Mainstreaming biodiversity and gender in impact assessment for human well-being

Abstract

The paper presents gender differentiated perspectives on biodiversity, climate change and development and how these influence the progress towards the achievement of global Millennium Development Goals intended for securing human well-being. While the need to conserve biodiversity and protect ecosystem services for securing livelihoods and reducing poverty is critical, it is also extremely relevant to understand how gender can determine people's roles in the use, conservation and management of biodiversity. Considerable experience accumulated over the past two decades at national and global levels clearly establishes that gender is a significant dimension to be taken into consideration for understanding how development projects in most economic sectors impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services. This paper looks into the ways in which gender mainstreaming in impact assessment practices can reduce gender inequalities and improve the prospects for achieving Millennium Development Goals. It calls for an analysis of the development process that is able to recognise impacts on biodiversity and establish their gender differentiated consequences. An impact assessment framework is suggested to help assess, avoid and address the impacts of development on biodiversity and ecosystem functions and their gendered impacts. This biodiversity and gender inclusive assessment framework also takes into cognizance that climate change is a dominant driver of future biodiversity loss and, if this is not addressed, it will pose development challenges, for such necessities as the provision of clean water, availability of natural resources and associated ecosystem goods and services.