Sustainable Development
WEDO works to ensure sustainable development policies, plans and practices are gender responsive.
Sustainable development – commonly understood as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need – is ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially just, and gender equality is prerequisite to it. Interdependent crises of food, fuel and climate – exacerbated by inequitable and fragile economies and social norms – need holistic attention and solutions. To that end, WEDO works to strengthen alliances between the women’s, environmental and development movements, across sectors, and across North and South.
Central to its overall vision, sustainable development has long been a cornerstone of WEDO’s mandate. Having been founded specifically to influence the 1992 Earth Summit (UNCED), WEDO has remained focused on strategic advocacy at critical global sustainable development fora, including at the Rio Conventions, the Commission on Sustainable Development, and Rio+20 and its follow-up, as well as national-level processes in several partner countries.
One of the most urgent issues on the global agenda, climate change remains a top priority for WEDO’s advocacy, capacity building, information sharing and other efforts to link gender equality and sustainable development; read about our work on other cross-cutting issues here:
• Climate Change
• Biodiversity
• Water
• Food Security
• Forests
• Urbanization
Visit the Library for key documents and other resources.
Project in focus:
In 2012, WEDO is partnering with WECF, Voices of African Mothers (VAM), ENERGIA, DAWN and more than 200 other women’s organizations as part of the Women’s Major Group for the Rio+20 process. Twenty years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, when outcomes Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration integrated women’s and gender equality issues to an unprecedented extent, the Women’s Major Group and its supporters work to ensure those policy gains are not forgotten – and that action and commitment to implementation (including funding) build on that groundwork instead. Post-Rio+20 in June, WEDO will remain closely engaged in the process to establish a post-2015 development framework. Read more about Rio+20 here.
The Latest Sustainable Development News
Billions of Drops in the Bucket: WEDO at CGI University
[ April 6, 2013; ]
NEW YORK (April 5, 2013)– WEDO’s ED Cate Owren is delighted to be heading to St. Louis, Missouri, this weekend to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative University annual conference. She will join a panel on Engaging Women in Water Solutions, highlighting the critical roles of women and men alike in natural resources management and conservation, and decision-making and initiatives, at all levels. All the more urgent and essential in the midst of a changing climate, …
Email This Article
Guide to World Water Day
Water for Life
Water vital natural resource and a human right, and the right and access to clean, safe water is intrinsically linked to gender equality. From the miles & hours women and girls spend collecting water– the implications this has on their health, education and economic opportunity– to the threat of climate change on water resources affecting all aspects of women’s and men’s lives, it is clear that water is a human rights and …
Join us on Friday 3/22 for a GGCA Twitter Chat on Gender & Climate Finance!
[ March 22, 2013; 8:30 am to 10:30 am. ]
A gender-sensitive approach to climate finance: Why does it matter? Who does it benefit? How do we get there?
When: Friday, March 22nd at 9:30am EDT, 13:30 GMT
Where: Hashtag #shesparks & @GGCA_Gender on Twitter
Who: Leading Gender and Climate Change experts + YOU
Join us to discuss lessons learned and challenges faced in implementing a gender-sensitive approach to climate finance. In particular, we will identify key opportunities for progress in 2013.…
Operationalizing a Gender-sensitive Approach in the Green Climate Fund
NEW YORK (March 12, 2013)– The board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) meets this week, March 13-15, 2013, to discuss key issues pertinent for the operationalization of the GCF. One of the main agenda items for this session is the business model framework, which includes discussions on the structure and organization of the fund, the private sector facility related matters, access modalities and the results management framework. Also important will be the discussion of …
Women at CSW57 Confronting Unsustainable Development
NEW YORK (March 8, 2013)- Feminists Confronting Unsustainable Development’ during the 57th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, CSW57, talk about the experiences of women and the struggle and resistance strategies of their communities against unsustainable economic activities.
Women from Guatemala, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Japan and Fiji, came together at the side-event on ‘Violence – Ecologies – Livelihoods. Feminists Confronting Unsustainable Development’ during the 57th session of the UN Commission on the Status …
