Our Aim and Vision

We are a network established to advocate for a right to a healthy environment for all. We believe that Living in Harmony with Nature needs to take into account the roles and contributions of women and girls to achieve transformative change. This requires addressing gender equity and needs to embrace the holistic solutions and the recognition of women’s human rights to achieve it.

Our work involves building synergies around the work of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and other international arenas to provide direction for more coherent and inclusive processes while ensuring their proper implementation.

Our Work

Outreach

In collaboration with our partners, we campaign to amplify the importance in recognising the roles and contributions of women in biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainable future. We do this through various social media outlets, video documentation and various campaigns.

Policy

We provide analysis and bring experiences from the local to the global-level in advocating for women’s rights to biodiversity conservation. We do this by advocating to policymakers and by supporting our members participation in decision-making processes.

Capacity Building

We provide expertise and training to women and women’s rights organisations to strengthen their work on human rights and gender justice for a rights-based approach to biodiversity conservation for a just, sustainable future for all.

Join the CBD Women Caucus

Our network comprises of members and strategic partners. The network provides a platform for sharing knowledge and expertise and brings together various sectors with the intersectionality of gender and the environment looking from the nexus of biodiversity and women’s rights. The networks collectively bring together voices from the local to the global discussions on biodiversity conservation and advocates to bring forth good practices to contribute to the global biodiversity discussions.

Join Us | Sé Parte | Devenir Membre

Latest News from the Network

Visite d’échange à West Pokot : le sentiment de REFACOF

Un court billet de Rose Pelagie Masso et Blondine Benga de REFACOF, Cameroun, sur leur visite d'échange régional dans la forêt de Kamatira à West Pokot, Kenya.

Indigenous languages and traditions need to be shared from one generation to another

A personal reflection on the 12th meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Intersessional Working Group on Article 8(j) by Sunita Kwangta.

Mi experiencia en Costa Rica

Una entrada de blog que describe una visita de campo a la restauración de manglares en Chomes, Punta Arenas, Costa Rica.

Connect with the Team

Mrinalini Rai

DIRECTOR | INDIA

As Women4Biodiversity director, Mrinalini draws from her experience as an international expert on biodiversity and gender, having worked several years in advocating for the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities and women and youth in various local to global dialogues. She strongly believes in the ground-level up movement and the strength of communities’ experiences and voices. She supports and advocates for the full, effective and meaningful participation of women and believes they are not only the key rights holders but that they are also a key for a transformative and just society.

An indigenous woman herself, Mrinalini worked extensively with indigenous peoples before she focused on gender, which she sees inextricably linked with the indigenous experience and as an issue that cuts across sectors. She served as an indigenous advisor and gender expert for different organizations.

She holds an MA in Sustainable Development from Chiang Mai University.

Shruti Ajit

PROGRAMME OFFICER | INDIA

Shruti Ajit has been working on research and documentation of community-led and community -based conservation all her working life. She began her journey in 2015 with Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group which aimed to challenge the dominant narrative of exclusionary conservation through inclusive policies and evidence building. She has also worked on issues of pastoral communities and had initiated a process of documenting the articulation of Raika women in Rajasthan, India. An active proponent of gender issues, she has been engaged with processes of gender and forest Rights at national and regional levels. She has also been engaged with ICCA Consortium and co-coordinates activities at global and regional levels. She is part of the core group of Global Youth Biodiversity Network, India chapter and has been engaging with youth in building awareness and participation on issues of biodiversity conservation in India. While her interest lies in the intersectionalities between social and ecological justice, Shruti could also be seen getting excited about watching an elephant in the wild, reveling over the history and anthropology of food that she is party to wherever she travels and being enchanted by storytellers who have the knack of orally transferring their knowledge systems from one generation to another.

Shruti has an MA in Development from Azim Premji University, India, and a BA in Journalism and Communication from Manipal University.

Amelia Arreguin

UN CBD WOMEN’S CAUCUS COORDINATOR | MEXICO

Amelia Arreguin has extensive experience in capacity development, advocacy, project management, and political communication, which she uses to advocate for gender and intergenerational justice in the environment, both at the international and national level.

She has founded EcoMaxei, a Mexican environmental NGO with focus on women and human rights. She also co-founded Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) – Mexico and coordinated GYBN Latin America and the Caribbean. Additionally, she is part of IUCN’s Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy (CEESP), as well as a member of IUCN’s Commission on Education and Communication (CEC).

Currently, she is pursuing her MSc in Environment and International Development at the University of East Anglia as a Chevening Scholar in the UK. She also holds a BA in Communications Sciences (Specialized in Political Communication) from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Sumina Subba

MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER | NEPAL

Sumina is a communications professional with more than six years of experience working in both development organisations and the private sector. She grew up in a house where there were more books than any other treasures. As a result, her affinity towards words began at an early age. A storyteller by heart, she loves to combine her passion for human rights with storytelling through visual media that showcases human-interest stories.

Sumina is a former Open Society Foundation / University of Essex scholar and holds a MA degree in Human Rights and Cultural Diversity from the University of Essex, the UK.

Deepika Nandan

VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER | INDIA

Deepika is an artist from Bengaluru, India whose practice explores using found objects and natural, sustainable materials. When she’s not outside collecting leaves, seeds, and other curiosities, she’s drawing them. Her fascination with the natural world began with observing ants as a child. Now, she uses her art to communicate about the fascinating life around her. She investigates the biosphere and how humans interact with it using location and context-specific media and visuals. She hopes her curiosity is contagious and her work inspires sustainability and conservation.

Angeles Migliore

FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR | ARGENTINA

Angeles has ten years working in the private sector, in multinational and small companies. Her experience achieves financial services, financial analysis, and administration.

When she was at university she had a subject called Social Investment Project. She liked this subject very much because it related hard data (quantitative aspects) with current social issues (qualitative aspects). She then realized she wanted to focus her career on this area.

Angeles is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Assessment in Investment Projects (social and private) at Centro de Estudios Macroeconómicos de Argentina University (UCEMA). She holds a BA in Economics at Universidad Nacional de General San Martín, with a background in sociology for being a university social sciences analyst from Salvador University (USAL).

Alejandra Duarte

POLICY INTERN | LATIN AMERICA REGION, PERU

Alejandra is a specialist in agroforestry, currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Forestry Conservation. She is focusing her research in dry, montane and andean forests, to improve the management and conservation of these ecosystems. She also dedicates herself in advocating for the rights of youth and women, as she is convinced that the full recognition of the rights and desires of the youth, women and indigenous people, will help achieve equity, integration and respect between humans and other living beings.