Transforming Forest Governance: LAC’s Bold Integration of Gender in REDD+ Action

Latin American countries are transforming REDD+ climate initiatives by embedding gender equality into policies, governance and community-level action, leading to stronger environmental and social outcomes. The UN-REDD report highlights how Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Paraguay are driving this shift through innovative, gender-responsive and gender-transformative practices.

The UN-REDD Programme, together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has released a striking account of how Latin America and the Caribbean are reshaping climate action by placing gender equality at the center of forest governance. Their publication, The Power of Gender: New Generation of REDD+ Action in the LAC Region, shows how Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Paraguay are moving toward gender-transformative climate action, approaches that dismantle entrenched inequalities, challenge social norms, and embed women’s leadership across REDD+ systems.

A Regional Movement Gains Momentum

The report traces how gender-responsive practices have expanded across the region through the UN-REDD LAC Gender and REDD+ Platform, established in 2021. This platform has become a powerful engine for South-South learning, allowing government teams, gender specialists, and REDD+ practitioners to compare strategies, exchange good practices, and align monitoring methods. Participation in global forums such as the 66th Commission on the Status of Women strengthened these exchanges, enabling countries with more advanced gender frameworks to mentor others. The publication argues that gender inclusion is no longer viewed as an optional social safeguard but as a proven catalyst for more resilient forest governance and better climate outcomes.

Brazil and Chile Turn Policy into Practice

Brazil’s Floresta+ Amazon Project illustrates how national climate policy can integrate gender at every stage. Brazil incorporated gender considerations into the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon and into its Safeguards Information System, developed through workshops that ensured gender-balanced participation. These frameworks established targets for women’s representation in advisory bodies and created opportunities for women in Indigenous and traditional communities to influence the design of sustainable enterprises and community forestry initiatives.

Chile’s experience shows how benefit-sharing reforms can close long-standing gender gaps. Under its REDD+ Results-Based Payments project, CONAF introduced a transformative concept: allowing women to act as “project holders” even without legal land ownership. This enabled more women, especially Indigenous women, to design, lead, and benefit from forest projects. Chile also embedded wage equity, gender quotas, and mandatory sexual harassment prevention training into its hiring processes. By 2023, gender indicators became a national administrative requirement within CONAF, setting a new benchmark for conservation institutions.

Costa Rica and Ecuador Elevate Women’s Voices

Costa Rica focused on strengthening the recognition of rural women as environmental leaders. The National Forum of Rural Women, supported by the Ministry of Environment, FONAFIFO, and UNDP, brought together nearly 80 women from 29 territories to influence national policy, from Payments for Environmental Services to fire management and agroforestry systems. Alongside this, the REDD+ RBP project expanded leadership training, mentorship, and capacity-building programs, significantly increasing women’s participation in natural resource decision-making.

Ecuador’s Botas Violeta (Purple Boots) initiative is one of the report’s most captivating stories. Sparked by a woman’s struggle to buy work boots due to domestic control, the initiative grew into a regional movement against gender-based violence and for women’s empowerment in the Amazon. Through workshops, awareness campaigns, and the symbolic distribution of purple boots, more than a thousand women gained visibility, support networks, and training in sustainable livelihoods. Agricultural Field Schools, built on gender analysis of key value chains, trained women producers in cocoa, coffee, palm oil, and cattle systems, helping them enter deforestation-free markets and strengthen their economic independence.

Paraguay Leads with Inclusive Governance

Paraguay’s REDD+ governance model highlights how institutional reform can secure long-term gender gains. Through the creation of a Community of Practice and a Technical Committee on Safeguards and Gender Equality, the country embedded gender considerations into risk management, communication protocols, and implementation of the Gender Action Plan. Ensuring Indigenous women’s equitable presence in councils and decision-making bodies improved the quality of plans, broadened representation, and strengthened community ownership of REDD+ activities.

Across all five countries, the publication argues, when women are given space to participate fully, whether as project leaders, land stewards, entrepreneurs, or community representatives, REDD+ efforts deliver stronger environmental and social results. The report concludes that the LAC region is setting a global example of how inclusive climate action can accelerate forest conservation and gender justice simultaneously.