International

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26 07, 2023

Society Leaves Disabled Communities Sweltering

2023-11-29T18:40:26-05:00Tags: , |

Disabled people make up the world’s largest minority and yet they have not had opportunities to participate fully in society. The climate crisis has exacerbated these inequities. Yessenia Funes highlights stories and statistics from around the world, emphasizing the societal barriers to civic participation that go beyond individual conditions. The rise of heat waves have put disabled people at increased risk of health complications. These disabilities can make extreme heat and light exposure inherently more difficult, causing individuals to lack the ability to perspire or make it painful to be in high light/heat areas. On top of that, there are structures in place that complicate life for disabled people, such as lack of accessible housing, lack of inclusion in emergency response protocols, economic challenges, and other social determinants of health that affect them every day. Amid the crisis, they are losing their lives at disproportionate rates. This is worsened further for historically underserved groups, such as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and rural communities. Disabled people have had to innovate and adapt to survive their regular lives, and now the changing climate. This kind of thinking is vital for climate adaptation. Climate resilience must include accessibility and inclusion so that everyone is able to live full, equitable, and enjoyable lives.  Photo credit: Yaorusheng/Getty Images

29 06, 2023

Lifting the Curtain on Carbon Colonialism

2023-11-28T21:07:18-05:00Tags: , |

Sopheap is one of thousands of workers in Cambodia and around the world that have had to adjust their lives due to climate change and carbon colonialism. The 40 year old mother of three collects, sorts, and sells clothes that are dumped into Cambodia by the ton. She works through heat waves to earn a living from the discards of the fast fashion industry in the Global North. Sopheap is invisible to the world, hidden behind the curtain that companies have drawn to cover their impacts. Laurie Parsons describes the way colonial narratives and ideas are perpetuated through the phrasing of “sustainability” as they send their emissions and waste to the rest of the world. Decolonizing climate change means uncovering the hidden figures in sustainability and demanding accountability from the parties that center environmental action around disproportionate power dynamics. True sustainable climate action will come when Sopheap, and everyone affected by inequalities, are seen and included in the movement along with an end to abusive supply chains. Photo credit: Jake Chessum/Trunk Archive

22 05, 2023

Tricia Hersey Wants Us All To Slow Down

2023-12-04T15:28:14-05:00Tags: |

Tricia Hersey, author of Rest Is Resistance and founder of Nap Ministry is drawing attention to the need for rest in a world that is obsessed with “grind culture.” While animals and babies listen to the cues of their bodies, adults are ignoring their physical and mental needs in the name of work. This is having consequences on public health and reinforcing oppressive systems. Our culture and systems have ingrained the need for us to be productive for as many hours as possible, with rest being of secondary importance. This is by no accident, but rather by intentional systemic efforts to ensure humans behave as machines. Hersey argues every system is involved in this - from schools and jobs to friends and faith organizations. Hersey emphasizes that humans are not on this Earth simply to work as cogs in a machine and argues that rest is not surrendering but rather is a way to take action and resist the systems that enforce capitalism and white supremacy. Photo Credit: Charlie Watts

29 03, 2023

Un Adopts Landmark Resolution To Define Global Legal Obligations On Climate Change

2023-07-30T13:59:42-04:00Tags: |

After years of activism by Pacific Islander youth, a historic climate resolution was passed by the United Nations to be sent to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The resolution requests that the ICJ clarify legal consequences for states that have significantly damaged the climate system and environment, and  it requests that future local and global climate efforts center on human rights. The push for this resolution started with a campaign initiated by university students in Fiji in 2021, and has now been co-sponsored by over 130 member states. Although it is not mandatory for states to adhere to ICJ opinions, they carry significant legal and moral weight that supporters hope will cause states to focus on the climate crisis. Specifically, the youth who began this initiative request that countries consider their obligations to the Small Island and Developing states which are particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis and impacted by initiatives in the developed world. The adoption of this resolution is an important step in defining the future of global climate action, and an emotional and triumphant moment for the Pacific youth who spearheaded these efforts.

10 02, 2023

Female solar workers can face prejudice. This woman wants that to change.

2024-02-14T17:22:14-05:00Tags: |

The renewable energy industry is a much more diverse and inclusive sector than the traditional energy and fossil fuels sector. Thanks to its multidisciplinary dimension, solar employs proportionally more women than any other energy technology. Nonetheless, the vast majority of solar installers and service technicians are men, so women are likely to face discrimination or harassment at their workplace. In order to tackle these concerns, companies are encouraged to target the existing barriers to entry for women and underrepresented groups. Issues such as perceived gender roles, cultural and social norms, and discouraging workplace practices are being addressed through adequate diversity and equity trainings for all staff. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that the number of jobs in renewables could increase from 10.3 million in 2017 to nearly 29 million in 2050. Therefore, the sector represents a major opportunity for sustainable development and for women’s employment. Gender-blind energy sector policies and programs fail to integrate women’s experiences and expertise, and risk worsening the gender gap in the energy access context. Hence, it is important to ensure that women’s contributions, their skills and views represent an integral part of the growing industry. Photo Credit: N/A

19 01, 2023

Fossil Fuel Giants ‘Throw People Under The Bus For Their Gain’ Greta Thunberg Says At Davos

2023-07-30T13:23:10-04:00Tags: |

Greta Thunberg, Vanessa Nakate, Helena Gualinga, and Luisa Neubauer are among many climate activists who protested the expansion of fossil fuel initiatives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. These women came from around the world (Sweden, Uganda, Ecuador, and Germany, respectively) to demand that the global energy industry stop investing in oil and gas and turn to clean energy. This built off of a cease and desist campaign that they pioneered, gaining 897,000+ signatures, to push for transparency and accountability from CEOs involved in fossil fuel investments. Just before her appearance at the WEF, Thunberg was detained while protesting the expansion of a coal mine in Germany. Other activists met her in Davos, protesting the emissions from the attendees using private jets and expanding the Make Them Pay campaign, calling on rich nations to pay their climate debt and cancel debt in the Global South where people are disproportionately affected by climate change while contributing the least to the crisis. Youth activists have crucial roles in climate movement and sustaining fossil fuel resistance efforts. Photo credit: Arnd Wiegmann/REUTERS

23 12, 2022

How Women Changed The World This Year

2023-07-30T13:13:07-04:00Tags: |

Climate activists, community leaders, human rights advocates―women around the world have pushed for change across arenas and sustain hope for future progress. In Iran, women have led the revolution against the government through the Women, Life, Freedom movement to ensure that everyone has safety, rights, and religious freedom. In Afghanistan, thousands of unnamed women fight Taliban leadership to push for education, healthcare, and economic opportunities. Women in Latin America have continued the fight for their rights, with a “green wave” of grassroots movements pushing for abortion rights. In lieu of their efforts, Mexico has decriminalized abortion, Ecuador has decriminalized it up to 24 weeks, and other countries are re-evaluating their laws. In Ukraine, women are working hard to maintain global food security. Nadiia Ivanova and ~10,000 other women farmers are fighting to keep up food production in the midst of the Russian invasion, supplying food and shelter to Ukrainian soldiers, as well as global food markets. Women are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis and intersections across movements. They are demanding seats at the table at global climate forums, pushing for legislation such as the “loss and damage” fund that was approved during COP27. This will support developing countries that are vulnerable to climate change, and center around some of the issues that impact women in the crisis. This is one example of many efforts by women in the climate justice movement. The struggles and contributions of women often go unrecognized, but millions are leading justice movements every day. Photo credit: Justin Tallis/AFP Via Getty Images

19 12, 2022

How Asian-Pacific Islanders Shaped Environmental Activism

2023-11-28T20:41:44-05:00Tags: , , |

Asian-Pacific Islanders have been on the frontlines of the climate crisis—both by being disproportionately and uniquely affected by disasters and geological shifts, but also driving innovation, hope, and change in their communities and around the world. Youth climate activist, Alexia Leclercq, presents an anthology of stories and milestones from Asian-Pacific Islander activists and community leaders as they move through generations of challenges. These communities have built up resilience and strength throughout centuries of colonization, capitalism, and now the climate crisis, and use their knowledge to further progress in all areas. Leclercq draws on her experiences and identity through her journey in the climate movement, and emphasizes the need for “radical listening” to make change. Representation in climate spaces is not sufficient; we must deeply listen and actively learn from the experiences and ideas of those who know this space most intimately. We must honor the unique identities that come into the movement, and come together to make restorative progress. Photo credit: Moonassi

21 11, 2022

Transforming Ourselves To Transform The World

2023-12-07T17:46:30-05:00Tags: |

Cuerpo-territorio, meaning body-territory, is an Indigenous philosophy whereby the body is conceptualized as political territory which, similar to land, has faced colonization and exploitation at the hands of the capitalist patriarchal system. Bodies are thus vessels that can be impacted by the world, but also can influence and improve the world. Nicole Froio guides us through the stories of five activists who embody this philosophy and have embraced their bodily autonomy to change their lives and the lives of others in their interconnected community. This highlights the toll oppression takes on the body as well as the power of one’s relationship with their body in fighting back against societal constraints such as patriarchy, racism, sexism and ableism.

