Context

The global biodiversity stock is diminishing at unprecedented rates due to human activity that degrades habitats, increases pollution, and contributes to climate change. However, human actions also hold the potential to solve this problem. We can achieve this by shifting development models towards a focus on preservation, restoration, sustainable use, and living in peace with nature. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) supports these objectives by promoting the conservation and sustainable use of life forms.

 

The loss of biodiversity and land degradation affect everyone, particularly people from Indigenous communities and rural areas who rely on natural resources for their survival and livelihoods. Nevertheless, in the current context of the triple planetary crisis (biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution) and multi-threats, women and girls suffer great inequalities and disadvantages due to historical patterns of social, economic, political and cultural discrimination and exclusion that have extended to the ownership, management and use of natural resources, as well as the disproportionate effects of pollution, food insecurity, environment-induced migration, the impact of disasters and violence.

 

However, the experience and suffering caused by these multiple crises is not equally shared by all women and girls. As their relationship with the environment varies; an intersectional approach focusing on Indigenous, Afro-descendant, rural, and migrant women is crucial to identify climate crises directly impacting natural resources essential for women's livelihoods, and sustainable solutions that can address this climate and environmental challenges based on their accumulated knowledge.

  

The UNCBD, in its preamble, recognizes “the vital role that women play in the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and affirms the need for full participation of women at all levels of policymaking and implementation for biological diversity conservation.”[1]

 

 

Gender-responsive sustainable management and conservation of biodiversity therefore requires that laws, policies, programmes and public services take into account existing structures of gender inequality and violence faced by environmental human rights defenders and proactively aim to overcome and remove them in order to enhance gender equality, the empowerment of women and women’s enjoyment of their human rights.

 

In this sense, the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2022 marked a significant advancement in integrating human rights into environmental policy action. Parties have agreed that the “implementation of the Framework should follow a human rights-based approach, respecting, protecting, promoting and fulfilling human rights”[2].

 

In addition, KMGBF Target 22 is key to ensure the full, equitable, inclusive, effective and gender-responsive representation and participation in decision-making, and access to justice and information related to biodiversity by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, respecting their cultures and their rights over lands, territories, resources, and traditional knowledge, as well as by women and girls, children and youth, and persons with disabilities and ensure the full protection of environmental human rights defenders.

 

Similarly, Target 23 ensures gender equality in the implementation of the Framework through a gender-responsive approach, where all women and girls have equal opportunity and capacity to contribute to the three objectives of the Convention, including by recognizing their equal rights and access to land and natural resources and their full, equitable, meaningful and informed participation and leadership at all levels of action, engagement, policy and decision-making related to biodiversity.

As a relevant tool that can accelerate the achievement of these targets, the CBD’s 15^th Conference of Parties adopted the Gender Plan of Action of the CBD, which mandates integration into National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), together with all 23 KMGBF Targets, in synergy with gender plans or strategies developed under other relevant multilateral environmental agreements or related multilateral processes. 

The Gender Plan of Action (GPA) contains three expected outcomes oriented to ensure equal opportunities and capacities for all women and girls to contribute to the objective of the convention, guarantee biodiversity policy planning and programming address the needs, perspectives and interest of all people in particular women and girls, and enable conditions to ensure gender responsive implementation of the KMGBF.

The expected outcomes, objectives and actions of the GPA are put forward with the aim of supporting the achievement of all the goals and targets of the KMGBF in a gender responsive manner, recognizing that effective action on biodiversity requires all members of society to be fully engaged. Despite previous advances to guarantee full implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and particularly of global Targets 22 and 23, it remains a challenge to discuss and agree on these Targets during COP16 in Cali.

In this pursuit, countries and regions encounter diverse challenges based on their unique experiences.  Regional agreements in place for Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean offer valuable insights, experiences, challenges and lessons learned regarding the process of guaranteeing human rights and access to information, public participation, and justice in environmental matters for environmental human rights defenders.