Poznan, Poland, December 8^th 2008
Women from around the world working together in the GenderCC network reassert that real solutions to the climate crisis can only be achieved when there is gender justice. We demand that the UNFCCC process must commit to the integration of the gender dimension into all policies, mechanisms, programmes and institutional frameworks. As a first step, UNFCCC Parties must therefore adopt a resolution on gender justice which fulfills the binding obligations on gender and human rights that the UN have already endorsed. GenderCC calls for a one-day plenary session specifically dedicated to gender in order to discuss the gender dimension in the ongoing negotiations. Moreover, we call upon the UNFCCC to acknowledge the many solutions women already have and the actions they take on the ground to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
“In many countries, women struggling to protect the climate and the environment are being criminalized for these activities; such is the case of the Mapuche indigenous woman that has been in jail for more than five years defending her territory and their forests against the forestry companies in Chile ” said Claudia Roa from Fundaexpresion, Colombia. “We want the world and this process to be aware of the double and triple criminalization of these women, although they are doing a lot for the climate”.
During the one-day conference on “Gender Justice in Times of a Changing Climate” held on December 5, 2008 in parallel with COP 14, approximately 100 participants shared numerous examples of heroic struggles of women to cope with these problems. “During this conference, GenderCC has been successful in linking the practical experience of women from the ground with the international process, and we are now coming up with solutions and proposals”, Gotelind Alber (GenderCC) said, “the UNFCCC needs to listen to these in the upcoming sessions.”
“To take account of the gender dimension in the decisions and mechanisms under the UNFCCC”, Anna Pinto (CORE India) added, “we suggest a high level expert advisory group on gender whose findings and recommendations should be considered official inputs in the process.”
“We need new funding instruments beyond market based mechanisms”, Dorah Lebelo (The Greenhouse Project, South Africa) stated, “otherwise women and their endeavors to mitigate climate change will not benefit. Moreover, a proportion of the adaptation fund should be earmarked for gender sensitive local communities’ efforts to increase resilience of those most affected by climate change”.
*GenderCC — Women for Climate Justice* is the internationally operating NGO-network aiming to integrate gender justice in climate change policy at local, national and international levels. Since COP9 in Milan (2003), women have been collectively addressing the issue of climate change at the UNFCCC under the umbrella of GenderCC.
Contact: Ulrike Roehr (GenderCC),
email: u.roehr@gendercc. net, www.gendercc.net
from gender cc — women for climate justice network
via londonfeministnetwork