March 5, 2021
The gist: Choosing a certified product or looking for a new food waste recipe are good ways to put sustainability into the everyday choices we make. Not “missing a massive force to combat climate change—women—is another.” Whether it’s providing education or land ownership—women’s contributions intersect with large-scale sustainability solutions, and this nexus should be part of our planning.
The #faxx:
- It is often cited that the key to changing the world is investing in women, and study after study has demonstrated that educating girls is ranked as one of the top ten most powerful ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Women make up over half the people working in agriculture in developing nations. But simply providing them with knowledge is not enough – they must have access to land and ownership to then be able to use this education on the ground.
“There is a huge difference of welfare and confidence between a woman owning her plot of land and a woman working on her husband’s land.”
Solange, a Côte d’Ivoire, cocoa Farmer
Read more of Emma Harbour’s article here. She is the Director of Global Advocacy at The Rainforest Alliance, an international non-profit organization working in more than 70 countries at the intersection of business, agriculture, and forests. The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities.
