two days discussions and exchanges between two regions NBR and Chhattisgarh were on 5 themes- Land rights and Governance; Protected Areas; Health and Nutrition, and Livelihoods & Mining. Few common points that were noted during the discussions were about the need for awareness on laws (FRA and PESA), lack of cultural aspects and people opinions in rules and regulations declared on Protected Areas, the influence of the social and environmental atmosphere on Women’s health and nutrition, need of opportunity and consideration of women labour which gets disguised in the farm, family and other areas of work, the importance of women’s unity to fight against powerful lobbies especially Mining.
Besides the common exchanges, it was interesting to see how each region was keen to know about the solution approaches followed for the problems they are facing on the ground. There was a kind of analyzing too on what is good and bad in each region’s Government Schemes and Governance.
With all the serious discourse, there was also some fun time to dance and sing along. It was a touchy moment when in the end, each region invited the other to visit them and said they felt like a family these two days and would want such exchanges to happen more often.
Following the country level consultation, there was a Regional level consultation on 24th, 25th, and 26th November with the participation of 5 women each from 5 countries of South Asia- India, Nepal, Cambodia, Philippines and Indonesia.
From India, we had 5 participants, 3 from Chhattisgarh and 2 from NBR. The three-day event had plenary sessions covering topics on who are WEHRD, power analysis, global context of natural resource use from a feminist perspective. Days were engaging with activities and breakout rooms. At the end of three days team came up with a natural resource map of theirs with many layers on it like identifying power play, connecting the powers, and marking conflict areas. This was a platform to see within too as what is the power that is there in every WEHRD and different support systems present.
Valli and Lalitha from NBR speaking on the same exclaimed that “They never thought about how they were equipped with qualities & knowledge within themselves that can help instill positivity in other women too”.
Though there was screen fatigue of attending three-day zoom meeting, it was a joyous moment when without visas they traveled to other countries via a break-out room and met other country participants. In total it was a wonderful experience and journey of knowing WEHRD and being one for women participants. Hope these ways of empowerment and education will lead to peace and care for families and Mother Earth.
By Bhavya George
