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Elizabeth Eggerts
UNDP Gender Team
Bureau for Development Policy
New York, NY 10017
UN-UNEP Red Guidance Note Gender Sensitive REDD English FINAL PDF
- PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN
- http://unfccc.int/2860.php
- Question on COP 19 POLAND WARSAW CONVERANCE 2013
http://web.undp.org/gef/document/UNDP-GEF%20Gender%20Report%202012.pdf
http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-gender-gap
http://www.gender-climate.org/
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Gender Equality and Climate Change Update
Dear Community of Educators,
As we prepare for the SB meeting in Bonn, June 4-15, COP 20 in Lima, Peru December 1-12, and the Climate Agreement meeting COP 21 in Paris, France, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization has provided us with an overview of key meetings and pre-meetings, next steps, and a sketch of a roadmap.
All the best,
Pam Puntenney and Bremley Lyngdoh
UN SD Education Caucus Co-Chairs
Co-Coordinators Climate Change with Tiahoga Ruge, Jim Taylor, Tish Pesanayi, Kavita Myles, and Suzana Padua
__________________
Dr. P. J. Puntenney
Environmental & Human Systems Management
1989 West Liberty
Ann Arbor, MI 48103 USA
E-mail: pjpunt@umich.edu
Cell: (734) 330-0238
Voice/Fax: (734) 994-3612
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April 11, 2014
Dear colleagues,
March was a particularly busy month for climate change policy work. Below, please find some key updates coming out of the first meeting of the UNFCCC in 2014. Next up, please look for updates from WEDO on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Open Working Group and other processes. WEDO looks forward to engaging with partners on strategy and analysis around this in the coming days, weeks and months.
Best,
Bridget Burns Advocacy and Communications Director
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View of the ADP open-ended consultations. in Bonn, Germany. Photo credit: IISD Reporting Services
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Towards a new climate agreement
From March 10th to 14th, the first meeting of the UNFCCC in 2014 was held in Bonn, Germany. The fourth meeting of the second session of the Ad-hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Action (ADP 2.4) – which is the group tasked with developing the new climate agreement- included two work streams: 1) discussion on the elements (adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology, capacity building and MRV) of the new instrument and 2) technical expert meetings on renewable energy sources and energy saving and efficiency for closing the emission gap before 2020.
As shared in WEDO’s overview heading into the meeting, a priority for this session was for Parties to elaborate their views on the elements of the new climate agreement, as well as decide on the methodology for negotiations to proceed. A number of Parties shared submissions on their views, which you can read here. WEDO made a submission on the proposed elements of the new agreement prior to the first session of the ADP in 2013.
The session ended with Parties agreeing to establish a contact group, to begin its work after the opening plenary of the fifth meeting of the second session of the ADP (ADP 2.5) in June. The Co-Chairs emphasized they were guided by the understanding that negotiating text will be “collectively constructed based on views expressed by parties in their submissions and in the negotiations, which would reflect a truly party-driven process.” This is reflective of an overall feeling of uncertainty in the process of moving forward, with Parties wary of a Copenhagen-like agreement being ‘parachuted’ in at the final stage, while also being wary of an unwieldy 300 page document that could stall the process. Other common threads of contention surrounded issues of CBDR/ equity and finance. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin has done an excellent overview, summary and analysis of the meeting, in addition to daily updates from the Third World Network.
Laying the foundation for gender equality
For WEDO and its partners in the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) and the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA), ADP 2.4 was an opportunity to discuss Parties views on the elements of the new agreement and identify potential entry points for ensuring that gender equality is reflected as a guiding principle, in addition to places to anchor existing language and decisions on gender equality into the new agreement. At the opening plenary of the session, WEDO’s Andrea Quesada, Focal Point of the Women and Gender Constituency, delivered an intervention stating “ADP should propose concrete ways to address socio-economic issues, such as gender equality and women’s human rights, as these are prerequisites of sustainable development and enablers of effective actions to address climate change mitigation and adaptation.”
