Ashgabat, 14 June 2018: UNDP/GEF project “Supporting climate resilient livelihoods in agricultural communities in drought-prone areas of Turkmenistan” implemented together with the State committee for nature protection and land resources of Turkmenistan held a student essay contest “Women. Agriculture. Adaptation to Climate change.”

The goal of the contest is to raise awareness of the students about the role of women in combating climate change in the framework of SDGs implementation, and disseminate knowledge about adaptation to the existing climate change effects such as drought, desertification and lack of water resources.

“The gender equality situation in Turkmenistan is quite positive, thus, we rarely hear how women fight climate change effects in agriculture. However, this topic is very important, because besides being farmers, women also bear additional responsibility of community development,” noted Vitalie Vremis, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Turkmenistan.

The essay contest was held for students of the Turkmen state agricultural university named after S.A. Niyazov in Ashgabat, and Turkmen state agricultural institute of the Ministry of agriculture and water economy of Turkmenistan in Dashoguz. As a result of the first selection, 10 students were invited to present their works in the UN House. Then, top three were awarded certificates of recognition as a result of the evaluation by the jury panel.

UNDP/GEF project has a special component on promotion of women development issues in agriculture. In particular, the project aims to identify alternative income sources and encourage women to participate in the processes of mitigation of climate change risks in agriculture.