REDD+ and Gender Policy Brief 2: What Strategic Directions are Needed to Strengthen Gender Equality in REDD+ in Asia-Pacific?

Summary

This policy brief summarises the key lessons that emerged from the Asia-Pacific workshop within the context of recent progress, the remaining challenges for better addressing gender equality in REDD+ in the region and strategic directions for improvement.

Key Messages:

• The Asia-Pacific region has made remarkable progress towards addressing gender equality in REDD+ in recent years. Nonetheless, several challenges persist, requiring better synergies, adequate investments and dedicated persistence.
• The region should learn from its stock of lessons learned from women’s inclusion in sustainable landuse management and promote those in the context of REDD+.
• It is time to develop a coherent long-term regional vision and strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, which can further inform and support greater integration of gender perspectives and women’s inclusion in forestry and REDD+ programs at national and sub-national levels.
• Addressing gender gaps in REDD+ requires integration of practical and strategic needs of women into REDD+ activities at the operational level of sub-national planning and broader sustainable development strategies.
• Current initiatives to address gender gaps in REDD+ are largely limited to awareness raising and capacity-building, but lack in-built financial resources and expertise for implementation. Increased institutional responsiveness should be the key focus of gender integration efforts to promote enforcement in the region.
• Evidence shows that a tailored capacity-building process that fosters south-south collaboration and exchange can promote mutual learning and replication in the region.