March 2019: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have published a report on measuring the nexus between gender and the environment. The publication proposes 18 gender-environment indicators for inclusion in the wider set of gender indicators used by the international community and national statistical offices (NSOs). The authors argue that gender-environment statistics offer clues on strategies and actions to operationalize the intersectional approach required by the SDG framework.

The report is titled, ‘Gender and environment statistics: Unlocking information for action and measuring the SDGs.’ To assess the current landscape of data at the gender-environment nexus, it reviews two international frameworks: the Minimum Set of Gender Indicators from the Inter-Agency Expert Group-Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS); and the SDG indicators developed by the UN Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs). The authors find persistent data gaps at the gender-environment nexus. Limited collection, dissemination and application of gender-environment statistics, the report notes, including at national level, affect decision makers’ and practitioners’ knowledge and capacity to develop well-informed, effective policies and programming.

This report then presents enabling conditions at national level, including through research conducted in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Kenya and Mexico. It explores lessons learned and challenges to closing data gaps. It provides recommendations addressed both to the national statistics systems and inter-agency UN expert groups.

One recommendation is to use sex-disaggregated indicators to measure the gender-environment nexus within existing national mechanisms, such as household surveys. The authors explain that the “relatively simple” step of disaggregating information, which is still not always done especially for environmental issues, can deliver “enormous insight” into the diverse daily lives of women and men.

The 18 gender-environment indicators proposed for inclusion by the international community and NSOs cover four areas:

• The right to land, natural resources and biodiversity;
• Access to food, energy, water and sanitation;
• Climate change, sustainable production and consumption, and health; and
• Women in environmental decision-making at all levels.

In February, a paper by UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women titled, ‘Gender Equality as an Accelerator for Achieving the SDGs,’ described evidence that promoting gender equality can contribute to addressing climate impacts and protecting planetary ecosystems (SDGs, 13, 14 and 15). [UNEP Report Page] [Publication: Gender and environment statistics: Unlocking information for action and measuring the SDGs]