Gender Justice archivos - CBD Women's Caucus

Strengthening the Role of Gender and Biodiversity Focal Points

c1652146 — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 07:59:03 +0000

Gender and Biodiversity Focal Points (GBFPs) play a critical role in translating Target 23 of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the CBD Gender Plan of Action into national policy and action. Drawing on a global survey, interviews and peer exchanges, this policy brief examines their experiences, challenges and priorities, and provides actionable recommendations to strengthen their institutional mandates, resources, technical capacities and coordination to advance gender-responsive biodiversity governance.

Key recommendations

The policy brief calls on Parties, the CBD Secretariat, financial institutions and implementation partners to:

Strengthen GBFP mandates and institutional positioning: Ensure focal points have dedicated time, clear responsibilities, sustained technical and financial support, and access to decision-making processes.
Enable effective coordination: Support collaboration across ministries, levels of government and women’s organisations to integrate gender equality throughout biodiversity planning, implementation and monitoring.
Provide dedicated and sustained financing: Establish adequate, timely and flexible funding for gender-responsive biodiversity action, including national budget allocations and dedicated financing mechanisms.
Develop practical tools and technical guidance: Co-produce context-specific resources for gender-responsive NBSAPs, indicators, monitoring systems, budgeting and inclusive participation.
Strengthen peer learning and knowledge exchange: Invest in the Gender and Biodiversity Focal Points Network, regional exchanges and documentation of practical implementation experiences.
Build strategic leadership capacities: Support GBFPs to strengthen their negotiation, advocacy and institutional leadership skills, enabling them to influence policy, mobilise resources and advance gender equality commitments.

Read the Policy Brief

Explore the key findings, practical recommendations and opportunities to strengthen institutional support, financing, coordination and capacities for the effective implementation of Target 23 and the CBD Gender Plan of Action.

Year: 2026
Type: Policy Briefy
Authors: CBD Women’s Caucus and University College London
Themes: Gender and Biodiversity Focal Points, GBFPs, CBD Target 23, Gender Plan of Action, gender-responsive biodiversity governance

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Gender and Social Inclusion in Agrobiodiversity Conservation

c1652146 — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 22:30:00 +0000

Conserving agrobiodiversity requires more than protecting genetic resources. It also requires sustaining the knowledge, rights, cultural practices and collective institutions through which agricultural diversity is maintained, used and transmitted across generations.

Developed by the CBD Women’s Caucus and the Alliance Biodiversity International and CIAT, this policy brief brings evidence and perspectives from the 3rd International Agrobiodiversity Congress (IAC3), held in Kunming, China, in 2025, into the policy discussions at CBD COP17.

The brief examines agrobiodiversity as a living biocultural system and highlights women’s contributions as knowledge holders, farmers, innovators and custodians of agricultural diversity. It explores how inequalities in land and resource rights, decision-making authority, finance and access to markets constrain women’s ability to sustain and benefit from agrobiodiversity.

It also highlights the importance of community seed banks, farmers’ organizations, women’s networks and other collective institutions in conserving genetic diversity, maintaining knowledge systems and supporting adaptation.

Building on these findings, the brief presents six policy recommendations for CBD COP17, covering biodiversity and agriculture, the CBD Gender Plan of Action, Article 8(j), digital sequence information (DSI) and the Cali Fund, resource mobilization, and biodiversity mainstreaming.

The central message is clear: effective agrobiodiversity conservation depends not only on protecting genetic diversity, but also on securing the rights, resources and institutions that enable the people and communities sustaining it to continue doing so.

Conserving agrobiodiversity means sustaining the people, knowledge and institutions behind it.

Explore six policy recommendations to strengthen women’s rights, community-led conservation, traditional knowledge systems and equitable benefit-sharing across the CBD COP17 agenda.

