GenderCC Newsletter

Shortly before COP 17, the UNFCCC Secretariat granted the Women and Gender Constituency full status as an official NGO constituency within the UNFCCC process.

Following a two-year provisional period, the formal approval of the Constituency is a testament to the hard work and vision of many people, and reflects the increased recognition that is being given to gender issues within the UNFCCC process and climate policy more generally.

The Constituency was active throughout COP17. The Women and Gender Caucus – involving both Constituency members and others interested in gender – met daily to discuss progress in the negotiations and gender issues and events at the COP. Some caucus members formed working groups to further discuss specific topics, including mitigation, adaptation, finance and feminist approaches. Please find the discussion paper of the feminist approach working group here (espanol).

In the second week of COP17, UN Women kindly hosted an event to celebrate the Constituency's full status. This was a great opportunity for Constituency members to socialise and reflect on the progress made by women and gender groups within the UNFCCC process.

(Photo: GenderCC)

On Thursday 1 December, GenderCC – in cooperation with the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) – hosted a very successful side event at COP17 entitled Gender responsive adaptation and low carbon development – including the role of rural and indigenous women.

Three women gave presentations on behalf of GenderCC. Firstly, Elizabeth Letlhaku from South Africa talked about her experiences as a member of the Siphephile Waste Recycling Co-operative, which undertakes projects on recycling, waste management and urban agriculture. Elizabeth spoke particularly about the need for finance on the ground, and highlighted the challenges faced by her co-op as a result of a lack of financial support. 

Secondly, Ulamila Wragg of the Cook Islands and Ruiti Uriano Aretaake of Kiribati talked about adaptation and low carbon development in the Pacific. Ulamila gave an overview of GenderCC's three-year project on gender in adaptation and low carbon development, which is implemented and run by the Secretariat for the Pacific Community. Ruiti then talked about adaptation strategies in Kiribati, including alternative ways in which women can earn income in response to the changing climate. The presentation given by Ulamila and Ruiti can be downloaded here.

In addition, there were two presentations on behalf of APWLD. Vernie Yocogan-Diano presented on rual women's adaptation strategies and indigenous practices in the Philippines, while Kurukulasuriya Antanat Roshanthi Fernando talked about the adaptation strategies of women in small-scale fisheries in Sri Lanka.

The side event was introduced by Dorah Marema of GenderCC and facilitated by Gotelind Alber of GenderCC and Frances Quimpo of APWLD. It was attended by over 100 people, with interactive discussion and questions from the audience.

(Photo: GenderCC)

GenderCC was directly involved in two interventions at COP17.

Firstly, Emily Tjale held an intervention in the AWG-KP on behalf of GenderCC. She emphasised the need to listen to the concerns of grassroots women and communities, whose voices are too often overshadowed by those of corporations. Emily encouraged governments to put their power to good purpose and negotiate a strong climate deal that sees immediate cuts in global emissions. The intervention is available for download here.

Secondly, Eunice Warue of GenderCC made an intervention in the high-level segment on behalf of the Women and Gender Constituency. Through this intervention, the Constituency urged parties to secure a global climate change agreement with substance, and noted that there is little point promoting a gender-sensitive approach within a framework that is empty and ineffective. The intervention also emphasised that steps to include gender in the text of international agreements must translate into real change for women and men on the ground. The intervention is available for download here.

(Photo courtesy of ENB/IISD)

On 24 and 25 November 2011, over 50 women from South Africa and other world regions came together in Durban for the Grassroots Women’s Conference on Climate Change. The conference was jointly presented by GenderCC and the Land Access Movement of South Africa (LAMOSA) and was supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

At the conference, Gotelind Alber of GenderCC gave an initial overview of the UNFCCC process and climate financing. Following this, participants brainstormed their climate change-related experiences and challenges and came up with a number of key issues. Participants then broke into smaller working groups to discuss these issues – and corresponding solutions – in greater detail. A conference dinner was held at the end of day one, at which Dr. Yvette Abrahams – GenderCC Southern Africa board member and Commissioner with the South African Commission for Gender Equality – provided the keynote speech.

In the final session, participants endorsed a statement reflecting the discussions and outcomes from the conference. GenderCC presented the statement at its COP17 side event. The statement raises issues and demands in numerous areas, including:

• access to funding;
• good governance, transparency and access to information;
• education and capacity building;
• access to productive land and other resources; and
• participation and inclusion in policy and processes.

The full conference statement can be downloaded <link fileadmin inhalte dokumente unfccc_conferences cop17 statement_from_gendercc_grassroots_conference_held_24-25_november_2011.pdf _blank>here.

(Photo: GenderCC)