CHAPTER 4: AN AGENDA FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE


Adequate funding and resources will contribute to improvement and progress in developing and implementing


gender-sensitive


environmental


policies. The amount of aid focused on gender equality in fragile states and economies has grown rapidly, but is concentrated in health and education. There is significant under-investment in gender equality in the economic and productive sectors, including agriculture, where women play a major role. This situation could be improved through creating and enabling gender- sensitive financing mechanisms under multilateral environmental agreements and mechanisms such as the UNFCCC, the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the United Nations collaborative initiative on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+), the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions, the Convention on Biological Diversity, Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Global Climate Fund (GCF).


Gender-sensitive environmental assessments and strategic assessments


are needed at national and international levels. Environmental assessment tools (e.g. environmental impact


environmental


assessments) and safeguard measures, which may be required as a prerequisite for development plans and activities, need to take gender aspects into account. This could be done through making gender impact assessments (GIAs) mandatory in public and private environmental reviews and permitting, licensing and planning activities. Conducting national-level “state of gender and the environment” assessments would help establish a baseline context against which future changes and progress might be measured. International support to carry out these activities would need to be provided to developing countries.


Gender-disaggregated information is essential. Strengthening the focus on developing, collecting and analysing gender-disaggregated data, indicators and other information (including at the intra-household level) would support more effective


environmental


decision-making. This would include efforts to “lift the roof off the household” in data collection, revealing intra-household gender relations, assets and roles in resource utilization and decision-making. It is necessary to move beyond gender binaries and use a wider lens in regard to social-environmental relations. The value of qualitative information, which is especially valuable in capturing intra-household dynamics, should be


recognized and brought into official data streams to support in-depth understanding of the complexity of social dynamics, especially where quantitative data are missing or too costly to obtain. It is also important to promote and support the development of gender- disaggregated environment-related indicators with respect


to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at national and subnational levels.


It is essential to promote and support women’s voices, leadership and organization. The science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines are particularly important in environmental management and in promoting gender equality along the environmental and science expertise pipeline, but they are highly gender unbalanced. Gender equality also needs to be addressed in the agricultural extension, forestry, water management and technical advisory fields, as well as in wildlife management, parks conservation and management, and training to carry out environmental and strategic impact assessments.


In addition, diverse voices need to be brought into formal environmental governance systems, and strong goals should be established for achieving gender equality in governance at the local through the national and multilateral levels. Integrating environmental issues into existing national gender policies, as well as providing capacity building for existing and emergent civil society organizations (including women’s, indigenous and youth groups) on environmental sustainability and sustainable development would reinforce gender-and- environment links, as well as meaningful participation in


environmental decision-making and programme implementation (Figure 4.2).


It is important to bring men and boys, as well as women and girls, into the gender-and- environment conversation. Everyone benefits from sustainable environmental development. Gender equality benefits men, boys, and people who gender- identify as male; some of these people, as well as women, girls and people who gender-identify as female, warrant special attention as they strive to overcome a past and present of discrimination. Creating a safe, healthy and equitable future that leaves no one behind is the responsibility of all, and can be of benefit to all.


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