Year: 2026
Type: Policy Brief
Authors: CBD Women’s Caucus | Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
Themes: Agrobiodiversity conservation, Gender equality and social inclusion, DSI, Traditional knowledge, biocultural diversity

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Strengthening gender-responsive implementation of the Soil Biodiversity Plan of Action

c1652146 — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 21:19:44 +0000

Soil biodiversity is essential to healthy ecosystems, sustainable agriculture and food security. Yet efforts to conserve and sustainably manage soils cannot be effective or equitable without addressing the gender inequalities that shape access to land, resources, knowledge, decision-making and benefits.

This policy brief examines women’s contributions to soil biodiversity and the structural barriers that constrain their rights, agency and leadership in sustainable soil management. It highlights gaps in gender-responsive implementation, monitoring and reporting under the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Soil Biodiversity Plan of Action (2020–2030).

Ahead of CBD COP17, the brief presents six recommendations to strengthen implementation of existing commitments, address gender-specific barriers, recognize women’s knowledge and leadership, assess differentiated risks and benefits, and improve gender-responsive data, monitoring and accountability.

It calls for stronger alignment with the CBD Gender Plan of Action (2023–2030) and Target 23 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, ensuring that gender equality is integrated into soil biodiversity action rather than treated as an additional consideration.

Healthy soils require gender-responsive action.

Explore six recommendations to strengthen women’s rights, knowledge and leadership in soil biodiversity conservation and sustainable management.

Year: 2026
Type: Policy Brief
Authors: CBD Women’s Caucus | Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT | IFPRI | CGIAR
Themes: Soil Biodiversity Plan of Action, Gender equality and soil health, Gender-responsive biodiversity conservation

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Women’s Biodiversity Outlook – 2026

c1652146 — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 16:30:28 +0000

Women are already shaping biodiversity futures

Across territories, ecosystems and communities, women are conserving and restoring biodiversity, sustaining food and seed systems, generating and transmitting knowledge, governing natural resources, and building collective initiatives that connect ecological regeneration with rights, livelihoods and wellbeing.

Yet much of this action remains insufficiently recognised, resourced and reflected in the systems through which biodiversity progress is measured and assessed.

The Women’s Biodiversity Outlook (WBO), a flagship publication of the CBD Women’s Caucus, brings these contributions into focus.

Drawing on 71 case studies from diverse regions, ecosystems and scales, its first edition examines how women are advancing implementation of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), the conditions that enable or constrain their action, and what must change to advance gender-just biodiversity futures.

What the Outlook reveals

Women are advancing biodiversity action across the Global Biodiversity Framework.

From restoring ecosystems and conserving species to transforming food systems, generating biodiversity evidence and strengthening territorial governance, women’s initiatives contribute to multiple biodiversity targets simultaneously.

Women’s action is sustained through collective organisation, knowledge and agency, often despite structural barriers.

Limited access to finance, insecure land and resource rights, exclusion from decision-making, discriminatory norms and unpaid care responsibilities continue to constrain initiatives that are already delivering biodiversity outcomes.

Recognising women’s contributions is necessary, but recognition alone is not transformation.

The evidence points to the need to change how biodiversity is governed, financed, monitored and assessed, ensuring that women and their organisations have the rights, resources and institutional support to shape its future.

Five transformative shifts for gender-just biodiversity futures

The first Outlook identifies five interconnected shifts needed to advance biodiversity action towards 2030 and beyond:

1. Governance rooted in care, rights and collective responsibility.

Transform governance to uphold rights, strengthen collective institutions and ensure equitable outcomes.

2. Resources that sustain agency, autonomy and action.

Provide accessible, flexible and sustained finance and other resources that enable women to determine priorities and sustain their initiatives.

3. Evidence systems shaped by those who know and care for biodiversity.

Recognise women and communities as knowledge holders, researchers, monitors and producers of biodiversity evidence.

4. Economies that sustain biodiversity, livelihoods and wellbeing.

Support economic systems in which ecological regeneration, viable livelihoods and community wellbeing reinforce one another.

