During Youth Impact Weekend that was organized in Bali, four students from Universitas Udayana—Peni, Eka, Lunar, and Celin—stood proudly beside their recycled products, representing Kami Studio, a creative enterprise born from a shared concern over Bali’s environmental future. One of the members, Eka voiced her concern about the environmental impact of ongoing rapid growth of development in Bali, particularly in her neighbourhood.

“Just ten years ago, we used to have so many trees and paddy fields where I live. Now they turn it to concrete jungles; many of them are hotels. It’s too much,” said Eka. 

Through Kami Studio, the team envisions a Bali where nature and culture exist in harmony. Their work with local banjar (village communities) aims to raise awareness on sustainable waste management and promote environmentally conscious living. Their participation in Youth Impact Weekend marked a milestone, securing their first order of 20 notebooks made from recycled materials for VIP guests’ souvenirs. The event provides a platform for young women like Peni, Eka, Lunar dan Celin to exercise their collective leadership and find concrete, visible solutions to contribute to the island’s sustainable environmental practices and learn from other peers. 

Women as Agents of Change

Women and girls are powerful agents of change in the climate crisis. They not only manage half the world’s food production but are also frontline responders, assessing risks, safeguarding families, and advocating for community resilience. Yet, their leadership remains too often overlooked.

UNDP’s Climate Promise initiative has been working to change this. Over the past three years, the program has supported gender integration across sectors:

• In its first phase, with support from the Japan Subsidiary Budget, the project facilitated the Gender Integration in Energy and Decarbonization workshop, culminating in policy recommendations that championed women's equal access in the energy sector,

• The second phase hosted focus group discussions (FGDs) to identify strategies that remove barriers to women's involvement in the energy transition,

• Most recently, in its third phase, the project collaborated with the Ministry of Forestry to organize a journalist workshop on the FOLU Net Sink 2030, encouraging media to apply a gender lens in climate storytelling. a

These efforts are rooted in a clear understanding: empowering women and girls is not just a matter of equity, it is a strategic imperative for effective climate action. There are three reasons why. First, women are environmental stewards who manage half of the world’s food production. Second, Women are resilience who can help identify disaster risks and build security for families and communities. Third, women are agents of change who can lead movements of climate actions for the sake of this and future generations. 

Women have the full capacity to lead climate actions. They offer unique valuable insights and solutions into better managing the climate and its risks, and their skills, knowledge, and leadership are needed to create changes.

Rahmi Fajar Harini, co-founder of Ecotourism Bali, who also attended the event, believes that women should be entrusted to lead. She believes that sustainability isn’t just about data and target, but also valuing care, justice and collaboration across sectors and genders.

“In the sustainability practice, we cannot just do business as usual. It needs empathetic dimensions, attention to details, and willingness to do a more complex approach—that is naturally stronger in women leadership. We tend to think thoroughly, and are often labelled as complicated’, but this ‘complexity’ is what’s exactly needed to for meaningful climate solutions,” she said.

She suggests organizing more platforms that not only invite women to attend but also strengthening their leadership roles to get them involved in decision making and implementing sustainable programs, including in the FOLU sectors. 

“We are not just complements, but we are agents of change”.

Collaborative Leadership in Climate Diplomacy

From leading grassroot movements to representing a country in international climate conferences, women play an important role in leading climate actions. Sound climate policies with gender perspectives are needed to ensure a maximum protection for women from experiencing the disproportionate impacts of climate change, and at the same time strengthen their agency as collaborative leaders and decision-makers in climate action and resilience. 

This very principle also guides Prof. Haruni Krisnawati, Senior Advisor for Climate Change at the Ministry of Forestry.  Recently representing Indonesia at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in London, she brings not just policy expertise, but also a collaborative spirit.

"In my observation in several international climate change events, many women tend to have a strong sense of ownership over these activities. This is something I've experienced myself," she said. "Women tend to be collaborative, prioritize discussions more, and view things from a different perspective."

Her leadership style is grounded in fairness and shared responsibility. In managing natural resources, she applies principles of collaborative leadership that enables her to work with various parties to manage these resources fairly and sustainably.

"It's impossible for us to work alone; multi-stakeholders must be present and involved," she explained.

Crucially, as exemplified by leaders like Prof. Haruni Krisnawati, empowering women's collaborative leadership is not merely equitable but essential for forging the robust, integrated climate policies necessary for an effective and just transition towards a global low-carbon economy. Climate Promise aims to support the Government of Indonesia to foster inclusive climate actions, engaging communities, women and youth to policy makers and researchers to collectively drive meaningful and sustainable climate action across all levels. 

Climate Promise is operated under the Nature, Climate and Energy Unit (NCE Unit) of UNDP Indonesia. Climate Promise itself is one of the UN’s largest portfolios in support of climate action, working with more than 140 countries and territories and directly benefiting 37 million people. This portfolio implements over US$2.3 billion in grant financing and draws on UNDP’s expertise in adaptation, mitigation, carbon markets, climate and forests, and climate strategies and policy. Visit our website at climatepromise.undp.org and follow us at @UNDPClimate.