Over the course of the week, representatives of the WGC and GGCA- including two Women Delegates Fund (WDF) participants, Emilia Reyes (Mexico) and Patience Damptey (Ghana) – liaised with Parties and the UNFCCC Secretariat to discuss options for the integration of gender in the ADP, which included a meeting with the new Gender Focal Points at the Secretariat. This work, building on efforts from previous meetings, resulted in several strong calls from the floor:
- In discussions on adaptation, Mexico and Norway made a statements emphasizing that gender considerations should underlie all activities of the new instrument.
- Additionally, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) group made statements in the discussions on means of implementation emphasizing that gender equality should be included in the basic principles of the new instrument.
- Finally, in a very strong closing statement, the Environmental Integrity Group, represented by Mexico, stated, “The EIG believes that the cross-cutting or transversal issues [in the new agreement] should include some fundamentals and principles, including ensuring that the 2015 agreementdoes not exacerbate social inequalities or environmental degradation of any kind. In dealing with environmental issues, we should be aware that this must inherently also address current disparities. Parallel to our efforts, the Human Rights Council is closely looking into the relationship betweenhuman rights and climate change it is important that our work takes these concerns fully into account as we have done earlier in the Cancun agreement. EIG member countries are committed to further integrate gender in the realm of climate change negotiations. Indeed climate change impacts affect us all, however, due to the varying social roles and livelihood activities, the impacts of climate change on women and men often differ, therefore it is important to address the gender aspect of climate change and to take the specific perspectives and needs of women and men duly into account. The correlation between gender and development or between gender gap and development gap has already been proven, so gender equality should be a fundamental principle of the 2015 agreement to ensure effective global actions that trigger mitigation, adaptation and the provision of means of implementation. In this regard, gender equality should be part of the overall principles to guide the operationalization of actions to follow.“
The next steps, as the negotiations move into a Contact Group, will be to outline with Parties, a roadmap from now to Lima to ensure the new climate agreement is gender-responsive. This also includes follow-up on the SBI Conclusions from Warsaw on a framework for gender-sensitive climate policy. WEDO and its partners will be actively engaging on this in the coming weeks and are already planning an event at the upcoming June intersessional to showcase these building blocks and synergies
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Members of the Women and Gender Constituency; Sabine Bock (WECF) and Andrea Quesada (WEDO)
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ADP Co-Chairs Special Event & Enhancing Civil Society Participation
In addition to the open-ended consultations led by the Co-Chairs, the first session of the ADP held several technical expert meetings on renewable energy sources, energy saving and efficiency as well as a -now regular- ADP Co-Chairs Special Event, which is an “interactive forum for observers to present concrete ideas and proposals on the roles that non-State actors could play in catalyzing action to enhance pre-2020 ambition effectively and in designing the 2015 agreement“.
Representing the WGC, Sabine Bock of Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) utilized the opportunity to reiterate calls coming from Parties to reflect gender equality in the new agreement- emphasizing that this be adequately captured in any Chairs summary of the meeting.
In addition, Ms. Bock highlighted the need for the technical workshops on renewable energy sources and mitigation potential to “fully address the issue of local stakeholder engagement, public participation and women’s participation“, in the development of these technologies.
Ms. Bock also requested future workshops to “include presentations of civil society like energy citizen cooperations as well as crucial gender considerations in proposed mitigation actions.”
Though this was a recorded session, and in the past, views expressed by observers have been noted in Co-Chair’s reports, the WGC participants noted that the original idea for this ‘Special Event’ was for observers to have an exchange of views in a space where Parties were also in attendance to listen and engage, which was the case in the first ‘Special Event’ held in Doha. Now, as Member States are not usually in the room, this has become a space of sharing with the Co-Chairs, whom can only refer to the need for these views to be relayed to Parties so that they can raise them from the floor. Though briefings with the Co-Chairs are incredibly important and welcomed, WEDO and other constituencies will continue to look for engaging and interactive ways for observer views, perspectives and ideas to be shared directly with Member States- and to influence the new climate agreement. This is a topic which the SBI will look at specifically at the upcoming June session under the Arrangements for Intergovernmental Meetings agenda item
Timeline of just some of the key dates for climate action in 2014. Image Credit: WEDO.
