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Climate advocates are increasingly urging the adoption of “nature-based solutions” to address climate change and prevent further biodiversity loss, putting landscape restoration more fully in the spotlight. The recently announced U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 dovetails with the concept of using nature-based solution as a key element for solving socio-environmental challenges.

Using nature-based solutions to tackle landscape restoration and boost development involves restoring the land while keeping rights in focus. Gender-blind restoration efforts are likely to reinforce or even exacerbate pre-existing inequalities. Successful restoration relies on the women and men who depend on the landscapes for their livelihoods – and whose rights and wellbeing must be safeguarded and promoted for restoration to be sustainable and just.

This upcoming digital summit unites researchers, practitioners and advocates working at the nexus of gender and environment who will share experiences and strategize over how to ensure an equitable, sustainable and just implementation of the restoration agenda. It will provide a conceptual foundation for addressing gender equality and restoration. Presenters will discuss key restoration-related gender concepts, which will be illustrated through global experiences while identifying new potential.

Background

Since the launch of the Bonn Challenge in 2011, governments, companies and civil society groups have pledged to bring hundreds of millions of hectares of degraded lands into restoration by 2030. The Bonn Challenge builds on the Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) framework, aiming to “restore ecological integrity at the same time as improving human well-being.” An increasing body of evidence demonstrates that gender-blind restoration efforts are likely to reinforce or even exacerbate pre-existing gender inequalities. At the same time, numerous studies have found that addressing gender equality can enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of restoration action. Identifying needs, opportunities and good practices for addressing social inclusion and equity in restoration is particularly critical now, as the United Nations recently declared 2021-2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Resources

Gender matters in Forest Landscape Restoration: A framework for design and evaluation

Joint infobrief set on gender equality and forest landscape restoration