28 10, 2022

Cities aren’t designed for women. Here’s what’s needed next

2024-02-15T12:40:26-05:00Tags: , |

This article discusses the UN Development Program’s report, Designing Cities that Work for Women, which cites four critical areas of improvement to better suit women’s needs. These include: safety and security, justice and equity, health and wellbeing, and enrichment and fulfillment. The article further elaborates on these areas of improvement by discussing examples of changes needed to improve cities for women. The first is increasing female voices in leadership roles. This includes seeking out female viewpoints to inform city planning decisions, as well as using gender-disaggregated data. The second example is incorporating the celebration of female achievement within cities. This section cited how only 2-3% of city statues portray women. If improved, this can aid in women feeling a sense of belonging within their city. The third example is to improve safety in public spaces and on public transport through the use of design, violence prevention laws, education, and technology. Lastly, the fourth example confronts the need for increased water and sanitation, as the collection of water is vastly the responsibility of women and girls globally, with about one-third of women lacking access to safe toilets. The article closes by restating the importance of redesigning cities holistically and to increase the role that under-represented communities have in urban development.  Photo Credit: Unsplash/João Ferrão

11 10, 2022

Young Women Push For Greater Representation In The Climate Debate

2023-04-16T16:44:40-04:00Tags: |

Looking toward the 27th global climate Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Egypt, the gender imbalance persists in undermining women’s representation throughout climate negotiations. Women like Farhana Yamin, an environmental lawyer and climate activist, have spent years paving the way for equal representation; this work is the reason that gender is now part of the COP agenda. While reports show that the percentage of women occupying positions in UN climate bodies and national delegations has increased, it is still widely apparent that urgency is lacking in ensuring that their voices are being equally heard as well. This is why initiatives like She Changes Climate are being formed and gaining momentum as 500 leaders worldwide signed a letter calling for a 50-50 split of men and women in the COP27 leadership team. The campaign has long-term ambitions to see this become the norm for every climate summit that follows. Following their predecessors' footsteps, young women continue to set the mark in ensuring their voices are heard and accounted for as they expand the range of diversity and representation at these negotiations.

11 10, 2022

Young Women Push For Greater Representation In The Climate Debate

2023-02-20T13:29:47-05:00Tags: |

Over 500 leaders from around the world signed an open letter calling for the equitable representation of men and women at COP27, the 2022 UN Climate Conference in Egypt. This follows the low representation of women at prior climate conferences, with them making up only 37 percent of delegates and only receiving 29 percent of the speaking time. This article follows several of the leaders who supported the petition, including Farhana Yamin, an environmental lawyer who has been involved in international climate negotiations since 1991, and Bianca Pitt, the founder of the She Changes Climate Initiative. The article also highlights the contributions of young women and advocates from the Global South.

10 10, 2022

Give legal rights to animals, trees and rivers, say experts | Environment | The Guardian

2024-02-14T12:01:36-05:00Tags: , |

This article discusses the perspectives of the authors, Dr. Wendy Schultz and Dr. Trish O’Flynn, who co-wrote the report, Law in the Emerging Bio Age. Their report emphasizes the importance that legal frameworks have in the interactions between humans, their environments, and biotechnology. Dr. O’Flynn elaborates on the common misperception that humans are outside of nature and the ideology that nature is something for humans to control or alter. Dr. O’Flynn also highlights the potential of implementing legal protection for non-human species, such as allowing other species to achieve their own potential cognitively, emotionally, and socially. With the continuing developments in biotechnology, questions concerning ethics also arise about the role that humans have in using it. Dr. Schultz suggests the creation of an accountability framework would ensure consequences for these actions, which is where Rights of Nature laws would play their most crucial role. The article closes by calling attention to the difficulty of spreading this approach in western countries as opposed to others who have already adopted legislation protecting the Rights of Nature.  Photo Credit: Dušan Veverkolog (Unsplash)

5 10, 2022

Women and Gender in Climate Diplomacy

2023-03-29T11:12:27-04:00Tags: |

Women are integral to crafting climate action policies, especially given that they integrate a much-needed gender perspective that leads to greater equity and effectiveness. Their participation in global negotiations has been linked to longer-lasting agreements and more positive diplomatic outcomes. This report from the Center on Global Energy Policy reviews existing literature on feminist foreign policy, women’s participation in environmental decision-making, and how gender factors into climate change vulnerability. However, they remain significantly under-represented in negotiations, making up less than 20 percent of delegation heads for the majority of UN Climate Conferences. At COP26, only 35 percent of attending delegates were women. This report provides policy recommendations to further women’s participation and inclusion by elevating their voices, expanding training programs, and establishing gender-sensitive climate goals.

3 10, 2022

Vandana Shiva on the wisdom of biodiversity

2023-03-29T13:32:22-04:00Tags: |

Vandana Shiva is an activist and author who grew up in the Himalayan forests, where biodiversity was her teacher. Shiva weaves quantum science and the teachings of the forest to demonstrate the deep interconnection between all living beings. Biodiversity is the interconnected web of life through which all things flow. Colonialism and capitalism has sowed division between humans and non-human beings, leading us towards the loss of biodiversity which threatens our planet and existence. Shiva teaches us that by honoring the wisdom of biodiversity, by regenerating and conserving biodiversity, we may cultivate a liveable future in harmony with all other living beings. Photo credit: Ashish Shah/Atmos

28 09, 2022

Gender, care and climate change — why they are connected

2023-11-29T18:02:25-05:00Tags: , |

Imraan Valodia, Siviwe Mhlana, and Julia Taylor deconstruct the interlocking crises of the care sector and explain why they are important to sustainable environmental and economic development. One crisis is the lack of representation of unpaid work in economic calculations. During the global lockdown, many realized that health care and domestic services, both paid and unpaid, are essential for sustaining our collective livelihoods. This work, disproportionately taken on by women around the world, creates resilient economies and caters towards environmental protection. This leads to the second crisis―care for the environment and the climate crisis. Historically underserved communities contribute the least to the perpetuation of the crisis but are at the forefront of local and global solutions. They are, in essence, the caretakers of the environment. However, they are the most impacted by climate disasters. Women already face barriers to accessing education, economic mobility, healthcare, and other services due to their roles as caretakers, and the compounding crises of care place additional burdens on them. Valuing care in all of its forms, and supporting caretakers in every field, is vital to addressing the crises. Photo credit: Daily Maverick

9 08, 2022

Meet 3 Indigenous Women Fighting For The Future Of The Amazon

2023-04-16T16:12:25-04:00Tags: |

Kiley Price highlights the work of three Indigenous women -- Evelin Garcia, Katty Guatatoca, and Carmenza Yucuna -- whose work has been supported by the Amazonia Indigenous Women’s Fellowship Program, a program that provides funding and resources to Indigenous women for conservation projects in their respective regions/countries. Garcia, a member of the Monkox Indigenous community located in the Chiquitania region of eastern Bolivia, noted the importance of recovering ancestral knowledge and practices of endemic plants to the feeding and healing of her community during the pandemic. In particular, kutuki is an important herb which has traditionally been used to treat illnesses ranging from colds and fevers to respiratory issues; this became an important resource for COVID-19 symptom alleviation. With the help of the fellowship, Garcia, along with other women in her community, created a curriculum for schools and community centers in the area to pass on medicinal plant knowledge. Guatatoca, a Kichwa woman from the Amazon forest in central Ecuador, founded the Awana Collective, a group of Indigenous women who use inorganic materials (like plastics) and organic materials to make handmade items. Guatatoca highlights how this work helps Kichwa women obtain financial independence while also caring for the lands which they rely upon by recycling inorganic materials. The items and designs are created using traditional Kichwa culture. Yucuna, a member of the Yucuna community from Mirití-Paraná in southern Colombia, focuses her efforts on preserving the traditional knowledge of the Melipona bee, a stingless bee whose honey has important medicinal properties, both antimicrobial and antifungal. The honey has been traditionally used for centuries for wound and infection treatment. Through the fellowship, Yucuna has completed research on the bees, which is now being used for their conservation and management, along with the ancestral knowledge of her community. Yucuna is also working alongside older women in the community to sell excess honey to help fund conservation efforts. 

