“The power of our people is alive in this process.”
The new Belém Gender Action Plan (GAP) and the Belém Action Mechanism (i.e. a mandate to deliver a mechanism to support just transition) exist because feminists, trade unions, Indigenous Peoples, youth, and environmental defenders refused to give up. These outcomes contain hard-won tools, from 27 new GAP activities to the explicit recognition of women environmental defenders and a mandate to develop guidelines for their safety and support, to clearer national-level pathways for implementation that could strengthen gender-responsive climate action for years to come. As for the mechanism, the mandate acknowledges the need for inclusive governance, social dialogue, and the participation of workers, Indigenous Peoples, communities, and those most affected by the transition, including through respect for free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).
But the truth is this: the context in which these victories sit deepens our sense of betrayal. Developed country Parties once again dodged their legal responsibilities, refusing to provide the predictable, grant-based public finance needed for adaptation, for loss and damage, and for a just transition away from fossil fuels. A vague tripling-adaptation goal without a delivery plan, and a persistent reliance on private finance to fill public obligations, reinforce a dangerous dynamic. As climate impacts accelerate, this failure is not abstract, but dooms lives, livelihoods and ecosystems to continued destruction.
“The notable positive outcomes in Belém remind us that people’s power to imagine a more just world is the engine keeping this process alive — and that we are still carrying far more than governments are delivering. We won mandates that were once unthinkable, but without the finance and political courage to match them, these victories remain fragile. Our work now is to turn what we built here into force: resourced action, rights that cannot be traded away, and a just transition shaped by the people on the frontlines of the crisis.”
– Bridget Burns, Executive Director, WEDO
We celebrate what feminist power built in Belém, and at the same time, we name the truth: the UNFCCC’s architecture of justice is collapsing due to structural underfunding and political obstruction. From Belém to Baku and beyond, we return to these halls to fight for rights that must never be traded as bargaining chips. The power of our movements is the force carrying this process forward. And we hold fast to WEDO’s founding motto: “Never underestimate the importance of what we are doing here. Never hesitate to tell the truth. And never, ever give in or give up.”
Quotes from WEDO experts:
“The power of our people is alive in the UNFCCC process. Two years ago, a long-term mandate on the Gender Work Programme was only a dream, yet we delivered it in Baku. A Gender Action Plan that names and recognizes the multidimensional factors shaping climate injustice, that protects women environmental defenders, and that strengthens coherence at the national level for real impact felt impossible; feminist power delivered it in the halls of Belém. A year ago, a call for a just transitional institutional arrangement was treated as fantasy; people’s power made it real today in Belém. As we leave here with collective pride in the victories won, we know that the true power is not in the decisions alone, but in how those decisions illuminate our struggle and our strength. And we are not done. We will return to these halls to fight for our RIGHTS. We will return to end the culture of trading our rights as bargaining chips. Our feminist power, our people’s power, will win the Human RIGHTS fight.” – Mwanahamisi Singano, Director of Policy, WEDO
“The establishment of the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) marks the culmination of a long fight by feminists, trade unions, youth, environmental NGOs, Indigenous Peoples and many more, to finally have COP30 deliver something that works for people and communities on the ground. The work now is only beginning. Feminists, along with our allies in the rights holder constituencies, will continue to drive the development of the BAM as a structure that delivers for people and firmly embeds justice in climate action, because just transition is for all countries, all workers, all communities, all people — not just some. The BAM was built by the people, for the people. And the people will be watching, very closely, to ensure that justice is delivered.” – Sinéad Magner, Policy Coordinator, WEDO
“Coordinating the gender working group has shown me how much we can achieve when we bring our voices together, and the new Gender Action Plan holds many of the inputs we fought for as a community. At the same time, this COP made clear how strong the backlash against gender and human rights has become, and we are under no illusion about the work ahead. Being here, in this region, reminded me of the resistance and connection that shape us. As a Caribbean feminist, I feel rooted in this land and in the struggles of our peoples. That grounding gives me hope. We will carry that spirit forward to ensure the GAP is implemented with the justice and ambition our communities deserve.” – Claudia Rubio, Policy Coordinator, WEDO
“Seeing these negotiations end with talkshops and reminders for Parties to fulfil their existing commitments without either a real delivery plan or any real money on the table since adopting the new collective quantified goal just one year ago in Baku further entrenches the betrayal and disappointment we felt with that abhorrent decision. As a whole, the finance texts decided at COP30 are a deeply inadequate response given our reality of climate catastrophe and the established science and legal mandate — through the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement and reinforced recently with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion — for Parties to act, and for developed country Parties to provide climate finance. We need gender-responsive climate finance to deliver climate action in ways that do not further entrench inequality and injustice but strengthen the work of gender-just climate solutions already being implemented worldwide, enable countries to devote resources to resilience instead of debt service, and ensure all climate action — from adaptation to mitigation to addressing loss and damage — is designed, implemented, and monitored with the expertise and meaningful inclusion of women, girls, and gender-diverse people.” – Tara Daniel, Associate Director of Policy, WEDO
“We cannot keep pretending that gender-responsive adaptation is possible without real money and consistent means of implementation. Gender considerations and cross-cutting indicators may be sprinkled across the text, but they are practically unusable, and that is a failure of process, not of ambition. Parties had the opportunity to establish clear, measurable indicators that could actually guide adaptation action on the ground. Instead, we are left with vague metrics, no technical support, and a Belem–Addis Vision that risks becoming a carousel of dialogues rather than a plan communities can use. Adaptation is already being led by women, Indigenous Peoples and frontline communities. Without scaled, predictable, grant-based finance and technically sound indicators to track progress, these decisions will never reach the people doing the work.” – Alex Gordon, Policy and Development Manager, WEDO
