In 2024 and 2025, Rosalind Helfand was honored to co-lead on UN-Women’s publications and dialogues, including with the three Rio Convention Secretariats, looking at how to advance gender-responsive synergies across the UN CBD, UNFCCC and UNCCD Rio Conventions. Part of this work is captured in the gender mainstreaming section of the Rio Convention Secretariats’ new synergies devoted website.
UN-Women’s Working Paper on “Advancing Gender-Responsive Synergies Across the Rio Conventions: Gender equality at the intersection of climate action, biodiversity and sustainable land management” was co-authored by Rosalind. This paper includes entry points for gender-responsive implementation of the Rio Conventions, comparisons of the gender action plans and SDGs across the conventions, a timeline of activities that illustrates how momentum to enact gender-responsive synergies has been growing steadily, and a set of action oriented recommendations for a way forward. The paper was launched at the UNCCD COP16 in an event co-hosted by the Government of Mongolia and UN-Women and moderated by Rosalind.
Rosalind co-developed and co-delivered a 2025 workshop held at the UN campus in Bonn, Germany for UN-Women and the Rio Convention Secretariats to workshop concrete actions for advancing collaboration around gender-responsive synergies. The workshop was facilitated by TMG-Think Tank for Sustainability.
In 2025, Rosalind collaborated with UN-Women partner organizations and individuals from grassroots to governments to edit and launch a publication documenting partners’ own perspectives and stories to provide concrete examples of gender-responsive synergies across the Rio Conventions in action. Read these 22 multi-stakeholder perspectives here.