For a more comprehensive list of climate dates, click here.
APWLD also has a great timeline for the Post-2015 process, which can be found here
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Timeline of just some of the key dates for climate action in 2014. Image Credit: WEDO.
For a more comprehensive list of climate dates, click here.
APWLD also has a great timeline for the Post-2015 process, which can be found here
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Mobilizing for a Social COP in Lima
Beyond the formal negotiations, there was much discussion of the road to Lima and opportunities for action and mobilization to ensure strong political will and
‘people’s voice’ at COP20. Constituencies were invited to speak with the Secretariat on the organization of the COP20 in Peru. This included introductions to the civil society liaison team which the Government of Peru has already put in place- specifically to connect with the Constituencies of the UNFCCC including women, youth, NGOs, indigenous, researchers, trade unions and business.
In addition, the Government of Venezuela met with observers to discuss their plans for the ‘Social pre-COP’ in November, which includes a three day preparatory forum in July in Caracas. The pre-COP is a meeting of Ministers which occurs prior to the official COP, as a space for more diplomatic interaction and discussion — potentially to move through road blocks in the negotiations. Last year in Bonn, Venezuela announced that they would change the nature of the pre-COP Ministerial: “The next pre-COP will be very special because, for the first time, it will be a social pre-COP, it will be an opportunity for Ministers to listen and engage directly with civil society“, stated Claudia Salerno, the lead negotiator for Venezuela at the UNFCCC. This is on the heels of a pre-COP in Poland last year where business representative were invited to the table with Ministers, adding to what many CSOs observed as a ‘corporate capture’ of the UNFCCC process in Warsaw at COP19.
To support civil society preparation of inputs to the pre-COP, Venezuela will also host a preparatory forum from July 15th to 18th in Caracas covering the following:
- July 15th – Local Governments and Climate Change
- July 16th– The future takes the floor: Youth on Climate Change
- July 17th to 18th – Buen Vivir: Sustainable living and Climate Change
In a meeting with civil society in Bonn, Venezuela articulated the purpose of this preparatory forum was to provide inputs not only to the pre-COP & COP20, but also to the Open Working Group process on Sustainable Development Goals, the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and the Ban Ki Moon Climate Summit. Though no further information was provided on the expected number of participants, the Government of Venezuela did expect to reach out beyond the constituencies of the UNFCCC to include Major Groups in the SDGs process as well as grassroots, indigenous, trade unions and large civil society networks.
The actual pre-COP will be held from November 4-7 in Caracas and Venezuela provided the following draft agenda:
- November 4th-5th – Social Organizations and Movements- Social organizations debate and produce a document
- November 6th – Dialogue between Organizations and Ministers- Elected speakers present document to the Ministers
- November 7th – Ministers- Ministers meeting and closing ceremony
Ban Ki Moon Climate Summit and Mobilization
Finally, there was a briefing with observers on the links to the Ban Ki Moon Climate Summit which is scheduled for September 23rd, 2014.
The Summit, in the words of the Secretary General, aims to challenge Heads of State and Government along with business, finance, civil society and local leaders to join with “bold pledges to innovate, scale-up, cooperate and deliver concrete action that will close the emissions gap and put us on track for an ambitious legal agreement through the UNFCCC process.”
In preparation for the Summit, a special two-day high- level meeting will be held from 4-5 May in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to encourage announcements of greater action and ambition by world leaders in September.
