Women possess essential knowledge and skills, particularly at the local level, in the conservation and management of natural resources but have limited say in environmental decision-making, according to a report by UN Women Asia and the Pacific.

The report was published ahead of the 66th Commission on the Status of Women which is focusing on achieving gender equality in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes. It says engaging women in these areas is critical to effective climate action.

“Women’s relationship to the environment is different to men’s in several complex but interlocking ways,” says Sarah Knibbs, officer-in-charge at UN Women Asia and the Pacific. “They are more exposed to some of the risks and also have a unique contribution to make to the solutions.”

This connection between gender and the environment is explored in the report, Women and the Environment: An Asia-Pacific Snapshot.

“Women in Pacific Island Countries and Territories and indigenous women across the region are key holders of traditional knowledge,” says Sara Duerto Valero, the report’s lead author and regional advisor on gender statistics for UN Women Asia and the Pacific.

“From seasonal planting, to following fallowing practices for land, or even limiting the consumption of certain animals or plants during select seasons, these practices carry important conservation knowledge.”

The report notes that as climate change alters rainfall patterns, it may put access to safe drinking water at risk and worsen the burden of water collection that largely falls on women. Also, increased severity and frequency of droughts and floods due to climate change may amplify the barriers to using clean cooking fuels, it says.

Women make up roughly one-third of the workforce in the renewable energy sector globally, overwhelmingly in administrative rather than managerial or technical positions. In agriculture, forestry, and fishing, they earn less than men and are overrepresented in lower positions, according to the report.

Read the full article about empowering women at Eco-Business.