News

Women’s Crucial Role in Combating Climate Change

Apr 1, 2017 | Alina Tugend

The link between climate change and women’s rights may seem baffling to some.But for Zandile Gumede, the first female mayor of Durban, South Africa, they…

Conflict Minerals: State Department Reviewing Conflict Minerals Sourcing

Mar 28, 2017 | Andrea Vittorio, Bureau of National Affairs

The State Department and other federal agencies are looking at efforts to break the link between armed groups and the minerals trade in and around…

Global Warming Is a Matter of Survival for Pacific Islander Women

Mar 28, 2017 | Kristi Eaton

For Viva Tatawaqa and women like her, climate change is not a question of when. According to the activist from Fiji, it's a question of…

Myanmar: Government to Return Land to Farmers

Mar 7, 2017 | Min Thant and Htay Hla Aung, Eleven

Dr Soe Than, regional minister for agriculture, livestock and irrigation, said: “We’re assessing the land. It shouldn’t take long. Within this year we will be…

Afghanistan: Enhancing the Success of Afghanistan’s Women Farmers

Mar 7, 2017 | International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas

Against the odds, a new agricultural outreach model targeting rural women is taking shape in Afghanistan – and delivering on its promise of empowerment, greater…

For Rural Afghan Women, Agriculture Holds the Potential for Better Jobs

Jan 12, 2017 | Anuja Kar and Mansur Ahmed

In Afghanistan, agriculture continues to be the backbone of the rural economy – about 70% of the population in rural areas is engaged in on-farm…

Missing Voices: Let's Hear Women's Experiences of Climate Change

Jan 6, 2017 | Anne Schulthess

Attending the UN climate talks feels like a big deal. Despite having been in the climate change movement for some years, Bonn was my first…

Liberia: First Forest Atlas for Liberia Launched

Dec 19, 2016 | J. Burgess Carter, Daily Observer

The international resource organization, World Resource Institute and the Forestry Development Authority recently launched the first Forest Atlas for Liberia to promote sustainable forest management…

Afghanistan: Afghanistan Women Farmers Demonstrate Agriculture Can Recover after War

Dec 19, 2016 | Sarina Locke, ABC News

An aid project in Afghanistan helps enterprising women to multiply grain seeds for cropping, share vegetable seeds and breed better goats. So far the work…

Sudan: Sudan Pressures OVL for Higher Tax, Sits on Extension

Dec 6, 2016 | Time of India

Sudan is playing hardball with India on the issue of extending the licence for an oilfield with a view to extracting additional revenue, even though…

Land: Rural Women Demand Increased Access to Land Rights

Dec 6, 2016 | Gbatemah Senah, Bush Chicken

Amid the celebration of the UN Women-led 16 Days of Activism, a group representing rural women in Liberia has presented a list of demands for…

Women's Leadership: Critical to Securing the Paris Agreement; Essential to Fulfilling It

Nov 11, 2016 | Courtney Durham, Natalie Elwell, and Cynthia Elliot

The Paris Agreement on climate change wouldn’t be what it is today without action from strong women from around the world. Christiana Figueres, the UNFCCC…

Colombia: Plan Colombia Casts Shadow on Indigenous Rights as Peace Nears

Oct 12, 2016 | teleSUR

Marginalized Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Colombia have been among the most battered by more than five decades of internal armed conflict between the military,…

Liberia: Concessions Violate Women’s Rights

Oct 12, 2016 | Daily Observer

A research report released in Monrovia over the weekend by Natural Resources Women’s Platform (NRWP), the Alliance for Rural Democracy (ARD), and Green Advocates International…

Colombia: Legal Threats, Not War, Top Commodity Producers' Concerns in Colombia

Oct 11, 2016 | Julia Symmes Cobb and Nelson Bocanegra, Reuters

Gold mining companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars but not extracted a gram. Palm farmers are told their land belongs to someone else.…

Afghanistan: Afghan Women to Be Given 'Fair Share' in Property Rights Drive - Land Authority

Oct 11, 2016 | Zabihullah Noori, Reuters

Afghan women should benefit from a project to issue property titles to homeowners in Kabul, where more than two-thirds of the houses have no formal…

Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Says All Will Lose in Any South China Sea War

Aug 31, 2016 | Agence France-Presse

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang warned on Tuesday there would be no winners in any armed conflict sparked by territorial disputes in the South China…

Afghanistan: In Afghanistan’s Farm Belt, Women Lead Unions and Find New Status

Aug 31, 2016 | Mujib Mashal, New York Times

In this lush farm belt deep in central Afghanistan, women have been the organizing force behind a new wave of small village farm unions. That…

At the Eye of the Storm: Women and Climate Change

Jul 26, 2016 | Aimee Jakeman

Struggling to save their failing crops. Walking farther afield to fetch clean water. Protecting their families from devastating storms and violent conflicts. “Women are usually…

Colombia: UN Praises Colombia and FARC's Agreement on Women

Jul 25, 2016 | BBC News

The UN has welcomed an agreement between the Colombian government and FARC rebels giving specific guarantees to women as part of a peace accord. Both…

Climate Change: The GOP is Leading an Effort to Block the Military from Planning for Climate Change

Jul 24, 2016 | Adam Wernick, PRI

In June, House Republicans attached an amendment to the defense authorization bill that stopped the Defense Department from spending money to plan for climate change. The…

The Top-Secret Cold War Plan to Keep Soviet Hands off Middle Eastern Oil

Jun 23, 2016 | Steve Everly, Politico

On a cool summer day in London in 1951, an American CIA officer told three British oil executives about a top-secret U.S. government plan. The…

Afghanistan: Afghan Women Take on Farming

Jun 23, 2016 | Arzo Mohammadai, Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Agriculture, a central pillar of Afghanistan’s economy, has traditionally been dominated by men. Women are sometimes recruited to work the fields or tend livestock, but…

When Climate Change Exacerbates Conflict, Women Pay the Price Says Mayesha Alam

May 13, 2016 | Sean Peoples, New Security Beat

Climate change has the potential to exacerbate conflict and political instability, and women will pay a steeper price than their male counterparts when it does,…

Phillippines/United States/South China Sea: U.S. Conducts Joint Patrols with Philippines in South China Sea

Apr 14, 2016 | Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press

In a military buildup certain to inflame tensions with China, the United States said Thursday it will send troops and combat aircraft to the Philippines…

Iraq: Marsh Loss Shatters Lifestyle of Iraq’s Ma’dan Women

Apr 14, 2016 | Rasha Dewedar, SciDev.Net

Iraq is losing crucial knowledge about water management as marshland depletion is altering the lifestyle of local women, a paper has warned. The indigenous people…

Enhancing Women's Role in Land Management Decisions

Mar 24, 2016 | Thierry Berger

How can women's rights be strengthened when decisions are being made about large-scale agricultural investments that affect their livelihoods?

A recent IIED webinar examined how women's…

Can Mining Dig Rural Women Out of Poverty in Ghana?

Mar 8, 2016 | Amani Mhinda

Walking within the artisanal and small-scale mining population in Tarkwa, one of Ghana's principal mining regions, it dawns on me that the local population has…

Women Pay Heavier Price for Big Dams

Mar 8, 2016 | Jamie Skinner

Large dams are displacing thousands of people in West Africa in societies where women traditionally have few legal or customary rights to the natural resources…

The Role of Women in Creating Climate Resilient Communities: Focus on the Philippines

Feb 19, 2016 | Laura Fairman

The Philippines is one of the world’s most vulnerable populations to the effects of climate change. When the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction…