Climate Change
One of the most urgent issues of our time, climate change has widespread implications — from the exacerbation of poverty, to the breakdown of infrastructure, to the loss of environmental, political, economic and social security. Experts agree that climate change threatens to set back development efforts by decades, placing least developed countries and already-vulnerable populations in an even more precarious position. Yet a critical aspect of climate change has remained largely on the outskirts — gender.
Women, as the majority of the world’s poor, are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. They are also critical to climate change solutions. WEDO approaches gender and climate from many angles to ensure that women are present at all levels and dimensions of climate change policy-making, strategizing and action.
WEDO’s work on gender and climate change includes work with the Global Gender and Climate Change Alliance (GGCA). The GGCA is a unique network of 13 UN agencies and 25 civil society organizations, working together to ensure that climate change decision-making, policies and initiatives, at all levels, are gender responsive. Click here to find out more about the GGCA.
Our work in the area of climate change focuses on:
• Advocacy at the UNFCCC for gender language in the global climate change agreement
• Advocacy on climate change finance: making sure women have access to money for adaptation and mitigation
• Training on gender and climate change linkages
Find out more about our Climate Change initiatives by clicking on the categories on the right, access key documents in the Library, or see the latest news posts below!
The Latest Climate Change News
The Outcomes of Durban COP17: Turning Words into Action
Friday, December 16th 2011
Since the COP17 climate talks ended at around 5am last Sunday in Durban, South Africa, many people have been asking the same question: was it a success? Analysts from government, media and NGOs seem to be taking one of two stances: “it was a good step forward” (for example, the official UNFCCC Press Release: “Durban conference delivers breakthrough in international community’s response to climate change”) or “it failed to deliver what is needed” (as in the WWF Press Release: “Governments fail on ambition, courage at UN climate change talks”)
At WEDO, an organization that has pushed for gender issues to be integrated throughout the climate debates for a number of years, we have been asking ourselves how to measure both the successes and failures of COP17.
TONIGHT at COP17! Gender and Climate Change: Actions, Results and Lessons Learned
WEDO at COP17
Thursday, Dec 8 – 18:00-19:30, EU Pavilion – Warsaw Room
This event will showcase successes achieved under the GGCA umbrella as well as bilateral cooperation through the Governments of Finland, Iceland, and South Africa, demonstrating best practice examples and strategies for successfully integrating gender perspective into international and national-level actions on climate change.
Creating Dialogue on Gender and Adaptation
WEDO at COP17
Wednesday, November 30th
On Wednesday, CARE International and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) teamed up to host an interactive discussion to explore the complexities of vulnerability from a gender perspective. At the event, a lively group of participants broke into four working groups to discuss climate change adaptation and vulnerability within the scope of a) International policy b) National policy c) Practitioners d) Thematic areas including health, energy and technology. Each group then reported back on key recommendations for developing an adaptation framework which works for all. Some key recommendations included- increased capacity and awareness raising for government officials; gender budgeting at the national level; and systems and methods to house knowledge on adaptation which can be accessed by people at the local level and which works to translate solutions to the national and global policy levels.
Digital Dialouge on Gender, Health and Climate Change
On Thursday, WEDO Advocacy Coordinator Rachel Harris joined a panel session at the COP17 “Digital Lounge” for an event organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to highlight the linkages between gender, health and climate change. As climate change increases the frequency of droughts, reduces agricultural output and contributes to the rise of extreme weather events, women are on the front lines of climate vulnerability. This vulnerability extends into the health sector, making women particularly vulnerable to a range of health burdens spurred by climate change.
WEDO at COP17: Priorities, Events, Team and More!
Durban, South Africa- November 27th 2011
The final session of the 2011 UNFCCC negotiations, COP17, commences tomorrow in Durban, South Africa. At the conference, Parties must find areas of convergence in order to ensure that women, men, girls and boys can fully adapt to and mitigate the ever-more prevalent and severe impacts of climate change.
