Rio Conventions Pavilion TV, CBD COP11 (19/10/2012) – Andrea Quesada from the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation talks about the CBD’s women’s caucus, which brings women and men passionate about gender and environment together during the negotiations.

She says that they aim to influence different levels of the negotiations and to make sure women and gender get a mention in certain places in the text. The example she gives is in the text on poverty alleviation and the importance of naming women as stewards of conservation.

She also says they aim to get countries to recognise where gender has already been successfully incorporated into policies and says COP11 offers an interesting experience as it is all about implementation. She says there is still a gap in the implementation of gender issues around the world and often gender equality is not a reality on the ground.

She says the women from the caucus aim to engage with parties, letting them know, ‘here we are, these are our expertise and this is where we can help’.