9 08, 2022

The Way Back

2023-05-26T15:24:36-04:00Tags: |

Georgina Johnson retraces lineages of connection between the Earth and the human body through sharing personal and historical narratives. Recalling bell hooks’ writing and lessons from her family, Johnson shares that a garden is a symbol of love, as it helps feed families, safeguard dignity, and learn how to appreciate the planet as well as give back to it. This mindset relies on a great respect for nature and the interconnection between its different components, including human beings. Johnson notes the abundant history of agricultural traditions in India to plant vegetation and flowers next to each other in order to protect their food and preserve biodiversity. However, the colonial development and spread of monoculture instigated loss of power of several communities due to its inherent exploitation of nature and native people for capital gain. This form of agriculture relies on the dispossession of wealth, the misuse of mass landscapes, and the degradation of delicate ecosystems. Therefore, Johnson highlights how it is crucial to rediscover and adopt practices that include the voices and stories of native land owners, who have been repeatedly ignored and erased as a result of colonialism and imperial ambition. Photo Credit: N/A

9 08, 2022

‘We Need Green Energy, But There Is An Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Threshold You Can’t Cross’

2023-02-26T12:35:31-05:00Tags: |

Some nations’ governments are increasing efforts to protect Indigenous Peoples’ rights, which will affect many extractive corporations’ abilities to operate as usual. In recent years, corporations have been left mostly unchecked to devastate the land. As Indigenous rights are bolstered at the national level, however, companies and investors will need to strengthen their working relationships with Indigenous Peoples and seek free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) from Indigenous communities if they plan new extractive projects like mining, drilling, and fracking on their lands. Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) Osprey Orielle Lake asserts that institutions need to have a strategy in place for when Indigenous communities say no to proposed projects, both renewable and nonrenewable. She contends that “Indigenous sovereignty and rights are central to a Just Transition,” and “No Go” policies should be implemented to allow Indigenous communities to reject projects and to ensure that their decision is respected by the institutions involved. Indigenous lands and local knowledge must be respected and upheld for Just Transition.

3 08, 2022

Around The World, Women Are Putting Their Lives On The Line To Defend The Climate

2023-04-16T14:53:49-04:00Tags: |

Rachel Cox discusses the dangers that women earth defenders face when they speak up against extractive industries. Since 2015, at least 108 women have been murdered for standing up against environmental destruction in their communities, and countless others have been subject to smear campaigns, harassment, threats, and sexual assault. This gendered violence is an ongoing issue, especially in communities that are near sites of large-scale extractive activity. Cox argues that governments must hold corporations accountable for their actions, and human rights must be prioritized above capital. Photo credit: Global Witness / Thom Pierce

18 07, 2022

Pride Month Is Over. Now What? Lessons From LGBTQIA+ Environmentalists To Keep With Us Throughout The Year.

2023-02-01T22:54:45-05:00Tags: |

This article includes lessons from queer environmentalists to inform advocacy for human rights and environmental justice beyond Pride Month. It provides perspectives on achieving equity and inclusion within the environmental organizing community. Just as a species is stronger when it has more genetic diversity, or an ecosystem is healthier when it is more biodiverse, the environmental movement is more impactful when it celebrates human diversity and promotes inclusion. Intersectional advocacy is crucial, given that the climate crisis is a social justice issue that impacts women and people of color first and foremost.This article illuminates a variety of ways to meaningfully and consistently contribute to climate action and LGBTQ+ rights. Photo Credit: JD Reinbott

8 07, 2022

If we want to build truly sustainable cities, we need to think about how women use energy and space

2024-02-15T12:41:53-05:00Tags: , |

In this article, Rihab Khalid discusses her research on how cities are gendered and how men and women use energy differently in Pakistan, India, Nigeria, and Ghana, finding three important components to energy usage differences. The first component of Khalid’s research finds that there is a gap in gender-specific data that tells us how and when women use energy. The second component is that women are underrepresented within the energy field and account for as little as 22% of energy workers. Lastly, even when energy policies attempt to be gender neutral, they still often marginalize women’s energy needs. For example, Khalid cites power outages as having a greater impact on a woman’s daily routine as opposed to a man’s, as women still do the vast majority of unpaid domestic work. Furthermore, Khalid discusses the importance of including gender in urban planning and development as women face numerous difficulties in urban spaces, such as not having access to or feeling safe on public transit. Khalid closes by emphasizing the connection between energy, gender, and space and how their interactions must be considered in order to create better sustainable cities. Photo Credit: N/A

17 05, 2022

Pollution responsible for one in six deaths across planet, scientists warn

2023-03-29T12:28:34-04:00Tags: |

Pollution is killing 9 million people a year. Toxic air and contaminated water and soil is an existential threat to human and planetary health. Increased fossil fuel burning, rising population numbers and unplanned urbanization have increased the numbers of deaths from pollution. Death by pollution disproportionately occurs in low and middle income countries. But pollution crosses borders and thus requires an international response. Pollution, the climate crisis and the destruction of wildlife and nature are interconnected and addressing one will benefit the others. Photo credit: Rupak de Chowdhuri/Reuters

14 12, 2021

10 Female Photojournalists With Their Lenses On Social Justice

2023-02-02T16:25:25-05:00Tags: |

Ten global female photojournalists are introduced for their courageous storytelling and social justice advocacy. Featured women include Lynsey Addario documenting global conflicts, Camille Lepage who covered Central Africa prior to being killed while on duty, Heather Agyepong engaging her subjects as participants in Ghana, and Ruth Prieto Arenas documenting the experiences of immigrant women. Homai Vyarawalla is honored as India’s first female photojournalist in the 1930s. In addition, Glenna Gordon is featured for building communities of trust with her work in Africa, and Arati Kumar-Rao for her environmental photography in South Asia. Final featured photojournalists include Lisa Krantz documenting women’s experiences of sexual assault in the military, Stephanie Sinclair portraying issues of child marriage and girls’ rights, and Malin Fezehai capturing stories of displacement from around the world. The influential work of these women documenting experiences on the margins of society is often met with intense risk. Photo credit: Arati Kumar-Rao

28 11, 2021

To Combat Climate Change, Increase Women’s Participation

2022-05-14T17:02:42-04:00Tags: |

During the United Nations COP23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany, women leaders from around the world worked to make their voices heard by negotiators, as they demanded climate policies that are in line with dire climate realities, and built upon respect for women’s rights and the rights and needs of most-impacted communities.  Women at the conference, iincluding Verona Collante, Patricia Espinosa, Gotelind Alber, Lim Hwei Mian, Osprey Orielle Lake, Tali Layango Arista, and others, discuss the Gender Action Plan adopted at COP23, as well as the broad importance of ensuring equitable and meaningful participation of women at the forefront of all decision-making.  Photo credit: DW

5 11, 2021

Female Equality Is Key to A Sustainable Future

2022-05-14T16:44:54-04:00Tags: |

Since women across Asia and Africa are often responsible for supplying their households with water, food and fuel, the path towards a sustainable world requires, in part, full gender equality. But the effects of climate change, in conjunction with natural disasters, make women’s lives that much harder. For instance, when Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, a result was the increased sexual exploitation of women and girls. After Hurricane Katrina struck the United States, violence against women increased by a factor of four in Mississippi and remained high years later. Women are however continuing to pursue the ideal of a sustainable world. In Kenya, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai initiated a massive tree-planting effort that became known as the Greenbelt Movement. More than 5,000 village women in Andra Pradesh, working with the Deccan Development Society, transitioned to organic farming, greatly reducing the carbon impact of agriculture. It is clear that empowering women is key to tackling climate change. Photo credit: Adam Jones

