In addition to serving as an essential carbon reserve, forests provide livelihoods, subsistence and income for more than 1.6 billion of the global poor. Those who rely on forests for their livelihoods are among the poorest people on the planet, and they are disproportionately women.
Given various social, economic, and cultural inequalities and legal impediments, particularly within the forest sector, women within many societies continue to experience ongoing exclusion that limit their ability to fully participate in, contribute to, and benefit from REDD+. It is therefore crucial that deliberate and meaningful efforts are taken to ensure REDD+ action is inclusive, fair and gender responsive both in policy and in practice.
The UN-REDD Programme's newly released Methodological Brief on Gender defines its approach to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It provides guidance, concrete entry points and good practice examples to help countries achieve gender-responsive REDD+ action across the REDD+ policy cycle, including in design, implementation and monitoring.
Acknowledging the need to take a more proactive and integrated approach on gender, emphasis is placed on going beyond gender-sensitive action, such as ‘recognizing’ and ‘doing no harm’, to instead achieve a gender-responsive approach of ‘doing better’ and ‘changing’ the course of actions so as to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment, and through it contribute to more sustainable REDD+ processes and outcomes.
Through action-oriented guidance and illustrative case studies and country examples, this publication can also assist countries to realize the gender equality provisions contained in international agreements on REDD+, including on safeguards, as well as contribute to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #5 on gender equality.
The UN-REDD Methodological Brief on Gender is available to download here.
Photo: Mary Julius Sandera, 59, making briquettes near Kisiriri village in Narok County. Riccardo Gangle / UN-REDD Programme