5. Biodiversity futures built through collective agency.

Strengthen women’s organisations, community institutions, networks and alliances as essential foundations for lasting change.

About the Women’s Biodiversity Outlook

The Women’s Biodiversity Outlook (WBO) is a flagship publication of the CBD Women’s Caucus documenting women’s contributions to biodiversity and the conditions that enable or constrain their action. Envisaged as a recurring publication, it seeks to strengthen the evidence base for gender-responsive biodiversity policies, implementation, monitoring and accountability, while advancing transformative change towards 2030 and beyond.

About the CBD Women’s Caucus

The CBD Women’s Caucus is the recognised women’s constituency within the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It is a self-organised global platform enabling women and girls in all their diversity to advocate for their rights and advance gender-responsive biodiversity governance and action at all levels.

Contact

For media enquiries, partnerships and further information about the Women’s Biodiversity Outlook:

wbo@cbdwomenscaucus.org

www.cbdwomenscaucus.org

Year: 2026
Type: Outlook
Authors: CBD Women’s Caucus
Themes: Global Review of Collective Progress, Gender Plan of Action, Implementation,

La entrada Women’s Biodiversity Outlook – 2026 se publicó primero en CBD Women's Caucus.

Policies in Practice: Learning from National Experiences for Gender-Responsive Implementation of the KMGBF

c1652146 — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 16:29:41 +0000

Developed by the CBD Women’s Caucus and University College London (UCL), with support from CASCADE, this report examines national experiences in implementing gender-responsive biodiversity policies, drawing on 10 country case studies across different governance contexts.

Through comparative analysis of policy frameworks, institutional arrangements and practical initiatives, the report identifies approaches that are advancing women’s rights to land and natural resources, improving access to services and benefits, strengthening meaningful participation and leadership, and integrating gender equality into biodiversity planning, implementation and monitoring.

The findings highlight that gender-responsive biodiversity action requires more than policy commitments or numerical representation. Progress depends on addressing structural inequalities, translating legal rights into practice, coordinating institutions, resourcing implementation and ensuring that women’s knowledge and experiences inform biodiversity decisions.

Organised around the objectives of the CBD Gender Plan of Action (2023–2030), the report offers practical lessons for governments, Gender and Biodiversity Focal Points, civil society organisations and practitioners working to implement Target 23 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Launched at CBD COP17, Policies in Practice contributes evidence on what is working, where gaps persist and how national experiences can inform more effective and equitable biodiversity action.

What does gender-responsive biodiversity policy look like in practice?

Explore 10 country case studies and practical lessons for translating global commitments into national policies, institutional reforms and action on the ground.

Year: 2026
Type: Report
Authors: CBD Women’s Caucus and University College London
Themes: Global Review of Collective Progress, Gender Focal Points, Target 23, Gender Plan of Action

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Gender-responsive Biodiversity Data: A practical handbook

c1652146 — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 16:28:28 +0000

Who decides what is worth measuring? Whose knowledge is recognised as credible evidence? Who owns and controls the data?

Who decides what is worth measuring? Whose knowledge is recognised as credible evidence? Who collects and analyses the data? Who owns and controls the data? And, ultimately, whose priorities shape the decisions that evidence informs?

These are not simply technical questions. They are questions of justice, about recognition, participation, rights, agency and power.

This handbook has been developed as part of the joint Advancing Gender Justice in Biodiversity data and policy initiative, a collaboration between the CBD Women’s Caucus and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). that seeks to support women’s organisations to generate and use gender-responsive data to influence biodiversity policy and action.

How to use the handbook?

The handbook is designed as a practical resource you can dip in and out of, rather than a document you should read from beginning to end. You can enter it at different points, depending on where you are in your work.

Year: 2026
Type: Handbook
Authors: CBD Women’s Caucus and IIED
Themes: Global Review of Collective Progress, Target 23, Data and Monitoring

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Webinar “Policies in Practice: Learning from National Experiences for Gender-Responsive Implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework”

c1652146 — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:58:27 +0000

Four years after the Global Biodiversity Framework and its Target 23 and the CBD’s Gender Plan of Action were adopted, one question sits at the centre of the conversation: what does gender-responsive implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework actually look like once policy meets practice?

