Forest ecosystems are crucial to maintaining countless diverse but interconnected 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. This then creates new inequalities and exacerbates existing ones since people lose their primary livelihood means, their territories, as well as the socio-cultural activities deeply linked to their forests. Often, Indigenous and rural women 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 are part of the Women and Gender Constituency at UNFCCC process, the CBD Women’s Caucus at the Convention on Biodiversity, and Women4Biodiversity.
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