6 07, 2021

Earning Our Place On The Planet: An Interview with Adrienne Maree Brown

2021-07-06T17:39:42-04:00Tags: |

This transcribed interview, Justin Campbell introduces us to Adrienne Maree Brown, activist and author of Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (AK Press, 2017), a “radical planet/self-help” handbook for social justice organizers on how to change the world. Throughout the interview, Adrienne eloquently exposes some key themes of emergent strategy, which is anchored in the interconnectedness of the world we live in. In other words, individual/self-care and what we do to improve our relationships with each other both benefit the planet and our relationship with her. Adrienne also touches on the practice of generative conflict (relational), which is in contrast to pro-war mentality (fighting). In collaboration with activist Walidah Imarisha Adrienne also co-edited a science-fiction anthology Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements (AK Press, 2015), a collection of “Visionary Fiction” written by and for social justice organisers grounded on the principle that ‘all organizing is science fiction’. Photo Credit: Gant Studios

6 07, 2021

Women’s Voices Must Not Be Ignored in Business and Human Rights Talks

2021-07-06T17:22:42-04:00Tags: |

The article highlights the strong links between large corporations’ increasing hunger for land and resources in the global south and the violation of women’s rights. In recent years, there has been a surge in land-intensive transnational mining and agri-business projects. Oftentimes, they go hand in hand with forced evictions, loss of livelihoods and environmental degradation. Pre-existing gender discrimination exacerbates the impacts on women, as they are traditionally responsible for the provision of care, food and water and are oftentimes excluded from decision-making processes. Ambitious actions are needed from corporations, states and international bodies such as the UN in order to ensure human rights along global supply chains. Photo credit: Sarah Waiswa/Womankind Worldwide

6 07, 2021

Intersectionality: A Tool for Gender and Economic Justice

2021-07-06T17:19:22-04:00Tags: |

Intersectionality is an analytical tool for studying, understanding and responding to the ways in which gender intersects with other identities and how these intersections contribute to unique experiences of oppression and privilege. It also helps in understanding how different identities impact on access to rights and opportunities and also links the grounds of discrimination (e.g. race, gender, etc.) to the social, economic, political and legal environment that contributes to discrimination. Most importantly, it highlights how globalization and economic change are impacting different people in different ways.

14 06, 2021

Pollen and Heat: A Looming Challenge for Global Agriculture

2023-05-26T15:21:58-04:00Tags: |

Numerous research studies have shown that prolonged climate extremes reduce crop productivity and weaken global food security. More recently, scientists have observed that extreme heat can reduce pollen production and viability and negatively impact fertilization in various crops - such as canola, corn, peanuts and rice. Pollination is essential for the planet and allows plants to reproduce. With climate change, extreme heat events are on the rise. As more areas of the planet are likely to be affected by extreme heat more often and for longer periods of time, researchers are trying to identify new ways and methods to help the pollen beat the heat. They are investigating genes that could lead to more heat-tolerant varieties and breeding cultivars that can survive winter and flower before heat strikes. They are also examining pollen’s specific limits and harvesting pollen at large scales to spray directly onto crops when weather improves. The main objective is to identify genes that are not only more resilient to high temperatures but also able to withstand cold. In fact, an early autumn-sown could allow these crops to pollinate successfully before a heat wave. Innovative technologies, investments in scientific research and political will are therefore crucial to avoid worsening the fragility of our food systems. 

13 04, 2021

These Kids Are “On Fire” For The Earth!

2021-04-13T17:55:21-04:00Tags: |

Chrysula Winegar from the UN Foundation introduces the film series, Young Voices for the Planet produced by Lynne Cherry. Cherry lives in Frederick County, Maryland, and is the director of the non-profit Young Voices for the Planet. Her organization’s mission is to empower youth and children to inspire each other to take climate action as change agents in their communities. The broad stories showcased in documentaries by Young Voices for the Planet include the story of three nine-year-old girls in Massachusetts who changed an outdated law in their town forbidding solar panels on public buildings and the story of a young girl from Siberia who collected water samples as part of a scientist’s research showing the impacts of climate change in the Arctic. The documentaries are part of a curriculum available to teachers who want to inspire young people to take their own creative climate actions. Photo Credit: Global Moms Challenge

3 03, 2021

Making Women’s Voices Count – Addressing Gender Issues In Disaster Risk Management In East Asia And The Pacific

2021-03-03T19:51:19-05:00Tags: |

This guidance note, aimed at world bank staff, clients and development partners active in gender and disaster risk management, provides an overview of the links between gender and disaster risk management. Natural disasters in the East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) region reveal gender inequalities in higher mortality rates for women rather than men. Gender-blind policies and responses perpetuate and increase inequalities for the female population and other vulnerable groups. Therefore, the guidance offers gender-sensitive strategies, recommendations and resources for the design and implementation of gender perspectives across a spectrum of disaster risk management policies, including plans and decision-making processes, recovery strategies, education and training. The gender-sensitive strategy is three-fold: use appropriate gender terminology; ensure equal gender representation in planning and consultation processes; train gender champions and female leaders to mainstream gender-equal institutional initiatives.

3 01, 2021

The oil and gas industry is inherently misogynistic

2023-03-29T12:52:03-04:00Tags: |

There is a strong connection between the exploitation of the earth and the exploitation of women. Research, commission reports, and the advocacy of Indigenous women have shown that the practice of fossil fuel extraction is a violent practice. Women are disproportionately affected by climate change and burdened with mitigating and adapting to its impacts. In addition, they are faced with physical threats as a result of fossil fuel extraction and its man camps. Petro-masculinity is a concept exploring the link between fossil fuel production, male identity, and the risk posed for post-carbon energy policies. Since men, white men especially, benefit from fossil fuel production, women and their resistance is viewed as feminine work. Dismantling patriarchal structures is a fight for both the earth and for women. Photo credit: Sascha Steinbach/Greenpeace 

15 12, 2020

Mothers Of Invention Podcast. Episode 3: Taking Over

2020-12-15T22:02:57-05:00Tags: |

In this episode of Mothers of Invention Podcast, Mary and Maeve turn up the volume on the women who are helping us consciously-uncouple from our toxic relationship with single-use plastic. The week’s Mothers of Invention are: 1) Judi Wakhungu and Alice Kaudia, Kenyan politicians who unleashed up to $38,000 USD fines for anyone found using, making or distributing plastic bags, 2) Chelsea Briganti, an American self-taught materials engineer and entrepreneur about to unleash 55bn edible straws onto the world. 3) Rachelle Strauss, British founder of #ZeroWasteWeek - a global online campaign against household waste born from one family kitchen, 4) Siân Sutherland, British co-founder of A Plastic Planet and creator of the world’s first fully-functioning plastic-free supermarket aisle in Amsterdam and 5) Katharine Wilkinson, lead writer of ‘the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming’, Project Drawdown. Photo credit: Unknown

20 11, 2020

Portraying Women Leadership in Water Cooperation

2020-11-20T17:59:52-05:00Tags: |

Women For Water has compiled the audio- visuals of eight women who are conserving the water all over the world. These women Nomvula Mokonyane, Svitlana Slesarenok, Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Rose Makunzo Mwangi, Ethne Davey, Dr. Deepthi Wickramasinghe, Patricia Wouters and Salamatu Garba. They have been bringing the best practices of women empowerment in water and sanitation projects and effective water governance at all levels.

