Waves of Resistance Against Imperialism and the Extractivism of Ocean Resources: Strengthening Women’s Movement for Climate Justice
APWLD launches Climate Justice (CJ) FPAR with six organisations
The Blue Economy is frequently presented as a new development paradigm — a sustainable pathway that reconciles ocean conservation, economic growth, and climate mitigation. However, this framing obscures a deeper historical continuity of extractivism of Global South resources, imperial maritime expansion, neoliberal restructuring, and ecological commodification. It has become a key part of national and global climate strategies covering sectors such as fisheries, tourism, shipping, and coastal infrastructures designed for climate adaptation measures. However, policies and investments in these sectors often prioritize profit and “green growth” over equity, sustainability, and human rights. This creates new risks of exploitation, displacement, and environmental degradation for coastal and island communities, particularly for women, small-scale fishers, and Indigenous peoples. While international frameworks such as the UNFCCC, Paris Agreement, and Green Climate Fund set global directions for climate action, national implementation through NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions), Blue Economy Strategies, and Gender Action Plans (GAPs) determines whether these commitments translate into justice and sustainability on the ground. Communities across Asia Pacific must be supported to build capacity to monitor their governments’ Blue Economy and climate commitments, and to meaningfully engage in decision-making that affects their livelihoods, ecosystems, and rights.
For the CJ FPAR 2026-2027 on the issue of Blue Economy as a false solution, six organisations in Asia and the Pacific have been selected to work together with their respective communities to conduct FPAR and document evidence from April 2026 to August 2027. The FPAR aims to document their lived realities and expose the impacts of expansion of imperialism and extractivism of ocean resources on women’s human rights to further influence climate policies and discussions from local to global level. It also aims to strengthen feminist and community-led monitoring of Blue Economy policies, shape governance instruments, and facilitate people’s mobilisation for climate and economic justice grounded in the realities, wisdom, and leadership of grassroots women.
First Regional Training of CJ-FPAR Partners on ‘Waves of Resistance Against Imperialism and the Extractivism of Ocean Resources: Strengthening Women’s Movement for Climate Justice’, 3-7 May, 2026
The six CJ FPAR partners are :
1. Prerona– Satkhira district, Bangladesh- bordering the Sundarban
Prerona is a women-led feminist organisation based in Satkhira, working on gender justice, climate resilience, and sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities. It centres women’s leadership, community mobilisation, and rights-based approaches to climate adaptation and disaster response. Its research theme is fisheries and coastal communities; focusing on extractivism and Blue Economy impacts in coastal Bangladesh. It plans to document the impacts of extractive coastal development—particularly shrimp aquaculture, embankments, and export-oriented systems—on women’s livelihoods, food sovereignty, and access to coastal resources.
After the first regional FPAR partners’ training, Shampa Goswami, Mentor from Prerona shared: ‘The most important thing I learned from this CJ FPAR first regional training is that community women are not just participants of our research but they are co-researchers. People work continuously on diverse issues, but they do not always question the actual root causes or raise their voices in protest. This training gave me a strong realisation about that.’
2. PAMALAKAYA/BANGKA– Manila Bay, PhilippinesPAMALAKAYA- a national alliance of small-scale fisherfolk in the Philippines, works together with its women’s arm, BANGKA to advance fisherwomen’s leadership and address gendered impacts of coastal destruction through grassroots organising, advocacy, and mass mobilisation. Their focus for this FPAR is on fisheries and coastal communities; ocean extractivism, reclamation, and feminist climate justice. They aim to document how reclamation, dredging, and large-scale marine infrastructure under the Blue Economy framework drive displacement, loss of livelihoods, food insecurity, and increased unpaid care burdens among fisherwomen. The documentation will centre women’s lived experiences and expose how these projects intensify climate vulnerability and violate women’s human rights to livelihood, housing, and participation.
3. Youth Association for Development (YAD)– Gwadar, Baluchistan, PakistanYAD is a women-centred human rights organisation based in Baluchistan, focusing on climate justice, governance, and socio-economic rights of marginalized coastal communities. It focuses on maritime coastal infrastructure such as the giant sea wall in Gwadar and aims to document their gendered impacts on fisherwomen’s livelihoods, displacement, and exclusion from decision-making. It plans to challenge corporate capture, demand Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), and influence climate policies from a grassroots perspective.
Asma, mentor from YAD quoted, ‘It was my first international trip when I travelled for the first regional FPAR training, and I was worried about how I would participate and adjust. But when I arrived here, I found beautiful people who supported one another like family. Whenever you made a mistake, it was treated as part of learning. I understood what FPAR is, why we are here, and what we are going to do next. Everything became clear through the activities we did together.’
4. Puspita Bahari- Demak, IndonesiaPuspita Bahari is a fisherwomen’s organisation in Demak, Central Java, working on gender justice, socio-economic justice and climate justice of coastal women through grassroots organising and advocacy. It focuses on the climate adaptation, tidal flooding, and feminist analysis of false solutions and aims to document women’s lived experiences of tidal flooding and climate adaptation policies, examining whether these interventions reinforce inequality and extractivism.
5. Yayasan Pemulih Nusantara (MULIANTARA)– Menarbu Village, West PapuaMULIANTARA is a community-based organisation working on biodiversity conservation and climate resilience, grounded in Indigenous governance systems such as sasi in West Papua. It focuses on Indigenous governance systems, community based ecotourism and women’s roles in coastal food systems and aims to document how Blue Economy initiatives reshape Indigenous governance systems (sasi), affecting women’s roles, food sovereignty, and ecological sustainability.
Oktovina Rahametan, Young Women Researcher from Muliantara stated, ‘It has been my dream to participate in a space like this where all the FPAR partners are meeting for the first time. Over the past days, I have gained knowledge about FPAR that I can bring back to my community. I want to raise awareness about women’s rights and encourage women to speak up more confidently in the community.’
6. Southern Fisherfolk Women Association (SFWA)– Gulf of Thailand, the Andaman Sea, and Songkhla Lake, ThailandSFWA is a grassroots network of small-scale women fishers across Southern Thailand working on women’s leadership and rights in marine and coastal governance. It focuses on fisheries governance, and women’s rights and plans to document how Blue Economy policies and coastal infrastructure restrict access to resources, increase unpaid labour, and marginalise women in governance processes.
