Iceland, which was recently ranked the best country in the world for women, has now also clinched the number one spot in the Environment and Gender Index (EGI). EGI hopes to encourage women’s roles in environmental policymaking through its rankings. This year was the first time EGI was used and it scored 72 countries against 27 criteria in six categories. Iceland, the top performer in most categories, came in at number one, followed by the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden with the U.S. coming in at number 14. Rebecca Pearl-Martinez, manager of EGI, said Iceland “was one of the few OECD countries that connected gender and climate change mitigation.”
EGI measures progress, improving information, identifying gaps and pushing countries to take more action, especially on international gender and environment mandates. According to Paivi Kannisto, senior advisor at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, women in most countries are generally more knowledgeable about biodiversity, and this specific knowledge makes it essential for women to hold environmental leadership positions. “If only men participate in decision-making, as has been the case in the past, we will miss the knowledge, the views and the wishes as well perhaps also the action of half of the world,” Kannisto added. Click here to read about the study in Women’s News
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