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Environment and Gender

Introduction

Environmental degradation has gendered impacts that need to be properly assessed and monitored to understand and subsequently adopt gender-responsive strategies and policies. While designing these, it is essential that measures targeting gender equality and women’s empowerment be adequately formulated and mainstreamed. Gender norms can affect the impact that people can have on the environment, and there is still a lack of women in decision-making and leadership positions regarding environmental matters.

Gender mainstreaming is one of the cross-sectoral activities in the Environment Division. The Committee on Environmental Policy (CEP) has recognized the importance of gender mainstreaming in environmental policies and strategies and, therefore, updates on gender-related activities by the Environment Division are regularly presented at the sessions of CEP.

Highlights

Under the Protocol on Water and Health Self-assessments of equitable access to water and sanitation have been completed in fourteen countries across the region.
In 2024-2027, UNECE is contributing to a project on “Air Quality for Better Citizen’s Health” in Georgia, which also includes a component on gender. In cooperation with WHO, UNECE will carry out two activities on capacity-building on gender mainstreaming in air quality management, namely to develop a gender equality framework and toolkit, including checklist in AQ management, and to build capacities of relevant stakeholders in application of gender equality tools in AQ management.