Woman walking, surrounded by waste, on the outskirts of Kibera slum, Nairobi, Kenya. International Women's Day, 8 March 2011. Photograph: Larisa Brown.
At a world environment summit held last month Environment Secretary Alice Akinyi Kaudia stressed the need to reach out to grassroots women in order to create a truly sustainable “green economy”.
The meeting of the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders for the Environment, which was held at the United Nations Nairobi on 23rd February, discussed the importance of integrating women into the fight for environmental sustainability by promoting women’s economic contributions, including decision-making in policy and business, and increasing women’s share in new ‘green’ jobs.
Kenya played a key role in the conference as Dr. Kaudia called upon all nations to cooperate with each other to ensure that everyone works together towards a green economy.
She said: “We need to take cooperative action to ensure that we all work together towards a green economy. I would wish to request that as we do all this work we reach out to grassroots women.
“Effective environmental governance is the driver of a transition to a green economy. We are in charge of steering the transition. We need to provide a good service to our women, bringing along our sisters.”
Dr. Kaudia was not alone in her vision as Sascha Gabizon, of Women in Europe for a Common Future, claimed that a ‘green’ economic system must promote social equity and gender equity, “Social and economic inequities are especially hard on women and children. There is more pressure on women from the current food, fuel and financial crises.
“The vulnerable and poor cannot rely on market mechanisms alone. They need rights to protect their lives and livelihoods.”
The UN estimates that approximately 70% of the 1.3 billion people living on less than one dollar a day are women. The Network of Women Ministers wants this to change, creating an economy that provides incentives for zero-waste, low-carbon economies that enhance and restore the natural environment, while also providing new “green” livelihoods, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for women as well as men.
UNEP conference display Nairobi, Kenya. Photograph: Larisa Brown.
A position paper in preparation for the “Rio+20” United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, was delivered at the meeting by the Women Major Group and its two partners, Voices of African Mothers, VAM, and WECF.
The report said: “Women are key agents of change, their contributions to new “green” economic activities are essential for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and responding to global and local environmental threats.
“Due to societal gender inequality, women’s skills and contributions in many countries remain unrecognized and undervalued.
“We call for policies that specifically offer technology training and business management skills for women so that they can enter new green business sectors. We call for gender balance in decision-making and investments. We call for targets for women’s engagement in the (renewable) energy sector – in education, governance and employment-, phasing out of fossil and nuclear energy subsidies.
“We call for dedicated funding programs to ensure that women and girls obtain safe water and sanitation at homes, schools and other public places, programs for women and girls to be educated and work in sustainable water and sanitation management, as well as the adoption of legislation which protects water sources as public goods.”
The conference was held as part of the United Nation Environment Programme’s 26th Session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, which was held in Nairobi during the 21st to the 24th February. Named “Together towards a sustainable future: On the road to Rio”, the week-long conference addressed the challenges in creating a environmentally sustainable future and the goals which the governing nations have to unite to achieve in preparation for the Rio+20 Earth Summit 2012.
President Mwai Kibaki on Monday reaffirmed Kenya’s full support of the international environmental governance process, while noting that the world continues to face numerous catastrophes linked to environmental degradation.
He claimed that the Kenyan government was tapping into the country’s abundance of renewable energy to secure future low-carbon emissions and that large scale investments in geothermal and wind energy production programmes were already under implementation in the country and supported with extensive forest restoration programmes.
(The text of this story was first published on the secure website of the Webaraza news agency on 8 March 2011.)