ID: 1880
Presenting Author: Alexandra Mutungi
Session: 750 - Bridging the Gap: Empowering Local Governments in Developing Economies to Make Environmental Impact Assessments Understandable and Actionable
Status: pending
A practical simplified toolkit helps Asia Pacific governments collect gender-sensitive ESIA data to reduce misinformation and design just, inclusive climate/energy policies.
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and climate/energy policies across Asia Pacific increasingly commit to gender-responsive and environmental approaches. However, despite these commitments and the availability of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) tools, governments still face challenges in gathering localized, sex-disaggregated data to operationalize policies effectively. This data gap leads to misinformed assessments and policies that fail to reflect the lived realities of diverse communities. Moreover, the growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in impact assessments risks amplifying disinformation and reinforcing existing gender biases when not grounded in accurate, inclusive data.
To address these challenges, I developed a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) toolkit tailored for duty bearers in the climate and energy sectors. The toolkit simplifies ESIA processes for non-experts, offering a participatory, step-by-step guide to collect nuanced data, track gender commitments, and design transformational policies. It draws on real case studies from the EmPower programme in Asia Pacific, showcasing how inclusive approaches can lead to more just and effective energy transitions.
This presentation will demonstrate how the toolkit bridges the gap between policy ambition and implementation by empowering local governments to produce actionable, gender-sensitive impact assessments. It contributes to the IAIA 2026 theme by promoting truthful communication, reducing misinformation, and enhancing the integrity of environmental decision-making.
Alexandra Mutungi is a Gender and Climate Change Expert, UNEP working with governments and CSOs within Asia Pacific