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While working towards gender equality may be business as usual in many countries, in much of the world massive disparities in education, empowerment and opportunities remain a daily reality for women and girls. Just one example is Mozambique, where a recent analysis highlighted these challenges.…

Gender equality is an environmental issue. Through initiatives financed by the Global Environment Facility, UNDP recognizes this reality on the ground around the world. From Pakistan, where investing in women as clean energy entrepreneurs has led to avoidance of CO2 emissions, to supporting more…

Environmental threats represent the greatest challenge we face today. Waters recede in some places, drying lands and livelihoods out while sea levels and hurricanes inundate and sweep others away. Temperature changes threaten entire species and agricultural economies, challenging the resilience of…

“Women should benefit from this project, otherwise we’ll have to continue to go in and cut the mangrove.” I’m sitting on a narrow wooden bench, under a burning hot aluminum roof, next to a mother with a small boy on her lap who keeps a wary eye on me.  I’ve come to this rural village on the coast…

There is strength in numbers, the old idiom goes. Indeed, history shows that collaboration fosters ideas and results. Next week, the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities, or GPSC, will convene in New Delhi, India, to again share ideas and build on their collective vision: to work towards shaping…

Seeing a lionfish while diving in the Caribbean is a cause for mixed emotions. On the one hand, one marvels at the exquisite beauty of the fishes’ flowery fins and its amazing adaptability to a range of habitats, from shallow estuaries with low salinity to deep reef environments. But then you…

More than a thousand years ago, the Vikings lived and died by the sea while often taking to the oceans in specially designed wooden ships and sailing for the unknown. They dreamt of plunder, stories to entertain the long winter nights, and not least of new trading posts and farm-land, far…

Water is not a commodity and not a mere resource - it is the very foundation of life.  As poetic as it sounds, the meaning behind this simple truth nowadays provides reasons for concern. Water crises, extreme weather events, and interstate conflict with regional consequences have consistently…

Today, the GEF joins the global community in celebrating International Women’s Day. It is an ideal time to reflect on GEF’s efforts to advance the role of women in environmental sectors worldwide. When the GEF adopted its Policy on Gender Mainstreaming in 2011, only a minority of projects…

In 2010, 15 days after graduating from college, with nothing but a backpack and an old water bottle, I stood in front of a large gate with a rusted sign welcoming me to the “Pench Tiger Reserve.” The same reserve that inspired Rudyard Kipling’s, Jungle Book. None of the mock interviews  or…