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Paper short abstract

This paper examines intersectional and decolonial feminist epistemologies as critical alternatives to hegemonic development models, arguing that the climate crisis is also an epistemic and civilizational crisis rooted in coloniality, patriarchy, and global capitalism.

Paper long abstract

This paper analyzes intersectional and decolonial feminist epistemologies as critical alternatives to modern rationality and hegemonic development paradigms, highlighting their contributions to plural and situated approaches to climate justice. It advances the argument that the contemporary ecological crisis is also an epistemic and civilizational crisis, rooted in the coloniality of power, knowledge, being, and gender that sustains patriarchy, racism, and global capitalism.

Using a qualitative and interdisciplinary approach grounded in feminist, decolonial, and Southern scholarship, the paper engages with authors such as María Lugones, Carla Akotirene, Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies, Ailton Krenak, Alberto Acosta, and Adriana Guzmán. It demonstrates how intersectional feminism and ecofeminism challenge the separation between humanity and nature by proposing ethical frameworks based on care, reciprocity, and interdependence.

The analysis highlights Southern epistemologies and cosmovisions, such as Buen Vivir, the ethics of belonging, and feminist community practices, as transformative horizons capable of confronting epistemicide and reimagining progress beyond extractivist and productivist logics. Particular attention is given to women’s grassroots practices and community-based resistances, which articulate body, territory, and knowledge as inseparable dimensions of climate justice.

The paper concludes that addressing the climate crisis requires a decolonial civilizational shift, in which feminist epistemologies and situated practices emerge not only as forms of resistance but as concrete pathways toward transformative futures grounded in solidarity, plurality, and the affirmation of life.