The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released the report Gender and waste nexus: Experiences from Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal at the 8th ISWA World Congress in Bilbao, Spain. The Gender and waste nexus report provides a detailed analysis of the gendered nature of the waste sector in these countries.
The report is one of the products of the Waste and Climate Change project funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and implemented by UNEP-IETC in partnership with local organizations in Mongolia, Bhutan and Nepal. The report examines the relationship between gender and waste based on fieldwork in the capital cities of the three countries (Ulaanbaatar, Thimphu and Kathmandu), guidance from local partners and a synthesis of the literature available.
Over the past few years, the issue of gender in waste management has received increasing attention, highlighting that waste production and management is not gender neutral. The report details the gendered patterns in each labour segment of the waste sector and at every level of the waste hierarchy. Gender inequalities and norms in the three countries are embedded in almost every aspect of waste management.
Implementing gender-informed policies and interventions can redirect the future of waste management towards gender equality and strengthen governmental commitments to social inclusion and the SDGs.
This report provides a broad conceptual framework to guide policy makers around the world to enhance gender equality in the waste sector.
About the Waste and Climate Change Project
Since 2016, UNEP-IETC works on a waste and climate change project to reduce the impacts of the waste sector on the climate, through capacity strengthening and policy support at the national and local level in Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal. In partnership with The Asia Foundation, WWF Bhutan and LEAD Nepal, the project provides support to strengthen national and city level waste management strategies, identify and pilot appropriate waste management technologies and build the capacity and awareness of policy makers and other key waste stakeholders in the target countries.
For more information, please contact: Claudia Giacovelli