In February, the Women and Gender Constituency sent a letter to the organizers of the Summit, highlighting a number of climate actions which take into account bottom-up approaches, of proven small-scale initiatives that also benefit people and communities, respect rights, reduce current and future emissions and achieve sustainable development. This was to frame the type of actions hoped to be highlighted at the event. The letter also particularly listed a number of concerns, including the framing of the Summit, and the potential for casual promotion of public-private partnerships, as well as implicitly supporting a shift away from ambitious and binding quantified commitments on emissions reductions in the UNFCCC.
Beyond the framing of the Summit itself, many groups are looking to the event as a key moment for mobilization. It is the last time, on the road towards a new climate agreement in 2015, where Heads of State and government leaders will be meeting to discuss ambitious action on climate. Many CSO groups and alliances have held meetings throughout the first months of 2014 to discuss collective messaging and actions from civil society, how to bring the climate movement to the streets of New York around the occasion of the Summit, and in the squares and commons of cities and communities around the globe. This work is also linked to action and mobilization on the Post-2015 development agenda more broadly and WEDO is working with partners to ensure women’s human rights and feminist advocacy on the Post-2015 process help shape the agenda
Ravadee Prasertcharoensuk leads a report-back on gender-sensitive tools and approaches to adaptation.
Image Credit: WEDO
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Ravadee Prasertcharoensuk leads a report-back on gender-sensitive tools and approaches to adaptation.
Image Credit: WEDO
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Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge and Gender Experts Meeting
Linking back to the UNFCCC process, from April 2nd to 4th in Bonn, Germany, WEDO participated in a Joint meeting of the Adaptation Committee and the Nairobi work programme, focused on Available tools for the use of indigenous and traditional knowledge (ITK) and practices for adaptation, needs of local and indigenous communities, and the application of gender-sensitive approaches and tools for adaptation. The meeting included several members of the GGCA and the WGC including Bridget Burns (WEDO), Agnes Otzelberger & Sven Harmeling (CARE), Lorena Aguilar (IUCN), Maria Josee Artiste (VIDs), and Ravadee Prasertcharoensuk (SDF). Presentations and inputs to the meeting have been highlighted on the UNFCCC website.
Throughout the expert meeting, participants were divided into working groups to share perspectives and experiences on ITK and gender, and to make recommendations for practitioners on the use of indigenous and traditional knowledge and practices for adaptation, and the application of gender-sensitive approaches and tools for understanding and assessing impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change.
Expert presentations were delivered by CARE, IUCN, and others. Ms. Maria-Josee Artist of the Association of Indigenous Village Leaders (VIDS) in Suriname, presented a WEDO case study she authored in 2013 on indigenous women and climate change. Ms. Prasertcharoensuk, participating on behalf of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), through the support of the Empower Women benefits All (EWA) program*, developed key inputs on genderand ITK to inform the meeting. On the final day, WEDO led a working group linking inputs and recommendations from this workshop, specifically on gender, to other Boards and Bodies of the UNFCCC, including the Technology Executive Committee and the Green Climate Fund.
Reflecting on the meeting, Ms. Prasertcharoensuk stated, “one of the most important aspects of the meeting was the opportunity to make recommendations. It was important to see the co-Chairs of the workshop confirm their commitment to take the knowledge and experience shared and discussed here and put it forward to formal UNFCCC /SBSTA committee as well as the Nairobi Work Plan later this year. I think it will be quite significant for mainstreaming ITK and gender adaptation programs around the world.”
*This programming receives support from the WECF “Empowering Women benefits All” programme, financed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
Links
- UNFCCC Live webcasts and virtual participation
- IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin (daily coverage of meetings)
WEDO Social Media
Follow WEDO’s updates and activities at Facebook.com/WEDOworldwide and on Twitter @WEDO_worldwide and through WEDO Advocacy and Communications Director, Bridget Burns, @bridiekatie. You can also follow:
UNFCCC– @UN_ClimateTalks; @CFigueres; #ADP2014
Social Pre-COP– @SocialPreCOP
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