CBD Distr. GENERAL CBD/COP/14/INF/21 1 November 2018 ENGLISH ONLY CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Fourteenth meeting Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 17-29 November 2018 Item 17 of the provisional agenda* TOWARDS A GENDER-RESPONSIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Note by the Executive Secretary 1. The present document was initially prepared by UN Women, with inputs from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Bioversity International, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, for the capacity- building workshop on gender mainstreaming in the implementation of the Convention. The workshop was co-organized by UN Women and the Secretariat of the Convention, and was held in Montreal, Canada, on 1 July 2018. This document was updated following the workshop. 2. It first sets the context by presenting the gender dimensions of biodiversity conservation and the global norms on gender equality and natural resource management. It then outlines the key mandates for the integration of a gender perspective in biodiversity conservation and identifies the main entry points for strengthening gender considerations in decisions of the Parties to the Convention and in the implementation of the Convention, as well as in the future work of Parties and other stakeholders. Gender-responsive practices contributing to biodiversity conservation at the local and country level are then presented to highlight promising examples and lessons. The document concludes with recommendations for action directed at specific stakeholders. I. GENDER DIMENSIONS OF BIODIVERSITY 3. Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the term given to the variety of life on earth and the natural patterns it forms.1 Biodiversity sustains lives, but it is in danger; 28 per cent of species evaluated by IUCN in 2018 are either critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable.2 The fragmentation, degradation, and outright loss of forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and other ecosystems pose the gravest threat to biological diversity. Forests are home to much of the known terrestrial biodiversity; however, global forest loss in 2017 alone amounted to 29 million hectares.3 Biodiversity degradation reduces the productivity of ecosystems, and by extension, the goods and services they can provide. Ecosystems are being fragmented or eliminated, and many species are in decline or already extinct. These trends have serious implications for the well-being of human beings who are dependent on their environment for basic needs, including for food crops, medicines and other biological resources. * CBD/COP/14/1. 1 The first paragraph of this section is adapted from Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. 2000. “Sustaining life on earth.” Accessed 10 September 2018. [Link] 2 International Union for Conservation of Nature. 2018. “Numbers of threatened species by major groups of organisms (1996- 2018).” Accessed 7 September 2018. [Link] 3 Global Forest Watch. 2017. “Dashboard.” Accessed 10 September 2018. [Link] CBD/COP/14/INF/21 Page 2 4. In many societies, and in particular in rural areas, women and men interact with their natural environment on a daily basis for their sustenance and livelihoods. Women and men depend on and contribute to the management and conservation of biological resources. Yet pervasive gender inequalities limit women’s opportunities, rights and benefits linked to biodiversity, which in turn influence their needs, priorities, roles, responsibilities and decision-making power with respect to the use and conservation of biodiversity, and more generally, natural resource management. As a result, women are affected differently than men by biodiversity degradation and loss. Box 1. The Convention on Biological Diversity and gender equality The Convention, in its preamble, recognizes “the vital role that women play in the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and affirms the need for full participation of women at all levels of policymaking and implementation for biological diversity conservation.” Consideration of the gender dimensions of biodiversity involves understanding women’s and men’s use of biological resources; identifying the institutions – both formal (e.g., policies, laws etc.) and informal (e.g., customs, values, norms etc.) – that influence women’s and men’s use, management and conservation of biodiversity; and examining how different biodiversity-related outcomes (e.g., biodiversity loss, degradation, sustainable management etc.) impact women and men differently. Gender-responsive sustainable management and conservation of biodiversity therefore requires that laws, policies, programmes and public services take into account existing structures of gender inequality and proactively aim to overcome and remove those inequalities in order to contribute to gender equality, the empowerment of women and women’s enjoyment of their human rights. Gender-based differences in roles, priorities and knowledge relevant to biodiversity 5. Gender norms shape the expectations of women’s and men’s behaviour, and their roles and responsibilities in a community or society. In many communities, women and men have different roles in agriculture and food production, land use, accessing water and energy, natural resource management and conservation, and household activities, among others.4 Women are primarily responsible for activities such as managing seed, foraging for food or medicinal plants, and food processing and preparation, while men manage incomes and profits and make decisions on resource allocation.5 This division of roles based on gender is often a result of gender-based inequalities that limit women’s rights to, ownership of and access to land and other productive resources. Additionally, it limits women from acquiring latest information and knowledge on natural resources and participating in decision-making related to their management. At the same time, labour burdens are shifting in regions experiencing high rates of male outmigration, with rural women taking on additional farming, resource management and household responsibilities. Such inequalities are often exacerbated by multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against women, as experienced by young women and girls, older women, heads of households, indigenous women, women affected by HIV/AIDS, women with disabilities and migrant women. 6. Women and men often have different needs and preferences regarding the type of biological resources and their use. For example, women’s criteria for choosing certain food crop seeds may be influenced by cooking time, meal quality, taste, resistance to damage from animals and ease of collection, processing, preservation and storage.6 In rural communities of Mexico, indigenous women prefer maize varieties that are the most resistant to the local weather, most nutritious and that give the highest tortilla yields; these varieties are different from those grown for commercial purposes.7 In Bangladesh, Bhutan, 4 Howard P. L. 2003. Women and plants: Gender relations in biodiversity management and conservation. London: Zed Books. pp. 1–47. [Link] 5 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2017. State of food and agriculture: Leveraging food systems for inclusive rural transformation. Rome: FAO. [Link] 6 International Union for Conservation of Nature. 2012. “Gender makes the difference.” Accessed 7 September 2018. [Link] 7 International Union for Conservation of Nature. 2010. “Gender and biodiversity.” Accessed 7 September 2018. [Link] CBD/COP/14/INF/21 Page 3 India and Nepal, women tend to value the nutritional, cultural and social aspects of the forests.8 Men are more likely to consider yield or suitability for a range of soil types and ease of storage, and prioritize timber and high-value non-timber forest products over food crops. Their interests are also associated with greater commercial value, which means that men typically realize greater monetary returns compared to women. 7. Just as gender norms shape behaviours and preferences related to the natural environment, they also influence how women and men acquire and develop different knowledge about plant and animal species, their uses and their management, resulting in important and sometimes complementary distinctions between women’s and men’s agroecological knowledge.9 Knowledge of biodiversity also differs by age, culture and other factors of social differentiation,10 and is often transmitted intergenerationally by gender.11 A crucial factor in recognizing, leveraging and preserving ecological knowledge thus lies in capturing women’s contributions to the collective knowledge of the community. 8. Consequently, conservation initiatives, if not gender-responsive, can overlook women’s specific needs and responsibilities, fail to preserve and leverage their ecological knowledge, and augment their work burden. For example, initiatives to combat deforestation have often tasked women with planting trees without compensation, which adds to their unpaid work responsibilities.12 Efforts to increase women’s participation in support of environmental targets can shift the responsibility for sustainable natural resource management to women without relieving them from other responsibilities.13 Hence, “while the participation of women is vital, their involvement in policy interventions aimed at sustainability does not automatically mean greater gender