How do women represent an immense resource to combat climate change associated disaster risks? Their responsibilities in households, communities, and as stewards of natural resources equip them with knowledge and experience to build resilience in their communities as natural hazards intensify. This publication features various organisations’ initiatives in different parts of the world, which have successfully used disaster risk reduction as a tool to adapt to climate change, reducing risk and vulnerabilities while promoting gender equality in socio-economic development. Women are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and weather-related disasters, especially in developing countries where they are still largely responsible for securing food, water, and energy for cooking and heating. It is therefore essential to pay attention to women’s particular weather-related needs as well as the risks that hazards such as drought, desertification, and erratic rainfall pose to the natural resources on which they, their families and communities depend. This document is divided into three sections, the first of which highlights women’s capacities as environmental managers in Bolivia, Mali, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and the Pacific. The next section examines the participation of women in community decision-making in Brazil, India, Nepal and South Africa; emphasising the need for women’s and girls’ input, and demonstrating their leadership potential. The third section contains a collection of tools to mainstream gender into planning and policy development, assess vulnerability, and design adaptive strategies with examples from Mali, Nepal, Europe, Tajikistan and Africa. In addition to descriptions of the initiatives, each section also has a short abstract and boxes for ‘good practices’ and ‘lessons learned’.