UNFCCC Gender Action Plan & CBD Gender Plan of Action: Synergies for Implementation at National Level
Author(s): Women and Gender Constituency
Date: 2026
Topics: Gender
The Rio Conventions — the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) — were adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. While these agendas are inherently interconnected, their implementation has historically evolved in parallel, often through separate institutional, policy and funding processes. In recent years, Parties and institutions have increasingly recognised the need to strengthen synergies across the Conventions, resulting in joint initiatives, shared approaches and growing efforts toward coordinated implementation.
At the same time, there is growing recognition that there is an inextricable link between environmental and gender justice, and no action to address the former will be complete without an effective gender lens, including an intersectional approach. In this context, the CBD’s Gender Plan of Action (GPA) and the UNFCCC’s Gender Action Plan (GAP) provide structured frameworks to advance gender justice and women’s rights in the implementation within each Convention.