14 11, 2020

Women and urban place-making

2023-05-26T14:52:41-04:00Tags: |

This article summarizes the research of Professor Linda Peake, Director of the City Institute at York University since 2013. Professor Peake’s work focuses on the intersection of urbanization and women, as women make up a disproportionate amount of the urban poor and face the impacts of many social injustices such as employment and housing insecurity. Given this context, Professor Peake’s research aims to understand the relational transformation between poverty and 21st century urbanization. The research also seeks to explore traditional frameworks on ideologies surrounding the formation of urban spaces by looking into the ways in which women experience these environments within conditions of economic insecurity or other social burdens. As well, the research involves urban policymakers for the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality) and Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). The research itself is taking place in seven different cities globally: Cairo, Cochabamba, Delhi, Georgetown (Guyana), Ibadan, Ramallah, and Shanghai, for their varying geographic and socioeconomic conditions. Photo Credit: N/A

26 10, 2020

Curated Resources – Rainbows and Storms: LGBTQI+, climate crisis and pandemics

2023-11-29T18:28:09-05:00Tags: , |

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) has curated stories from across the world featuring women fighting for social and climate justice. Some features include poetry from Kamla Bhasin from India, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner from the Marshall Islands, and Aka Niviâna from Kalaallit (Greenland). These women reflect on gender, climate change, community, roots, and collective power, all of which are needed to bring about social and climate justice. This resource provides a short documentary that demonstrates the work of Noelene Nabulivou and a disaster response network that empowers local community members. Articles and podcasts written and produced by and for women outlining feminist framework for climate justice can be found in this curation. Photo Credit: AWID

13 10, 2020

Indigenous Peoples And Local Communities Offer Best Hope For Our Planetary Emergency

2023-02-05T22:46:02-05:00Tags: |

Yoko Watanabe and Nina Kantcheva discuss the Nature for Life Hub, a virtual partnership between UNDP and 40+ organizations, which centers the voices of youth, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and other environmental activists in conversations surrounding climate action and activism. These populations have often been silenced, erased, and ignored from climate-related discussions and decision-making processes, but they each hold important knowledge about environmental protection and conservation that is crucial to keeping ecosystems intact and reversing biodiversity loss. By highlighting organizations run by the world’s youth and other passionate earth defenders, Nature for Life Hub empowers people on the frontlines of the climate movement who fight to establish and protect the rights of nature.

1 10, 2020

‘Dramatic’ Global Rise In Laws Defending Rights Of Nature

2023-02-06T00:21:26-05:00Tags: |

Carey Biron overviews the recent global spike in legislation that has ruled in favor of the rights of nature. Rights of Nature laws – which provide citizens the opportunity to sue on behalf of damaged lands and waters – have become more common over the last decade, and ecosystems and waterways have won protection under the law in at least 14 countries. These cases set an important precedent for other nations that are in the process of establishing their own legal frameworks to accommodate rights of nature principles, especially following the United Nations’ first biodiversity summit, where more than 60 leaders signed a Pledge for Nature. The UN’s goal is to protect 30 percent of the planet’s lands and waters by 2030 by cracking down on major environmental issues like pollution and deforestation.

30 09, 2020

Women entrepreneurs are essential to last-mile distribution of renewable energy technologies

2023-03-29T12:08:18-04:00Tags: |

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shine Campaign launched a Recovery Fund aimed at uplifting women entrepreneurs and community organizations that are providing renewable energy to remote areas. Through microgrants ranging from $3,000 to $10,000, the campaign is financing projects in Africa, Asia, and Latin America aimed at economic recovery through green jobs. Given that women with deep ties to their communities can mobilize lasting change, the fund also centers women’s initiatives surrounding the renewable energy transition and post-pandemic economic recovery. The Shine Campaign also prioritized funding energy projects near clinics in order to power medical equipment essential to COVID-19 response, addressing the intersection between equity, environmental justice, and health. Photo credit: Solar Sisters

29 09, 2020

Women Occupy One-Third of Workforce in the Global Renewable Energy Sector

2023-02-20T13:40:06-05:00Tags: |

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, a third of the 11.5 million people working in the renewable energy sector are women. As one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, renewable energy not only addresses the climate crisis, but it has the potential to drive socio-economic benefits. From providing rural communities with new job opportunities, to increasing the affordability of electricity, renewables such as solar photovoltaic technology and hydropower have spurred economic growth and directly addressed employment and energy gaps. In this article, Mercom Clean Energy Insights presents statistics on this fast-growing sector and argues that energy development policies should continue to pursue equitable employment, include women workers, and uplift marginalized communities. Photo Credit: MERCOM Clean Energy Insights  

29 09, 2020

Women Occupy One-Third of Workforce in the Global Renewable Energy Sector

2023-03-29T12:05:54-04:00Tags: |

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, a third of the 11.5 million people working in the renewable energy sector are women. As one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, renewable energy not only addresses the climate crisis, but it has the potential to drive socio-economic benefits. From providing rural communities with new job opportunities, to increasing the affordability of electricity, renewables such as solar photovoltaic technology and hydropower have spurred economic growth and directly addressed employment and energy gaps. In this article, Mercom Clean Energy Insights presents statistics on this fast-growing sector and argues that energy development policies should continue to pursue equitable employment, include women workers, and uplift marginalized communities. Photo Credit: MERCOM Clean Energy Insights

29 09, 2020

Protect Indigenous People’s Rights To Avoid A Sixth Extinction (Commentary)

2023-02-06T00:28:46-05:00Tags: |

In this commentary, Susan Lieberman, David Wilkie, and James Watson from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) contend that the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights is crucial to the survival of humanity. The destruction of the Earth’s ecological systems has set the planet on a path toward its sixth mass extinction event: climate change catastrophe. The authors argue that if 30 percent of the world’s intact land and water is equitably protected by 2030, this crisis could potentially be diverted; however, evidence shows that this is only possible if leaders recognize the value and critical importance of Indigenous ecological knowledges and land stewardship to the survival of animals, plants, lands, waters— and, ultimately, humanity. Indigenous rights and traditional stewardship must be respected, honored, and protected by people, corporations, and governments across the globe. Photo credit: David Wilkie/WCS

24 08, 2020

Women Are More At Risk Due To The Pandemic And Climate Crisis. These Feminists Are Working To Change That.

2020-09-24T19:33:05-04:00Tags: |

Women activists around the world are standing up. To challenge the ways in which the global pandemic and climate change exacerbate inequalities, five young women share their stories about the intersections of environmental and social justice. Journey with Betty Barkha (Fiji), Meera Ghani (Pakistan), Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim (Chad), Maggie H. Mapondera (Zimbabwe), and Majandra Rodriguez Acha (Peru) to learn about their work and the ways that they are engaging in their local communities.

7 08, 2020

Strengthening Indigenous Rights And Leadership In The Face Of Global Challenges – COVID-19, Climate Change And Environmental Degradation

2020-09-18T18:00:21-04:00Tags: |

A global representation of indigenous peoples organizations along with the International Union for Conservation of Nature are working to address climate change through increased partnership and shared leadership. Ahead of the World Conservation Congress in January of 2021 the IUCN is making the decision to increase indigenous leadership positions and define key proposals around indigenous roles, rights and relationship to the environment. The IUCN is also calling for support from member states in indigenous stewardship of their lands, territories and seas especially by indigenous women. A new document produced through this collaboration aims to draw attention to solutions and challenges faced by indigenous peoples around Covid-19. Through increased sharing of proposals and techniques there is growing hope for indigenous resilience and the protection of their way of life under increasing threat from the pandemic along with the long-term challenges of climate change and environmental degradation. Photo credit: Asociacion Ak’Tenamit

29 07, 2020

Gender, Climate and Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: From Diagnostics to Solutions

2024-02-23T13:27:38-05:00Tags: |

Climate Change exacerbates high rates of violence in Latin America and the Caribbean, contributing to instability and increased inequalities. Latin American and Caribbean societies face rampant gender discrimination, unequal access to public services, persistent pay gaps, and a lack of political participation by women. More than 1 in 4 households are headed by women, more than anywhere in the world, and a disproportionate number of women work in the informal economy. The Latin American and Caribbean region also has the highest rates of gender-based violence worldwide – with six countries (Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, El Salvador, and Bolivia) accounting for 81% of cases globally. Women in rural areas, especially Indigenous women, rely heavily on local natural resources and find it challenging to maintain their lifestyles in the face of increased water and food scarcity due to climate change. Only 30% of rural women own agricultural land, and 40% engage in unpaid labor, putting them at increased risk of economic crises. When women in Latin America and the Caribbean take leadership positions in the face of climate change, they are instrumental in incorporating ancestral Indigenous knowledge into climate change efforts by protecting each other and the land. Young women and women-run organizations, including the Lime Work Programme on Gender, engage globally through COP negotiations and other international climate conferences. However, more work must be done internationally to address gender inequality and climate change with the guidance of frontline women. Photo Credit: Martin Fuhrmann / Pixabay.com

4 07, 2020

Climate Justice In The Time Of COVID-19: 5 Lessons From Women And Girls Leading The Fight

