GenderCC participated at this year’s COP26 in Glasgow and showcased its work from different projects in Side Events and network meetings. This year’s COP has been criticized by us and many other observer organizations for being very exclusive, particularly for observers from the Global South. This also meant that observers were granted much smaller delegations. For GenderCC this implied that we were only assigned 5 delegation members each week in Glasgow in comparison to 27 delegates at COP25. The day usually started with standing in line at the venue for up to two hours to be granted access, since not only badges but also Covid-19 test results had to be checked by the entrance. The Women and Gender Constituency, of which GenderCC is a member, had its daily caucus meetings to zoom into gender and human rights relevant topics in the negotiations as well Side Events of that day and to allow for member organizations to get to know each other.
During the first week, GenderCC organized one Side Event at the Blue Zone on Engaging citizens in urban climate action for inclusive just transition programs together with the Climate Alliance and Heschel Sustainability Center. Gotelind Alber was the panelist for GenderCC and presented major outputs of the project “Gender into Urban Climate Change Initiative”, such as the methodology “GAMMA”. The methodology gives guidance for cities on how to develop and implement gender-responsive policies for mitigating climate change and adapting to its impacts. Many people took part in the Side Event and after the inputs from the panel a lively discussion emerged.
On Friday Ndivile Mokoena (GenderCC Southern Africa) brought in her perspective on sustainable agriculture as a panelist at the Side Event Uncovering justice gaps in Just Transitions – why technological solutions won’t solve the crises organized by Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation at the Blue Zone. GenderCC delegates joined the kick-off demonstration to the People’s Summit on Saturday advocating to step up efforts at negotiations, joined by locals as well as COP26 participants. The weekend was used to prepare for the second week of the negotiations and meet up with the delegation of Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation. The foundation funds the “Not without us!” project, which supports GenderCC’s and its partner’s work in actively taking part in the UNFCCC process.
During the second week, GenderCC was involved in two Side Events. The first event was organized by the “Not without us!” project of GenderCC and LIFE e.V. at the Green Zone Cinema Auditorium Not without us! – Pathways to a gender just transition. The event showcased examples and challenges to the just transition from different sectors and countries by Dunja Krause (UNRISD), Kavindu Ediriweera (Slycan Trust, Sri Lanka) and from a GenderCC member organization Dinda Yura (Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia). During the discussion many questions were directed at the panelists and showed a large interest in this topic.
The second Side Event “Life at the centre: towards a Feminist climate justice” was also organized by GenderCC and its partners from the “Not without us!” project as part of the People’s Summit. It critically questioned false solutions to climate change and proposed solutions from the work of caring, sustaining and reproducing life. Talking about the struggles against extractive capitalism, speakers from Observatorio de Ecología política de Venezuela, Movimiento por el Agua y los Territorios-MAT from Chile and GenderCC member Dinda Yura (Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia) highlighted their local struggles for gender just futures. Melissa Moreano (Colectivo de Geographía Crítica del Ecuador, GenderCC member) facilitated the session and took up the questions from the audience.
Women and Gender received a lot of attention with a color campaign: each day we had masks with another color raising a specific gender-related topic, e.g. orange for feminist leadership, or purple for a “NO” to false solutions. Find the issue briefs here.
For our detailed evaluation of the COP26 outcomes and a gender specific progress, you can read our Press Release.