Bonn Climate Change Conference
WECF advocates for strong gender dimension in climate policies and actions
03.06.2016 |WICF
In-session workshop on gender responsive climate policy
Bonn Climate Change Conference - 16th-26th May 2016
WECF advocates for strong gender dimension in climate policies and actions
The global and legally binding Paris Agreement at COP21 was a historic moment in climate negotiations. However, concrete actions have to follow if global warming shall be limited to 1.5° by 2030. The Bonn Climate Conference prepared therefore the way to the “COP22 of Action” in Marrakech who will take over the reins from COP21 in order to achieve the priorities of the Paris Agreement, especially related to adaptation, transparency, technology transfer, mitigation, capacity building and loss & damage.
Despite its ambitious goals, the Paris Agreement is missing operative references to human rights or gender equality. Therefore, WECF together with the Women and Gender Constituency to the UNFCCC(WGC) continued at the Bonn Climate Conference to advocate for including gender and women’s human rights in the Global Climate Action Agenda, which will be finalized at COP22, for a strong gender dimension in adaptation and mitigation approaches as well as in items considering loss & damage.
Members of the Women and Gender Constituency presenting interventions in the negotiations: Olfa Jelassi (top photo), Franziska Loibl (bottom photo)
The WGC welcomed the progress made by Parties in conclusions under the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) which set the stage for a strong set of activities to be outlined in Marrakesh to take forward the important work of the Lima Work Program on Gender. During the SB44, the Women and Gender Constituency urged governments to incorporate gender perspectives into their national policies, action plans and other measures on sustainable development and climate change, through carrying out systematic gender analysis; capacity building support, collecting and utilizing sex-disaggregated data; establishing gender-sensitive benchmarks and indicators; and developing practical tools to support increased attention to gender perspectives on capacity building and human rights. Moreover the WGC underlined the importance of a gender just transition within the UNFCCC and of gender inclusive actions in all phases of implementing the Paris agreement.
During the UNFCCC in-session workshop on gender-responsive climate policy, WECF presented its Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA), the first gender-sensitive NAMA in Georgia. To develop the NAMA, WECF collaborates with sustainable energy cooperatives in 5 Georgian regions with the aim to fight climate change and ensure environmental sustainability while promoting renewable energies and gender equality. Anna Samwel (WECF Georgia) highlighted during the workshop the reduced workload and linked benefits for women in rural Georgian areas as well as the potential of this project to be upscaled. WECF’s experience can serve as a model for other projects to develop gender-sensitive approaches in order to combating climate change in an effective manner. The workshop produced through presentations and working groups a wide variety of recommendations on gender-responsive climate policy and saw the participation of many Parties.
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