Sustainable Development
Our work in the area of sustainable development aims to foster development that is ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially just and works to strengthen alliances between the women’s and environmental movements.
Climate change is the most pressing global challenge facing our world today and thus much of our work in this area is focused on advocacy towards understanding the linkages between gender and climate change (i.e. the differential cause and effect of environmental degradation on men and women and importantly, the role of women as agents of change in regards to mitigation and adaptation to climate change.)
This year also marks some significant milestones for WEDO. Not only are we celebrating our 20th anniversary, we are preparing for the anniversary summit of the 1992 Earth Summit (UNCED), Rio+20 in 2012. Having emerged to specifically influence those historic negotiations, WEDO helped ensure women’s perspectives and gender equality positions were secured in two key final documents of that conference, Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration. Twenty years later, and with another conference ahead, WEDO is hard at work on the Road to Rio 2012! Click here to find out more about Rio+20!
We continues to engage in work across a variety of environmental/sustainable development topics such as biodiversity, food security, and urbanization; mapping the linkages and intersections of gender across all these areas.
To find out more about our specific work in these areas please click below:
• Climate Change
• Biodiversity
• Water
• Food Security
• Forestry
• Urbanization
Visit the Library for key documents and other resources.
The Latest Sustainable Development News
New UN Global Sustainability Panel Report Advocates People-Centered Sustainable Development
“People are at the center of our vision of sustainable development.”
Today, January 30th 2012, the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability released its final report Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing. The Panel, launched on August 9th 2010, has spent the last few months conducting consultations with an array of Government, civil society and private sector experts aimed to “formulate a new vision for sustainable growth and prosperity, along with mechanisms for achieving it.” [See WEDO's input at March 2011 GSP Interactive Panel]. Their efforts reflect the long term vision set out in the 1987 report of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), entitled Our Common Future, and better known as the Brundtland Report. However, Resilient People, Resilient Planet, attempts to address why 25 years after the Brundtland Report, sustainable development has not become a practical reality. The report concludes with 56 recommendations which outline “concrete proposals in three key areas: empowering people to make sustainable choices, working towards a sustainable economy, and strengthening institutional governance to support sustainable development.” The Panel hopes that these recommendations can feed into the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), as well as other inter-governmental processes.
The Outcomes of Durban COP17: Turning Words into Action
Friday, December 16th 2011
Since the COP17 climate talks ended at around 5am last Sunday in Durban, South Africa, many people have been asking the same question: was it a success? Analysts from government, media and NGOs seem to be taking one of two stances: “it was a good step forward” (for example, the official UNFCCC Press Release: “Durban conference delivers breakthrough in international community’s response to climate change”) or “it failed to deliver what is needed” (as in the WWF Press Release: “Governments fail on ambition, courage at UN climate change talks”)
At WEDO, an organization that has pushed for gender issues to be integrated throughout the climate debates for a number of years, we have been asking ourselves how to measure both the successes and failures of COP17.
TONIGHT at COP17! Gender and Climate Change: Actions, Results and Lessons Learned
WEDO at COP17
Thursday, Dec 8 – 18:00-19:30, EU Pavilion – Warsaw Room
This event will showcase successes achieved under the GGCA umbrella as well as bilateral cooperation through the Governments of Finland, Iceland, and South Africa, demonstrating best practice examples and strategies for successfully integrating gender perspective into international and national-level actions on climate change.
Creating Dialogue on Gender and Adaptation
WEDO at COP17
Wednesday, November 30th
On Wednesday, CARE International and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) teamed up to host an interactive discussion to explore the complexities of vulnerability from a gender perspective. At the event, a lively group of participants broke into four working groups to discuss climate change adaptation and vulnerability within the scope of a) International policy b) National policy c) Practitioners d) Thematic areas including health, energy and technology. Each group then reported back on key recommendations for developing an adaptation framework which works for all. Some key recommendations included- increased capacity and awareness raising for government officials; gender budgeting at the national level; and systems and methods to house knowledge on adaptation which can be accessed by people at the local level and which works to translate solutions to the national and global policy levels.
Digital Dialouge on Gender, Health and Climate Change
On Thursday, WEDO Advocacy Coordinator Rachel Harris joined a panel session at the COP17 “Digital Lounge” for an event organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to highlight the linkages between gender, health and climate change. As climate change increases the frequency of droughts, reduces agricultural output and contributes to the rise of extreme weather events, women are on the front lines of climate vulnerability. This vulnerability extends into the health sector, making women particularly vulnerable to a range of health burdens spurred by climate change.
