CHAPTER 1: THE GENDER-ENVIRONMENT NEXUS
the obligations of governments to promote, protect and fulfil the equal rights of women and men (UN 1979). The CEDAW has been ratified by more countries than any other UN convention. Yet despite progress in areas including girls’ education, women’s entry into the workforce, and improvements in maternal health and reproductive rights, eliminating discrimination has been slow, with violence against women and gender inequality remaining the most pervasive inequality challenges in all countries (WHO et al. 2013). Women still earn less than men for work of equal value and still have unequal access to land and other productive assets. Combined with unpaid domestic and care work (most of the burden of which continues to be borne by women and girls), this limits livelihood opportuni- ties. Likewise, political participation by women has in- creased in recent years, but they remain largely exclud- ed from (or under-represented at) the highest levels of decision-making, including in the private sector and all branches of governments.
The 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action called for building on the progress made at the UN Con- ference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, and for full and equal participation by women and men as agents and ben- eficiaries of sustainable development (conceived of as sustained economic growth for poverty eradication, en- vironmental conservation and protection, social justice, solidarity, peace, respect for human rights, and gen- der equality) (UN 1995). The Beijing Platform identified unsustainable patterns of production and consump- tion – especially in developed countries – as an engine for poverty, inequality and environmental destruction. It noted that all human beings suffer from the conse- quences of widespread and worsening environmental degradation and disasters, including exacerbated pov- erty and migration and displacement of peoples, but that women and girls, particularly rural and indigenous ones, are disproportionately affected by ill health, dam- aged livelihoods, increased unpaid work and compro- mised well-being.
The Beijing Platform for Action also enjoined govern- ments, civil society, the private sector and the inter- national community to take action in the critical area of gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and in safeguarding the environment. It recognized that women’s active participation is essen- tial for sustainable consumption and production and sound natural resource management, as well as for en-
suring the quality and sustainability of life for present and future generations. The Platform noted women’s relative absence from environmental and sustainable development policy- and decision-making, and the lack of recognition and support for their critical in- volvement in environmental and natural resource ed- ucation, training, conservation and management. The Beijing Platform established a number of objectives, in- cluding: active involvement of women in environmen- tal decision-making at all levels; integration of gender concerns and perspectives in sustainable development policies and programmes; improving the assessment of development and environmental policies on women, including compliance with international obligations.
The three Rio Conventions on biodiversity, desertifica- tion and climate change, resulting from UNCED, ad- dress gender concerns in varying ways. The Preamble to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) rec- ognizes the vital role women play in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. It promotes their full participation at all levels of policy-making and im- plementation with respect to biodiversity conservation activities. In response to the CBD 2008 Gender Plan of Action, Parties committed to gender mainstreaming in their 2010 COP11 decision and to integration of gen- der equality in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011- 20. In addition, the Nagoya (Japan) Protocol to the CBD on access to genetic resources, and the fair and equi- table sharing of benefits arising from their utilization, acknowledged the key role women play in access and benefit-sharing. In regard to traditional knowledge, the Nagoya Protocol also calls for Parties to support, as appropriate, the sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way by indigenous and local communities, including wom- en within these communities (CBD and WEDO 2012). Most recently, the 2015-20 CBD Gender Plan of Action pursues these strategic objectives among others:
• mainstreaming a gender perspective into imple- mentation of the Convention on Biological Diver- sity and the associated work of Parties and the Secretariat;
• promoting gender equality in achieving the ob- jectives of the Convention, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi (Japan) Bio- diversity Targets;
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