WOCAN organized the workshop on Women and Environment: Policy to Action at the Asia Pacific CSO Forum on Beijing + 20 on 15 November in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop focused on Beijing+20 critical area on women and environment and discussed progress and the gaps in addressing the fundamental issue of women and environment. The workshop was attended by 41 women and men from a range of civil society organizations, representing 10 Asian countries. Meena Bilgi, WOCAN Core Associate, welcomed all panelists and participants of the session and Khun Ravadee Prasertcharoensuk, Director of the Sustainable Development Foundation, opened the workshop, briefly outlining the three guiding questions: Do we see the progress as mentioned in the review? What is lacking in addressing the fundamental issue of women and environment? What effective approaches and practices can we recommend to ensure gender-inclusive decision making on the management of natural resources, disaster risk management, and climate change mitigation and adaptation programs and policies?
The panelist for the session were Jeannette Gurung (Executive Director of WOCAN), Maeve Nightingale (Capacity Development Manager, Mangroves for the Future), Maria Finesa Cosico (Secretary General, Advocates of Science and Technology for the People- AGHAM) and it was facilitated by Dr. Babette P Resurrección (Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environmental Institute). Jeannette stressed the importance of creating a benefit sharing process and focusing on projects which yield tangible results, utilizing sustainability standards which directly benefit women, as well as emphasizing the need to critique the use of ‘gender mainstreaming’. Secondly, Maria Finesa Cosico spoke about the private sector in the Philippines (specifically mining companies) and the militarized control of natural resources. She emphasized that environmental policies should be: pro-people, pro-environment, and pro-women. Further, national industrialization of vital industries should belong to people as opposed to corporations. Finally, Maeve Nightingale spoke about mangrove conservation and the need for women’s education, self-governance, capacity building, as well as disaster risk reduction and management plans which empower women.
The participants of the session asked questions and discussed on issues such as challenging the language of victimhood and vulnerability of women, the strategic use of gender mainstreaming, combating the militarization of natural resources, as well as how to adopt a more nuanced view of interaction with the private sector along with strategic engagement with the UN system.
Babette concluded by highlighting three issues discussed in the session, first was the divide between environmental and women’s movement and the need for women’s groups to participate in local, regional and global environmental events. Second was the engagement with private sector and to push for responsible investments and accountability by being actively engaged in the development and implementation of standards and reporting norms. Lastly, women’s groups and advocates should have sustained engagement with UN and other sectors and emphasizes women’s rights issues are environmental issues.
After the session, WOCAN, in conjunction with IUCN, AGHAM, and SEI discussed and prepared recommendations to be included in the ‘Draft of Asian and Pacific Ministerial Declaration on Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment’ which will be presented at UNESCAP.