They will take place at our headquarters in Seville to discuss and disseminate cross-cutting aspects of the relationship between nature and human activity, and its impact on biodiversity.

The Vice-President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, has inaugurated the seminar “Introduction to the relationship between the Environment and Gender”. With this first seminar we start the cycle of conferences “The Door of Biodiversity” that will take place at our headquarters in Seville to discuss and disseminate cross-cutting aspects of the relationship between nature and human activity, and its impact on biodiversity.

Ribera stressed that “the fact that environmental awareness has always had a woman’s voice has not always meant the same level of prominence and responsibility when making decisions. That is why we must conquer the space and make visible the importance that the role of women has in the context of decision-making.” We have to “guarantee equal opportunities” and “open a space for understanding, knowledge, exchange of best practices and, above all, for the vindication of a collective space in which women must have, at least, the same capacity for representation and decision-making as men”, she added.

This seminar, organised by the Biodiversity Foundation, in collaboration with the Equality Unit of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, has addressed the relationship between the environment and gender, since understanding this issue is key to addressing environmental challenges in an egalitarian and sustainable way. It is necessary to promote the cross-cutting gender approach in pro-environmental policies and actions and vice versa, so that both priority lines support each other to move towards an effective achievement of environmental sustainability and gender equality.

The meeting brought together 15 women experts in different aspects related to the environment and gender who shared knowledge, experiences and barriers detected in different areas such as climate change, biodiversity, energy transition, water, soil, circular economy, territory, marine environment and health. All the speakers have made a brief introductory presentation of the different topics and, subsequently, have participated in a joint working table from which conclusions will be drawn that we will share in the coming days.

In the closing, the director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Elena Pita, focused on how we integrate the gender perspective in our activity and how we apply it in our projects in a transversal way.

You can watch the seminar again through the YouTube channel of the Biodiversity Foundation.