Empowering women for climate resilience: financing the future of sustainability

Across the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region, women stand at the frontline of both the impacts of climate change and the fight to mitigate them. From managing household resources to leading small-scale farming and circular enterprises, rural women are essential agents of resilience. Yet despite their contributions, they remain vastly underserved by financial systems and underrepresented in decision-making spaces that shape climate and economic policies.

As NENA countries pursue inclusive and green transitions, closing the gender gap in climate finance should be seen as a strategic investment in sustainability and resilience. Unlocking women’s potential through access to climate finance and markets, particularly in emerging sectors such as the bioeconomy, offers one of the most transformative pathways to achieve both environmental and social goals.

The missing half of climate finance

Globally, only 0.01 percent of all funding supports projects addressing both climate change and women’s rights. In the NENA region, restrictive social norms, limited land rights, and gender-blind financial policies constrain women’s access to resources, training, and markets, limiting their ability to adapt to climate impacts, invest in green innovations, and grow sustainable enterprises.

Women make up nearly 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in the region yet own less than 7 percent of agricultural land. Over 80 percent of agricultural production in NENA comes from small-scale family farming, where women provide 25-40 percent of the labour, but hold less than 5 percent of landownership. Without secure land tenure, women are often excluded from credit and climate incentive schemes.

Although gender is increasingly considered in funds like the Green Climate Fund and Global Environment Facility, implementation often falls short. There is a need for alternative funding mechanisms that reduce dependence on land as collateral. Only 10 percent of rural women have access to formal credit, compared to 25 percent of men.  Governments, central banks, and partners should create gender-responsive guarantee funds, de-risking facilities, and tailor Islamic finance instruments like Qard Hasan, Mudarabah, or green Sukuk to support women-led ventures.

The promise of the bioeconomy in NENA

The bioeconomy uses biological resources to produce food, energy, and materials sustainably, creating new opportunities for women’s inclusion. By linking nature-based solutions with economic empowerment, sectors such as sustainable agriculture, aquaculture, and circular manufacturing can expand women’s access to finance, technology, and markets, especially in NENA, where land, water, and energy challenges demand climate-smart solutions.

Investing in women-led bioeconomy ventures not only strengthens livelihoods but also drives climate resilience and innovation. When women control financial resources, they tend to reinvest in environmental conservation, family nutrition, and community well-being. Emerging financial tools such as gender-responsive green bonds and microcredit for sustainable agriculture are proving how gender and climate goals can be advanced together. For example, innovative instruments are already financing women-led adaptation-focused agribusinesses in Africa and Asia. 

Case in point: advancing circular bioeconomy through women-led initiatives

FAO’s work in Lebanon shows how bioeconomy and gender-responsive financing can drive rural development. Through targeted support to women’s cooperatives and producer associations, more than 2 100 rural people (1 904 women and 197 men) across 150 women-led groups received small grants, equipment, and business development support. These investments enabled women to launch or expand enterprises that process fruits, dairy, and herbs into value-added products while integrating circular practices such as food preservation, composting, and recycling to reduce waste and costs.

These efforts strengthened the cooperatives’ production capacity and market competitiveness, enhancing women’s incomes and economic independence. The project also supported 636 refugees, including 461 women, through voucher-based employment schemes and expanded livelihood opportunities for persons with disabilities, contributing to stronger community resilience and leadership among rural women.

In Egypt, FAO has advanced circular economy solutions by enabling rural women to transform agricultural by-products into new income streams. In Minya, more than 1 100 women enhanced their skills through Farmer Business Schools and Farmer Field Schools, adopting value-addition techniques and climate-smart practices such as recycling maize leaves into animal feed and replacing chemical fertilizers with biofertilizers, boosting productivity by up to 30 percent. FAO also supported innovative women-led enterprises, including a startup converting banana waste into biofertilizers and sustainable textiles, and a microbusiness producing vermicompost from crop residues. Together, these initiatives demonstrate how circular bioeconomy approaches can reduce waste, lower input costs, and expand livelihood opportunities.

From barriers to breakthroughs

Expanding women’s access to climate finance and markets requires policy coherence and an enabling environment that aligns efforts across finance, trade, agriculture, and gender equality sectors. Coordinated action is essential to reform financial systems, eliminate gender bias, and ensure that women benefit from circular economy opportunities.

Gender equality must be embedded in climate and agricultural policies to ensure women’s roles are fully recognized. Strengthening gender-disaggregated data will improve monitoring and demonstrate the economic and social returns of inclusive financing. Empowering women through targeted training, digital tools, and innovation support can unlock opportunities in emerging green and blue bioeconomy sectors. Scaling up blended finance and public–private partnerships is also key to channeling investment into women-led, nature-based enterprises, driving environmental and social impact across NENA.

Investing in women means investing in sustainability

When women have the resources and opportunities to lead, they drive innovation, strengthen community resilience, and accelerate the transition to sustainable economies. Channeling climate finance into women-led enterprises within the bioeconomy can unlock green growth where women’s knowledge, entrepreneurship, and stewardship of natural resources produce tangible development gains.

The upcoming International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026 (IYWF) underlines the urgency of investing in the women who sustain agrifood systems and rural economies. It calls for policies and financial systems that value women’s leadership and expand access to climate finance, markets, and technology. Aligning this year with efforts to close the gender gap in green investment will help NENA countries advance both opportunity and equity. When women farmers thrive, the ripple effects reach far beyond the farm gate, nurturing stronger communities, restoring ecosystems, and securing a more sustainable and just future.