Gallery at-a-glance
COP18 Intervention- High Level Plenary Statement
December 7, 2012- Andrea Quesada of WEDO summarized the demands of the women and gender constituency presented in previous interventions and thanked Parties for their support to gender equality. She urged Parties to continue on this track and commit to further gender-sensitive policies and propose actions to fully and effectively implement them.
To read the intervention, click here.
NOT IN MY NAME: Women at COP18 call for urgency and action
Doha, Qatar (December 5, 2012)- Early this morning Women and Gender NGOs at COP 18 representing hundreds of women’s organizations and environmental leaders around the world expressed their dissatisfaction with the positions of many Northern Governments.
Holding signs listing the failures of the negotiations including – “empty financing,” “inequality,” “gigaton gap” “withholding safe technologies” “no compensation for loss and damage” at the entrance to the conference site, over two dozen women and men chanted “Not in My Name!” and urged delegates and NGOs to “Sign our petition if the negotiations don’t speak for you!’ https://www.change.org/petitions/commit-to-fierce-urgency-and-ambition-in-solving-the-climate-crisis
The petition asks NGOS and delegates to sign on to a letter (see attached), and calls for “fierce urgency and ambition.” It decries the lack of sincere and effective actions on the part of the countries from the Global North. The drafters say that the COP has no legitimacy to speak on behalf of the people of the world unless they make real progress.
“Women from the Global North are very concerned that their leaders don’t commit to the actions which are needed, and don’t do enough to support developing countries facing the impacts of our historic misbehavior,” said Ulrike Roehr of LIFE – Education, Environment, Equality, of Germany. “We want to make clear that we will not forget and forgive how they negotiate here”.
“Women the world over have been patiently waiting for ‘decisionmakers’ to choose life for people and for the planet,” said Marta Benavides of Siglo XXIII (23rd Century) of El Salvador. Benavides continued, “Unbelieveably, I have met delegates here who are still skeptical about global warming. Denying the science is not a responsible position at COP 18.” “The Doha Climate Change Conference is almost finished and there doesn’t seem to be any sign that the governments will be making the right choices for quality of life for the present and to ensure a future for the next generations.”
More photos are available here and below!
All Civil Society Participation, Climate Change, Gallery, News, WEDO at COP18
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COP18 Intervention- SBI Decision on Gender Balance
December 1, 2012 - a decision has been adopted by the SBI on increasing the participation of women in climate change decision making. Bridget Burns of WEDO made an intervention welcoming this decision, but arguing for more actions which encompass not just gender balance, but the principles of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
To read the intervention, click here.
COP18 Intervention- Opening of LCA
November 27, 2012– Rachel Harris of WEDO made an intervention in the LCA-opening on behalf of the Women and Gender Consituency. She asked for equity to be at the heart of the climate regime and that we need to transform how we think about mitigation and adaptation to make the responses to climate change equitable, socially just and environmentally sound.
To read the intervention, click here.
Greater diversity the best way to gain climate consensus
Doha, Qatar (November 26, 2012)– Mairi Dupar reports the outcome of lively debate hosted by PwC and CDKN which addressed the question: Is international consensus on climate change the way to save the planet?
National delegations should more truly represent their countries, by bringing women’s, young people’s, indigenous and other marginalised voices to the fore. This was voted the best idea for building consensus in international climate change talks at an event hosted by CDKN and PwC last week.
Bridget Burns of the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation, who won with 21% of votes cast, said that the “delegations to the United Nations climate talks should no longer be dominated by ‘men in blue suits‘”. Click here to download full transcript of Bridget’s ‘pitch’!
“The world is spiralling toward climate disaster and the negotiations have come to a halt,” said Ms Burns. “We need to think differently and for that, we need an equitable representation of perspectives at the table.”
Ms Burns proposed that, to achieve such diversity, three things were needed: capacity building to promote more diverse representation in national delegations, such as more women and young people; transformation in the relationship between civil society and member states; and specific resources to support transformative representation.
CDKN and Oneworld have made a film of the event, showcasing the seven big ideas and the discussion highlights.
The event, entitled Is international consensus on climate change the way to save the planet?placed seven leading thinkers before a panel of judges to pitch their big ideas. The judges and spectators had time to interrogate each speaker before the audience voted for the best option.
The other speakers, whose ideas received a very warm response, were:
Mark Kenber, CEO, Climate Group: Any negotiation that is based on sharing out of burden cost or pain is doomed to fail. The whole global climate debate should be reframed in a positive way to offer ‘wins’ to parties, so that they coalesce around opportunities for shared benefits. For instance, new forms of cooperation around clean energy would allow nations to pool resources constructively for real climate gains, and this could be replicated in other areas such as water and forests.
Jose Garibaldi, Director, Energia: The existing negotiating blocs in the UNFCCC are a hindrance to progressive outcomes because there are too many competing interests within these blocs. We need the nations in favour of more ambitious action to work together across blocs to generate momentum for stronger outcomes. These forward-looking leaders would create new markets and business opportunities so that “at a tipping point, countries would lose market share by not joining up in a new economy”.
Louise van Schaik, International relations expert, Netherlands Institute of International Relations: The voting rules of the UNFCCC should be changed because they are not working. Currently, the process seeks unanimity, but this permits small nations to act as ‘spoilers’ to ambitious collective outcomes. Instead, a majority-based process should be considered, as it is likely to generate agreement faster; perhaps something like the EU’s qualified majority voting system.
Farhana Yamin, Visiting Professor, University College, London: Vested interests, short termism and disjointed policy making are leading to lock-in of dangerous levels of carbon. The people at the core of the UNFCCC negotiating process, many of whom have been there for years, have fallen out of touch. Continuing the route of climate diplomacy and elite advocacy only makes sense if we build a mass global movement in support of low-carbon, people-friendly development. A brighter future lies with active social movements that are focused on saving the planet.
Robert Falkner, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics: The international negotiations are not going anywhere fast, and the locus of action is at the national and regional levels. After all, effective climate policy happens at the national level where commitments reflect societies’ priorities and preferences and a broader range of stakeholders, such as businesses, can participate actively. More support should be channelled to developing countries to help them develop climate change legislation. Having said this, the UNFCCC process has a role to play in driving up the level of collective ambition so it shouldn’t be abandoned altogether.
Christoph Schwarte, Executive Director, Legal Response Initiative: We shouldn’t focus solely on what the UNFCCC can achieve: alone, it is not the way to save the planet. There are an array of other international legal initiatives that could deliver significant progress toward a safer climate, such as the International Maritime Organization and Montreal Protocol on the Ozone Layer. In the UN General Assembly, the small island nation of Palau is seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on climate change damage. Progress on these complementary initiatives can help create the political pressure to reach a new deal on climate change but fundamentally, developing countries should look outside the UNFCCC, not just within it, for effective channels for climate action.
On the final audience vote, the remaining six speakers placed closely behind Bridget Burns. Sam Bickersteth, Chief Executive of CDKN, concluded that there is no “silver bullet” for rescuing the climate, but the event had produced a rich set of ideas, which could be pursued simultaneously to drive more ambitious action. CDKN Executive Chairman Simon Maxwell, who chaired the debate, added: “those responsible for negotiations need support from all of us”.
Daniele Violetti, the Chief of Staff of the UNFCCC, ended on a similarly upbeat note: “It is clear government can’t make it alone in 2015 [the date by which Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed to conclude a legal commitment]. We need to build momentum and bottom-up direction. We have to be optimistic, it’s the future, there is no way back. The suggestions made today are all good ones, it’s a question of making them happen.”
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