Eco-entrepreneurship as a Key Climate Solution: Weaving together equity, economic justice, community resilience and environmental protection
Would you believe that the pineapple fiber cloth draped across Asiyah Odist’s Pinalo stand in Lombok is a key women-led climate solution? The pineapple leaves, once considered waste, have woven together the threads of women’s leadership, economic justice and climate justice — creating powerful, interconnected solutions for both the local community and the surrounding ecosystem.
At Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA) we understand that climate justice and economic justice are inseparable. Eco-entrepreneurship bridges these issues by allowing women to protect ecosystems while building sustainable livelihoods. When women are recognized as critical stakeholders in both climate and economic justice, they can lead solutions that benefit food security, equitable communities, and climate resilience. Through WEA’s work, we invest in local women to support their eco-enterprises—giving them the tools to scale their efforts and create long-term, sustainable change. Eco-entrepreneurship can be a powerful pathway toward an inclusive, safe and thriving world.
While evidence shows that women are uniquely positioned to address both climate change and poverty, they remain disproportionately impacted by both. This makes women’s eco-entrepreneurship essential—not only as a means to generate sustainable livelihoods but also as a key strategy for building climate resilience. However, deeply ingrained gender norms and cultural barriers often limit women's access to finance—preventing them from opening bank accounts, securing loans, and obtaining education and resources. These inequalities are even more pronounced for women in marginalized communities, particularly women of color and Indigenous women. Despite the critical solutions women can offer, grassroots women’s work is frequently overlooked and underfunded. At this juncture of compounding crises, we must recognize that the world has lost out on the innovations and solutions that can only emerge through women’s leadership.
Rather than relying solely on typical development strategies like one-time microloans, WEA invests in local women leaders to implement long-term, sustainable solutions that protect the environment and build community resilience. WEA’s work centers on accelerating women’s leadership and eco-enterprises ensuring they have the tools, resources, and networks they need to grow their green businesses and foster real community transformation.
WEA identifies local women-led eco-enterprises and evaluates their potential for both economic and environmental impact. Through WEA’s Accelerator Program, participants receive year-long capacity-building support in leadership, strategy, and technical training; business operations and communications development; and financing to accelerate the growth of their eco-enterprises. This holistic approach provides the tools and resources needed to launch and scale eco-enterprises that protect ecosystems, create jobs, and generate prosperity. Since 2006, WEA has catalyzed 1,989 women-led eco-enterprises, building gender equity, economic security, community resilience, and environmental protection that extends far beyond individual project investments. Our work is focused on some of the most climate-threatened regions, including Uganda, Kenya, and Indonesia—where the intersecting crises of economic insecurity, gender inequity, and environmental degradation are often overlooked.
At WEA, our theory of change extends beyond economic growth. We emphasize the importance of intersectionality in addressing complex global challenges, from climate to gender justice. By investing in women’s leadership at the forefront of the climate crisis, we create ripples of change throughout communities. Eco-entrepreneurship weaves together environmental, cultural, health, and human rights dimensions into a holistic climate solution, creating opportunities for leadership and agency that reach far beyond economic success.
Indonesia is at the forefront of the climate crisis. With its 17,000 islands vulnerable to rising sea levels, extreme weather, and erosion—threatening the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people—generating alternative livelihoods through eco-entrepreneurship is crucial to protecting both communities and ecosystems. Since 2019, WEA and our Regional Leads have supported 849 women environmental leaders and helped to launch 69 eco-enterprises through our Indonesia Accelerator programs. Asiyah Odist, an alumni of the Accelerator, has developed an innovative solution to turn the waste from pineapple leaves of the monocrop pineapple farms into fabric for fashion and home decor products.
The Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh province is a 2.6 million hectare biodiversity hotspot. For many local Indigenous communities, Leuser is a library of cultural and traditional knowledge, and forms the backbone of their identity. Yet these same communities are often forced to rely on extractive industries like palm oil and mining for their livelihoods, industries that threaten the ecosystem's survival. Through eco-entrepreneurship, WEA and our partners are offering sustainable alternatives. By developing non-extractive enterprises, women are protecting the local ecosystems while providing jobs and opportunities for others in their communities.
By fostering women’s sustainable, non-extractive livelihoods, WEA helps reduce the environmental damage caused by harmful industries. As women’s enterprises grow, they offer their communities real alternatives to environmentally destructive livelihoods. For example, Asiyah of Pinalo convinced local pineapple farmers to sell her their discarded pineapple leaves which were once considered waste, allowing her eco-business to flourish while benefiting the environment. Eco-entrepreneurship, when driven by local women who understand the needs of their communities, incentivizes forest and climate protection and builds a future where communities and ecosystems thrive symbiotically. In partnership with the Katahati Institute and local women leaders, WEA has supported the creation of six non-extractive eco-business, which contribute to the sustainable management of 369,440 hectares of the Leuser Ecosystem while providing community members with the opportunity to adapt to alternative, forest-friendly livelihoods.
This ripple effect extends across communities. Women’s economic leadership drives positive change for families and societies through a series of cascading benefits. Women reinvest significantly more of their earnings into their families and community projects than men. This money often goes toward education, household savings, and food security, creating a positive cycle of leadership and prosperity. As women’s local initiatives grow, they engage and train up new local leaders, creating jobs and spreading sustainable practices. In Indonesia alone, the training of 849 women has led to the creation of 330 jobs and reached nearly 1 million people through household and community ripple effects. In Leuser, 391, 027 people within the community have been uplifted.
At the heart of WEA’s mission is catalyzing and uplifting women’s leadership. When local women have access to the skills needed to scale their enterprises, they develop greater confidence in their abilities and begin to see themselves as changemakers. For Indigenous women, eco-entrepreneurship can also be a way to safe-guard traditional knowledge and Indigenous identity. Pinalo, for example, has continued to support traditional weaving practices despite the decline in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through mentorship and collaborative learning, WEA builds a network of women entrepreneurs who support each other, sharing their knowledge and insight and amplifying their impact across regions.
True transformation begins when women identify the structural roots of gender inequality that have limited their access to leadership and economic opportunities, and then use their leadership to challenge and reshape those systems. Eco-entrepreneurship networks create spaces where women can see themselves as stakeholders capable of influencing change. For example, in Aceh, for example, a region governed by a strict interpretation of Shariah law that excludes women from land ownership and decision-making, women entrepreneurs face significant barriers. Yet, alumni of WEA’s Indonesia Accelerator Program, like Raihal and Leoni, have become leaders in advocating for Indigenous land rights and the legalization of non-timber forest products. Their work, supported by WEA, has empowered the leadership of 120 women from 12 villages to advocate for policies that could protect the forest and strengthen their community’s economy—potentially impacting up to 400,000 people.
Just as the fibers of pineapple leaves weave together to form a stronger fabric, women’s eco-entrepreneurship weaves together gender equity, economic independence, ecosystem protection, and community resilience. By supporting these women leaders, we help build a future where communities and ecosystems can thrive together.
Written by: Emilia Santos Thomas, WEA Communications Intern