Women leading ocean action

21 May 2017, 12:00AM

“Sharing what women are already doing to conserve, study and sustainably use the ocean will inspire, spark creativity and self-confidence in young women and our societies as a whole” - Easter Galuvao


The action of women is a key part of reaching Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Under Water. At the United Nations Ocean Conference from 5 – 9 June in New York this year, an event on day one will showcase women’s actions and strategies for including women in ocean management.

The UN Ocean Conference is co-hosted by the Governments of Fiji and Sweden.  Fiji will also be featured in the special event titled “Healers of our ocean: Asia-Pacific women leading ocean action to achieve SDG14”.

 “Our goal for the event is to highlight the need for engagement of Asia-Pacific women in marine sciences and ocean management, and increased inclusion of women in marine management planning,” said Sefanaia Nawadra, Head of UN Environment’s Pacific Sub-Regional Office.

 “At the community level, women have the most potential to be instigators of change, being the main food providers for their families and thus de-facto managers of their community’s ocean resources.”

At the academic level, statistics show in the last five years over 50 per cent of the graduates, both Bachelors and Masters Degrees, from the University of the South Pacific’s Marine Science Programmes, are women.

Despite the growing number of women enrolling in marine science university programmes, women accounted for only 18% of fishery science and management staff in Pacific islands, according to a 2011 study. In contrast, women accounted for more than 60% of administrative and clerical staff in government fisheries divisions.

Women use and hold important knowledge of many marine resources and spaces, but including women’s voices in governance decisions requires key strategies acknowledging the social and cultural traditions in the Pacific.

 “Sharing what women are already doing to conserve, study and sustainably use the ocean will inspire, spark creativity and self-confidence in young women and our societies as a whole,” said Easter Galuvao, Director of the Environmental Monitoring and Governance Division at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

 “SPREP is boosting gender equality in all our work and recognises our Pacific women, who value and depend on our ocean.”

SPREP is one of 18 partners on the “Healers of our ocean: Asia-Pacific women leading ocean action to achieve SDG14” event, which will take place on 5 June in New York, from 3 – 4.30pm in Conference Room 12.

 

21 May 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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