Creating a just & sustainable future

The Women’s Major Group (WMG)

The Women’s Major Group (WMG) is a self-organized, open-ended global alliance of individuals and organizations advocating for environmental protection, sustainable development, and gender equality within the framework of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Established following the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit), the WMG has played a vital role in advancing a human rights-based approach to sustainable development. Through active participation in intergovernmental negotiations and the formulation of policy recommendations, the WMG promotes gender equality, women’s rights, and women’s empowerment across UNEP processes, including the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).

Mandate and Policy Engagement

The Women’s Major Group for Sustainable Development holds a core mandate to facilitate and amplify the perspectives of women’s civil society within United Nations policy spaces related to sustainable development.

The WMG serves as a formal and recognized channel for women’s participation—both physical and virtual—in global and regional meetings convened under UNEP. Its work includes observing and speaking in official intergovernmental sessions, engaging in coordinated advocacy with decision-makers, contributing to collective policy statements and recommendations published on UNEP platforms, participating in accountability and reporting mechanisms, supporting capacity-building initiatives, and ensuring access to relevant information and documentation.

How the Women’s Major Group Works

The Women’s Major Group operates through a participatory, democratic, and representative structure that ensures inclusive engagement across regions and thematic priorities.

At the global level, the WMG is led by two Co-Chairs elected by all UNEP-accredited member organizations. These Co-Chairs represent the collective voice of the Group and provide strategic leadership within UNEP policy processes.

The internal coordination structure also includes:

  • Two Regional Focal Points per region, ensuring that regional perspectives and priorities of women and feminist organizations inform global environmental governance.
  • Two Thematic Focal Points for each priority area, adapting to evolving issues on the international environmental agenda.
  • Currently, focal points address key processes such as the Science-Policy Panel, the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, Biodiversity, Water, and the United Nations Environment Assembly, including draft resolutions.
  • To ensure meaningful participation, the WMG facilitates dialogue among women from diverse regions and backgrounds, supports joint advocacy platforms, maps national positions, mobilizes resources for participation in global and regional meetings, and coordinates outreach to governments and UN missions. This work is carried out through virtual coordination mechanisms and in-person strategy meetings aligned with major UNEP events.

Mission

  • The Women’s Major Group at UN Environment (WMG-UNEA) works to ensure that women’s civil society perspectives are meaningfully integrated into the policies and processes of the United Nations Environment Assembly.
  • We provide an inclusive platform for feminist, women-led, and gender-focused organizations to collectively advocate for human rights-based sustainable development rooted in gender equality and environmental justice. Through advocacy, participation, capacity building, and policy engagement, the WMG-UNEA amplifies women’s voices and strengthens their leadership in global environmental governance.

Vision

  • We envision a world where environmental decision-making is inclusive, equitable, and transformative, recognizing the interconnected struggles for social, gender, ecological, economic, racial, reproductive, and sexual justice.
  • The WMG-UNEA strives to advance a global environmental agenda that upholds women’s human rights, values diversity and solidarity, and fosters collaboration across movements to achieve systemic change for people and the planet.
  • To ensure meaningful participation, the WMG facilitates dialogue among women from diverse regions and backgrounds, supports joint advocacy platforms, maps national positions, mobilizes resources for participation in global and regional meetings, and coordinates outreach to governments and UN missions. This work is carried out through virtual coordination mechanisms and in-person strategy meetings aligned with major UNEP events.