Gender and Global Biodiversity From 'Women and Plants' to International Law

• Main Author: Luce, Deborah
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: University of Ottawa (Canada) 2013
• Subjects: Geography.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/28568; http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-12603

This thesis examines the channels of communication that facilitate the transfer of gendered ecological knowledge from 'women and plants' to international law. It investigates the source of women's ecological knowledge in Latin American rural villages and identifies characteristics of this knowledge by exploring ethnographic case studies. Rural Latin American women's knowledge of their ecosystems and the plants they use is essential not only to household survival, but also to the conservation of biodiversity. Given the concern over the rapid decline in global biodiversity and the importance of the Convention on Biological Diversity as an international binding (to the parties that have ratified it) agreement that enjoys widespread support, this study examines the role of the bodies of the CBD in considering and documenting gendered ecological knowledge. It suggests that the role of civil society in the capture and transfer of women's ecological knowledge is key. Despite policy that includes a comprehensive Gender Plan of Action, a profound understanding of the need for a gender focus when considering ecological knowledge is still lacking within the actions of the bodies and parties of the CBD. NGOs and TANs are well positioned to bring evidence from their work in rural villages in Latin America (and across the world) that will help bring the issues of gendered ecological knowledge closer to the policy table. It is suggested here that giving rural women in Latin America and the world over a voice in the international arena is essential, not only for biodiversity conservation but also for poverty eradication.