WRI will host the following events at the 62nd Commission on the Status of Women in New York City from March 12-23, 2018.

Join the Conversation: #CSW62

UN Women will host the 62nd Commission on the Status of Women in New York City from March 12-23, 2018. Thousands of government officials, civil society representatives, and technical experts will come together to discuss this year’s theme: challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls. WRI will host the following events.

Engaging Rural Women in Forest Governance in Liberia and Around the World: Drawing Insights from Global, Regional, and National Perspectives

Rural women are active agents of conservation and restoration, as their caregiving responsibilities and livelihood activities depend almost entirely on natural resources. Forest governance, in particular, often improves when women join local management groups. Because reliance on forest products is gendered — women generally collect firewood, fodder and food, while men tend to harvest timber and hunt — including women into forest decision-making helps communities optimize forest use for a wider range of tasks.

Yet, due to a number of sociocultural factors, women maintain extremely tenuous access to natural resources. This insecurity can lead not only to poor environmental outcomes, but it can also expose women to harassment, increase their workload and threaten their livelihoods.

Although many conservation projects now focus on gender equality, these well-intentioned programs do not always consider the complex social dynamics in which women reside. Some may even do more harm than good, creating backlashes or contributing to increased violence against women. Understanding the root of gender-based barriers will be critical to designing strategies that drive social change and more sustainable, equitable resource management.

Gender, forest and land experts will share global, regional and national perspectives on forest governance and draw on lessons from new research in Liberia. Together, they will discuss implications of these findings at the policy, regulatory and project levels.

Date: March 12, 2018, 12:30 – 2:00 pm

Location:

The Armenian Convention Center
Room: Vartan Hall
630 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10016

Speakers:

Natalie Elwell, Senior Gender Advisor, World Resources Institute

Chloe Ginsburg, Tenure Analyst, Rights and Resources Initiative

Sheila Onzere, PhD., Research Scientist, Humanitarian Response and Development Lab, George Perkins Marsh Institute – Clark University

Harnessing Women's Rights to Natural Resources To Advance the Status of Rural Women

Rural women depend on nearby forests, rivers and farmland for their lives and livelihoods. Safeguarding their rights to these natural resources is critical to advancing nearly all other rural women-focused issues, from eradicating hunger to improving health outcomes. But unfortunately, even when national laws afford women equal access to these resources, customary practices prohibit women from exercising their rights or participating in decision-making processes.

Leading experts from prominent conservation and environment organizations will facilitate a discussion on gender equality and sustainability. They will share real-world examples of policies that advance women’s rights, community initiatives that strengthen women’s engagement in natural resource management, and advocacy campaigns that drive political action and catalyze financial investments.

Date: March 12, 2018, 2:30 – 4:00 pm

Location:

The Armenian Convention Center
Room: Yerevan Hall
630 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10016

Speakers:

A. Tianna Scozzaro, Director, Gender Equity & Environment, Sierra Club

Cate Owren, Senior Gender Programme Manager, Global Gender Office, International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Jeannette Gurung, Founder and Executive Director, Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management

Kame Westerman, Advisor, Gender and Conservation, Conservation International

Natalie Elwell, Senior Gender Advisor, World Resources Institute

Nathalie Simoneau, Senior Gender Specialist, ­­Policy and Government Affairs Department, World Wildlife Fund

Celine Salcedo-La Viña, Research Associate II, Land and Resource Rights, World Resources Institute

Seline Meijer, Social Science Program Officer, Global Programme on Governance and Rights, International Union for the Conservation of Nature