EVENTS
GGCA Advocacy Team meets success with UNFCCC negotiation text
A team of 13 advocates representing the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) participated in the year’s second round of UNFCCC negotiations, “Bonn-II”, taking place from 1-12 June 2009, in Bonn, Germany. The focus for the GGCA advocacy team during Bonn II was for Parties to put forward additional language on gender and women’s empowerment as part of the negotiating text under the Ad Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA), which is the over-arching negotiation framework for the expected agreement in Copenhagen at the end of the year. View the English, Spanish and French versions.
Key progress was achieved during this meeting. The GGCA team increased its visibility and reputation as technical advisors, provided early drafting and dissemination of position papers, expanded the number of Parties approached and improved communication with other women’s organizations and other advocacy groups such as the Youth movement and the Indigenous Peoples caucus. The GGCA is mentioned in NGO Newletter, ECO.
One of the most important achievements during Bonn, was that several Parties called for the inclusion of gender on the floor. Iceland was once again the most outspoken champion of gender on the floor. Other Parties that voiced support on the floor included Norway, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The work of the GGCA advocacy team in conjunction with the support of several Party members was reflected in the current AWG-LCA Revised Negotiating Text. Gender and women’s empowerment were included in 16 different sections of the text.
The GGCA, together with Finland, Ghana and South Africa, co-hosted a side event, “Preparing for the New Climate Agreement: Adaptation, Mitigation, Technology and Finance from a Gender Perspective,” on the opening day of the negotiations on June 1st. Finnish Chief Negotiator Sirkka Haunia opened the discussion; Lorena Aguilar introduced and provided an overview of the issues (a “Shared Vision”); Ghanaian Chief Negotiator William Agyemang-Bonsu presented on Adaptation; Khamarunga Banda shared experience and expertise on Mitigation; and Feri Lumampao spoke on Technology and Finance. StaffanTillander, the Swedish Climate Ambassador, provided closing remarks that led into a lively one-hour discussion. The event was well attended and the audience engaged in a substantial discussion of the issues presented and requested that more information is needed with regards to gender and climate change. A representative of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) called for more efforts to produce and distribute the scientific evidence linking gender and climate change. View the Earth Negotiation Bulleting Report of the GGCA Side Event, here.
Delegate Orientation in Bonn
The Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA), in partnership with governments of Finland, Liberia, Grenada, Nicaragua, Ghana, and Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), hosted an Orientation on Gender and Climate Change for government delegates to the United Nations Climate Change Talks in Bonn, Germany on May 31, 2009.
Nearly forty delegates from Africa, Arab States, Latin America, Asia, and Europe, participated in this orientation. The session started with several presentations from gender and climate change experts and a keynote address delivered by Her Excellency, Dr. Dessima Williams, Ambassador of Grenada to the United Nations, and Chair of Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).
After the presentations, GGCA experts used a participatory approach that allowed delegates to discuss the importance of mainstreaming gender into policies and future strategies projected for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Reduction of Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD).
With only a couple of months before to Copenhagen, these efforts are crucial to identify potential entry points for gender issues in the negotiating agendas and the reinforce the importance of including gender considerations in the post 2012 agreements.
Training of Trainers on Gender and Climate Change
The Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) is training professionals from different regions and countries on how to the design and implement gender responsive climate change policies and strategies. As part of these efforts, twenty men and women from Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and North America were selected to participated in the second training of trainers on gender and climate change held in Bonn on May 28-30, 2009.
The training, organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on behalf of the GGCA, focused on gender sensitive Disaster Risk Reduction and incorporating a gender perspective in REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). The training proved to be successful in preparing these 20 women and men with the knowledge and skills to mainstream gender in climate change initiatives at national, regional and international levels.
The GGCA training manual is available here.
Liberia Colloquium Yields Call for Action on Gender and Climate Change
The Global Gender and Climate Alliance and Oxfam International contributed to a two-day event on gender and climate change organized by the government of Finland during the International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, Peace and Security held in Monrovia, Liberia on March 7-8, 2009.
The session attracted about 100 participants from a wide range of countries and sectors. Several high level participants attended, among them H.E. TarjaHalonen, President of Finland; H.E. Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland; PäiviKairamo-Hella, Secretary General and Chief of Staff, Office of the President, Finland; H.E. Astrid Thors, Minister of Migration and European Affairs, Ministry of the Interior, Finland; H.E. Catherine Namugala, Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, Zambia; H.E. NetumboNandi-Ndaitwah, Minister for Environment and Tourism, Namibia; H.E. Dr. Eugene H. Shannon, Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy, Liberia; Margot Wallstöm, Vice-President, Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy, European Commission; Monique Barbut, CEO, Global Environment Facility; and Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT.
