Photo credit: Sujan Sarkar / Women4Biodiversity
WHAT
A one-hour webinar to celebrate International Women’s Day 2025 and reflect on three decades of progress since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995 and discuss the upcoming 69th Session on Commission on Status of Women. This webinar will focus on the intersections of gender, environmental justice, and sustainable development while celebrating women’s and girls’ leadership.
WHEN
Friday, 7 March 2025 at 12.00 pm to 1.00 pm UTC. Please check your timezone here.
WHERE
Online webinar.
INTERPRETATION
Spanish and French will be available.
WHO
- Mrinalini Rai, Director, Women4Biodiversity – Opening Remarks
- Ranji Reddy, Chief Director, Research and Policy at the Department of Women, Youth & Persons with Disabilities, South Africa – Keynote Speaker
- Mwanahamisi “Mishy” Singano, Director of Policy at Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) – Panel Speaker
- Valentina Figuera Martínez, Gender Justice and Forests Campaign Coordinator, Global Forest Coalition (GFC) – Panel Speaker
- Maslah Rompado, Founder, Indigenous Women Network in Malaysia – Panel Speaker
- Sumina Subba, Communications Officer, Women4Biodiversity – Moderator
WHY
- Reflect on Three Decades of Progress: Examine achievements and challenges in advancing women’s rights and gender equality since the adoption of Beijing Declaration.
- Inspire Action: Highlight the role of women and girls in shaping sustainable solutions for environmental justice, climate change and biodiversity conservation.
- Strengthen Advocacy: Provide recommendations for integrating gender equality into the global environmental and biodiversity agendas, especially at CSW69 and beyond.
- Celebrate Women’s Contributions: Showcase inspiring stories of women leading transformative environmental initiatives at the ground level during the restoration processes supported by Women4Biodiversity.
Event Summary
To celebrate the annual International Women’s Day 2025, Women4Biodiversity hosted a webinar reflecting 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and looking ahead to CSW69. The event brought together policy experts, Indigenous advocates, and gender justice advocates to discuss the intersection of gender equality, environmental governance, and biodiversity conservation.
Women4Biodiversity’s Founder and Director, Ms Mrinalini Rai, opened the webinar by strongly reminding the audience why this conversation remains critical. Three decades after the Beijing Declaration, women and girls worldwide still face deep-rooted inequalities, particularly in environmental decision-making, access to land, and climate justice. Despite years of progress, Ms Rai highlighted how gender and biodiversity policies remain disconnected, leaving women’s contributions undervalued and underfunded.
For the Keynote Speech, Ms Ranjhi Reddy, Chief Director of Research, Policy, and Knowledge Management at the Department of Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities in South Africa, emphasized that CSW69 is not just a review; it’s a wake-up call! With growing global pushback against gender rights, she stressed that feminist movements must push harder than ever to secure funding, legal protections, and representation for women in environmental governance.
The panel discussion started with the question, «What policy changes are critical to ensure women’s rights are central to global biodiversity conservation, and what key policy recommendations do you hope will emerge from CSW69?» that was posed to Ms. Mwanahamisi «Mishy» Singano, Director of Policy at Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). Ms Mishy called for a complete shift in governance and economic models. She emphasized that as long as political and economic systems prioritize profit over people and the planet, meaningful gender equality will remain out of reach.
The focus then moved to Ms. Valentina Figuera Martinez, the Gender Justice & Forests Campaign Coordinator at the Global Forest Coalition. Ms. Martinez was asked, «What are the biggest challenges women face in securing land rights? How can global frameworks, like the Beijing Platform, better support gender-responsive forest policies?»
Ms. Martinez raised concerns about the continued exclusion of women from land ownership. With only 1 in 5 landowners globally being women, discriminatory laws and corporate land grabs remain major barriers to gender equity in conservation. She also emphasised the urgent need to funding to implement gender-friendly laws where women and access to decision-making spaces.
Finally, Ms. Masla Rampado, Founder of the Indigenous Women Network in Malaysia was asked, «Indigenous women are crucial in protecting biodiversity. From your experience, what are the biggest barriers Indigenous women face in advocating for their rights and traditional knowledge? How can global processes like CSW69 better support their leadership?»
Ms. Rompado shared firsthand experiences of how Indigenous women safeguard biodiversity despite facing systemic marginalization. She called for stronger recognition of traditional knowledge, increased funding, and policy spaces that truly amplify Indigenous women’s leadership.
Despite challenges, the conversation was filled with hope and collective determination. Calls for funding, capacity-building, and meaningful participation of women and girls resonated throughout the session. All felt the urgency to act because gender equality is not a side issue. It is central to the future of biodiversity conservation.
The following four points were the common and overarching messages,
- Demand gender-responsive policies in biodiversity, climate, and environmental justice spaces.
- Ensure women’s leadership is at the centre of global and local decision-making.
- Push for funding and legal reforms prioritising care, sustainability, and equity.
- Challenge harmful power structures that exclude women, Indigenous communities, and marginalized groups.
This conversation doesn’t end here. The fight for gender equality in environmental governance continues and we need to push back the pushback.
Watch the full discussion on French and Spanish too.
