Supporting women’s leadership is key to biodiversity conservation: Gemma Harper

Women are already leading efforts to conserve biodiversity, but institutions and systems need to recognize their leadership and support its development, Dr. Gemma Harper, Chief Executive of the United Kingdom’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), said during the “Women Forum: Taking action for the Gender-responsive implementation of the KMGBF,” held as part of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

“The challenge is not that we lack women leaders, but that our system does not recognize leadership and does not support it through policies and financing. We have commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and its action plan. COP17 must help us move from commitments to implementation,” Harper said.

According to Harper, incorporating women’s experience and knowledge into decision-making can help achieve more effective outcomes, while ignoring them will lead to incomplete decisions.

“Investing in women is not an additional action for biodiversity conservation; it is part of biodiversity conservation itself. Women do not need to be taught how to lead; they are already leaders. When women lead, everyone benefits,” she said, adding that women must have the opportunity to shape decisions that affect nature and people’s lives.

Armenian Deputy Minister of Environment Aram Meymaryan also emphasized the importance of women’s knowledge and experience in biodiversity conservation during the forum.

He said women are not only holders of knowledge in nature conservation but also play an important role in passing that knowledge on to future generations.

“A strategy that does not take women’s involvement and skills into account is doomed to fail,” Meymaryan said, adding that women also play an important role in childcare and maintaining family life by teaching children to live in harmony with nature.

According to Meymaryan, it is important to identify by 2030 what changes are needed to expand women’s participation and role in biodiversity conservation.