The first day focused on women’s empowerment in adaptation and risk reduction strategies/initiatives; international policy action on gender and climate change; gender mainstreaming with the UNFCCC; and the importance of gender balance and women’s participation. The second day discussions centered mainly on climate change finance issues. The main outcome of these two days was a Call For Action on Gender and Climate Change that was directed at the Colloquium organizers, the Finland and Liberia presidents, UN Secretary General, UNFCCC Secretariat and Parties.
First Gender and REDD Efforts
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) held a workshop on May 21-22, 2009, in Washington, D.C. on Engendering REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). The workshop is the first international effort to bring REDD and gender experts together. REDD provides a framework for supporting projects that can have positive impacts on communities, improve livelihoods, and conserve, and restore forest resources. REDD clearly presents opportunities for positive outcomes for forest-dependent communities, but also risks of serious negative outcomes, especially for women who rely on forest resources to sustain their families.
The workshop was a working session for 18 participants, who included REDD and gender experts representing IUCN, GGCA, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), REDD pilot projects, the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA), Terra Global Capital and Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management (WOCAN). Participants came from Cameroon, Bolivia, Argentina, Costa Rica and the USA.
The outcome of this unique workshop was the elaboration of gender criteria and standards for international and national processes related to REDD. These criteria and principles have been used by the GGCA for different training sessions and were presented to country delegates during the UNFCCC negotiations.
Equitable Financing for Climate ChangeThe Gender and Climate Change Finance Workshop, held November 19-20, 2008 in New York, brought together climate change experts, governments, UN agencies, and civil society organizations from around the world to develop gender guidelines for climate change finance decision-makers. Climate change finance mechanisms have had limited benefit for the poor and disadvantaged within developing countries, in particular women.
Press releaseWorkshop Summary
Agenda
•Climate Change Negotiations - The Bali Road Map and the Road to Copenhagen by UNFCCC
•Gender and Climate Change Finance - Double Mainstreaming by HBF
•Private Sector Climate Finance by Chicago Climate Exchange
•Gender mainstreaming for CCA - a Caribbean perspective
•Adaptation Finance and Gender by Oxfam
•Gender and Climate Change Adaptation Funds by GEF
More information about the GGCA’s efforts in climate change finance
Progress in PoznańAmid commitments to scale up negotiations for an international response to climate change, the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznań, Poland was host to groundbreaking discussions on the gender implications of climate change.
History was made at the Poznań conference when women's organizations that participate in the GGCA advocacy team teamed up with African and European governments to table the first-ever language on gender equality. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is the only Rio Convention that does not address gender issues, while the Convention on Biodiversity has recently agreed to a comprehensive gender strategy. A meeting of women Ministers in Poznań, led by South Africa and Finland, confirmed the timeliness of highlighting women’s roles in climate change adaptation and mitigation and voiced support for the GGCA initiative.
About fifty government delegates to the Poznań conference participated in the GGCA’s Orientation on Gender and Climate Change, where discussions were held on the Bali Action Plan areas of mitigation, adaptation, technology development and transfer, and financial resources and investment. Prior to the orientation session, the GGCA prepared a group of trainers in gender and climate change from diverse countries, who will lead global and regional orientation sessions throughout 2009 and respond to other requests for technical advice and capacity building.
At the GGCA side event during the High Level Segment of the Poznań conference, Paula Lehtomaki, Finland’s Minister of the Environment, and Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, joined Winnie Byanyima, Director of the UNDP Gender Team, in pledging support on this issue. Byanyima noted that, “here at Poznan, and on the road to Copenhagen, is the ideal time to address this issue. As we work towards a new global agreement, we must make sure that gender is at the forefront of the discussions.”
More information about the GGCA’s efforts in climate change policy.
The Manila DeclarationThe GGCA was a co-sponsor of the CAPWIP Global Congress on Gender in Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, held October 19-22, 2008 in Manila, the Philippines. The purpose of the Congress was to provide a forum for leaders and decision-makers at all levels in formulating gender responsive legislation and programs related to gender in climate change and disaster risk reduction. The Congress participants, including parliamentarians and women leaders from all regions, produced the Manila Declaration.