NEW YORK (January 4, 2012)– Over the course of several months in 2011, WEDO worked in Ghana, Cameroon and Uganda to create a dialogue around women, climate change and forestry. Project Coordinator Andrea Quesada lead and facilitated workshops on gender and REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) as part of a new initiative that WEDO and IUCN are jointly implementing to deliver roadmaps to guide the design and implementation of gender-sensitive REDD+ strategies at the national level.
In each of the three countries, the process began with a three-day workshop for representatives from women’s organizations and gender experts, followed immediately by a two-day workshop for national level decision makers. Workshops were conducted in Ghana and Cameroon during September and in Uganda in early November. Ghana saw the participation of forty-one women from civil society organizations and twenty-seven policy makers, while in Cameroon participation was thirty-one and twenty-seven respectively.
The roadmaps were presented at COP17 in Durban in December 2011. According to Andrea, “You don’t achieve parity for women in forest-related decision making processes overnight. This is just the beginning.” The gender and REDD+ roadmaps are the first steps to ensure that both women and men are recognized as important forest stakeholders, guaranteeing equal opportunity to learn about REDD+ and other forestry initiatives, build the needed capacities, participate, contribute, and henceforth benefit from the forestry and climate change policies, programs, and funds.
DOWNLOAD the Gender and REDD+ Roadmaps below:
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