Women and men use and manage marine and coastal ecosystems differently, have specific knowledge, capabilities and needs related to this and are differently impacted by changes in their environment due to climate change, pollution, and globalization. Historically, the contributions of women in onshore fisheries, aquaculture, processing and trading of marine products, in managing plastic and other waste from urban and tourist growth, and their important role in conservation and disaster-risk reduction initiatives in marine and coastal areas have been routinely ignored or underestimated in research, management and policy. There is now increasing recognition that sustainable and integrated marine and coastal ecosystem management requires gender sensitive and gender responsive planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation at project, policy and grassroots level. A critical challenge faced by policy makers, environmental managers and development practitioners in mainstreaming gender in the integrated management of marine and coastal ecosystems is the lack of practical examples to guide the implementation of gender-sensitive and gender-responsive actions from an empowerment approach.

In 2018 UNEP partnered with the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) to compile the report Mainstreaming Gender in Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Management with case studies documenting practical aspects of mainstreaming gender in policies, projects and activities related to integrated coastal and marine ecosystem management. Since its publication, it has been recommended to compile a larger compendium of case studies from a wider set of geographies and regions and covering a wider set of themes in coastal and marine ecosystem management. To promote uptake and practical implementation of gender mainstreaming by a wider group of practitioners involved in coastal and marine development it was also recommended to identify ‘principles’ that comprise the rather complex process of gender mainstreaming, and illustrate how these are being implemented in different geographic, socio-economic and ecosystem contexts.

Building on these recommendations, the new UNEP-GWA publication, “Gender Mainstreaming in Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Management: Principles, case studies and lessons learned” has been compiled with input from various stakeholders working towards more inclusive and sustainable coastal and marine development. The report features the work of diverse stakeholders (conservation organisations, researchers, government ministries, civil society, private sector, and community based groups) through 10 case studies from different countries and regions.

UNEP and GWA is hosting 2 online webinars on the report on October 14, 2021 (at 8:00 A.M EAT and at 6:00 P.M EAT, to accommodate diverse time zones) where we will present the main findings from the report and highlight some of the case studies in it. There will be five presentations from contributors of case studies from The Gambia, Mexico, Fiji, Kenya and India.

Objectives of the webinar The main objective of the online seminar is to present the principles, case studies and recommendations of the UNEP/GWA report to broad and diverse variety of stakeholders who are working on or are interested in gender in sustainable marine and coastal development, and to gather feedback on the principles and recommendations.

The secondary objectives are:

1. To highlight how different stakeholders are mainstreaming gender in their work with different groups of coastal people and coastal and marine environments around the world
2. To understand the gendered impact of global crises (esp. Climate change and Covid-19) on coastal communities and the environment
3. To facilitate knowledge networking between stakeholders and to foster potential collaboration on mainstreaming gender in coastal and marine ecosystem management.