The growing worldwide demand for resources is threatening the world's environmental health to an unprecedented extent. Increasingly, women are active participants in the defense of the environment and significantly contribute to stop, or even reverse, the degradation of our natural resources.

“Women have always been more environmentally sensitive compared to men because they are mother earth themselves. Any harm to the mother is bound to affect her progeny, and that is why very instinctively she wishes to protect the earth that is everybody’s mother,” stated Notan Kotak, a woman from a tribal group in India. She was commenting on the role of women from pygmy communities in Congo Brazzaville to protect the natural forests in the region.

In addition to unrestricted exploitation of natural resources, unsound agricultural practices have had devastating effects on the environment and on people's health and quality of life. The National Wildlife Federation has found that diseases associated with contaminated water kill between 5 and 12 million people every year, mostly women and children.

Women are considered the primary users of natural resources in developing countries, because they are responsible for gathering food, fuel and fodder. Because in many cases women are home-managers, and economic providers, women are susceptible to health problems and hazards in several environmental situations.

Women, especially when they are pregnant, are particularly susceptible to several environmental risks, particularly those living in rural or marginal suburban areas in developing countries. The reproductive system of pregnant women is especially vulnerable, since every step in the reproductive process can be altered by toxic substances in the environment. It has been proved that several substances may increase the risk of abortion, birth defects, fetal growth retardation, and peri-natal death.

Although for a long time women have been considered passive recipients of aid rather than active participants in development, their role is crucial both to the economies of the developing countries and to the future of the environment. As environmental educators and motivators for change, women are key agents in the processes leading to a more sustainable and healthy development of the planet.

Just over 100 years ago, in 1906 in India, there was a conflict between men and women in a hilly area called Chipko. Women were protesting the massive clearing of forests by men, who wanted to use them for industrial purposes. When their protests went unheard, women from the villages started hugging themselves to the trees to prevent them for being cut down. They not only prevented large forest areas from being destroyed but they initiated what is now called the Chipko movement, which has become a significant historical reference of women’s efforts in favor of the environment.

The more active participation of women in think tanks and in environmental training activities is allowing them to educate both the public and policy makers about the critical link between women, the use of natural resources and the creation and fostering of sustainable development. In that regard, women have more direct access to local environmental issues and how to approach them than men. Women have often had a leadership role in reducing unnecessary use of resources, promoting an environmental ethic, and recycling resources to minimize waste.

There is growing evidence that women in several countries around the world are taking central roles in the grass-roots environmental movement. And there is increasing belief that development and environmental policies that do not involve women in the same footing men as will not be successful in the long run.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international medical consultant and the author of the Pan American Health Organization publication ''The Impact of the Environment on Children's Health.''