Warsaw opens a new chapter on gender equality and climate change
Nathalie Eddy, Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA)
COP 19 is a unique chance for Parties to show leadership on implementing policies that respond to the linkages between gender equality and climate change. While the UNFCCC has historically lagged behind other international bodies and processes in recognising the benefits a gender-responsive approach can bring to programme and project outcomes, Warsaw opens a new chapter.
Parties took an important step at COP 18, adopting Decision 23/ CP.18 on gender balance and women’s participation, recognising the need to strengthen gender equality in the UNFCCC, its processes, bodies and outcomes. The COP 18 Gender Decision set in motion a series of significant actions including adding ‘gender and climate change’ to the COP agenda, asking the UNFCCC secretariat to report on progress towards gender balance, and mandating the UNFCCC secretariat to convene an in-session workshop on gender, inviting and compiling substantive submissions from Parties and Observers in advance.
The achievements in the last 11 months are worth noting. In response to the UNFCCC’s invitation for submissions, 20 Parties (on behalf of over 80 countries taking into account the submissions from the EU and Least Developed Countries (LDCs)) and 10 Observers prepared input on the goal to ‘improve women’s participation and inform more effective climate change policy that addresses the need of women and men’ (Decision 23/CP.18). The submissions build on extensive national and institutional experiences in pursuing gender-sensitive climate policies and programmes, calling for ambitious action and specific next steps. The UNFCCC COP 19 Gender Workshop, held on Tuesday, November 12th, 2013, amplified the submission proposals, with Parties and Observers calling for resources, capacity building, timelines, technical guidance, and gender balance targets. The Storify summary of the event pulls together pictures and Twitter posts from workshop participants.
Specifically, Parties and Observers highlighted the following needs for strengthened gender equality in the UNFCCC process:
- Gender balance in the UNFCCC process
1. Institutionalise training and capacity building for women negotiators
2. Allocate financial resources to support women’s participation and training needs
3. Establish targets and incentives towards gender balance in UNFCCC delegations, bodies and committees
- Capacity building on gender-sensitive policies and implementation
4. Institutionalise training and capacity building for all climate decision-makers on (i) how to develop and implement a gender-sensitive approach, and (ii) the benefits such an approach can contribute
5. Support awareness raising on a gender-sensitive approach to climate solutions for stakeholders at all levels
6. Facilitate collaboration with and between climate and gender-relevant national agencies
- Gender-sensitive climate policies
7.Contribute to research on gender-specific climate vulnerabilities and impacts of gender-sensitive climate policy, building on existing research programmes
8. Develop tools and methodology to guide gender-sensitive implementation and measure and track progress
Building on the outcomes of the COP 19 Gender Workshop, Parties shifted into negotiating mode and began hammering out a plan. The negotiations on gender and climate change were driven by a mix of urgency to address an overdue element of effective climate solutions, and realistic expectations in mobilising such an important initiative in a time of constrained resources, and limited ambition, process-wide. The result brings us closer to integrating gender equality into on-going and existing reporting and monitoring mechanisms, but leaves the mobilisation of resources needed to further support women’s participation and capacity building on hold.
On the occasion of the COP 19 Gender Day on Tuesday, November 19, many gender experts will convene events to continue the dialogue and strive for additional solutions and progress towards gender equality in climate policy and practice. The Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) will join partners and GGCA members to convene 2 events:
- 18:30-20:00 (Room Torun) ‘Gender at Work: Points and perspectives toward a gender-responsive and transformative climate policy’ (GenderCC, GGCA, LIFE e.V., and WEDO). Follow #genderday on Twitter as well as @GGCA_gender @WEDO_worldwide @GenderCC @ulrike_LIFE for updates.
- 20:15-21:15 (Room Torun) Fireside chat – ‘Climate Finance and Gender Equality: Lessons for Sustainable Development’(GGCA, WECF & WEDO, in collaboration with CDKN). This ‘Fireside Chat’ will spark a lively discussion on understanding how integrating gender equality in safe, low carbon development can impact the formulation of future sustainable development goals.
Iterei Iguassu