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This summer, world leaders will gather in  for the 20th anniversary of the first UN Earth Summit to hammer out a new set of agreements on what  means and, more importantly, how both rich and developing nations can get there before it’s . However, for the scores of women who will be attending (and just importantly for those who aren’t), there are glaring omissions: reproductive health, gender equality, and girls education are nowhere to be found on the .

Women offer many of the most promising levers for the transformation to sustainable development. My experience with the  tells me that women are full of to the problems facing their communities around the world. Their voices must be included in critical decisions affecting our world. And the fact is, sustainable development isn’t sustainable if it doesn’t include empowering women to , educate themselves, and their children, and have a voice in government at all levels. Rio+20 must have human rights – and women’s rights – at its core. Earth summit planners haven’t yet done that, but women can make it happen. 

Women are 51 percent of the world’s population, yet own only , are two-thirds of the world’s workers but earn a mere . Rio+20 must not become another forum in which women’s issues are not heard. Instead, the summit must demonstrate that women’s voices are . Environmental sustainability simply can’t happen without women’s inclusion. 

For example, in West Africa, women make up  of workers in agriculture. In , deforestation, water scarcity, and soil erosion show us that climate change is . Women tend to “sacrifice themselves” in order to care for their families – feeding themselves last. And women are  in environmental disasters – particularly in the Asian countries most at risk from climate change. 

So how do we support women while supporting the environment that sustains us all? 

Simply meeting women’s needs for family planning is one inexpensive and powerful development strategy with a host of environmental benefits. Over  around the world want the ability to choose the spacing and number of children but don’t have access to, or accurate information about, basic contraceptives like condoms, pills, and . One-hundred and seventy-nine nations  that meeting this need is a top priority, and the  (MDGs) reflect a goal of universal access to family planning as well. 

Satisfying this demand would dramatically reduce maternal and child mortality and enhance human rights. What’s more,  show that a reduction of 8 to 15 percent of essential carbon emissions can be obtained by meeting women’s needs for family planning. This reduction would be  all deforestation or increasing the world’s use of wind power fortyfold.

The Earth Summit presents a major opportunity to ensure that women’s needs and rights are given top priority in plans for sustainable development. In a time of  and a very tight funding environment, investing in women is a clear winner. 

A greater understanding of the impact of environmental degradation, pollution, and climate change on women, coupled with solid public policy that respects and protects women’s reproductive rights, is essential to the “” that many believe will emerge from Rio+20 to replace the MDGs, which expire in 2015. 

As the summit approaches, it’s time to reflect on why women’s full participation and inclusion is so important and call for world leaders to harness the power of women as we launch the era of sustainable development. 

Musimbi Kanyoro is president and CEO of the , which advances women’s human rights by investing in women-led organizations worldwide.

Photo Credit: “,” courtesy of Jason Taylor/Friends of Earth International.