Opinion: A Major Push Forward for Gender and Environment

Bangladeshi women farmers prefer climate-proof crops varieties. Credit: Naimul Haq/IPSBy Joni Seager, Deepa Joshi, and Rebecca Pearl-MartinezNEW YORK/NAIROBI, Mar 30 2015 (IPS)Experts from around the world gathered in New York recently to launch work on the Global Gender Environment Outlook (GGEO), the first comprehensive, integrated and global assessment of gender issues in relation to the environment and sustainability.Never before has there been an analysis at the scale of the GGEO or with the global visibility and audience. It will provide governments and other stakeholders with the evidence-based global and regional information, data, and tools they need for transformational, gender-responsive environmental policy-making – if they’re willing to do so.The facts are conclusive: addressing gender equality is both the right and the smart thing to do. And yet, despite the obvious benefits, around the world, gender inequality remains pervasive and entrenched.The writing workshop happened in the context of the recent 59th session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 20 years after 189 countries met in Beijing to adopt a global platform of action for gender equality and women’s empowerment.Beijing+20 offers a critical moment to assess how far we’ve come and put gender at the centre of global sustainability, environment and development agendas. Twenty years later, what have we accomplished?In 2015, governments will be setting the development agenda for...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Active Citizens Advancing Deserts Biodiversity Civil Society Climate Change Development & Aid Economy & Trade Environment Food & Agriculture Gender Global Global Governance Green Economy Headlines Health Human Rights IPS UN Source Type: news