MALAYSIANSKINI | Some may describe Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar as an environmentalist, but the activist herself prefers to be called an “ecofeminist”.
This is because, in her mind, there is no separation between fighting for the protection of the environment and championing the rights of women, particularly in the face of a climate crisis.
For the co-founder of Klima Action Malaysia (Kamy), fighting climate change does not stop at addressing its impact on the planet.
Instead, her cause is climate justice - ensuring the have-nots of society are treated justly against the impacts of climate change, caused by those who have.
Ili takes ecofeminism as her cause because it is women, and in particular women from the most marginalised communities, who are hit hardest by climate change.
While the indigenous communities in general are badly hit by climate change, the women are usually the ones directly affected by drastic changes in weather patterns and ecosystems caused by climate change, she said.
For example, when there are droughts, it is often women who are the ones left with the duty of sourcing and carrying water for households.
In many indigenous and rural communities, women are also the ones cultivating food. When farmlands are devastated by frequent flooding, they have to work harder to feed their families, she said.
Path to activism
It was volunteering alongside the Orang Asli community in Kelantan and Selangor in 2016 which set her on the path of activism.
“For me, what really sparked my interest was working alongside indigenous communities in Peninsular Malaysia,” said the former engineer, who at the time had just returned from Europe where she studied and first entered the workforce.
“I saw the kind of environmental degradation and the things that they are facing (as a result),” she said.
After spending time with them, she found herself constantly trying to find solutions for the issues that they faced.
This prompted her to seek deeper knowledge about climate change by taking up another degree in environmental science at the University of Nottingham in Semenyih.
“That’s when I started to make really strong connections and understood that you can’t solve environmental degradation if you don’t solve the problems people are facing.
“If you want to save the forest, you have to help the people. Ensure that they have rights… Everything revolves around people,” she said.
Just seven years on, she is now appointed on the government advisory panel for climate change consultation and Kamy is among the loudest voices for climate justice in Malaysian civil society.
Doxxed for her feminist views
Peeling back the layers to understand who Ili is and how she came to be who she is today is not a simple task.
Despite her public profile, she is careful about what she shares about herself, her past, where she comes from, and her family, after a traumatic experience in 2020.
That year, she participated in an online campaign during the annual “16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence”, which is observed globally from Nov 25 (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) until Dec 10 (Human Rights Day).
In the campaign by a women’s rights NGO, she was featured sharing her views about climate action from a feminist perspective.
When the campaign was launched online, Ili was doing fieldwork and was therefore completely disconnected from social media.
When she returned two days later, thousands of hostile messages awaited her on Twitter.
“It was a distressing incident where thousands of people shared my details after I discussed climate action from a feminist perspective.
“I received a lot of negative attention for what I said, with many misogynists joining in,” she said, adding that this experience and others since has led her to completely disengage from Twitter, now known as X.
In a way, the misogynistic attacks underscored her views that fighting for climate justice is about dismantling systemic issues. And to do so, she said, it is essential to confront patriarchal norms and challenge male dominance.
“The current economic model is highly patriarchal and extractive. When I delved into this narrative, it upset a lot of people.
“The prevailing perception that women aren't seen as decision-makers or problem solvers is deeply problematic and needs to be addressed,” she stressed.
Keeping the momentum
Ili chips away at dismantling these societal constructs through her work with Kamy, which works on climate-related research and capacity building for stakeholders including the Orang Asli, media, and young women.
This is important, she said, because the language and science of climate change are often inaccessible to many, including those who are directly affected, and much of Kamy’s work focuses on breaking down those barriers.
Like her unintended route to climate activism, the formation of Kamy was also unintended.
Born out of the climate protest in Malaysia in 2019, which Ili co-organised, the movement was founded as a way to have consistent action on the issue.
Part of it was perhaps driven by her experience in student activism, where she found herself involved in intersectional movements fighting for migrants, workers, or gender rights.
But the movements would “pop up and disassemble after the intended period” leaving a gap in terms of sustained action - something she did not want to happen after the climate protest in 2019.
With Ili at the helm, the climate activism momentum in Malaysia is showing no signs of ebbing.
‘Carbon colonialism’
Outside of her work as programme director of Kamy, Ili is also busy with policy advocacy, lobbying policymakers and building coalitions and networks to address climate change.
On this front, too, the principles of ecofeminism continue to guide her work.
When engaging the government, she deftly draws the discussions back to gender equality and gender mainstreaming in climate governance.
Gender mainstreaming strategies ensure that gender perspectives and considerations are integrated into all policies, programmes, and activities at every level and stage.
“It's crucial to establish safeguards or guidelines to ensure that climate action is people-centric, democratically documented, and actively involves the community in decision-making processes,” she said.
She uses the Nenggiri Hydroelectric Dam planned in Kelantan as an example of how climate action must always go hand in hand with human rights.
Although the dam could help TNB move away from emission-heavy coal-fired plants, it involves the clearing of significant swathes of forest, which play an important role as carbon sinks.
It also hurts the local Orang Asli who depend on the forest for their livelihood and way of life.
To Ili’s mind, this displacement in the name of “green energy transition” is a form of “carbon colonialism” and “climate injustice”.
“Now the government thinks, ‘Okay, let’s be more pro-climate and change how we use our energy.’
“(But this is done) by taking away people’s land to make mega dams.
“So in a way, the systemic transition from something ‘bad’ to something ‘good’ did not materialise for the people who are depending on the land - they are dispossessed from the land,” she said.
Worse, she said, the Orang Asli who will be displaced still cannot access electricity and even if they do get electricity later, they would still have to pay high bills for it, despite already giving up so much.
“It is an injustice and we are also working against this with other communities,” she said.
Having women at the decision-making table
Ili knows that to tackle systemic change she cannot just stop at empowering communities.
This is why she is also actively engaging in policy advocacy, lobbying, and coalition building to address climate change effectively.
“We believe in involving diverse perspectives and backgrounds to get a clearer understanding of the issues and find comprehensive solutions,” she said.
Crucially, she said, women should be at the decision-making table when it comes to the climate crisis.
To do so, she said, women need to be politically empowered, and this does not just mean entering political office but also being cognisant of their rights and role in society.
For example, she said, someone like the neighbourhood auntie who knows everyone in the community plays a key role in political mobilisation for change.
“Knowing your rights and mobilising your community - that’s really important,” she said.
A sense of urgency
Similarly, she said, the role of women in climate governance is also crucial and it is something policymakers need to recognise and invest in. This, she said, means ensuring women are part of the process from start to end.
“It’s really important for women to be there in the designing process - from the decision-making table, from first to end - so that you will not have a failure in policy,” she said.
Ili is acutely aware that the challenge she faces as a climate justice activist appears almost insurmountable.
The pace of climate change also adds a greater sense of urgency, which she feels is lacking within the Malaysian government and much of its civil society when it comes to this issue.
“The journey (of empowering people to fight for climate justice) will take decades in Malaysia.
“The question we are facing here is how many people do we think we can empower to save themselves within the next few years.
“That is important because the issue of climate change is changing faster than our efforts.”
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