WEDO at Cop21
The Twenty-First Conference of Parties (COP21) to the UNFCCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) begins on Monday, November 30th, in Paris, France lasting through Friday, December 11th.
As COP21 is the last sessions to work towards a just and ambitious agreement, WEDO and its allies will work first and foremost to push countries to work towards a fair, equitable and legally binding agreement, with sufficient quantified GHG emission reductions, that reflects the urgency and level of commitments needed, as highlighted in the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
WEDO will also work to ensure that gender equality and human rights, including women’s human rights, are central to the new climate agreement, and all climate policies and actions.
EXCITING PROGRAMS
MOBILIZING WOMEN FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE
There are several initiatives taking place at COP which fall under this program:
The Women’s Global Call for Climate Justice Campaign
The Women’s Global Call for Climate Justice Campaign is a de-centralized global campaign for gender-just climate action in preparation for COP21. The campaign calls on all women and girls from around the world to stand up for climate justice. Thousands of individuals and organizations have joined the call and pledged actions based on the campaign’s six themes: energy, economy, solutions, survival, power and climate justice.
Women Climate Justice Advocates Program
The Women Climate Justice Advocates Program supports the participation of women advocates across 8 regions, particularly from frontline communities to consult with women’s groups regionally and bring forth their work to influence the UNFCCC climate change negotiations. Check out some of these advocates below!
Partnerships for Gender-Just Actions
The Partnerships for Gender-Just Actions focus on developing tools for effective implementation of gender-just actions in order to influence international policy on climate change through broad stakeholder preparation such as capacity building, advocacy, and technical support.
WOMEN DELEGATES FUND
First and foremost, the WDF works to address a gap in women’s participation, particularly focusing support toward Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that have already limited capacity and resources to attend and effectively participate in the climate negotiations.
EMPOWER WOMEN, BENEFIT ALL
For the fourth year, WEDO is working closely with Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) on ‘Empower Women, Benefit All’ (EWA), a joint initiative to support a team of women’s rights and environmental activists.
WOMEN’S MAJOR GROUP (WMG)
The Women’s Major Group (WMG) for Sustainable Development will be active at COP21 – with a number of members taking part over the two weeks of the COP.
FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT:
Celia Alario, celiaalario@gmail.com
+1 310 721 6517
Laurie Kaufman, lauriekaufman@earthlink.net
+1 310 562 8680
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KEY EVENTS
From 30 November to 11 December, the Women and Gender Constituency will host a ‘Women’s Pavilion and Gender-Just Solutions Exhibition’ in the Climate Generations Area of COP21 in Le Bourget, Paris.
The space will aims to:
- Highlight a ‘gender-just’ climate solutions agenda; highlighting decentralized, locally owned, safe and sustainable climate solutions which work for women and promote equality;
- Build capacity of a mainstream audience on the social and gender dimensions of climate change, providing a host of tools and information;
- Strengthen the network of individuals/ organizations and alliances interested in understanding climate change through a gender lens by showcasing and connecting to the organizations already working on it;
It will be divided into ‘4 Corners’:
- THE SOLUTIONS CORNER: Solutions displayed as models and with explanatory posters. All solutions get our WGC “stamp” with “gender-just climate proof” solution – or “safe, appropriate and socially, economically and environmentally sound solution”.
- THE COMBINED LOUNGE / ART DISPLAY AND SPEAKERS CORNER: This will be a relaxed environment with some couches/nice to sit on chairs, to have a comfortable seat, a video screen, a publication holder and a microphone. There will be a board with the schedule for the programme of the lounge corner, changing between personal and video presentations. People have the possibility to listen to the presentations, watch different videos on a screen or to have a look at the displayed publications. Space for displaying photography or other arts e.g. highlighting art from the women’s global campaign for climate justice. See full programme of ‘lounge events’ here.
- THE CAMPAIGN CORNER: This corner will be run by ‘The Women’s Global Call for Climate Justice’ and it will be a dedicated space for showcasing actions being undertaken by the campaign- linking to national level actions happening during the Paris COP21 conference and providing a ‘direct action’ space for people to get engaged on the spot and be connected to actions around the world.
- THE POLICY CORNER – INFORMATION DESK: The visitor will get the condensed information here. The area will be marked with an information desk, staffed with one experienced person as contact person for the exhibition area.
