Effecting Policy Change to Enhance Climate Change Resilience Within Threatened Communities in Nepal

Climate change can be an abstract concept to those who are not yet impacted. 'Science has to be communicated in a manner that links policy and action and must be informed by the lived-realities of communities' (Vasily, 2021). Human stories can be extremely powerful and can significantly contribute to the understanding and policy responses of local, national and regional decision-makers.

This action research will connect human lived-experiences to climate change-related scientific data, and then engage policy-makers, catalysing informed responses at policy-level. The effectiveness of participatory ethnographic filmmaking as a methodology for sustainable grassroots-level community development has been proven through previous empirical action research; Film Ethnography and Critical Consciousness (Brown et al, 2023) and Community Voices .

This action research will facilitate women and girls in vulnerable communities across Nepal, to use participatory film ethnography to self-document and critically reflect on their own climate change-related challenges and mitigation actions. Through sharing real-life experiences of challenges and mitigation actions, vulnerable communities will learn from each other, mutually enhancing community resilience to climate change, and effecting policy through engagement with policy-makers.

A focus on women and girls will enhance their status within their communities and ensure that dialogue and mitigation actions are developed through a female lens.