WARSAW, POLAND (November 13, 2013) – On Tuesday, November 12, Gertrude Kenyangi from Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment in Uganda. made an intervention in the opening session of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Action (ADP) at COP19, on behalf of the Women and Gender Constituency:
Thank you Co-‐Chairs,
My name is Gertrude Kenyangi from Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment in Uganda and I am speaking on behalf of the women and gender constituency. Welcoming last year’s decision 23/COP.18 on gender balance, we urge Parties to develop measures, guidelines and safeguards within the new regime in a participatory process, inclusive of women and girls and promoting equal rights.
We call on parties for urgent action especially as we have just witnessed the devastating impacts of Typhoon Haiyan in The Philippines. This is not an isolated incident but, as the IPCC chief has stated, these types of destructive impacts will continue to happen more frequently. You must leave your differences behind and agree on priorities before another calamity strikes. At this COP we must urgently make progress toward an international agreement that maximizes our response to climate change while safeguarding human rights. We must shift from a profit-‐driven development paradigm in favor of social and ecological transformation, which needs to include diverse stakeholder participation and to ensure gender equitable outcomes. Climate change adaptation and mitigation measures can have unintended and harmful impacts. Therefore, we expect Parties to follow the precautionary principle as well as the principle of non-‐ discrimination to ensure well-‐researched and monitored climate policies that are gender-‐responsive and based on a human rights approach.
While there are 194 countries that are Party to this convention we hear a lot of inputs and statements going into the UNFCCC with little outcomes; with this new agreement each Party has the obligation to deliver now and should not wait for others to step up.
Whatever we do here must serve the needs of the present without compromising but enabling the livelihoods of future generations.
