Environmental emergencies threaten to destroy lives, economies, cultures, and societies. They harm a wide range of human rights, with differential effects based on gender. States and other actors have obligations and responsibilities under international law and policy to address environmental crises and to prevent their negative, gendered impacts on enjoyment of human rights. These messages highlight key human rights obligations and responsibilities with respect to gender and the environment.

Grounded in a series of case studies from research and programming experience, this report offers a comprehensive framework for understanding how gender, climate, and security are inextricably linked.

This publication summarizes the discussions of the Expert Group Meeting, held on 5–6 June 2018 in Nairobi, and highlights a set of actionable recommendations to support the accelerated gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. UN Women, UN Environment, and UN-Habitat prepared the report and recommendations as a contribution to the 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

This report provides a unique quantification of the costs in terms of lost growth opportunities and an estimate of what societies, economies, and communities would gain if the gender gap in agriculture is addressed. The findings of this report are striking, and send a strong signal to policy makers in Africa as well as development partners that closing the gender gap is smart economics. Consider this: closing the gender gap in agricultural productivity could potentially lift as many as 238,000 people out of poverty in Malawi, 80,000 people in Tanzania, and 119,000 people in Uganda.