In India, Indigenous women and their 'dream maps' seek to protect lands from climate change

KORAPUT, India (AP) — At a small stream in India's eastern state of Odisha, Indigenous villagers catch eels and fish for a dinner celebrating an annual harvest festival. The bounty of communal farming, foraging and fishing marks the start of a new season.

But the fish and other resources have been dwindling.

“Nowadays, the rains come late, affecting our farming, leading to a decrease in production,” said Sunita Muduli, a Paraja tribeswoman from Putpondi village. She stood on freshly tilled fields that would be sown again with millet before the increasingly unpredictable monsoon rains.

The Indigenous Adivasis have lived in these villages for millennia. They continue traditional practices of farming millet and rice and foraging leaves and fruit from the forest to make plates, the local brew and more.

With those practices under pressure from a changing climate, they are making their most significant effort yet to speak up for their community's needs, advocating for Indian authorities to protect and restore their lands as the nation of more than 1.4 billion people tries to adapt to a warming world.

Women are leading the way. Muduli and others from 10 villages, with help from a local nongovernmental organization, have surveyed and mapped out resources that are dwindling and what needs restoring.

Comparing state government data from the 1960s with their results, they found that common areas in many of their villages had shrunk by up to 25%.

The women have created what are known as dream maps, showing their villages in their ideal states. The most prominent of their bright colors is green.

Muduli and others plan to submit their maps and surveys to local government officials, the first step in requesting village development funds to preserve or restore their common areas. The women estimate that $2 million might be needed — an ambitious ask when India's poorer regions often struggle to secure and implement government projects.

Still, the women believe they have a 50-50 chance of success.

“We want to make sure these resources are available for our children,” Muduli said.

This is the first time that many of the women are formally leading an outward-facing community effort. They say it's giving them more confidence in speaking up about community needs.

“Our forest contains an abundance of diverse resources. Unfortunately, rainfall has reduced, temperatures have risen and our forest cover has dwindled. However, once we acquire the rights we deserve, our priority will be to revitalize and flourish our forest," said Saita Dhangada Majhi of Pangan Pani village.

They seek rights over their common lands that will require outsiders, including authorities, to seek villagers' permission to make any changes to them.

India is among the world's most vulnerable countries to climate impacts. According to the 2025 Climate Risk Index, the country between 1993 and 2022 was subject to 400 extreme events — including floods, heat waves and cyclones — causing 80,000 deaths and economic losses nearing $180 billion.

Odisha is one of India's poorest states and among the most vulnerable to climate impacts. A study by researchers from Odisha's Fakir Mohan University published in 2023 found that food production there had decreased by 40% in the last 50 years due to climate change.

Most Indian farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture, with about half of all farmed land dependent on downpours. As the monsoons become more unpredictable, livelihoods are affected.

India's Indigenous people feel those impacts the most as their traditions depend greatly on forests and natural produce, said Bidyut Bidyut Mohanty of the Odisha-based nonprofit Society for Promotion of Rural Education and Development. The organization helped the Odisha villages with the dream mapping process.

Climate change is affecting “their very existence,” Mohanty said, asserting that they have not contributed to the problem but are paying the price.

The forest commons are “not only considered the lungs but are also a hidden kitchen for Indigenous communities,” he said.

The women's survey found that resources available a decade earlier had either dwindled or disappeared. In Muduli's village, the number of fruits such as mango, guava, java plum and Indian gooseberry had dropped drastically. Resources used to make traditional instruments and other items had become more rare.

Climate experts said the Odisha project can be a model to be replicated across India and other nations. United Nations reports have said 80% of the world's biodiversity lies in regions controlled by Indigenous peoples.

Women from marginalized and vulnerable communities are affected the most by climate change, and the Indigenous women of Odisha are an inspiration, said Neha Saigal, a gender and climate expert at Bengaluru-based Asar Social Impact Advisors who is familiar with the mapping project.

“They are actually leading from the front,” she said.

Their work could be critical in deciding where India’s efforts on climate change should be focused, Saigal added, noting that the country is working on a national adaptation plan.

It is not clear whether the dream maps will become part of that plan. The women behind them say their project has given them formal understanding of what they and their communities have long known intuitively.

They want to pass that on for generations to come.

“Forest is our life," said Purnima Sisa of Badakichab village. "We have taken birth in this forest, and one day we will die in the forest. It is our life and livelihood.”

