COP19 (19/11/13) – Lorena Aguilar Revelo and Rebecca Pearl Martinez, International Union for the Conservation of Nature talk about the Environment and Gender Index and why it is important to make sure that natural resources are used in a sustainable way that benefits both men and women.

They say that the index allows us to measure how countries are performing in terms of preserving natural resources, and how well these are distributed between men and women.

Martinez says that the index is the first to observe environment and gender variables at the same time. She says the results expect to show how women are accessing natural resources in the areas of forestry, energy and climate change, which can then be used to determine how they can have a greater part in environmental decision-making.

The results so far show Iceland sitting in the first place in the world rankings, with Mongolia and Yemen topping the Asian and the Middle East and North African regions respectively.

Revelo says that the challenges of climate change require a response from 100% of the population: women and men have different knowledge of natural resources and therefore the index seeks to understand how we can bring the entire population together to fight species extinction.

Martinez adds that they are expecting to create new data sets that governments and NGOs will be able to use to improve the participation of women in environmental decision-making.