---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 22:45:13 -0700
From: Carol D. McRoberts <[log in to unmask]>
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To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [WASAN] Fw: [women-csd] FW: UNEP / Women & Environment Book Launch

Subject: [women-csd] FW: UNEP / Women & Environment Book Launch


> >From UN Environment Programme
> Thursday, May 20, 2004
>
> NEW YORK/NAIROBI, 20 May 2004 - Women are the world's great unsung
> conservationists, often out-pacing men in their knowledge and nurturing of
domestic and
> wild plants and animals.
>
> That many species, some with important drought or pest resistant
properties,
> survive and remain in cultivation is largely thanks to women and the key
roles
> they play in society, a new publication by the United Nations Environment
> Programme (UNEP) makes clear.
>
> Women, especially in developing countries, are the farmers, the feeders
and
> the carers in their communities, relying on an intimate understanding of
nature
> to fulfil their many and varied roles.
>
> They are also the primary providers of water. In the mountain areas of
East
> Africa, women may expend close to a third of their calorie intake in
collecting
> and supplying this precious resource.
>
> Female members of a community often bear the brunt of a natural disaster,
> such as famine or drought, and are the ones who shoulder the
responsibility for
> keeping offspring alive.
>
> "In pastoral societies, when cattle die, men migrate to new pastures or
shift
> to a different location where they pursue other activities. Women and
> children may also leave, but generally as a group to hunt famine foods as
well as
> pods and other tree products to sell in distant markets", says the book,
> published in association with the Women's Environment and Development
Organization
> (WEDO).
>
> "Other scenarios that result from loss of livestock involves men turning
to
> idling, gambling and drinking cheap brew, leaving women as the sole
> breadwinners", it adds.
>
> The book, published with financial support from the United Nations
Foundation
> (UNF), will be launched today at the third session of the Permanent Forum
on
> Indigenous Issues taking place at UN Headquarters in New York.
>
> Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director, said: "Women, particularly in
> developing countries, are often in the front line in terms of overcoming
poverty,
> managing the land and waterways and sustaining their communities. During
times
> of stress and insecurity, it is generally the women who must forage
further
> and further for food, water and fuel. During times of plenty, the fields
and
> kitchen gardens they tend are mini-laboratories where domesticated and
wild
> plants and animals are selected and tested for their agricultural and
medicinal
> value."
>
> "It is clear from this publication, that women have a central role as
> custodians of local and indigenous knowledge and as conservators of the
natural
> world. It also clear that their role and their 'know-how' is often
undervalued and
> ignored. Indeed, all too often women are treated as second- class citizens
> with less rights and a reduced status in respect to men. It is high time
that
> national and international policies reflect gender differences and give
far
> greater weight to the empowerment of women", he added.
>
> "We must breathe life into the gender dimensions enshrined in the UN
> Millennium Development Goals; we must build on the outcomes of the 1992
Rio Earth
> Summit, the 1995 Beijing Conference and the 2002 World Summit on
Sustainable
> Development and cement these at the Beijing plus 10 Conference on Women
and
> Development next year. For if we ignore the role of women, all our
collective hopes
> and aspirations for a better and more stable world will be harder to
achieve",
> said Mr. Toepfer.
>
> The book, drawing on observations and research by numerous individuals and
> organizations including UNEP and the UN Food and Agricultural
Organization,
> contains numerous illuminating anecdotes and case studies that reflect the
crucial
> and all too often ignored role of women in the environment.
>
> It also highlights programmes, often established by individual women or
> women's groups, to deal with environmental and development threats.
>
> Thailand: Studies of 60 women-managed kitchen gardens in Thailand have
> chronicled 230 different vegetable and other species, many of which had
been rescued
> from a neighbouring forest before it was cleared.
>
> Pakistan: Village women in the Kanak Valley, Province of Baluchistan,
> Pakistan, can readily identify 35 medicinal plants they commonly use. They
say that
> the plants "grow up with no masters", a reference to the fact that that
the
> plants have no husbands to boss them around.
>
> Sierra Leone: A study there found that women could name 31 uses of trees
on
> fallow land and in forests whereas men could only name eight.
>
> Kenya: Here men's traditional knowledge is actually declining as a result
of
> formal schooling and emigration whereas women, given less access to formal
> education, are retaining the local indigenous knowledge and in many cases
> acquiring the men's. The Green Belt Movement in Kenya, conceived by the
50,000-strong
> National Council for Women and launched in 1977, has founded a network of
> 6,000 village nurseries and led to the planting of some 20 million trees
in order
> to combat desertification and erosion.
>
> Iran: In Yazd, known as the "desert capital" of Iran, it is women who have
> devised novel methods of agricultural production including food production
in
> tunnels constructed underground.
>
> Mexico: In south-east Mexico, women keep as many as nine breeds of local
> hens, as well as breeds of ducks, turkeys and broilers in their back
gardens
> selecting the best breeds to suit local environmental conditions. In other
words,
> women are actively conserving the genetic diversity of Mexican breeds and
thus
> contributing to conservation.
>
> China: Desertification afflicts up to half of China's population. In a dry
> and degraded area 1,000 km west of Beijing, communities have been
mobilized by
> women to plant willows and poplars to halt the advancing deserts and
create
> fertile land for vegetable production.
>
> Philippines: The Green Health programme, set up by the University of the
> Philippines Los Banos Institute of Biological Sciences, is teaching women
(and
> men) in communities on the north-eastern tip of Mindanao, to use herbal
plants to
> cure ailments and to help them to earn income.
>
> Notes to Editors
> The book, "Women and the Environment", is available on-line at
www.unep.org
> or at EarthPrint, www.earthprint.com
>
> For more information, please contact: Eric Falt, Spokesperson/Director of
> UNEP's Division of Communications and Public Information, tel:
+254-20-62-3292,
> mobile: +254-733-682656, e-mail: [log in to unmask] or Nick Nuttall, UNEP
Head
> of Media, tel: +254-20-62-3084, mobile: +254-733-632755, e-mail:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> In New York, please contact Jim Sniffen, UNEP Information Officer, tel:
> +1-212-963-8094, mobile: +1-917-742-2218, e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> At WEDO, please contact: Marcela Tovar, tel: +1-212-973-0325, e-mail:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> For more information, contact:
>
> Nick Nuttall
> Head of Media
> UN Environment Programme
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> This is a listserver set up by the CSD Women's Caucus. It has been
established to circulate information in relation to the UN Commission on
Sustainable Development (CSD), particularly on women / gender and
sustainable development issues. The CSD is the UN body mandated to monitor
the follow-up of the Rio Earth Summit (1992) and the Johannesburg World
Summit on Sustainable Development (2002).
> To learn more about the CSD Women's Caucus work, check the web-site at
www.earthsummit2002.org/wcaucus/csdngo.htm
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>




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