2020-09-08T22:13:16-04:00Tags: |

During the World Skull Forum, an intergenerational and intercultural panel of women climate activists hosted a webinar on the lessons we can learn during the COVID-19 crisis in order to pave the way for a green recovery and a just transition. Notwithstanding its drastic negative impacts, the current pandemic has also proven the capability of the global community for changing behaviour quickly and profoundly in the face of a serious crisis. Therefore, the panelists urged for the climate crisis to be taken just as seriously, underlining the importance of science and traditional knowledge, human behaviour and collaboration. Photo Credit: Skoll Foundation & Rockefeller Foundation

21 04, 2020

Advice From Activists: How COVID-19 Is Changing Climate Activism For Young Women

2020-09-24T19:24:02-04:00Tags: |

Young women and girls from the frontlines of climate change are taking climate action into their own hands amidst a global pandemic. Eight-year-old Licypriya Devi Kangujam, from New Delhi, India, founded The Child Movement and stands for climate action and legislative environmental protection in India. Alexandria Villaseñor and Leah Namugerwa are leaders with Fridays for Future, where they participate in the global School Strike 4 Climate. While sheltering at home, Villaseñor encourages that we should be consuming less and promoting a sharing economy. These young women and girl activists suggest how we can all be part of the climate movement and understand its links to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo credit: Alexandria Villaseñor

14 04, 2020

Female-led, Island-based Solutions To Climate Change

2020-12-02T21:46:27-05:00Tags: |

Women in different Small Island Development States are taking action to prevent and tackle the impacts of climate change and the resultant vulnerability to natural disasters on their coast. Since most of them depend on the incomes from agriculture and fishery, they are leading community-based initiatives associated primarily with securing water supply and coastline protection, as well as environmental education and social support. Photo credit: Manuth Buth/UNDP Cambodia

23 03, 2020

Coronavirus Holds Key Lessons On How To Fight Climate Change

2020-09-08T21:31:05-04:00Tags: |

Similar to the COVID-19 outbreak, the climate change crisis could have also been avoided, but will now require urgent action.  This provides leaders with the unique opportunity to acknowledge the importance of steep learning curves and swift action when combating climate change. According to climate experts, the coronavirus pandemic has provided a slight dip in greenhouse gas emissions, but aside from the decline of work commutes, business travel, and international trade, many of these effects are temporary.  The pandemic and climate change must be solved together: stimulus measures for COVID-19 economic strains should invest in climate change solutions, and governments need to encourage societal behavior shifts through political measures that support their residents. Photo credit: Salvatore Laporta / Kontrolab / Lightrocket via Getty Images

18 03, 2020

‘Tip of the iceberg’: is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?

2020-03-22T21:14:12-04:00Tags: |

Research suggests that humanity’s destruction of biodiversity creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases such as Covid-19, or the coronavirus, the viral disease that emerged in China in December 2019, to arise. According to disease ecologists viruses and other pathogens are also likely to be transmitted from animals to humans in the many informal meat markets that have sprung up in urban populations around the world. This article focuses on the increasingly visible connections between the wellbeing of humans, other living things and entire ecosystems. Additionally, it also argues that zoonotic diseases and viral infections are linked to environmental change caused by human behavior. Photo Credit: National Institutes of Health/AFP via Getty Images

17 03, 2020

Air pollution likely to increase coronavirus death rate, warn experts

2020-03-22T21:29:12-04:00Tags: |

COVID-19, or the coronavirus, is known to affect the respiratory tract of those infected. But there is new evidence that indicates patients exposed to polluted air are at a higher risk of dying. Additionally, patients with chronic respiratory issues after being exposed to long-term air pollution are less able t fight off the disease. Science tells us that epidemics like this will occur with increasing frequency. So reducing air pollution is basic investment for a healthier future. Photo credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

13 03, 2020

The Only Treatment for Coronavirus Is Solidarity

2020-03-22T21:52:47-04:00Tags: |

The pandemic, COVID-19, reveals a class system, where only the wealthy have the power to withdraw or shelter in place. Whereas, someone who lives paycheck to paycheck must continue to hustle every day to find work. This places poor people in a position between risking their health and economic survival. There is no choice but to make that choice. As long as this is true, the number of carriers will continue to grow. The only option is solidarity. Every country needs every other country to have an economy focused on health and social well-being. The coronavirus makes the slogan of solidarity literal: an injury to one is an injury to all. Photo Credit: Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty

10 03, 2020

Coronavirus delays global efforts for climate and biodiversity action

2020-03-22T22:14:45-04:00Tags: |

Measures to contain Covid19, or the coronavirus, have ramped up globally. Travel restrictions and social distancing are forcing meetings to be postponed later into the year. This includes two critical UN summits seeking to limit climate change and to halt extinctions of plants and wildlife. These delays are increasing the pressure on this years Climate Negotiations, COP26 in Glasgow, UK. Photo Credit: Chad Davis/ Flickr

1 07, 2019

Decolonising The Economy

2023-02-26T12:39:17-05:00Tags: |

As an introduction to Open Democracy’’s new series, “Decolonising the Economy,” Laura Basu explains the problematic inner-workings of the global economy and highlights the changes that must be made to create more equitable, livable, sustainable futures. Basu argues the global economy is an imperialistic, rigged system in which the global north’s wealth and prosperity are dependent on the underdevelopment of the global south. She explains that transnational corporations and the State actors who support them have the most to gain from this system. Because transnational corporations are often based in the global north (mainly in the United States and the United Kingdom), those nations’ economies will benefit from corporations’ financial success. However, those same corporations likely base their manufacturing centers in the Global South, where they can employ workers for very low wages -- wages that negatively impact workers’ quality of life and their nations’ economies. 

8 03, 2019

Women, Indigeneity And Earth Protection

2023-04-16T15:26:05-04:00Tags: |

Women are fighting to make their resistant efforts against extractive industries more visible to demonstrate an alternative way of living that is desperately needed. Lynda Sullivan highlights the stories of women who are leading resistant efforts in their local communities to protect Mother Earth against extractive industries. In sharing these women’s stories, Sullivan illustrates the connection between violence against women and Mother Earth, where there is a clear intersection between suppressing feminine power and objectifying the sacred and creative core of the feminine. Through her writing, Sullivan fights against these extractive industries through the power of storytelling.

3 03, 2019

For Women In Solar Energy, Progress And A Ways To Go

2020-10-07T00:39:34-04:00Tags: |

When Kristen Nicole, founder of Women in Solar Energy, penned an open letter calling out the hyper-masculine and ‘booth babe’ culture that portrayed women as sex objects, it sparked a revolution within the industry to start examining their women-specific policies and initiatives. The solar conference culture perpetuates objectification with abhorrent displays such as women in cages dressed in leather cat outfits. However, numerous programs aimed at addressing gender diversity and increasing women’s participation in the field have grown in response. SEIA’s Women Empowerment Initiative as well as Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy campaigns have contributed to the shift in the awareness around the need for diversity. Whilst more female workers make up the solar industry today, and there are more women speakers at conferences, there are still shortcomings in that women continue to earn less than men and face barriers in climbing up the career ladder. Women of colour are also disproportionately affected, and Erica Mackie, co-founder and CEO of GRID Alternatives, calls for the solar industry to not just be energy-centred but also justice-focussed, and to recognise the intersection between race and gender inequities. GRID’s Women in Solar Program aids women from diverse backgrounds and their She Shines retreat is aimed as a training and team-building exercise for women in the industry. Photo credit: Stefano Paltera, US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

28 02, 2019

Osprey Orielle Lake: Women Rising For The Earth

2020-04-24T16:36:50-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) executive director Osprey Orielle Lake reflects on the broad and interwoven relationship between women and climate change. Citing activists such as Phyllis Young and Dr. Vandana Shiva, Lake connects the experience of each activist to global climate justice trends and movements. Lake also discusses the climate crisis as it is linked to systems of oppression and patterns of abuse against women and nature. While they are among the most vulnerable populations affected by climate chaos, women also offer the most hope for the future. Photo Credit: Emily Arasim/WECAN

