Experts and activists: Support marginalized people in Asia-Pacific’s green transition

Date: Tuesday, 17 March 2026

Author: John Krich

Bangkok, Thailand — Asia-Pacific countries must ensure the rights and well-being of women, youths and other marginalized and often-ignored groups in the transition to renewable energy, experts and activists from across the region said today.

The call was made on the second day of the 2026 Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, an annual gathering sponsored by United Nations and governmental agencies as well as environmental non-governmental organizations to advance efforts to meet the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

On 19 November 2024, a youth training was organized in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. This initiative focused on equipping young people and women with the tools to address crises ranging from natural disasters to gender-based violence while fostering resilience within vulnerable communities. The training brought together participants from UN Women’s WE NEXUS project areas in Kupang and Timor Tengah Selatan District, representing diverse village perspectives. Photo: UN Women/Putra Djohan

Anna Maria Oltorp, Head of Regional Development Cooperation Section, Embassy of Sweden in Thailand, told the gathering that collaboration was needed to make sure “climate policies address power imbalances and respect human rights”. She painted a stark picture of events on the ground where “even if a process is called green, land dispossession, water stress, labour exploitation and systematic exclusion from decision-making” is often the rule.

Offering a real-world example, Florentino Daynos II, President of Dupax del Norte Environmental Defenders, in Nueva Vizcaya Province in the Philippines, brought news of the valiant struggle since 2022 of local villagers to stop foreign interests from open-pit mining across as many as 15 provinces of the Philippines by circumventing laws and community approval.

This graphic is a poster called “Feminist Climate Action by One and All”. It shares a clear message: climate action must be fair and must respect human rights. It also says that women and girls should be safe, heard and included in decisions about climate and the environment.

This poster uses photos and short text to explain why climate justice matters. It shows that the climate crisis affects people in different ways, and it often harms those who already face discrimination. The message is that everyone—especially women, young people and marginalized groups—should be part of climate solutions.

This illustration is part of UN Women’s “Feminist Climate Action by One and All” campaign, launched on 22 April 2021. It highlights a simple idea: climate action should put people first. It calls for equal rights

Feminist Climate Action by One and All: Generation Equality, Human Rights and Climate Justice, launched by UN Women on 22 April 2021. Photo: UN Women/SideKick

The president of KSBSI (The Confederation of all Indonesian Trade Unions), Elly Rosita Siliban, who is among her country’s first female labour leaders, said the Government sees “replacing one industry with another” while ignoring “an opportunity for social justice”.

She highlighted the importance of strengthening occupational safety in nickel mining and ensuring that the transition delivers the promised employment opportunities.

Insa Illigen, Programme Director of Thai-German Cooperation on Energy, Mobility and Climate, called for more gender-aware data collection where women make up only 8-10 per cent of employees in the energy sector in Thailand.

Abdul Shareen Sahib, Senior Statistician at the Bureau of Statistics in Fiji, sounded a warning about the 53 per cent of women in his country still exposed to health risks from cooking with unclean, outdated forms of energy.

Shreyasi Jah, Senior Advisor, Gender Equality and Climate Resilience at United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that “environmental crises are not gender-neutral,” and that each year over 210 million children are exposed to cyclones, water scarcity and air pollution. In order for women and youth to draw on their “resilience and empowering solutions,” the very large gender gap in technological skills must be closed, Jah said.

Jay Malette, Regional Climate Change Specialist for Climate Promise, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), highlighted a promising project in Timor-Leste that trains 700 women to lead the green economy and bring solar energy to numerous villages.

“The transition to clean energy is not just an environmental necessity, it is a developmental opportunity,” Malette said

Photos from today’s meeting:

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Yuhang Zhang contributed to this article.