CBD Women’s Caucus
The current mid-tem review of the Gender Plan of Action reveals significant data gaps that limit a systematic assessment of progress and can limit the accountability and effectiveness of its implementation through 2030. A comprehensive, evidence-based end-of-term assessment integrated with the global review of the Eighth National Reports at COP19, is essential to clearly identify progress, gaps, resource needs, and the critical contributions of women to the KM-GBF.
Women’s organisations still face major barriers to participating in the implementation, monitoring and reporting of the Gender Plan of Action, including accreditation and accessibility challenges, limited resources, technical and digital challenges, socio-cultural constraints, and risks of Gender Based Violence.
In this context, formal recognition of the CBD Women’s Caucus (WC) is paramount. As the women’s major group for CBD, the CBD WC, a self-organised global platform, provides an established mechanism through which these barriers can be addressed in practice. Formal recognition would facilitate structured communication, information flow, and participation pathways between women’s organisations and the Convention processes, directly strengthening the implementation, monitoring and review of the Gender Plan of Action.
Despite some progress in data disaggregation, gender and biodiversity-specific data remain insufficient and fragmented in many contexts, limiting effective monitoring, evaluation, and accountability. An established methodology for the component indicator on national implementation of the Gender Plan of Action was peer-reviewed by Parties and formally adopted at COP-16. In this context, Parties may wish to consider approaches to encourage the integration of this indicator into their NBSAPs and national targets, so that it can serve a dual purpose: supporting national reporting under the Gender Plan of Action while also contributing to streamlined reporting through national reports.
Community-generated data and diverse knowledge systems, including Indigenous, traditional, and local knowledge, and women’s specialized knowledge, are essential for capturing lived experiences of the implementation of the Gender Plan of Action and Target 23, and should be recognised as complementary and credible sources of evidence. Parties are encouraged to collaborate with women’s organisations, including the CBD Women’s Caucus, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, to strengthen pathways for integrating these knowledge systems and data into planning, monitoring, and implementation processes.
It is important to recall that Target 23 is not limited to women’s participation in decision-making. It requires the recognition of equal rights and access to land and natural resources, and the integration of gender equality across the implementation of the entire KM-GBF through a gender-responsive approach. The Gender Plan of Action is the operational tool already agreed by Parties to enable this. Advancing full implementation of the GPA is therefore one of the most direct and practical pathways for Parties to implement Target 23.
Drawing on key lessons identified in the mid-term review, there is a clear need to strengthen access to gender-responsive and dedicated funding, including by addressing priority resource and capacity gaps, supporting the strategic allocation of budgets at global and national levels, and improving direct access to funding for women-led grassroots organisations. Ensuring adequate and predictable resources for gender and biodiversity focal points is essential to enable sustained, effective, and gender-responsive implementation of the Gender Plan of Action. Even more, additional budgetary resources are required to enable the Secretariat to fully implement the activities under its mandate that have not yet been realized at this stage of the review.
For more information contact coordination@cbdwomenscaucus.org