Together, We Can raise our voices at COP 27!

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 27^th Conference of the Parties  (COP 27) is well underway in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, where world leaders, ministers, civil society organisations and industry professionals are all discussing one big issue: climate change. We are proud to say that several of our WeCan members are right there with them, raising their voices at numerous events across the two weeks. Whilst others, unfortunately, weren’t able to be in attendance physically, we asked all our members: what do you want COP 27 to focus on and achieve?

Through this exercise, we hope to draw attention to key issues being felt by women across the world and amplify the voices of our WeCaN members, even those who aren’t present at COP27.

So, what is it that women on the ground want from COP27? 

The first demand is to increase the full and equal participation of women, youth and Indigenous populations in climate-related decision-making processes and offer more resources for the implementation of the Gender Action Plan. 

More specifically, this includes:

• Not just better opportunities to participate in high-level events, but also more meaningful participation:, this means equal chances to speak up and present women’s contributions and demands, including through the support of senior women delegates and timing quotas.
• The inclusion of gender lens into all discussion topics to make sure that the climate solutions taken are gender-responsive.
• A commitment to improve investments, funds and support to enable the women in all national delegations at UNFCCC sessions and also the grassroot local and indigenous women to join high-level events. The knowledge and funding gaps in becoming a negotiator and being accredited at the national level need to be addressed.
• More youth involvement in decision-making as part of national delegations. This is vital to speeding up efforts across mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage and will help gain trust and hope under the current global energy and geopolitical crisis.

The second demand is feminist climate justice, which protects biodiversity, delivers food and nutrition security, and ensures a liveable climate for growing populations.

Specifically, our WeCaN members demand the following:

• Improved investments and funds to build up on the women’s knowledge, strengthened technical capacities for a just green transition and equal access to resources and climate smart technologies.
• The prioritisation of the needs of indigenous, pastoralist, and peasant women who play critical roles in promoting healthy and sustainable food systems but are the most vulnerable to climate impacts.
• Prioritisation of traditional knowledge of forest resources and local seeds that are resilient to climate change.
• Recognition of the rural communities and pastoralists’ roles in protecting the ecosystems and tackling climate change
• More gender-sensitive carbon credit and renewable energy systems that foster social and climate justice
• Provision of infrastructure and funds for green transportation solutions that are accessible for all
• Promotion of women’s leadership in water management, drylands regions’ governance, and advocacy for land rights equality

The third demand is gender-sensitive risk reduction and recovery.

For our WeCaN members, this includes:

• Providing women with gender-sensitive capacity building and financial services for disaster risk management
• Urging developed countries to devise a delivery plan for their climate finance commitment to disaster risk reduction and loss and damage.
• Releasing climate finances directly to grassroots and women-rights organizations to minimise loss of livelihoods

The WeCaN members brainstormed these demands during a knowledge exchange session to voice the needs of civil societies, women-led and youth organisations. We are hopeful that COP27 will spark debate and make these needs a priority.

Top photo: ©Dunia El-Khoury

Full narrative is at https://www.fao.org/dryland-forestry/news/news-detail/en/c/1618043/