WHAT'S NEW

GGCA Training Manual in Mexican News

The Global Gender and Climate Alliance’s training manual produced in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Union for the Conservation was featured in an article published in the by Mexican journalist organization Comunicación e Información de la Mujer (CIMAC). To read the the article please access:
http://www.cimacnoticias.com/site/09102609-El-cambio-climatico.39764.0.html

UNFPA and WEDO Work Together to Examine Intersection of Gender and Climate Change

16 October 2009 “As innovators, organizers, leaders, educators and caregivers, women are uniquely positioned to help curb the harmful consequences of a changing climate. Incorporating a gender perspective into climate change policies, projects and funds is crucial in ensuring that women contribute to and benefit from equitable climate solutions.”

UNFPA/WEDO Research Kit, p. 1 The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) have developed a new research kit that looks at the intersections of climate change, population and gender. The research kit describes how women are both disproportionately affected by climate change, and an important (and often ignored) force in combating climate change. The kit also calls for a gender perspective in the climate change debate, cites initiatives that have successfully incorporated or focused on women’s role in the climate change debate, and provides evidence of why that gender perspective is so important.

Women make up approximately 70% of the world’s poor, are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood, and face historical disadvantages that include limited access to decision-making and economic assets; all of these factors make them disproportionately susceptible to the effects of climate change. As Kavita Ramdas, the president of the Global Fund for Women, attests in the research kit: “The gender inequalities that define [women’s] lives prior to a disaster are really what put them at such greatly increased risk after a disaster.”

The research kit is divided into six different sections: The first section, on Women at the Forefront, shares the most recent findings on women and climate change, as well as examples of women-led initiatives around the world. The second section Policy that Supports Gender addresses equality details how climate change’s disproportionate effects on women necessitate gender- sensitive policies for mitigation and adaptation. The section Common Ground: In Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, Senegal and Trinidad and Tobago offers concrete examples from the developing world. Making NAPAs Work for Women provides an overview of National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA), initiated by the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) to help countries already struggling with and/or most at risk from the effects of climate change, and argues for the importance of a gender perspective in NAPA. The fourth section Financing that Makes a Difference provides estimates of how much it could cost to combat climate change, and proposals for determining how much each country should pay. It also emphasizes the importance of involving women in policy discussions. Finally, Educate and Advocate discusses efforts on the local, national and global level that have been integral in educating about gender inequalities or advocating for a gender perspective, specifically in relation to climate change.

You can find the entire research kit here
1. Overview: Women at the Forefront
2. Policy that Supports Gender Equality
3. Common Ground: In Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, Senegal and Trinidad and Tobago
4. Making NAPAs Work for Women
5. Financing that Makes a Difference
6. Educate and Advocate

This subject will be explored further in the forthcoming UNFPA State of World Population 2009 report, entitled Facing a Changing World: Women, Population and Climate. This flagship report will launch on 18 November 2009.

African Training and Delegate Orientation Provides Unique Region Specific Examples On Gender And Climate Change

The Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) whose founder members are UNEP, UNDP, IUCN and WEDO in collaboration with the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders for Environment (NWMLE); African Ministers Conference for Environment (AMCEN) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) held a series of Gender and Climate Change meetings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 15 to 18 October 2009. The first meeting was a training of trainers’ workshop attended by participants from over 20 countries in Africa who underwent an intensive three-day process in integration of gender into climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies using examples from Africa. The second meeting was an orientation session for government delegates attending the Africa negotiators meeting (19-20 October, 2009). The session updated delegates who are involved in national and global climate change planning and negotiations on the intersection of gender and climate change and was held on 18 October 2009 at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa. Both the training and orientation were featured in the United Nations Environmental Programme’s October News letter.

Caribbean and Latin American Training of Trainers and Orientation for Government Delegates on Gender and Climate Change; July 23-26 2009, St. Georges, Grenada

Over thirty development practitioners/ trainers and government delegates to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), participated in the regional Caribbean and Latin American three-day training of trainers and one-day orientation for government delegates, organized by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as part of Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA), in partnership with Government of Grenada and Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) on July 23-26, 2009 in St. Georges, Grenada.

The Caribbean and Latin American training is one of a series of regional trainings organized by IUCN this year to build global capacity on gender and climate change. The training methodology is both comprehensive and participatory, focusing on integrating gender in building blocks of the Bali Action Plan: adaptation, mitigation, technology development and transfer, financial resources and investment.

The Caribbean and Latin American training focused on disaster risk reduction strategies and gender. Lorena Aguilar, IUCN Senior Gender Advisor, said “when women’s rights are not protected, more women than men will die from disasters.” London School of Economics study on disasters in 141 countries found that for every four women who die from natural disasters, one man dies.

Ambassador Dessima Williams, Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) demonstrated that “gender equality can offer protection to societies in climate change induced disaster, therefore gender equality strategies before disasters struck, and part of disaster risk mitigation, are the most important ways to maximize this protection.” Experiences of men and women in category 4 Hurricane Ivan, which devastated Grenada in 2004, highlight different levels of vulnerability among genders during and after disasters. Out of 79% of homes damaged overall in Hurricane Ivan in Grenada, 95% were the homes of poor women and children.

“Climate change is not only an environmental problem, climate change is a human problem; caused by humans and affecting humans,” said Ambassador Williams, emphasizing that the current debate on climate change has to center on human development and include gender considerations. Ambassador Williams called for the most vulnerable states, members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), to take up the issues of most vulnerable people.

