Perspective: Indigenous women hold the key to regenerative agriculture and climate adaptation

Nam Pham Thanh, Project Manager, Agri-food

Around the world, land degradation, climate change, and biodiversity loss threaten ecosystems and livelihoods alike. Agriculture, both a cause and a solution, sits at the heart of this crisis. While industrial farming practices have depleted soils and driven deforestation, a growing movement toward regenerative agriculture offers a path to restoration.  

However, one critical factor is often overlooked: the role of gender equity in achieving lasting environmental solutions. 

Women, particularly in Indigenous and rural communities, play a crucial role in land stewardship, yet they remain disproportionately marginalised - lacking access to land ownership, financial resources, and decision-making power. Without their leadership, global efforts to restore landscapes and build climate resilience will not reach their full potential. 

Globally, 36% of rural women depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, yet they face major barriers to land ownership, financial services, and training. In Vietnam, 63.4% of women work in agriculture, but much of their labour remains informal. Indigenous communities in Vietnam hold valuable traditional knowledge and can drive sustainable farming and climate adaptation, but they are often excluded from decision-making.

For instance, the K’Ho ethnic minority in Vietnam has practised nomadic upland cultivation for generations, a tradition rooted in harmony with forests. However, the global demand for coffee have disrupted their way of life. Relocated to fixed farming systems, K’Ho farmers face a double bind: intensive monocropping depletes soils, pollutes waterways, and drives deforestation, while fluctuating coffee prices threaten economic stability. Marginalised by language barriers, limited market access, and exclusion from decision-making, the K’Ho community risks losing both their cultural heritage and ability to steward the land.

Women, despite their role in K’Ho matriarchal systems, bear disproportionate burdens. Tasked with household labour, farming, and preserving traditional knowledge, they are often excluded from modern agricultural training or financial systems. This inequality also impedes restoration efforts, as women’s voices and their intimate understanding of the land are overlooked. 

Eventually, forest restoration cannot be achieved without social justice.

A blueprint for change lies in regenerative agriculture, which can heal degraded landscapes and empower marginalised communities - especially women - as agents of transformation. SNV’s CAFÉ REDD initiative in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, for instance, uses an intersectional approach, addressing the overlapping challenges of gender, ethnicity, and economic marginalisation. 

Traditional knowledge is an essential climate solution. Practices developed over centuries have proven resilient, integrating community support and adaptability into restoration efforts. 

In K’Ho culture, women lead familial and ceremonial decisions through the bòn administrative system. CAFÉ REDD builds on this structure, ensuring women participate in the co-design of restoration interventions. For instance, when introducing agroforestry practices, training sessions are scheduled around women’s responsibilities, and leadership roles are prioritised for female farmers. This approach recognises that women’s participation is a necessity for culturally appropriate and sustainable solutions. 

While improving coffee farming practices is crucial, mitigating deforestation pressures has been an important part of ensuring sustainability in the process. This is done by revitalising traditional income streams.  

Take straw wine, a ceremonial beverage crafted by K’Ho women. Once declining due to economic shifts, the CAFÉ REDD project provided seed funding, marketing training, and market linkages to a women-led cooperative. Elderly matriarchs now mentor younger women in fermentation techniques, while men contribute labour such as straw harvesting. This has established a sustainable product sold in tourist destinations, providing families additional income while balancing workloads and preserving cultural traditions. 

As R’Ong K’Chuong, leader of the straw wine group, told me, ‘This extra income helps our families, but what really matters is how it has brought us closer together.’  

By building on local traditions, the key lies not only in supporting livelihoods but also strengthening community ties and reducing dependence on forest resources. 

For me - and something that is perhaps of value to those working in this area, - the communities that drive sustainable climate adaptation processes, and the CAFÉ REDD model, have provided some critical insights for regenerative agriculture with global implications.  

It is clear that traditional knowledge is essential for unlocking climate solutions. Practices developed over centuries have proven resilient, integrating community support and adaptability into restoration efforts. It has been essential to view this from an intersectional lens - gender equity is a fundamental principle for inclusive, sustainable change. Women manage nearly half of global smallholder farms but own only a small portion of the land.  

Addressing gendered labour divisions and empowering women’s leadership is crucial to avoid perpetuating inequality. Inclusion requires intentional design. Marginalised groups must be seen as partners, not just beneficiaries. The success of CAFÉ REDD is attributed to its participatory consultations, flexible timelines, and valuing local priorities, such as preserving cultural identity. 

Scaling such approaches requires collaboration. Governments must reform land tenure policies; researchers should prioritise participatory data collection; and funders should invest in long-term, flexible financing. SNV’s alignment with the International Climate Initiative (IKI) gender strategy, which advocates for transformative, not transactional, inclusion, is a good example of this shift. 

As climate threats intensify, regenerative agriculture offers a path where ecosystems and communities thrive together. K’Ho women remind us that when we empower those most connected to the land, restoration becomes more than ecological recovery; it becomes a movement for justice.