Women’s Empowerment Can Deliver Green Outcomes: President Heine
Women everywhere still face everyday disadvantages. Empowering them will unlock new potential to tackle environmental challenges, says President of the Marshall Islands, Hilda C. Heine.
“The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has long emphasised on gender - still, every woman, especially in our Pacific nations, needs to walk the talk and make sure that they enjoy the same economic rights as men,” Ms Heine, the first woman to lead an independent Pacific Island nation, told IANS in an interview. Ms Heine, who was elected President of the Marshall Islands in January 2016, was in this Vietnamese tourist resort city to address the GEF Assembly, the organisation’s highest governing body.
The assembly saw attendance of 1200 delegates, including ministers and other representatives, from all its 183 member-countries, with bold commitments for action to avoid an environmental catastrophe.
“We have to keep working for gender-responsive government policies and programmes; decision-making and leadership; economic empowerment; ending violence against women, and ensuring effective education and sexual reproductive health services,” Ms Heine said.
She advocated that building capacity on gender equality also helps catalyse actions that have the potential to materialise greater environmental impact.
For Ms Heine, the low-lying nations like hers are still grappling with an existential threat in the face of the growing global environmental crisis.
According to her, the GEF, the world’s foremost institution for financing environmental change, has given a billion dollars in grants to safeguard the environment. Around 50 heads of government will hold the world’s first-ever virtual summit on November 22 that Heine announced at the GEF Assembly.
The carbon-free summit will bring together leaders of the 48-nation Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), which represents many of the countries most threatened by climate change.
Ms Heine, who will soon assume the chairmanship of the CVF, announced that the summit would be convened entirely online as a “Virtual Summit”, showcasing intentions to work in new and innovative ways and to build broader coalitions.