In India, Indigenous women and their ‘dream maps’ seek to protect lands from climate change
Koraput, India (AP) – in a small stream in the eastern Odisha state in India, the original villagers hunt on snakes and fish for a dinner that celebrates the annual harvest festival. The merit of collective agriculture, feed and fishing is the beginning of a new season.
But fish and other resources were diminished.
“For the present time, the rain comes late, which affects our cultivation, which led to a decrease in production,” said Sonita Modouli, a Paragupe of Potoudi Village. I stood in the fresh fields that will be planted again with millet before Unpredictable monsoons.
The original Advzis lived in these villages for thousands of years. They continue the traditional practices of growing millet, rice, feed leaves and fruits from the forest to make panels, local drink and more.
With these practices under pressure from a ClimateThey make their most important effort to date to talk about the needs of their community, and they defend the Indian authorities from protecting and restoring their lands as a nation in excess of 1.4 billion people trying to adapt to a The world of warming.
Women lead the road. Modoli and others from 10 villages, with the help of a local non -governmental organization, have surveyed resources that are dwindling and designing what needs to be restored.
Compared to the state government data from the 1960s, they found that the common areas in many of their villages have decreased by up to 25 %.
Women have created what is known as dream maps, and they show their villages in their ideal cases. The most prominent bright colors are green.
Modoli and others are planning to provide their maps and surveys to local government officials, which is the first step in requesting village development funds to preserve or restore their common areas. Women estimate that two million dollars may be needed – aspires when the poorest areas in India are struggling to secure and implement government projects.
However, women think they have a chance to succeed 50-50.
“We want to make sure these resources are available to our children,” said Modouli.
This is the first time that many women officially have led a community effort facing abroad. They say it gives them more confidence in talking about the needs of society.
“Our forests contain an abundance of diverse resources. Unfortunately, rain decreased, temperatures rose and our forest cover has diminished. However, as soon as we get the rights we deserve, our priority will be to stimulate our forests and prosperity,” said Saita Dangada of the village of Bangan Bani.
They are looking for rights in their common lands that require strangers, including authorities, to obtain permission from the villagers to make any changes to them.
India is among the most vulnerable countries in the world of climate effects. According to the Climate Risk Index 2025, the country between 1993 and 2022 was subject to 400 extremist event – including Floodsand Heat waves Hurricanes – causing 80,000 deaths and economic losses close to $ 180 billion.
Odisha is one of the poorest countries of India and one of the most vulnerable effects of climate. A study conducted by researchers from the University of Fakr Mohan from Odisha published in 2023 found that food production there has decreased by 40 % in the past fifty years due to climate change.
Most Indian farmers rely on the farm fed up by the rain, with about half of all the cultivated lands that depend on rainfall. When the monsoon becomes more predictable, the livelihoods are affected.
The indigenous population in India feels that these effects are more than others because their traditions rely heavily on forests and natural products. The organization helped the villages of Odisha with the process of drawing dreams.
Mohanti said that climate change affects their “particular presence”, stressing that they did not contribute to the problem, but they are paying the price.
He said that the public is “not only the lungs, but also a hidden kitchen for indigenous societies.”
Women’s poll found that the resources available a decade ago had diminished or disappeared. In the village of Modouli, the number of fruits such as mangoes, Java, Java Bloom, and the Indian fox, decreased significantly. The resources used to make traditional tools and other elements have become rare.
Climate experts said the Odisha project can be a model that is repeated throughout India and other countries. United Nations reports said 80 % of the world’s biological diversity It lies in the areas controlled by the indigenous peoples.
Naha Sayagal, the climate expert in Bangaluru, based in Odisha, said that women from marginalized and weak societies are affected more than climate change, and the original women in Odisha are an inspiration.
She said, “They are already driving the introduction.”
Saigal added that their work may be decisive in determining the place where India’s efforts should focus on climate change, noting that the country is working on a national adaptation plan.
It is not clear whether the dream maps will become part of that plan. Women behind them say that their project has given them an official understanding of what they and their societies have known for a long time.
They want to pass this for future generations.
“The forest is our life,” said Bornima Cisa of the village of Badakishab. “We have given birth in this forest, and one day we will die in the forest. It is our lives and ways of living.”
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