WILPF Workshop: Making Sustainable Development work for Women and Girls in Conflict: Strengthening an Integrated Approach to Gender Equality, Sustainable Development, and Peace

Church Center for the United Nations (CCUN)

On 15 July 2019, WILPF hosted a workshop entitled, "Making Sustainable Development work for Women and Girls in Conflict: Strengthening an Integrated Approach to Gender Equality, Sustainable Development, and Peace", with a particular focus on the intersections between gender, militarism, and the environment. The workshop was led by WPS Programme Director Abigail Ruane, WILPF US member and convener of the environment working group Dawn Nelson, and WILPF Vice President and WILPF Norway member Margrethe Tingstad.

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Margrethe Tingstad, Abigail Ruane, and Dawn Nelson at the Gender, Militarism, and the Environment Workshop (Photo: Jasmina Tomic)
In the workshop, participants discussed different ways in which environmental advocacy and research could be incorporated into WILPF’s existing work on gender, militarism, and disarmament. Participants noted the intersections between militarism, climate change, and pollution, as well as with other issues such as food and water insecurity and loss of biodiversity. Dawn Nelson, WILPF Environment Working Group convener, noted the vital importance of root cause analysis to WILPF's work, which may include analysis of environmental harms and struggle over natural resources. Building on this analysis, Margrethe Tingstad presented a model for visually displaying the direct and indirect linkages between militarism as a root cause of conflict and many varied environmental issues.

Because SDG 13 on climate change was under review at the 2019 High-Level Political Forum, as was SDG 16 on peaceful, just and inclusive societies, the workshop offered the opportunity for WILPF members to discuss feminist peacebuilding in the context of global climate crisis and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Previous WILPF work has examined ecocide, the environmental impact of nuclear weapons, the impacts of transnational corporations on women's human rights and the environment.

For more background, read Dawn Nelson's 2018 WILPF blog on the need for feminist action on climate change.