Empowering women essential for improved climate response

15/03/2022 0 Comments read Environment & Development, Gender

A girl making the Cambodian bamboo sticky rice with black beans in Battambang Province. Enabling women to participate in environmental decision-making is key to building a sustainable future for all. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 15.03.2022 (SciDev.Net): Women possess essential knowledge and skills, particularly at the local level, in the conservation and management of natural resources but have limited say in environmental decision-making, according to a report by UN Women Asia and the Pacific.

The report was published ahead of the 66th Commission on the Status of Women which is focusing on achieving gender equality in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes. It says engaging women in these areas is critical to effective climate action.

“Women’s relationship to the environment is different to men’s in several complex but interlocking ways,” says Sarah Knibbs, officer-in-charge at UN Women Asia and the Pacific. “They are more exposed to some of the risks and also have a unique contribution to make to the solutions.”

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The clock is ticking on koala conservation

30/04/2013 0 Comments read Environment & Development

Koalas at the Wild Life Sydney Zoo at Darling Harbour. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 30.04.2013 (IPS and The Guardian): Australia’s iconic marsupial is under threat. Formerly hunted almost to extinction for their woolly coats, koalas are now struggling to survive as habitat destruction caused by droughts and bushfires, land clearing for agriculture and logging, and mining and urban development conspire against this cuddly creature.

In the past 20 years, the koala population has significantly declined, dropping by 40 percent in the state of Queensland and by a third in New South Wales (NSW). The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) estimates that there are between 45,000 and 90,000 koalas left in the wild.

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Maoris reap benefits of past conservation

30/08/2005 0 Comments read Environment & Development, Indigenous, Travel

By Neena Bhandari

Wellington, 30.08.2005 (IPS): The conservation of land and water has been at the forefront of Maori life and today they are capitalizing the resource to boost eco-tourism.

Local Maori guides provide tales of tribal history and explain the medicinal purposes of plants on walking tours and offer close encounters with whales and gannets in various nature parks and reserves, which cover one-third of New Zealand.

Gannet Safari’s three-hour trip takes visitors through riverbeds, pastures, native bush, geological formations to reach the largest and most accessible mainland nesting place of gannets in the world at Cape Kidnappers.

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