New York, March 12 — As of 12pm EST Friday, March 12, 2010 we have received over 150 organization signatures supporting an equitable number of women on the High Level Advisory Group for Climate Change Financing!  Thank you for all of your support.  Please find the updated letter with signatures here.

The women’s organizations comprising the Women and Gender Constituency under the UNFCCC– including WECF, GenderCC, WEDO, LIFE and others– are dismayed by the lack of progress. Women are among the most urgently affected by climate change and, at the same time, key agents of change – and we see that there is no time to lose.

As UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer puts it, the Copenhagen summit was “a rollercoaster ride”.  Far from a comprehensive agreement to tackle the world’s most comprehensive problem, the outcome of the Copenhagen Conference of Parties was a mere “Copenhagen Accord”, negotiated by a small group of the key countries, and “noting” the necessity to contain global warming to the 2 degree C limit. The Accord calls for commitments by industrialized countries and engagement of developing countries, but does little to specify how this will occur. Even more concerning, not all countries even agreed to acknowledge this step due to the dominance of world superpowers in drafting the Accord.

With current promises on the table, global warming will reach well beyond the 2 degree limit; scientists on site urged that this type of inaction will actually result in a 3.5 degree increase this century.  With even the most optimistic outlook, the outcome of Copenhagen suggests the inevitable: small islands will disappear, global economies and states’ security will be in jeopardy, and those populations in already fragile positions will be further entrenched in poverty, the world over.

While gender-sensitive text remained in the negotiating documents until the end, these texts mean nothing without an overall outcome which will protect the lives and livelihoods of everyone on Earth.  As the AWG-LCA process is now mandated to continue until COP-16 in Mexico, the strategies for ensuring gender responsive texts be maintained and strengthened must go hand-in-hand with the message that every country must step up and commit to action.

The Women and Gender Constituency further expresses grave concern over the issue of transparency and access at the Copenhagen COP. The failure to ensure conference accessibility to the thousands of accredited civil society representatives was a dire indication of the inability to tackle climate change in a comprehensive, equitable, transparent and just way. Many partners came well prepared with presentations, research materials, documentation and personal testimony – all ready to contribute to a real outcome of the COP.  Many of these partners were never granted access to the Bella Center, limiting the options for finding a solution to climate change, silencing their voices, tossing millions of dollars into a place ill-equipped to receive its visitors. An evaluation of this process must be conducted immediately in order to ensure that these mistakes will not be repeated in the future.

Is there still hope? There must be. To give up on the process would be to give up on millions of people whose lives depend on a strong, legally binding agreement. There must be individual action, committing to change and making a difference at the household, community, regional and national levels; there must be renewed commitment by our world leaders to look beyond mitigation as a burden on GDP.  Women are ready; we are committed to this process and remain optimistic that tackling climate change offers an unprecedented opportunity to transform towards sustainable, low-carbon, transparent, equitable and just economies.

At the global and national levels, we therefore call for

-          increasing the number of women chairs in the UNFCCC

-          meaningful participation of women and men from all sectors in national and global climate policies

-          strengthening a commitment to prioritize the most vulnerable, and strengthening gender-sensitive approaches in the draft Mexico agreement

-          increasing access for women to existing mitigation and adaptation funds

At the individual level – in every aspect of our daily lives – we call upon women and men to secure the future of our children and our grandchildren as consumers, educators, advocates and leaders
-          to make use of our power as consumers, and to support services and products which are healthy for the climate and the planet

Without a binding agreement, the only real success of Copenhagen can become a broader movement of citizens and consumers, fueled by the behavior of each to switch to a sustainable way of life, and can become the base for a global, ambitious, equitable, legally binding agreement for climate protection in Mexico next year.  It is not too late yet; we must not lose hope.

Contact:

GenderCC:      Gotelind Alber, g.alber@gendercc.net, mobile +49.151.15240802

LIFE e.V.:         Ulrike Roehr, roehr@life-online.de, mobile +49.179.2031511

WECF:              Sabine Bock, sabine.bock@wecf.eu, mobile + 49 176 22 82 74 65 and
                         Sascha Gabizon, sascha.gabizon@wecf.eu, mobile + +49 172 8637586

WEDO:            Cate Owren, cate@wedo.org and
Monique Essed-Fernandes, mjessed@aol.com

The Global Gender and Climate Alliance and the governments of Finland and Denmark in partnership with South Africa, Jordan, Grenada, Ghana, Lesotho, Costa Rica, AOSIS, and UN Foundation have joined together for a side event about Investing in Women’s Leadership for Climate Solutions. After tireless efforts to ensure that the final outcome of COP-15 is gender sensitive women leaders are stepping up to say Women are Agents of Change.

