Gender and Biodiversity Expert Workshop in Bangkok, 28-30 Nov 2017

The Mangroves for the Future Secretariat attended a recent meeting in Bangkok hosted by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity developed training materials to advance gender inclusion in biodiversity planning in the Asia-Pacific region.

The workshop aimed to bring together knowledge and training expertise on gender and environmental issues with expertise on the national implementation of the CBD. participants included gender professionals, national biodiversity stakeholders, civil society, research institutes, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Centre for Biodiversity, and UN agencies. The training materials developed will help integrate gender and biodiversity into government planning. This will be a major contribution to implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. 

The workshop entailed an assessment of the training needs of end target audiences in the region, expected to be mainly government staff; review and feedback on the proposed approach, structure and content of draft training materials to support improved gender integration in biodiversity planning and programming, as well as; discussions on key messages on gender and biodiversity, appropriate case studies, and consider outreach strategies. The workshop resulted in an innovative approach of “blended learning”, in bringing together biodiversity and gender specialists for mutual learning and exchange. Moreover, the workshop also resulted in new institutional linkages between participants’ organizations, strengthened capacity of participants on the gender/biodiversity linkages and implications, as well as a commitment from participants on personal action plans to undertake activities to address gender linkages within their own organizations and programmes, and to engage in longer term thinking and planning. 

Among participants were MFF institutional partner UN Environment and Stockholm Environment Institute who shared their experiences of the workshop below:

Read about the UN Environment article, here.

Read more about the SEI blog post, here.