Follow Sibi Arasu on X at @sibi123

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Members of the Durua tribe, part of India's Indigenous Adivasis communities, perform traditional dances during the Chaitra Parab festival, a month long harvest celebration in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A woman, from the Durua Indigenous community, combs her daughter's hair as she dresses to take part in the Chaitra Parab festival, a monthlong harvest celebration, in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Sunita Muduli, 34, from the Paroja Indigenous community cooks on a clay oven in Putpondi village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Kamala Kadria, a woman from the Gadaba Indigenous community, points to a spot on a map they made in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Budri Munduli, a Gadaba Indigenous woman, tends to her paddy fields outside near her homestead in Hatipakhna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A woman, from the Durua tribe, which is part of the Indigenous Adivasis communities, walks toward her house in Pongan Pani village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Women from the Durua tribe carry water vessels in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Members of the Durua tribe, part of India's Indigenous Adivasis communities, perform traditional dances during the Chaitra Parab festival, a month long harvest celebration in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Members of the Durua tribe, part of India's Indigenous Adivasis communities, perform traditional dances during the Chaitra Parab festival, a month long harvest celebration in Pongan Pani village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Members of the Durua tribe, part of India's Indigenous Adivasis communities, perform traditional dances during the Chaitra Parab festival, a month long harvest celebration in Pongan Pani village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A woman from Gadaba Indigenous community grinds millet in Badakichaba village of Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A woman, from the Durua Indigenous community, prepares to take part in the Chaitra Parab festival, a monthlong harvest celebration, in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Women, from the Gadaba Indigenous communities, gather tendu leaves to sell in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Members of Paroja Indigenous community discuss the maps they have made in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Saita Dhangada Majhiin, right, from the Gadaba Indigenous community marks the boundary of her village area with the help of others in Pangan Pani village in Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Women from Gadaba Indigenous community walk to collect vegetables and wood from the forest in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Women from Gadaba Indigenous community walk to collect vegetables and wood from the forest in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Budri Munduli, a Gadaba Indigenous woman, tends to her paddy fields outside near her homestead in Hatipakhna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Sunita Muduli, right, from the Paroja Indigenous community, along with others, tries to catch fish in a stream during the Chaitra Parab festival, a monthlong harvest celebration in Putpondi village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Kamala Kadria, third from right, a woman from the Gadaba Indigenous community, points to a spot on a map they made as others look on in Hatipakna village, Koraput district, in India's eastern state of Odisha, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two Democrats vying to be Iowa's next U.S. senator are scheduled to debate Thursday, as each seeks to convince voters he's better positioned to flip the Republican-held seat in a contest that has seen heavy outside spending and high-profile endorsements.

State lawmakers Zach Wahls and Josh Turek are competing in a June 2 primary. It is one of a few remaining competitive Democratic Senate primaries this year, as the party looks to find the best approach to reclaim the U.S. Senate this fall.

Iowa’s Republican Sen. Joni Ernst opted out of a reelection bid, leaving the seat open for the first time since she replaced retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin in 2014. Republican Senate leaders have backed Ashley Hinson, a congresswoman representing northeast Iowa, committing $29 million for her to help keep their thin majority.

Democrats see an opportunity to flip seats in the once-competitive state, despite President Donald Trump’s double-digit win in the last presidential election and an all-Republican federal delegation. But first they need to settle which federal candidate will be at the top of the ticket. Early voting began Wednesday.

While Wahls and Turek have raised and spent similar amounts, a Democratic political organization, VoteVets, has spent about $7 million to support Turek in the final stretch of the campaign. That's more than the two candidates have spent combined.

Turek, who is not a veteran, was born with spina bifida after his father’s exposure to chemicals while serving in the Vietnam War. The group has said Turek is uniquely positioned to advocate for veterans’ services, especially health care and military families.

Wahls has criticized the influx of cash as insiders in Washington trying to exert outsized influence, and it's likely to come up again Thursday, as it did at an Iowa Press debate last week.

Wahls has been vocal about who should — or should not — lead Senate Democrats, saying he would not vote for Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York to be the caucus leader.

“The leadership of Chuck Schumer has failed the Democratic Party, it has failed the state and it has failed this country,” Wahls said during last week's debate. “Dark money has an agenda, and that agenda is to protect the broken status quo and the failed leadership of Sen. Schumer.”

Schumer has tried to keep the focus on Republicans.

Wahls is endorsed by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who joined him in Iowa for campaign events over the weekend. The progressive senator told voters the Senate needs Democrats who are willing to “get in there and stand up and fight.” Wahls also often highlights the support he's seen from unions and local elected officials.

Turek responded to Wahls' criticism saying he's not a “DC insider."

“I don't know these folks," he said. Turek explained his criteria for leader candidates but stopped short of saying he wouldn’t support Schumer.

“I will go up and ask whoever is deciding to run for leadership ... ‘What are you going to do for Iowa? What are you going to do for Iowans? What are you going to do for the middle class?’” Turek said.

In the last week, Turek unveiled a rare endorsement from Harkin, who represented Iowa in Washington for three decades, as well as former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Turek also has collected endorsements from sitting U.S. senators, including Illinois' Tammy Duckworth, New Hampshire's Maggie Hassan and Nevada's Catherine Cortez Masto.

In the first debate last week, Turek and Wahls were aligned on many issues. Both said that they would not support the Republican president’s tariffs or the war in Iran and that they do support raising the minimum wage and restoring health care access with a public insurance option. They criticized corruption in Washington and proposed higher taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans.

But they also started to draw some contrasts. More of that is likely Thursday.

Wahls referenced a law Turek supported in the Iowa legislature that makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally. Turek defended his vote, saying it was Biden-era legislation and stressed the importance of a secure U.S.-Mexico border. Turek said he also supports an easier path to citizenship and reforms to immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.

Turek highlighted his working-class background and contrasted his work for a nonprofit with Wahls’ work for a political organization focused on electing young Democrats.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

This combination of file photos shows Iowa State Sen. and candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate Zach Wahls speaking in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sept, 11, 2025, left, and Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, April 8, 2026, right. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP, File)