Success Stories Of Women And The Environment

Increasingly, over the last 20 years, women in poor developing countries have had to cope with growing ecological stress. Food, fodder, wood and water, previously in adequate supply have become scarce, and women have also been deprived of traditional access to cultivable land. Those who left the countryside for the cities now face terrible pollution, miserable housing and poor sanitation and water supplies. This reader tells the rarely told story of women living and coping in these dreadful conditions. It is a book of hope because it shows them to be not passive victims but courageous fighters and organizers in the fact of natural disaster, uncaring bureaucracy, agencies and governments whose priorities lie elsewhere, and traditional structures inimical to their needs. The women and their oganizations described here have produced demonstrably effective approaches for more sustainable uses of their resources and environments, challenging conventional accounts of their roles.

The overview is intended to deepen the understanding of women's roles in environmental and natural resource management. It examines the conceptual and practical connections between gender and the environment, presents an overview of women and natural resource management issues in the Commonwealth, and presents relevant recommendations on women and environmental issues emanating from Commonwealth and international sources.

"There is a widespread perception that the development process is in a state of multiple crisis. While the notion of sustainable development is supposed to address adequately its environmental dimensions, there is still no agreed framework relating women to this new perspective. This book is an attempt to present and disentangle the various positions put forward by major actors and to clarify the political and theoretical issues that are at stake in the debates on women, the environment and sustainable development. Among the current critiques of the western model of development which the authors review are the feminist analysis of Science itself and the power relations inherent in the production of knowledge; Women, Environment and Development (WED); Alternative Development; Environmental Reformism; and Deep Ecology, Social Ecology and Ecofeminism. In traversing this important landscape of ideas, they show how they criticise the dominant developmental model at the various levels of epistemology, theory and policy. The authors also go further and put forward their own ideas as to the basic elements they consider necessary in constructing a paradigmatic shift -- emphasising such values as holism, mutuality, justice, autonomy, self-reliance, sustainability and peace. This unique work is a signally useful contribution to clarifying thinking on a topic with immense implications for all women."--Publisher's description.

2021 is the beginning of the ‘decade of action’ to realise the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It is imperative that every single person understands the goals, becomes familiar with them and takes individual and collective action to realise them if we want to live a quality life.SDG 5 in particular talks about Gender Equality which in our view is central to the realisation of the SDGs. Unfortunately in India, women in leadership positions are not visible and the numbers do not stack up. We have less than 10% representation of women in the State Legislative Assembly, 14% in Parliament, about 24% in the formal labour force which is declining year on year. If you cannot see her, you cannot be her. This book aims to showcase the journeys of women leaders in their respective fields and also in the realisation of the 17 SDGs through their work. We have scientists, police women, judges and business entrepreneurs who have shared their failures and successes. Through their unique perspectives they have shared on how despite one’s backgrounds one can achieve one’s goals, overcome socio-cultural barriers and contribute to the collective good.

First published in 1994, The Wealth of Communities presents the stories of ten communities from Philippines to Poland, from Los Angeles to Zimbabwe, where they are making intelligent and sustainable use of the world around them. It brings case studies of reviving depleted fisheries; finding novel ways of waste disposal; controlling industrial pollution; and replanting forests, to show how they are shaping their own destinies and meeting their own needs while at the same time protecting the environment in the face of hardship and opposition. The Wealth of Communities is a book about hope and ingenuity, written in a vivid and memorable style to which the accompanying photographs lend immediacy and depth. In an age of climate crisis, these ten tales will pave the way for the success of future ventures, and they are a tonic for hard times