Gender, Environment and Development Guide

Environmental protection is integral to the struggle for survival of millions of women in the developing world. Development projects aimed at improving the lives of women need to also consider what environmental impact the project will have. This guide, aimed at UNIFEM staff and consultants, provides a framework to evaluate projects and programmes from an environmental perspective. An overview of how the environment impacts on UNIFEM-supported projects focuses on how women gather and process natural resources, the environmental impact this has, and how to do a benefit and cost analysis of these activities, including economic, ecological and social perspectives. Organisational tools for gathering information about the gender, environment and development (GED) aspects of projects are presented, including checklists of questions, and sample projects with recommendations to improve environmental aspects of the project. Models for analysing information gathered from the checklists are provided, and measures for mitigating negative environmental effects are explored. Environmental and social indicators for monitoring project developments are also identified.