Gender and climate change is receiving positive attention in the UNFCCC negotiations, said Spencer Thomas, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Regional Councilor. With only four months on the road to Copenhagen, the orientation on gender and climate change proved timely initiative to include gender considerations in the post 2012 agreement.

Women are recognized as agents of change in Bangkok

During the past UNFCCC negotiations in Bangkok Thailand, more than 100 women marched to remind the world that gender equality should be highlighted in the text of a good climate agreement in Copenhagen. The march focused on five key reasons why gender should be included in the text. Read the article.

New York, 24 September 2009 - Following is United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the event on “Peace and Security through Women's Leadership: Acting on 1325 and Climate Change”, delivered by Rachel Mayanja, Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, in New York today, 24 September:

"This has been a remarkable week at the United Nations in mobilizing political will on climate change, but the participation of more than 100 leaders at the Summit meeting on Tuesday was far from an end in itself. Now we must sustain the momentum. Women are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Many depend directly on the environment for their livelihoods and sustenance. Women are also custodians of community knowledge, with keen insights into how to sustainably manage natural resources.

But while the United Nations has succeeded in amplifying the voices of women on a range of issues, including conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, the special perspective of women is often overlooked in global discussions on climate change. We must do more to give greater say to women in addressing the climate challenge.

Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) offers a model for action. That resolution marked a milestone by recognizing the active participation of women in peace and security. I urge Member States to foster an environment where women are key decision-makers on climate change, and play an equally central role in carrying out these decisions.

Women should be seen not as victims but as agents of progress. Here, again, we can learn from resolution 1325 (2000) and it focus on women’s empowerment. With their skills, perspectives and experiences, women are already responding to the impacts of climate change. It is time to involve them as equal partners. When we do, our world as a whole will benefit.

I wish you success in striving towards this goal, and pledge my full support for your efforts."

Bangkok, Thursday 24 September 2009: Forty five of Asia’s foremost sustainable development and climate change practitioners are currently attending the Asia chapter of a global capacity drive on gender and climate change convened by the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) in Bangkok, Thailand. The training is based on a groundbreaking Training Manual on Gender and Climate Change and authored by the Global Senior Gender Advisor for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Lorena Aguilar, on behalf of the alliance. The training manual identifies the links between gender and climate change for the first time - a dimension that has been strikingly absent from climate talks up to now.

The Asia chapter of the training is the 5th in a series of successful workshops held previously in Europe (Poland and Germany), the United States (New York), and the Caribbean and the Americas (Grenada). Further trainings are to be held in Africa (October 2009) and the Middle East (November 2009) ahead of the UNFCCC Cop-15 to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Trainees were selected from over 1,000 applications received through a global call for expressions of interest. More than 300 submissions were received from countries all over the Asian region. “Having met the trainees this morning in person, I am extremely impressed with the level of expertise gathered at this training. The interest our Asia chapter has generated is unprecedented,” said Aguilar. “Upon completing this course, our capacity to work on gender and climate change issues in the region will be significantly strengthened on national and local level. Women need to be part of the solution and not the victims of deficient decisions taken on their behalf. In many cases entire communities depend on them for their livelihood,” Aguilar emphasized.

The training course focuses on the building blocks of the Bali Plan of Action (mitigation, adaptation, technology and finance) and is conducted in two parts: a three-day workshop with practitioners (Training of Trainers), followed by a half-day briefing to negotiators. The Training of Trainers (which started today) focuses on building capacity at grassroots level, whilst the second (Briefing to Negotiators) is designed to ensure that an understanding is built of the importance of retaining gender considerations in the UNFCCC negotiating text. Currently 30 references are contained and largely the result of advocacy work done by the GGCA of which IUCN is a founding member.

“If gender considerations are not sufficiently incorporated into a new climate deal, millions of lives stand to be lost. This is due to the pivotal role women play in especially poor, rural areas most acutely affected by the impacts of climate change,” Aguilar concluded.

Further information:
Please contact Lorena Aguilar, Senior Global Gender Advisor, The International Union for Conservation of Nature - IUCN, Telephone: ++66 806 111 545

This past June, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat (UNISDR) hosted the second session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland. The goal of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction is to sustain world-wide momentum to build the resilience of nations and communities to disasters.

During this session UNISDR launched the first version of their publication: Making Disaster Risk Reduction Gender Sensitive: Policy and Practical Guidelines. This publication is one of the first efforts to provide policy-makers with practical guidance on how to mainstream gender into policies, institutionalize gender-sensitive risk assessments, implement gender-sensitive early warning systems, and use gender-sensitive indicators to monitor gender mainstreaming progress.

Beijing International Conference on Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction

Natural disasters do not discriminate among people, however people do discriminate among each other. Discrimination leads to differences in people’s vulnerability, so when a disaster does occur certain groups, like women, are more affected. In the face of climatic changes that could increase the occurrence of natural disasters addressing gender discrimination then in a priority.

As part of the efforts to link gender issues and disaster risk reduction, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat (UNISDR) and All China Women's Federation hosted the International Conference on Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction in Beijing, China from 20-22 April 2009. The Conference was Co-hosted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China.

The conference’s purpose was to review the progress made and challenges faced in mainstreaming gender perspectives into disaster risk reduction. The main result of this conference was The Beijing Declaration for Action and Mainstreaming gender into DRR,which presents the priorities for mainstreaming gender into disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

UNISDR is one of the members of the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA)

-->back to top.