Voices from the Margin: Women and Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

As suggested in the previous chapter, the importance of global civil society lies not just in its potential to improve the participatory or democratic nature of environmental governance, in which case the goal is better policy-making, but also in opening a political space for the expression of marginalised voices and those for whom environmental degradation is symptomatic of a broader structural oppression and silencing. This chapter explores the voices of women and of indigenous peoples in the global politics of the environment. At one level, the participation of women and indigenous peoples in environmental governance is demanded as a condition for the adoption of better policies and for the successful pursuit of sustainable development. At another level, demands for their voices to be heard in the processes of environmental governance are representative of a broader concern with political expression and emancipation.