'TO be a woman is already hard enough, and to be working in the field of environment presents a number of challenges.'

This was according to Dr. Emilyn Espiritu, executive director of the Ateneo Research Institute of Science and Engineering during a presentation on 'Women at the frontline of climate change' in the recent Women's Month celebration by the Department of Science and Technology-Gender and Development (DoST-GAD) where Espiritu initially gave a rundown of the six challenges that confronted the environment: overpopulation, water resource depletion, soil erosion, solid waste management, biodiversity loss and atmospheric degradation.