Blogs & Opinions

Local Solutions to Strenghten Women's Voices in Land Governance

May 13, 2019 | International Institute for Environment and Development

With increasing pressure on land in sub-Saharan Africa, including from commercial agriculture and mineral and oil extraction, how can the voices of women be included…

Indigenous Women Land Defenders of the Americas: Protecting Forests, Climate and Communities

May 9, 2019 | Osprey Orielle Lake

From April 22-26, the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International, an LDF grantee, hosted an Indigenous Women's Delegation to New York City for the…

The Case for Gender Approaches to Urban Resilience-Experience from Coyuca

May 7, 2019 | Hector Becerril, Anna de la Parra, Rocio López Velasco, and Maria Jose Pacha. Translated and edited in english by Mairi

Coyuca de Benitez on Mexico’s Pacific coast has suffered repeated tropical storms and tidal surges in the past decade. The city, sited on the edge…

The Complicated Gender Politics of Going Zero Waste

May 5, 2019 | Alden Wicker

Look at #zerowaste and #zerowasteliving on Instagram and you’ll see mason jars filled with chocolate smoothies and rows of rose-gold straws. You’ll see perfectly organized…

The Nexus Between Gender Equality and Climate Change

May 3, 2019 | Edwin Mumbere

Over the past four years, we have had the highest temperatures in human history, almost 1°C higher than at the beginning of the industrial revolution.…

Is Empowering Women in Agricultural Development Projects Worth the Investment? Yes, When Done Right

May 2, 2019 | Agnes Quisumbing, Joao Montalvao, and Markus Goldstein

A recent article in Inside Philanthropy has a provocative title: “Top Funders and NGOs Think Empowering Women Farmers Can Reduce Hunger. Are They Right?” The…

Resilience Strategy Tackles Climate Change, Governance, Gender Inequality in Coastal Mexico

May 2, 2019 | Hector Becerril, Anna de la Parra, Rocio López Velasco, and Maria Jose Pacha. Translated and edited in english by Mairi

An innovative action research project in Mexico has created a gender-sensitive, local climate change strategy, which recognises how women and men are affected differently by…

Women Land Defenders Face "Extreme Criminalisation," Added Risks

May 2, 2019 | Anna-Cat Brigida

Since her teen years, Maria Magdalena Cuc Choc, now 39, has defended the natural resources of El Estor, a predominantly Mayan Q'eqchi' community on the…

Our Relationship with Water Isn't Gender Neutral. Here's Why that Matters

May 1, 2019 | Dalia Saad

When thinking about water management, gender is probably the last thing on many people’s minds. But in fact, the whole process of water management –…

Mongolian Herder Families Are Being Split Between Countryside and Town

Apr 30, 2019 | B Munkhtuvshin

One snowy winter’s day I went to a small winter camp of just two households 140 km from the nearest soum (district) centre. A dog…

Gender Transition to Energy for All: from Evidence to Inclusive Policies

Apr 30, 2019

Following the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, policy- and decision makers, governments, multilateral organisations, private companies, and civil society organisations, at both…

Marcia Andrade Braga: A 'Stellar Example' of Why More Women Are Needed in UN Peacekeeping

Apr 29, 2019

Training gender advisors and focal points in the Central African Republic (CAR) has earned a Brazilian United Nations peacekeeper a special gender advocate award, it…

Breaking from Tradition, Indigenous Women Lead Fight for Land Rights in Brazil

Apr 29, 2019 | Anthony Boadle

Brazil’s indigenous women have been overturning tradition to step into the spotlight and lead an international push to defend their tribal land rights, which are…

Experts Meet on Gender and Social Inclusion in Community Clean Energy

Apr 26, 2019

Experts gathered in Dhaka today for the start of a 2-day conference co-organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to discuss community-based clean energy in…

Articulating, Strengthening and Building Solidarity - Women's Resistance to Mining

Apr 25, 2019 | Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action

 “Our grandparents told them to provide good roads, (electrical) power and hospitals. 
But they didn’t meet any of these expectations.
Here there is no power. 
Development… we don’t…

Top Funders and NGOs Think Empowering Women Farmers Can Reduce Hunger. Are They Right?

Apr 24, 2019 | Michelle Sieff

In 2017, about 11 percent of the world’s population—around 821 million—was undernourished, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This data confirms a recent…

Left Behind- the Mongolian Herders Living at Home With Mum

Apr 23, 2019 | Narangerel Yansanjav

“I am one of the woman-headed households in this soum. I have been a herder for many years. For me life is still good, because…

Titling Priorities

Apr 16, 2019

Maritza Losada moved to Puerto Guadalupe, Meta five years ago when her husband found a job with a large biomass energy company that grows sugar cane. She…

The Essential Triad: Water, Gender and Integrity

Apr 15, 2019 | Anga Timilsina

Water is critical for socio-economic development, energy and food production, healthy ecosystems, and human survival. Although 2.6 billion people have gained access to improved drinking…

Why Women Led the Uprising in Sudan

Apr 12, 2019 | Nasredeen Abdulbari

The protests that led to the ouster of Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, have been dominated by women. Day after day on the streets of Khartoum,…

Gender Equality? Add Water

Apr 9, 2019 | Sonia Lowman

Imagine having to wait all day to defecate in the dark, just to get the tiniest semblance of privacy—and then getting raped because you went…

Pig Pens Power a Solution to Climate Change in Vietnam

Apr 9, 2019

When Trin Gim first started her biogas digester business, she raised many eyebrows. In the little district of Ung Hoa, located south of Viet Nam’s…

Environmental Issues Are Ravaging the Middle East - Why Aren't Newsrooms Taking It Seriously?

Apr 7, 2019 | Bel Trew

Safe water is the most basic need for humans. It is life.  And yet water crises – which are often man made and have solutions – never get…

South Sudan, Where a Water Crisis Is Leading to Child Kidnappings and Rape

Apr 4, 2019 | Bel Trew

For a split second it looked like the young South Sudanese woman and her baby, swaddled in a cloth-carrier on her back, were taking a…

Land Is Power: How Land Rights Can Enfranchise Liberia's Women

Apr 3, 2019 | Loretta Alethea Pope Kai

Liberia is in the throes of finalising one of Africa’s most progressive land rights laws but its potential will be thwarted if women are excluded. So…

Gender Research in Integrated Pest Management: Unlocking Food Security

Mar 22, 2019 | Sara Hendery

Agricultural production is only one of many factors that impacts global food security. A Virginia Tech team has found that some factors, like gender, take…

Gender Equality, Justice in Law and Practice: Essential for Sustainable Development

Mar 22, 2019 | UN News

Fundamentally linked to human development, gender justice requires ending inequality and redressing existing disparities between women and men, according to a high-level United Nations forum…

Managing Our Resources: Women, Mining and Conflict in the Asia–Pacific

Mar 20, 2019 | Alison Davidian

The extraction and exploitation of oil and mineral deposits have become increasingly possible across Asia and the Pacific. Rapid industrialisation and technological developments have led…

Protecting Women's Rights in Iraq Affects the Whole Population

Mar 10, 2019 | Nazli Tarzi

What Iraq needs is a state-driven campaign that raise awareness and legislation that protects and encourages greater participation of women in the workforce.

Land Is Power: How Land Rights Can Enfranchise Liberia's Women

Mar 8, 2019 | Loretta Alethea Pope Kai

Liberia is in the throes of finalising one of Africa’s most progressive land rights laws but its potential will be thwarted if women are excluded.