That is the question «Policies in Practice: Learning from National Experiences for Gender-Responsive Implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework» set out to answer, convened on 15 September 2026 by University College London (UCL), the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and the CBD Women’s Caucus. The webinar brought together researchers, government focal points, and practitioners to present the report and provide an opportunity to hear directly from several of the practitioners whose experiences informed the publication, fostering peer learning and dialogue on advancing gender-responsive implementation.

Why this conversation, why now

The webinar, moderated by Ms. Amelia Arreguin Prado, Coordinator of the CBD Women’s Caucus, aimed to present key findings from a synthesis of evidence on gender-responsive implementation across case study countries and to hear directly from practitioners on their experiences implementing Target 23 and the Gender Plan of Action. Exchange practical lessons, challenges and enabling factors across different national contexts. This will also strengthen peer learning and collaboration among governments, civil society and other biodiversity stakeholders.

Dr. Emily Woodhouse, Associate Professor at University College London, opened by noting that, nearly four years after Target 23’s adoption, the commitment exists on paper; what’s overdue is the shift to concrete, evidence-informed strategies. She framed the biodiversity crisis as, at its core, a crisis of power over who governs land and resources, meaning that raising women’s numerical representation without addressing structural power won’t be enough, though she closed on a note of hope, pointing to genuine, if under-reported, progress.

Ms. Hazel Mainprice, UK Gender Focal Point to the CBD at DEFRA, set out the UK’s approach around three pillars: evidence, participation, and enabling conditions (finance, capacity, inclusive governance), linking it to the «Principles for inclusive, gender responsive and locally-led biodiversity action» Inclusive Nature Principles launched at COP16. Her message: gender equality and biodiversity are mutually reinforcing agendas, and gender responsiveness must be part of the machinery of implementation, not a garnish.

Dr. Cristina Eghenter, member of the Board of Directors of the CBD Women’s Caucus, pointed to the Gender Plan of Action’s midterm review, concluding at COP17, which confirms that women’s contributions remain undervalued. Target 23 is still among the least-reported targets in national submissions, despite growing visibility in NBSAPs.

The evidence base: ten countries, what actually worked

Dr Gabriella Santini, Post-doctoral Research Associate at University College London, opened with the gap the report set out to fill: four years after Target 23’s adoption, only 27% of Parties have committed to women’s equal land and resource rights, just 41% of those with strong targets report being on track, and only 1% say the target has been achieved. Global assessments show where progress is lagging, she noted, but far less about how it is being achieved where it is happening.

The findings, drawn from a review of 7th National Reports and GPA mid-term review’ submissions, an open call through CBD Women’s Caucus channels, and 18 interviews with focal points, officials, civil society and researchers across ten case-study countries (Canada, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Tajikistan and Sweden), point to clear patterns: gender mainstreaming isn’t only top-down, and government action alone was rarely enough; civil society, community organizations, paralegals, industry and international partners each played a distinct and decisive role. Connecting existing frameworks was often as effective as building new ones (Mexico’s COMGESA, Costa Rica’s five-institution alliance, Tajikistan’s accelerator-facilitated MOU).

Rights must accompany representation, since participation isn’t the same as influence, and formal legal rights are necessary but not sufficient without sustained investment and enforcement. Deep-rooted social norms resist policy alone, and monitoring/data systems and domestic financing remain the two biggest structural gaps across nearly every case. Intersectionality, meanwhile, is recognized in principle but rarely operationalized; women are still largely treated as a homogeneous category.

Three focal points, three journeys

The roundtable brought together Ms. Daniela Melgarejo (Mexico’s CBD Gender Focal Point), Ms. Bonu Sharifzoda (Tajikistan’s Gender Focal Point) and Ms. Novia Widyaningtyas (Indonesia’s CBD Gender Focal Point) for a direct conversation about moving from commitment to practice.

