New Gender and Biodiversity Task Force for IUCN

24 May 2006

For the first time, the World Conservation Union will have a Gender and Biodiversity Task Force. Today, the IUCN Council approved the proposed task force and thereby paved the way for the Union to strengthen its work on gender issues.

“This is an important land mark for the global work on gender and conservation,” said Lorena Aguilar, Senior Gender Adviser for the Union. “It is also a sign for other conservation organization to take into account more strongly the importance of gender issues in the management of natural resources and conservation as a whole.”

The task force is going to evaluate the Union’s achievements, challenges and gaps in its past and current work on gender equity. Based on the results, the task force will develop an IUCN gender strategy for the next decade.

“70% of the world’s 1.3 billion poor people are women. If conservation wants to have an impact on poverty alleviation, then we need to empower women,” said Lorena Aguilar.

For more information

Please contact Lorean Aguilar at lorena.aguilariucn.org