www.futurenviro.es | Octubre-Noviembre October-November 2021 13 Mujeres y Medio Ambiente | Women & Environment En general la gente que vive en esos ecosistemas son esenciales en la lucha contra el cambio climático, esos pueblos indígenas representan solo el 6,2% de la población mundial, pero protegen el 80% de la biodiversidad mundial, y en ellos tienen un papel central las mujeres que gestionan la vida cotidiana de esos pueblos. Por eso es esencial asegurar su liderazgo en la toma de decisiones, no solo para la acción climática sino también para la reducción del riesgo de desastres. En este sentido la campaña de la ONU SHEChangesClimate* . Las soluciones tienen que venir también del nivel micro e individual, y ahí las mujeres son el detonante. Las medidas simples en plan “vamos a plantar grandes bosques para compensar nuestras emisiones” pueden ser contraproducentes: cualquier plantación de esta índole puede liberar mucho más CO2, por ejemplo en zonas con elevada concentración de carbono en el suelo, que se liberaría al prepararlo para plantar, que el que va a absorber. Y los bosques artificiales, homogéneos de una misma especie, son más proclives a los incendios, al igual que si se plantan grandes extensiones pero no se procede al debido mantenimiento de las mismas, con lo que es peor el remedio que la enfermedad. Hay sin embargo actuaciones puntuales, teniendo en cuenta las peculiaridades del entorno, que son muy positivas. En el Global Summit of Women, celebrado el pasado mes en Lisboa, se ponía como ejemplo de una de estas actuaciones la reforestación, por iniciativa de la Reina madre de Tailandia hace 40 años, de una gran extensión en la zona del triángulo dorado, donde se habían cortado los árboles para cultivar opio. Con el doble propósito de luchar contra la droga y rehabilitar el entorno. Ya hay pruebas fehacientes de que las mujeres lideran muy efectivamente a la hora de hacer frente a desastres como el del COVID19, como se ha demostrado en los países con liderazgo femenino que han reaccionado antes y han sabido minimizar el daño de la pandemia en comparación con otros. Evaluando en una investigación la respuesta a la crisis sanitaria de 194 países diferentes se demostró que las naciones con líderes femeninas al frente tuvieron una respuesta más efectiva, además de registrar tasas de mortalidad sensiblemente más bajas. UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, states that “indigenous women help protect the fragile territories in which they live. Indigenous women are crucial transmitters of knowledge related to sustainable environmental management to future generations”. In general, the people who live in these ecosystems are vital in the fight against climate change. These indigenous peoples represent only 6.2% of the world’s population, but they protect 80% of the world’s biodiversity, and women play a central role in managing the daily lives of these peoples. It is therefore essential to ensure their leadership in decisionmaking, not only in climate action but also in disaster risk reduction. The UN SHEChangesClimate* campaign has been created in this context. Solutions also have to come from the micro and individual level, and here women are the trigger. Simple measures along the lines of “let’s plant large forests to offset our emissions” can be counterproductive. This type of measure can result in far greater CO2 emissions, for example in areas with a high concentration of carbon in the soil, where more carbon would be released when preparing it for planting than would subsequently be absorbed. And homogenous artificial forests of the same species are more prone to fires. The same is true if trees are planted in large areas and proper maintenance is not carried out, making the cure worse than the disease. There are, however, specific examples of very positive actions that have taken account of the peculiarities of the environment. One such action was presented at the Global Summit of Women, held last month in Lisbon. Carried out as a result of an initiative undertaken by the Queen Mother of Thailand 40 years ago, it entailed the reforestation of a large area in the Golden Triangle, where trees had been cut down to grow opium. This had the dual purpose of combating drugs and rehabilitating the environment. There is already strong evidence that women provide very effective leadership in dealing with disasters such as COVID19, as demonstrated by countries with female leaders that responded earlier and showed greater capacity to limit the damage caused by the pandemic. Research evaluating the response to the health crisis in 194 different countries showed that nations with female leaders had a more effective response, as well as significantly lower mortality rates. However, the “ideologization” of the climate issue, coupled with the inertia of years of male dominance in all fields, has meant that, in the search for solutions to climate change, the presence of women is also lower and fails to reflect the fact that they account for half of humanity. As the signatories of the aforementioned open letter say, “there is evidence that including women in COP26 decision and negotiating roles would increase the chances of success and ensure a fairer decision-making process”. But according to some estimates, gender parity will not be achieved until at least 2042***. A waste of talent and a waste of time that we cannot afford. It is a fact that global warming has a greater negative impact on women, especially in poorer countries. 80% of those displaced by
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