Ms. Widyaningtyas pointed to formally anchoring gender mainstreaming in Indonesia’s biodiversity strategy (IBSAP 2025–2045), building on constitutional guarantees of women’s environmental rights dating back to 1945 and reflected in the IBSAP’s Strategy 3.2 on mainstreaming gender equity and inclusive participation. Ms. Melgarejo described Mexico’s harder-won lesson: women’s participation is indispensable but not sufficient on its own; it has to come with real decision-making capacity, land access, and the removal of the structural barriers that keep participation from translating into influence. Ms. Sharifzoda credited Tajikistan’s progress to listening first: consultations with women, local communities, youth, scientists, and local authorities surfaced practical barriers that national-level analysis alone had missed women already active in gathering medicinal plants or wild fruit, for instance, but lacking equipment, technical knowledge, or access to finance and markets.

Their advice to countries earlier in the journey converged on the same point: participation without influence isn’t enough. Ms. Melgarejo urged building a gender perspective into policy design from the outset and working across sectors agriculture, rural development, Indigenous affairs, finance, since gender-responsive biodiversity action is not the environmental sector’s job alone. Ms. Sharifzoda’s advice was blunt: listen first, co-create solutions, then write the policy, not the other way around. Ms. Widyaningtyas stressed binding commitments paired with genuine coordination across Indonesia’s many sectors and regions, recommending that bottom-up learning documenting the country’s many local women’s champions be combined with top-down direction rather than relied on alone.

On financing and monitoring, Ms. Sharifzoda pointed to the need for predictable resources to turn Tajikistan’s national roadmap and updated NBSAP (to 2040) into local action, citing new projects linking women’s economic empowerment to conservation, from beekeeping and pollinator conservation to native-fruit-tree nurseries and sustainable harvesting. Ms. Melgarejo agreed that Mexico’s challenge isn’t a lack of policy; the country has made real progress there, but converting existing policy into financed, monitored, institutionally accountable action, with indicators able to show whether inequality is actually shrinking rather than simply reaching more women. Ms. Widyaningtyas named capacity building as Indonesia’s single biggest lever, one that has to reach government, civil society, academia and communities equally and sustainably rather than all at once alongside financing and locally suited monitoring indicators, so that top-down commitments and ground-level knowledge can finally speak the same language.

What's next

The report will be shared through the CBD Women’s Caucus channels ahead of COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia this October. Designed as a practical guide for all actors involved in biodiversity conservation and implementation, it provides concrete guidance to help translate the commitments under Target 23 and the Gender Plan of Action into practice, including by supporting more inclusive and gender-responsive action that reaches all women and girls.

Missed the webinar? Don’t worry! Check out the recording in English, French, and Spanish. 👇

La entrada Webinar “Policies in Practice: Learning from National Experiences for Gender-Responsive Implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework” se publicó primero en CBD Women's Caucus.

Open Call: Host a Session at the CBD COP17 Women Hub

c1652146 — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:19:53 +0000

Come and Host Your Session at the COP17 Women Hub

The CBD Women’s Caucus invites organisations, networks, and individuals to propose activities for the Women Hub at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), taking place in Yerevan, Armenia.

The Women Hub, located inside the Blue Zone, will be a small and welcoming space for exchange, collective learning and connection around gender and biodiversity. We invite creative and participatory formats — facilitated conversations, peer-learning exchanges, storytelling, and other activities that make meaningful use of a small-group setting.

Proposals should have a clear connection to gender justice and biodiversity policy and action. We particularly encourage proposals led by or meaningfully involving women’s organisations and women from Indigenous Peoples, local communities and Afro-descendant communities.

