Following the conclusion of the 66th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66), the United Nations has tasked nations to include women in climate action.
CWS66’s theme was achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental, and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes.
The UN said that for countries to achieve this, initiatives to address climate change, environmental and disaster, and risk reduction must consider women at length.
In a press release from the last day of CSW66, countries were asked to promote women and girls’ full and equal participation and leadership to make natural resource management and climate change response effective.
“Women and girls are taking climate and environment action at all levels, but their voice, agency, and participation needs to be further supported, resourced, valued, and recognized,” said the UN.
Gender-responsive finance, they said, should also be expanded at scale for climate and environment action and to reach women’s organisations, enterprises, and cooperatives at the grassroots.
They also called for the enhancement of gender statistics and sex-disaggregated data, especially with regard to gender differences in vulnerability to climate change effects and adaptive approaches.
“This will enhance the capacity of policymakers to develop and adopt effective, evidence-based policies and programmes at all levels and boost women and girls’ specific contributions to environmental conservation and climate change mitigation and adaptation,” they concluded.
The UN said that it is only by addressing these underlining barriers exacerbating women and girls’ vulnerabilities that it will be possible to tackle pervasive disadvantages in access to, ownership of, and control over land.
“Specific efforts must be made to amplify the voices and knowledge of marginalised women, including indigenous women, older women, women with disabilities, migrant women and those living in rural, remote, conflict and disaster-prone areas”
“Their inputs must be heard and included in the management, conservation, and sustainable use of natural resources and climate mitigation and adaptation initiatives and programmes,” they added.
CSW66 welcomed the major contributions of civil society organizations in promoting and protecting the human rights of all women and girls.
The groups were part of over 213 CSW66 virtual side events held by the UN across the world and over 800 virtual NGO parallel events organised by civil society groups.
