Women herders from Ömnögovi Province, Mongolia, came together between June 27th and 29th, 2025 at the forum “Empowering Women Herders: Challenges, Solutions, and Opportunities.” The meeting was organized by the Mongolian Gobi Nomadic Herders’ Association and by the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous People (WAMIP) as part of the 6th International Action of the World March of Women (WMW). The video “Land Is Life: Women Herders Defending Their Territory and Traditions in Mongolia” shows this process and is available with subtitles in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French.
The forum provided a collective space to discuss issues facing nomadic herders’ lives: the expansion of mining operations over pastures and sources of water, the obstacles to accessing healthcare and education in remote areas, and the impacts of the climate crisis on herders’ ways of living. International dialogues allowed women elders to share their traditional wisdom-knowledge about climate adaptation—knowledge built over centuries of nomadic life that new generation strive to protect and develop. The event also allowed for cultural exchange and featured visits to sacred sites in the region.
The activities affirm pastoralism as an identity, a craft, and a form of political resistance in face of extractivism, displacement, and the gap women experience in political participation. In Mongolia, nearly 80 percent of the economy relies on the land where these women live and work, and they are the ones supporting a lot of the country’s social, political, and economic life. The video shows how women’s lives and practices are connected to the struggle for climate justice, land rights, and feminist economy as an alternative to the system of multiple oppressions.