What You Need to Plan Your Session

⏱️ Session duration: 60 minutes
📐 Space: approximately 5 x 5 metres
👥 Maximum capacity: 20 people
🖥️ Available equipment: screen and projector
💰 Space fee: Space fee: Free of charge for all selected sessions
🍽️ Catering: cannot be provided
🗣️ Interpretation: cannot be provided

Selected organisers will be responsible for organising and facilitating their session and coordinating any speakers or contributors.

As the number of available slots is limited, submission of a proposal does not guarantee selection. The programme will be curated to ensure diversity, balance and complementarity.

Don't Miss These Dates

Open Call: 21 August 2026
Final date for proposals: 5 September 2026, 23:59 UTC
Selection results: 15 September 2026

Ready to Apply?

Apply here

🔗Curious what these sessions looked like in practice? Read our Women’s Pavilion Full Report from COP16 — 35 sessions hosted by women’s organisations, networks and grassroots groups from around the world.

We look forward to your ideas and to creating the COP17 Women Hub together!

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CBD Women’s Caucus Policy Recommendations for CBD SBI-7

c1652146 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 14:17:12 +0000

The seventh meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI 7) provides a critical opportunity to accelerate implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) by strengthening the enabling conditions needed to achieve its goals and targets. The agenda addresses key building blocks for implementation—including planning, finance, technical and scientific cooperation, knowledge management, mainstreaming, communication and education—that will determine whether the Framework delivers transformative, equitable and lasting outcomes.

This document presents the CBD Women’s Caucus’ priority messages and targeted textual recommendations for the draft decisions under SBI 7. Our proposals are intended to strengthen implementation by ensuring that biodiversity policies, finance, capacity-building, knowledge systems and governance mechanisms are gender-responsive, rights-based and better equipped to support those who are already driving biodiversity action on the ground.

Share these recommendations with colleagues and help advance gender-responsive, equitable, and effective biodiversity decisions at SBI-7 and beyond.

Year: 2026
Type: Policy recommendations
Authors: CBD Women’s Caucus
Themes: Global Review of Collective Progress, Resource Mobilisation, Financial Mechanism, Digital Sequence Information (DSI), Nagoya Protocol, Synthetic Biology, Subnational Governments and Local Authorities, Capacity Building and Technical & Scientific Cooperation (TSC), Clearing-House Mechanism, Mainstreaming, Communication Education and Public Awareness (CEPA)

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Making Women Visible in Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture Reporting

c1652146 — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:51:57 +0000

By Ms.Nondumiso Londeka Dumakude and Ms. Larissa Silvestri , CBD Women’s Caucus members

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position or opinions of the CBD Women’s Caucus

When Women's Voices Enter the Room, Biodiversity Policy Changes

The CBD Women’s Caucus took part in the Second Session of the Ad Hoc Expert Team on Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture, held from 30 June to 2 July 2026 in Rome, Italy, with both in-person and virtual participation. The meeting created an important space to engage in global conversations on biodiversity for food and agriculture, especially as work continues on the Second Report on The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture.
For the CBD Women’s Caucus, being present in these discussions matters. Biodiversity policies and reporting processes need to reflect the lived realities, knowledge, leadership of women including women from Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The Caucus’s participation helped keep attention on the people who are already caring for, restoring and sustaining biodiversity in their daily lives.

It is precisely to address this gap that the Women’s Land Rights Initiative (WLRI) was established, a dynamic community dedicated to the systematic integration of women’s land rights across the three Rio Conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

About the Event

Rome, July 2026: Where Food, Nature and Policy Converge
The Second Session of the Ad Hoc Expert Team on Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture was convened under the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. It took place from 30 June to 2 July 2026 in Rome, Italy, and allowed for hybrid participation so that people could join both in person and online.
The meeting covered a number of important agenda items. These included the implementation of the Framework for Action on Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture, preparations for the Second Report on The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture, the links between climate change and biodiversity for food and agriculture, and the review of the Commission’s Strategic Plan and Multi-Year Programme of Work.
Participants included government representatives, experts, national focal points and stakeholders working across biodiversity, agriculture, genetic resources, food systems, climate change and related policy areas. For the CBD Women’s Caucus, the discussions were especially relevant because they touched on issues that directly shape whether women’s contributions are seen and valued — including reporting, indicators, policy coherence, gender justice, Indigenous and local knowledge, implementation, resource mobilisation, climate adaptation and community-based stewardship.

