Poznan,
December 8th 2008
Press Release
Gender
Justice is Climate Justice
Women from around the world working
together in the GenderCC network reassert that real solutions to the
climate crisis can only be achieved when there is gender justice.
We demand that the UNFCCC process must commit to the integration of
the gender dimension into all policies, mechanisms, programmes and
institutional frameworks. As a first step,
UNFCCC Parties must therefore adopt a resolution on gender justice
which fulfills the binding obligations on gender and human rights
that the UN have already endorsed. GenderCC calls for a one-day plenary
session specifically dedicated to gender in order to discuss the gender
dimension in the ongoing negotiations. Moreover, we call upon the
UNFCCC to acknowledge the many solutions women already have and the
actions they take on the ground to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
"In many countries, women
struggling to protect the climate and the environment are being criminalized
for these activities; such is the case of the Mapuche indigenous woman
that has been in jail for more than five years defending her territory
and their forests against the
forestry companies in Chile " said Claudia Roa from Fundaexpresion,
Colombia. "We want the world and this process to be aware of
the double and triple criminalization of these women, although they
are doing a lot for the climate".
During the one-day conference
on "Gender Justice in Times of a Changing Climate" held
on December 5, 2008 in parallel with COP 14, approximately 100 participants
shared numerous examples of heroic struggles of women to cope with
these problems. "During this conference, GenderCC has been successful
in linking the practical experience of women from the ground with
the international process, and we are now coming up with solutions
and proposals", Gotelind Alber (GenderCC) said, "the UNFCCC
needs to listen to these in the upcoming sessions."
"To take account of the gender
dimension in the decisions and mechanisms under the UNFCCC",
Anna Pinto (CORE India) added, "we suggest a high level expert
advisory group on gender whose findings and recommendations should
be considered official inputs in the process."
"We need new funding instruments
beyond market based mechanisms", Dorah Lebelo (The Greenhouse
Project, South Africa) stated, "otherwise women and their endeavors
to mitigate climate change will not benefit. Moreover, a proportion
of the adaptation fund should be earmarked for gender sensitive local
communities' efforts to increase resilience of those most affected
by climate change".
*GenderCC -- Women for Climate
Justice *is the internationally operating NGO-network aiming to integrate
gender justice in climate change policy at local, national and international
levels. Since COP9 in Milan (2003), women have been collectively addressing
the issue of climate change at the UNFCCC under the umbrella of GenderCC.
Contact: Ulrike Roehr (GenderCC),
mobile in Poznan: +48 785 260 206,
email: u.roehr@gendercc.net, www.gendercc.net