30 01, 2019

How To Break Down Discrimination Barriers For Women In Agriculture

2019-04-13T16:19:28-04:00Tags: |

New research is finding that gender discrimination across Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and Americas, is being felt by at least half of the women farmers in agriculture. The survey involved 4000 women working in seventeen high-, medium-, and low-income countries in a range of roles and types of farming businesses. It aimed to understand the experience of women farmers today, their lives and their concerns, in order to establish a foundation from which to evaluate future growth. In order to break down the discrimination obstacles for women in agriculture, the results of the survey pointed to training female farmers to use new technologies, dismantling financial obstacles, improving academic education (in contrary to narrowly focussed training), and raising public awareness of the key role women play in agriculture, specifically as key actors in their communities and families in providing food and nutrition. Photo credit: Corteva Agriscience

20 11, 2018

The White Man Stole The Weather

2020-11-20T17:21:30-05:00Tags: |

In this Mothers of Invention podcast, former Irish president Mary Robinson and New-York-based Irish-born comedian Maeve Higgins focus on money and climate change. This episode specifically addresses climate change as a human rights, justice and climate issue; and highlights the importance of divesting from the carbon economy to invest into renewable energy, the green economy and jobs of the future. Divestment, from fossil fuel, pipelines, oppressive systems etc. is powerful and effective as ‘it speaks to people’s pockets’. The podcast features female activists’ experiences and campaigns from South Africa and the US. Yvette Abrahams is a former apartheid activist and Commission for Gender Equality. May Boeve is an an American environmental activist, organiser and Executive Director of 350.org, a global grassroots climate movement. Tara Houska is a Couchiching First Nation citizen; a tribal rights US attorney, environmental and indigenous rights advocate, and the National Campaigns Director of Honor the Earth. Photo Credit: Unknown

1 11, 2018

These Climate Change Emojis Are Peak 2018

2020-09-03T00:06:03-04:00Tags: |

Marina Zurkow, an environmental artist and professor at New York University designed emoji’s that reflect the current and upcoming state of climate change. These “climoji’s” are made to shift people’s consciousness and normalize talking about climate change. These sticker sets are available for apple and android users. Climoji demonstrates how popular culture can connect audiences to difficult issues wordlessly, emotionally and with humor.  Photo Credit: Climoj

15 10, 2018

Women Authors Missing In IPCC Report

2020-10-13T20:32:35-04:00Tags: |

A new assessment report released last week (8 October) by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted the importance of raising the capacity of least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS) in climate management and the special role of women as a group vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. According to a February 2018 study published in the PNAS, the proportion of female IPCC authors increased from less than five per cent in 1990, when the first report was published, to slightly more than 20 per cent in the more recent assessment reports. For instance, 75% perceived weak command of the English language as a barrier to participation, while 30% saw race as an obstacle. Chandni Singh, a climate change researcher from India and a lead author for the IPCC’s, has seen women face barriers to their participation, including overt discrimination and insufficient childcare facilities at meetings. Acknowledging the barriers women face, the scientific body decided in March to establish a gender task group, now being co-chaired by Patricia Nying'uro from Kenya and Markku Rummukainen from Sweden. Joy Pereira, a professor at the Southeast Asia Disaster Prevention Research Initiative of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (SEADPRI-UKM) and a vice-chair of the IPCC’s Working Group 2, tells SciDev.Net that the scientific body should ask their hosts to ensure greater participation of women. Photo Credit: Chris Stowers/Panos

12 10, 2018

Across Mozambique and Tanzania, Women Show Us How To Improve Communities And Protect Our Planet

2018-10-12T17:11:52-04:00Tags: |

Women across Mozambique and Tanzania are organizing their communities to improve  local livelihood through sustainability and the protection of natural resources. This inspirational blog by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) explores  the stories of various community leaders building long lasting projects. Like the story of Alima Chereira, who formed an agricultural association that teaches women climate-resilient farming practices. Or entrepreneur Fatima Apacur,  who helped her community form a savings association that uses the ancient practice of group savings and pooling wealth to help community members invest in the future. Photo Credit: WWF/ James Morgan

2 10, 2018

Women Rising For The Earth

2023-02-02T15:44:37-05:00Tags: |

Across the world, women are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. They comprise 80 percent of global climate refugees, face sexual violence from fossil fuel and mining workers, and are often attacked for speaking out about environmental injustice. At the same time, women bring critical contributions and perspectives to our societies. They are more likely to lead on climate and social policy, shape environmentally-conscious industries, and dictate sustainable consumer preferences. Marginalized women are at the helm of the climate movement, particularly Indigenous land defenders and Black women impacted by environmental racism, natural disasters, and fossil fuel expansion. This article explores the interconnectedness of gender, race, and climate, making the case for intersectional action to dismantle patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism. It also emphasizes the importance of women’s spiritual and emotional intelligence when dealing with global crises. Photo credit: Emily Arasim/Women's Earth and Climate Action Network

18 09, 2018

Ecofeminism: Fueling the Journey to Energy Democracy

2023-02-02T16:15:39-05:00Tags: |

In 2018, hundreds of women gathered for a strike in Bilbao, Spain to advocate for an ecofeminist energy transition: one that has both the planet’s survival and women’s rights in mind. Their calls to action highlighted the sexism, classism, and racism behind profit-driven energy industries. Worldwide, women are more at risk of experiencing energy poverty, yet they also take on a disproportionate amount of unpaid household responsibilities that rely on electricity and heating. At the same time, most energy corporations and policymaking organizations have men at the helm. This gendered division of labor means that the use of electricity often perpetuates both capitalism and the patriarchy. This article examines inequalities in energy policy, analyzes gendered usage of electricity, and proposes a new energy model that centers the needs and labor of women so we can achieve a just transition to renewables. Photo Credit: Adolfo Lujan

15 08, 2018

Five Reasons To Fund Women And The Environment

2023-03-19T08:22:24-04:00Tags: |

Women play a critical role in protecting natural resources worldwide. Global Greengrants Fund supports over 300 creative local projects each year led by women to protect the planet in communities around the world. Recent projects include women in Uganda constructing water filters to Indigenous women in Vanuatu becoming monitors of climate impacts on their native lands and women in South Sudan teaching other women how to use solar cookstoves. Despite the personal dangers many of these women face, women leaders like Berta Cáceres continue to stand up for the planet and to fight for future generations. Global Greengrants works to fill gaps in funding for women-led projects as part of their greater global network of activists, donors, and changemakers. Photo credit: Global Greengrants Fund    

2 08, 2018

Plastic Pollution: How One Woman Found A New Source Of Warming Gases Hidden In Waste

2020-10-10T20:04:25-04:00Tags: |

Researcher Sarah-Jeanne Royer was supposed to measure methane gas coming from biological activity in sea water, but she found by accident that the plastic bottles holding the samples were a bigger source of the warming molecule. The gases produced and accelerated by solar radiation are methane and ethylene, which both contribute to the greenhouse effect. These findings are important because until the discovery, the link between plastics and climate change was mainly focused on the use of fossil fuels in the manufacture of plastic items, while this is the first time that anyone has tried to quantify other warming gases emerging from plastic waste. The discovery hasn’t been received well by the plastic industry, while other scientists agree that further research is urgently needed. Photo credit: IPRC

24 07, 2018

Mary Robinson Launches New Feminist Fight Against Climate Change

2020-11-20T17:18:39-05:00Tags: |

This Guardian article highlights former Irish president Mary Robinson’s effort to create a global movement called Mothers of Invention that promotes a ‘feminist solution for climate change, which is a manmade problem’.  Former UN commissioner for human rights and member of the Elders group, Mary understands how global warming adversely affects women and has focused on climate justice for over 15 years with the Mary Robinson Foundation Climate Justice. The Mothers of Invention initiative presents positive stories of both local and global grassroots climate activists, through a podcast series featuring women scientists, politicians, farmers and indigenous community leaders from Europe, the Americas, Africa and beyond. Reaching women around the world, the podcast is co-presented by Irish-born and New-York based comedian Maeve Higgins. Together, they broach such topics as colonialism, racism, poverty, migration and social justice, all bound up to feminism, through a light-hearted and optimistic approach intended to be fun. Photo Credit: Ruth Medjber

13 07, 2018

“We Are Not Small Islands. We Are A Vast Oceanscape.”

