* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
International organisations have teamed up to call for greater recognition of women’s rights in initiatives that aim to tackle climate change by limiting deforestation.
They argue that women risk being excluded from the benefits of these initiatives, which are known collectively as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).
They say that women are a distinct group among forest-dependent people but that - unlike the indigenous peoples - they have not had their rights recognised in either the multilateral negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or in national and local level projects.
“There is a widespread omission of not seeing women as forest people too. I cannot say that the non-governmental organisations have their eyes open more than the governments do,” says Jeannette Gurung, founder and director of Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN).
Gurung was speaking at launch of the Global Initiative on REDD+ and Gender during the first week of the UN climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. The initiative is backed by WOCAN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Women’s Economic Development Outreach (WEDO).
Carole Saint-Laurent, senior forest policy adviser at IUCN, said: “We have followed the REDD+ negotiations for quite a long time, as well as developed a number of initiatives at the national level. At both levels, there are major gaps in the way the women’s role has been addressed or not addressed in REDD+ initiatives.”
“Women’s rights must be included in the REDD+ negotiations and projects,” said Monike Essed-Fernandes, interim executive director of WEDO. She said the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women - ratified by 186 countries - should be used to legally recognise women’s rights in the REDD+ arena.
“This treaty is absolutely unknown to the people involved in the REDD+ dialogue and discussions,” she added. “Everyone in that room is familiar with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. However, even the organisations who have a mandate to look at gender issues and take a rights-based approach seem to have no familiarity with those very legal rights.”
“Our aim is to ensure that gender considerations are fully integrated in the international and national works on REDD+, so women can be seen as major stakeholders,” she explains. “Moreover, at the local level, we will work to develop the capacity of women’s organisations so they will be able to engage in the REDD+ processes.”
Not part of the process yet
If formalised under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, REDD+ could lead to billions of dollars flowing from industrialised countries each year to compensate developing nations for protecting their forests.
However, in a recent trip to assess the role of gender in REDD+ activities in Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, Gurung was not surprised when she found not one project, either on REDD+ or on payments for environmental services, that recognised women as important players.
She points out however, that women are the primary fuel collectors, in all the Asian countries, for example. “In many cases, they are even patrolling the forest under very dangerous conditions. Still there is no recognition. There is gender blindness.”
“And if they aren’t recognised as stakeholders, they aren’t invited to the table and the consultations, where the dialogues are going on about the distribution of roles and benefits,” she says. “If women aren’t brought to the table at this stage, while the REDD+ framework is being established, we are fearful that when the benefits of REDD+ payments - whether market-based or through government mechanisms - start to be distributed, women will be left out.”
The same situation applies here in Mexico. Xyatil is a Mayan community about 250 kilometres from Cancun where a REDD+ pilot project has been underway since 2009. The community has already established its territorial zoning, started a reforestation plan and gone through training courses with the technical and financial support of NGOs and the Mexican National Forestry Commission.
Ana Berta Colli is a small-scale farmer there. “I am a landowner. I have my property papers,” she says proudly. But when asked if she took part in the development of the REDD+ project, she answered with a shy smile: “No, I have never been to their meetings”.
Last week the leaders of the Xyatil community told journalists about their REDD+ activities and plans for the future. But the question, “Have the women of the community and those who are landowners themselves participated in the design of this initiative?” took them by surprise.
They looked at each other in astonishment, without grasping the meaning of - nor the reason for - the question. “No, not now,” was the answer. “Not in this phase. In the future they will be included”.
But when asked in which activities women would be included, they could not name one.
Guring says there are cultural reasons why women are often seen only as housewives and housekeepers. “What we hear again and again is, ‘Why should we invite women to the table?’”
Women and climate change in numbers
An analysis by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that the worst impacts of climate change will be on the poorest regions and the poorest people, who have the fewest resources for meeting the changes brought by increasing droughts, floods and storms. As many as 70 percent of these poor people are women.
Climate change will affect agriculture, food security and water management. In developing countries. Women are traditionally responsible for performing the activities related to these functions. In Africa it is estimated that 80 percent of food production is managed by women.
Andrea Gunneng is a Beijing-based climate correspondent for Brazilian media. This blog was produced by Panos London and the Climate Change Media Partnership.
