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As we mark International Day for Biological Diversity, it is important to recognize that understanding women and men’s influence on natural resources and differences in capacity, skills and knowledge is key to devising sustainable and inclusive solutions to biodiversity management challenges. Practitioners and policymakers must address gender-related differences in the design and implementation of those solutions in the wider context of sustainable development.
The Convention on Biological Diversity addresses gender issues by identifying and assessing women and men’s differentiated roles vis-a-vis biodiversity, including different responsibilities, priorities, decision-making power, and knowledge, all of which affect how individuals use and manage biological resources.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment constitute one of the three pillars of the MedProgramme, a new UNEP/MAP-led push for sustainability in the Mediterranean funded by the GEF. One of the aims of the MedProgramme is to maintain globally significant biodiversity in landscapes and seascapes in the Mediterranean, including through the protection of marine biodiversity in Libya’s Marine Protected Areas in the context of the child project (GEF ID 10158) titled “Management Support and Expansion of Marine Protected Areas in Libya”. In line with the MedProgramme Gender Mainstreaming Strategy, all project activities will promote women’s role in sustainable environment management.
Through the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy, the Executing Partners of the MedProgramme (which include, in addition to the MAP components, three multilateral development banks, the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme, the Global Water Partnership, WWF Mediterranean Programme Office and IUCN) have committed to the implementation of gender-responsive activities that address persistent gender inequalities.
As part of the MedProgramme child project in Libya, gender-disaggregated data will be collected as part of socio-economic surveys and will be analyzed to ensure that the perspectives of both women and men on MPA management are considered. Targeted efforts will seek to promote women’s participation in MPA governance structures, stakeholder consultations, training and the network of stakeholders to be established for the conservation of marine megafauna and key habitats in specific sites.
Other MedProgramme projects also address the nexus of gender and biological diversity through the lens of ecosystem preservation. For example, the child project (GEF ID 9687) titled “Mediterranean Coastal Zones: Water Security, Climate Resilience and Habitat Protection” seeks to improve water security, human and ecosystem health and climate resilience in coastal hotspots by adopting gender-responsive national ICZM strategies and coastal plans. It also aims to improve the sustainability of services provided by coastal aquifers and groundwater-related coastal ecosystems.
Recognizing women’s role in climate change adaptation through the preservation of important natural habitats and landscapes, an awareness-raising campaign on “Women in Coastal Management” will be launched as part of the MedProgramme.
Learn more about gender equality in the context of the UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention system’s work:
- Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world
- Sheroes of sustainability in the Mediterranean
