LIMA, PERU (December 7, 2014) – The Global Landscapes Forum 2014 (GLF 2014) took place at the Westin Hotel in Lima on December 6th and 7th. CIAT and GGCA members (including WEDO, IUCN, REFACOF, andRECOFTC) coordinated a learning space, called the Gender Pavilion, to inform and engage conference participants and share their work highlighting the critical link between gender and the landscapes approach in research, finance, mitigation, adaptation, biodiversity conservation, poverty alleviation, and the international climate negotiations. The Pavilion also provided an open space for knowledge-sharing among gender, forestry, business, and governmental experts, facilitating important linkages with these sectors for future work.
At the panel “Gender and resilience across the landscape: Lessons from Latin America, Africa and Asia,” coordinated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), WEDO’s Eleanor Blomstrom updated on gender in the negotiations, briefing on both progress on the gender decision where gender equality was almost stripped out and on the importance of ensuring gender is a crosscutting element in an ambitious new agreement. She also stressed the importance and critical need for more research on the divergent effects climate change has on women and men, especially in the decision-making process at the local and international level. The other panelists (including experts from the University of Missouri, International Potato Center (CIP), and Ministry of Culture, Peru) further detailed how these differences affect access to technology, finance, support in the face of climate shocks, and dissemination of information.
Gender and resilience across the landscape: Lessons from Latin America, Africa and Asia
Speakers on several panels throughout the conference – including on forest finance, human rights, food security, and climate-smart agriculture – placed emphasis on the need for gender equality on all levels, from community-based research to the international climate policy negotiations, to achieve true climate resilience.
Despite the Gender Pavilion and the gender emphasis in several panels, the topic was missing from the 9 key messages identified in the Outcome Statement of the GLF. However, a more detailed document that takes into account the rapporteurs’ notes from all the session is forthcoming; we expect it to incorporate the importance of gender equality and a gender perspective in landscape approaches related to the international climate and development agenda.
For Related Coverage See:
CIFOR Blog: Gender inequality merits greater attention in climate decisions: panel
CIFOR Blog: In face of climate change, gender imbalance stretches from fields to forums—expert
CIFOR Blog: Nicaragua study offers hard lessons for inclusion of women in forest decision-making
