Women’s jewelry acts as a buffer against climate change in India

In over 100 villages that Shubhangi Rathod visits in central India’s Nagpur region, the agriculture officer finds virtually no women who own land. But when a heat wave, excessive rainfall, or pest outbreak destroys the crops, the men turn to the women’s gold jewelry to raise loans, she said.

Climate change has hit agriculture in South Asia hard. There are record-breaking heat waves that destroy crops in peak summer months and rains don’t come when they are supposed to. When it does rain, the downpours are so hard that crops are washed away. Then there are the rising pest outbreaks and wild animal attacks.

To tide over incessant losses, farmers increasingly turn to loans where gold jewelry is offered as collateral. This gold is a gendered asset that is often gifted to women during marriage by their natal families for their financial security. It can be as little as a pair of gold earrings, a chain, or thin gold bangles.