GFC’s Gender Justice and Forests Campaign promotes actions to protect forest ecosystems and the rights of Indigenous, rural and ethnically diverse women, men, youth and elders, in all their diversity, through developing strategic and technical policies, as well as campaign activities with our member groups to mainstream gender and women’s empowerment.
Forest ecosystems are crucial to maintaining countless diverse but interconnected living systems that sustain people’s livelihoods, replenish water sources, and nurture biodiversity, which all combine to form important parts of a healthy environment. Deforestation has a direct negative impact on these dependent/connected systems because in addition to causing the destruction of biodiversity, drying of water sources, and soil erosion, it also directly impacts forest communities and the healthy subsistence of humanity in general. This in turn creates new inequalities and exacerbates existing ones, as people lose their primary means of livelihood, their territories, as well as the socio-cultural activities deeply linked to their forests. Often, Indigenous and rural women, children and elders are disproportionately affected by forest loss given their daily roles and practices that depend on healthy forest ecosystems. Ultimately, this leads to a disproportionate increase in women’s burden of work, both reproductive and productive.
Women in all their diversity experience marginalization in multiple and intersecting ways, depending on their social status, ethnicity, age, class, sexual orientation, and gender identity, amongst others. They face systemic barriers from patriarchal social norms that exclude them from decision-making to discriminatory laws and practices that prevent their access to land and forests. Extractive activities supported by a capitalist economic system that privileges GDP growth and corporations over people’s welfare and healthy ecosystems lead to the degradation of forests and the violation of women’s rights. Consequently, it is integral to analyse the gender-differentiated impacts of the drivers of deforestation and to promote women’s rights in forest conservation policies.
GFC collaborates with local women’s groups and communities to research and understand the impacts of deforestation at the community level and document community-based and women-led initiatives and solutions to halt biodiversity loss. Capacity building from local to global levels on gender-responsive forest policies and women’s rights, decision-making, and participation in forest conservation is also a key strategy of GFC. The Gender Justice and Forests Campaign advocates for women’s rights and gender-responsive forest conservation policies, and also seeks to integrate gender justice into all our other policies and GFC campaign activities.
The Global Forest Coalition is a strategic partner of Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF) in the Green Livelihoods Alliance’s “Forests for a Just Future” Programme. GFC is collaborating closely with WECF, which is engaged as a GLA technical partner on gender.
We work with the Women’s Major Group (WMG) on sustainable development as well as tracking developments at UN Environment processes.
We were a partner of the #Women2030 Programme, which promoted gender-responsive implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in 52 countries around the world under the leadership of coalition of five organisations. Follow #women2030 Facebook and Twitter
Cali, Colombia, 29 October 2024 “As long as governments are in cahoots with corporations to destroy nature, there cannot be ‘Peace with Nature.’” Souparna Lahiri of the Global Forest Coalition offered this succinct assessment of the host country Colombia’s slogan for the 16th UN biodiversity conference, “Peace with Nature.” In Colombia and around the world, Lahiri said: Environmental defenders and Indigenous community leaders are being killed in the name of ‘Peace with Nature.’ And in the last couple of days, …
To halt global biodiversity loss in an equitable and gender-responsive manner, countries must stop subsidizing export-oriented economic sectors. By Souparna Lahiri and Valentina Figuera Martínez Common Dreams, 24 October 2024…
Published in Truthout Will COP16 on Biodiversity Listen to Indigenous Women or Corporate Lobbyists? Indigenous women have long been at the forefront of the global movement for land and territorial…
A Joint Call to Action for Rejecting Market-Based Approaches and Advancing a Gender Just and Rights-Based Approach to Biodiversity Protection at CBD COP 16
In June 2024, the Green Livelihood Alliance’s (GLA) Gender Hub hosted another Inclusive Forest Community of Practice (InFoCP) session, focusing on preparations for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP16…
Here’s one of the most powerful pieces of good news you probably missed this year: a group of Indigenous women in Peru succeeded in asserting the legal right to integrity…
Roots Newsletter: July 2024 Dear friends, members, allies and comrades, As we stride into the second half of the year, take a moment to reflect on the work of…
Информационный бюллетень Roots: июль 2024 г. Дорогие друзья, партнеры, союзники и товарищи! Вступая во вторую половину года, постарайтесь найти время, чтобы поразмышлять о результатах работы последних нескольких месяцев…
WECF's Annabel Kennedy shares updates from recent meetings and side events by the Green Livelihoods Alliance (GLA) held in parallel to the fourth meeting of the Subsidiary Body of Implementation…
GFC's Valentina Figuera Martínez discusses points of contention in resource mobilization under the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) and whether to work with existing structures or create a dedicated financial…
