Cover photograph 'Agricultural biodiversity at the market in Western Bengal.' Credit: Krishnasis Ghosh
We stand at a crossroads in the history of humans and our planet. Before us lie the formidable global challenges of climate change, land degradation, and biodiversity loss, coupled with social inequality, poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity. Agriculture, as it is increasingly practiced around the world, puts pressure on our ‘planetary and social boundaries’ – but under certain conditions, it can also be a source of positive change towards enhanced sustainability. Gender inequality plays a decisive role in how these global challenges play out; and as the Sustainable Development Goals demonstrate, gender equality is both a means to enhancing agriculture and environmental management and an end in itself. But how exactly is gender linked to agriculture and environmental management, and what kinds of initiatives can tackle these issues hand in hand?
Find out more at the upcoming seminar on April 9, 2021 — 5.30 to 7.00 pm Rome time. Registration required (below).
Speaker
Marlène Elias is a Senior Scientist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and Gender Research Coordinator for the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry. She leads the Alliances Module of the CGIAR GENDER Platform that coordinates gender research and integration across the CGIAR, with emphasis on strengthening the capacities of staff to conduct participatory, gender-responsive research that will challenge inequitable norms and deliver positive and equitable benefits to women and men across food systems.
Marlène has a BSc in Biology and Environmental Sciences, and an MA and PhD in Geography. Rooted in a feminist political ecology approach, her research focuses on gendered dimensions of forest management and restoration, local ecological knowledge(s), and forest/agri-food value chains, predominantly in West Africa and South and Central Asia.
Before joining Bioversity International, Marlène conducted research on gender, forest-based livelihoods, and tree resource management in Latin America and Africa. Among other positions, she has worked in UNESCO’s Division for Gender Equality and as a Fellow in the Department of Anthropology of Université Laval in Canada. She is the founder of the NGO Association Burkina Canada that facilitates education to underprivileged girls and boys in Burkina Faso.