Only 1/3 of the delegates attending the COP this year are women, which can make it more difficult for equal representation of women and men’s views in relation to climate change. However, under the leadership of Her Excellency Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic of Finland, a women’s delegate fund was initiated to bring more women delegates into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of Parties (UNFCCC COP).

The Philippines is a country extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. It is predicted that the country will experience more typhoons, floods, droughts, heat waves and crop production shortages as a result of climate change. Under the leadership of Her Excellency, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Republic of the Philippines the Philippine Climate Change Act was signed in October 2009. This act creates commission that will implement strategies for the country to better prepare for and respond to natural disasters.

Since the Kyoto Protocol the U.S. has often faltered in addressing climate change in national and international policy-making forums. And yet, under the leadership of the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the first climate change legislation in the history of the U.S. passed out of Congress in June 2009.

It is these women and the many other women leaders from around the world who prove that investing in women’s leadership leads to effective climate solutions. Join us as we discuss and celebrate with these women leaders and senior UN and World Bank officials their pledge to be agents of change. The side event features the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen, the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the U.S. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi from 13:00-14:30 on 17 December 2009 in the Liva Weel Room of the Bella Center.

Following the side event there will be a photo shoot in the Liva Weel Room of 100 women leaders, I am an Agent of CChange. For those not able to attend the photo shoot in the Bella Center there is another photo opportunity and reception at 16:00 in Hall 55 of the DGI-Byen and Øksnehallen (Tietgensgade 65, 1704 København V). For more information about any of these events please e-mail rachel@wedo.org.

Contact: Rachel Harris, GGCA Media Coordinator, rachel@wedo.org, 00447 872 241 332

Please attend a side event presented by: GGCA, Denmark, and Finland in partnership with other governments on

INVESTING IN WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP FOR CLIMATE SOLUTIONS

The side event will feature:

President of the Republic of Finland, Tarja Halonen President of the Republic of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi

As well as high level speakers from Denmark, Honduras, Jordan, Liberia, UNDP, and the World Bank.

Following the side event there will be a photo shoot, “I am an Agent of Change” in the Liva Weel Room.

For persons not able to attend the side event or photo shoot in the Bella Center there will also be an opportunity to be a part of a photo shoot at the DGI-byen (directions attached) where there will be a reception and high level speakers.

For more information about all of these events please read the attached information.  Hope to see you there tomorrow!

Celebration 1 Map 2009

GGCA Celebration Invitation

GGGCA High Level Event 17-12-09

GGCA Oxfam Photo Shoot Flyer

As an intern with WEDO, my primary activity at the conference is to work at the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) booth and disseminate information on gender and climate change to interested by-passers.  As a result, I have had many interesting conversations with participants who were unaware of any connections between gender and climate change.

Growing up as a female in a third world country, I have seen first-hand the effects that environmental disasters have on women, and I am happy to explain to people the significant role of women in combating climate change.

Next year I will begin a graduate program in finance followed by an MBA degree in societal development. I have been lucky to take part in some interesting conference side events and group meetings that have helped me to link the subjects that I will be studying with the objective of working towards a healthy and sustainable environment.

On Saturday, I marched in a demonstration with approximately 100,000 activists from around the globe. During the march, we asked protesters about their reasons for coming to Copenhagen and their thoughts on how the conference has been unfolding.

We spoke to so many interesting people. One man travelled all the way from his village in Kenya with the hope of having his voice and that of his fellow citizens heard. He explained how changing weather conditions have led to a decrease in the number of cows he owns dramatically affecting his livelihood. 

I was also interviewed during the demonstration about my own reasons for coming to COP 15. My overall experience of the march was that protesters were determined, unified, and cautiously hopeful. We walked for almost four hours in the cold among the masses, and it seemed so much more peaceful and harmonious to me than it was later portrayed in some media.

The high-level talks started on Tuesday and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have less access to the Bella centre where the conference is taking place. The outcome of these talks will determine the success or failure of this meeting, and I am desperately hoping for a deal which will be immediate and operational without neglecting the needs and required resources of the developing countries.

My experience at COP 15 has been amazing, informative, and educational. I anxiously await the outcome of these negotiations in the final four days.

Zoe Samson is an intern at the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO).

Read the entire press release here: GGCA COP 15 Press Release December 16

Read the entire press release here: GGCA COP 15 Press Release December 14, 2009