Listen to the Thengapalli Women: An Account of Indigenous Women’s Activism and Climate Change in Odisha

Abstract (English)

I will discuss the role of indigenous women who have contributed to correct the human-made climate change and disaster management in India. This research is based on ethnographic fieldwork among the indigenous Thengapalli women in Nayagarh district, from 2024 to 2025. It presents a case study of rural and indigenous women leading the movement to preserve endangered forests, mountains, rivers, and other vital natural resources. The Thengapalli women (taking turns using sticks to protect the village and the forest) in 212 villages are working toward protecting their Mani Nag mountain range, which provides them a year-long supply of food, good weather and a sense of commuworkedhave been working tirelessly together, irrespective of class, tribe, and religion, to protect the forest from the loggers and greedy state forest officials. They gain strthe from their androgynous divinity of the forest and the mountain. Every life form is sacred to them and must be protected to keep humans alive.
This work will draw on life experiences of grassroots organizers and activists intimately connected with their land and how their lives and livelihood have been crippled by development projects contributing to global warming. These women in rural and tribal regions teach us to create new insights for a stable and sustainable future. Their experiences introduce us to a new vision of life and livelihood to cope with these disasters.
The stories of unsung heroes suggest women cannot be treated as marginal to the projects of development propagated by the state and corporations. The compelling evidence from India and other parts of the world shows that women have organized themselves in various movements to protect their land, livelihood, forest, and other national resources. It is incumbent upon the policy-makers at the United Nations and the respective states of various levels of local, state, federal, and supranational organizations to incorporate women’s experiences and perspectives in making policies on development which have an everlasting impact on their lives and livelihood.