CBD Women's Caucus Representation and Key Interventions Two Women. Two Countries. One Clear Message.

The CBD Women’s Caucus was represented by Ms. Larissa Silvestri from Brazil and Ms. Nondumiso Dumakude from South Africa.
Ms. Larissa Silvestri represented the CBD Women’s Caucus and joined a panel discussion on the first day of the meeting. In her contribution, she helped bring women and girls into focus as knowledge holders, leaders and stewards of biodiversity for food and agriculture. She reminded participants that biodiversity reporting should not only describe what is happening to biodiversity, but also ask who is conserving, managing, restoring and sustaining it.
Ms. Nondumiso Dumakude contributed to discussions on the preparation of the Second Report. Her intervention focused on the importance of ensuring that the country reporting questionnaire clearly asks for sex-disaggregated and gender-responsive information. She emphasised that when gender is not asked about directly, women’s contributions to biodiversity for food and agriculture can easily remain invisible.
A key message from the Caucus engagement was:«If gender is not clearly reflected in the questionnaire, countries may not report on it. What is not asked may remain invisible in the final report.»

Key Area of Engagement

What You Don’t Ask, You Won’t Know — And What You Don’t Know, You Can’t Fix

A major area of engagement was Agenda Item 4, which focused on the preparation of the Second Report on The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture. The discussions looked at the draft annotated outline, existing indicators and processes, data gaps, and the draft country reporting questionnaire.
On the first day, Larissa Silvestri joined a panel discussion where she highlighted the need for biodiversity reporting to better recognise women’s roles, knowledge, agency and leadership in conserving and sustainably using biodiversity for food and agriculture.
During the discussions on the Second Report, one of the key gender messages was clear: women’s contributions may remain hidden if the reporting questionnaire does not ask the right questions. Women are central to conserving local seed varieties, managing home gardens, supporting small-scale agriculture and fisheries, sustaining food security, restoring ecosystems and contributing to climate adaptation. Yet these contributions are often missed when reporting only looks at households, communities or countries as a whole.
The discussions also showed why indicators and reporting processes need to look beyond ecological data alone. They should also capture the social and institutional conditions that make biodiversity conservation possible — including women’s leadership, access to land and natural resources, finance, extension services, technology, decision-making spaces, Indigenous and local knowledge, and community-based stewardship.

Outcomes and Next Steps

The Questionnaire is Just the Beginning

A major area of engagement was Agenda Item 4, which focused on the preparation of the Second Report on the State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture. The discussions looked at the draft annotated outline, existing indicators and processes, data gaps, and the draft country reporting questionnaire.
On the first day, Larissa Silvestri joined a panel discussion where she highlighted the need for biodiversity reporting to better recognise women’s roles, knowledge, agency and leadership in conserving and sustainably using biodiversity for food and agriculture.
During the discussions on the Second Report, one of the key gender messages was clear: women’s contributions may remain hidden if the reporting questionnaire does not ask the right questions. Women are central to conserving local seed varieties, managing home gardens, supporting small-scale agriculture and fisheries, sustaining food security, restoring ecosystems and contributing to climate adaptation. Yet these contributions are often missed when reporting only looks at households, communities or countries as a whole.
The discussions also showed why indicators and reporting processes need to look beyond ecological data alone. They should also capture the social and institutional conditions that make biodiversity conservation possible — including women’s leadership, access to land and natural resources, finance, extension services, technology, decision-making spaces, Indigenous and local knowledge, and community-based stewardship.

La entrada Making Women Visible in Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture Reporting se publicó primero en CBD Women's Caucus.