2018-07-13T16:49:35-04:00Tags: |

In this interview, Maureen Penjueli of the Pacific Network on Globalization (PANG), shares the group’s efforts to protect the land and ocean sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples in the Pacific region. Free trade deals and foreign investments that open channels for seabed mining and extractive industries threaten customary land tenure systems and disregard Indigenous ways of knowing. PANG helps Pacific people achieve economic self-determination by educating them about policy levers such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples or Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) to fight exploitation and put pressure on government leaders. Photo credit: Rucha Chitnis

10 07, 2018

Women Are Key To Fixing The Global Food System

2020-10-10T20:24:48-04:00Tags: |

Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank, and Emily Payne, a food and agriculture writer, call for critically examining the traditional power structures in the food system and advocate the key role women play in creating a more sustainable, equitable, and economically viable agricultural scene. Given that female farmers make up almost half of the agricultural labour force worldwide, and in some countries up to 80%, they are responsible for important tasks such as seed saving and crop tending. If they were ensured equal access to resources that men have, they could help increase yields by up to 30% and thus, they are a fundamental part of ensuring global food security. Success stories linked to women’s efforts in agriculture involve workshops on climate-adaptive irrigation strategies in Jamaica to Women in Agricultural program in Nigeria that connects female farmers to vital services. Photo credit: Naimul Haq and Inter Press Service. 

27 06, 2018

Kill Patriarchy, Save the Womb

2023-02-01T22:57:37-05:00Tags: |

The modern menstrual product industry is harmful for the human body and for the land. Most menstrual products are single-use, coming in plastic packaging that is among the most common items found in landfills. Tampons are made from synthetic fibers that are directly linked to toxic shock syndrome, while pads are often bleached white with dioxins – carcinogenic chemicals linked to endometriosis and decreased fertility. In addition, menstrual product companies often use body shaming as a marketing tool, creating a taboo around openly discussing menstruation, and perpetuating the myth that menstrual products are the only way people can maintain their “hygiene” while on their period. This article proposes sustainable menstrual products that keep planetary and personal health in mind, such as reusable tampons, menstrual cups, and cloth pads. It also proposes Indigenous options including sea sponges, cliff rose, cattail, and moss. These alternatives avoid the harmful effects of toxins in mainstream products, prevent further plastic pollution, offer less expensive options for menstruators, and create better relationships with our bodies and the Earth. Photo Credit: Orlando Begaye  

27 06, 2018

Women And The Feminine Hygiene Myth

2020-10-10T19:32:57-04:00Tags: |

The feminine hygiene industry markets products that are manufactured with dangerous chemicals and which perpetuate harmful myths around period bleeding. Much of the marketing languages capitalizes on the notion that bleeding is shameful and should be hidden or kept from public discourse. Further, women and girls are often encouraged to use mainstream products such as bleached tampons and pads that threaten their health. This article encourages women to explore reusable, and non manufactured alternatives to managing their periods. Photo Credit: Orlando Begaye AKA Treeman

26 06, 2018

How To Walk In A Beautiful Way In An Age Of Climate Change

2023-03-19T07:54:29-04:00Tags: |

Camille Seaman is a photographer who has traveled all over the world with her daughter, Tala Powis Parker, to photograph the changing climate in the Arctic and the Antarctic. After over a decade of chronicling the melting polar ice caps followed by a five-year hiatus, she returned on a trip sponsored by a Norwegian ferry line to further educate the public on the harsh realities of climate change. In this interview, Seaman and her daughter share their mixed emotions of awe, fear, grief, and hope as they demonstrate the power of intergenerational support and learning that is key to long-lasting climate solutions. Photo credit: Camille Seaman/Sierra Club

30 05, 2018

Executed, Disappeared, Tortured: The Risks Of Defending Human Rights

2021-02-16T20:36:14-05:00Tags: |

In this 20-minute Guardian podcast, journalist Lucy Lamble talks to Fund for Global Human Rights program officer Ana Paula Hernández about her work supporting campaigners fighting to protect native lands. The conversation covers the brutal murder of Honduran activist Berta Cáceres, an ‘incredible leader in the social and human rights movement’. Fund for Global Human Rights supported Berta since 2013 when she had been criminalised and threatened to stop her organising work for the defence of nature. Despite her international recognition and the protection afforded by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Berta was shot for opposing the dam construction on the Gualcarque River. Since, her daughter Berta Isabel Bertha Isabel Zúniga Cáceres and co-founder of COPINH have claimed small victories with the withdrawal of European funders suspending development on the dam project. Ana Paula also mentions digital security and technology as allies in the protection of human rights defenders. Photo Credit: The Fund for Global Human Rights

25 05, 2018

Women and Gender Constituency Joint Statement on 2018 Climate Negotiations

2023-03-29T12:02:18-04:00Tags: |

During the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, the members of the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) met to address climate change. Through the course of their work, they called for the operationalization of eight human rights principles, such as rights of indigenous peoples, that would be then incorporated into the Paris Agreement. There was also work done on translating the Gender Action Plan into different national contexts as well as creating strategies to ensure equal gender participation in national delegations. WGC also expressed disappointment in the proposed solution to address losses related to climate change. The solution advanced was insurance but WGC considers that inadequate and inappropriate for the many poor communities affected. Lastly, WGC spoke out against tackling climate change without being specific for the sake of making certain parties comfortable. Transparency and accountability will always be more important than inclusivity.

23 05, 2018

Our Laws Make Slaves Of Nature. It’s Not Just Humans Who Need Rights

2023-02-06T00:07:25-05:00Tags: |

Mari Margil discusses the necessary steps that some nations are taking to create and implement legal frameworks to enforce Rights of Nature principles. Ongoing environmental destruction continues to have catastrophic consequences worldwide, and Margil explains that conditions will not begin to improve unless nature is recognized as having a legal right to protection. Because the law currently draws a line between persons (who have rights) and property (which cannot have rights), the Rights of Nature movement has hit some major roadblocks in trying to create effective frameworks within existing legal structures. Margil argues that these legal structures – as they are currently written and understood — were not built to include nature as a rights-bearing entity. She proposes “legal naturehood” as a more useful category in cases where legal personhood is limited or does not apply. This new category would allow Rights of Nature principles to be legally enforced, granting nature its basic rights and needs and limiting further environmental destruction by holding major polluters responsible for the devastation they cause. Illustration by Sébastien Thibault

23 04, 2018

Goldman Environmental Prize: Top Awards Dominated By Women For First Time

2018-10-12T15:25:48-04:00Tags: |

Francia Márquez is among the female  earth defenders recognized by the Goldman Environmental Prize for their longstanding role in standing up to social and environmental injustices despite constant threats to their lives from powerful vested interests. A lifetime Afro-Colombian activist, law student, and single mother of two, Márquez led 80 women on a long, 10-day march that pressured the Colombian government to remove illegal miners polluting local rivers. In addition to Márquez, the female recipients were Makoma Lekalakala and Liz McDaid from South Africa, Nguy Thi Khanh from Vietnam, LeeAnne Walters from the United States, and Claire Nouvian from France who have fought to protect vulnerable communities from polluting resources. Photo credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

23 04, 2018

‘Speaking Truth To Power’: Female Activists Dominate Top Environmental Prize

2023-03-19T08:19:08-04:00Tags: |

Six out of seven of the global 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize recipients for grassroots environmental activists were women. One of the recipients was American activist LeeAnne Walters who led a mass citizen testing initiative in Flint, Michigan to prove high levels of lead in the contaminated water in her community. A team of two South African environmental activists, Makoma Lekalakala and Liz McDaid, also received the award for their hard-fought victory against the building of new nuclear reactors. Other award winners included Afro-Colombian activist Francia Márquez who advocated for ending illegal mining on indigenous land, French journalist Claire Nouvian for her campaign against deep-sea bottom trawling in France, and Manny Calonzo who worked to ban the use and sale of lead paint in the Philippines. Photo credit: Goldman Environmental Prize 

13 04, 2018

Taking Our Power Back: Women and Girls Are Key To Food Security During Conflict

2020-12-02T21:58:31-05:00Tags: |

Saiyara Khan writes about the fundamental role that women and girls play in ensuring food security during times of conflict. Often, gender inequalities and societal norms restrict their participation in the management and decision-making processes over key resources such as land or livestock. However, given that they are involved in key processes such as food production and water collection for the household, women’s empowerment is a fundamental determinant in whether communities have access to food. Photo credit: UN Women

10 04, 2018

Empowering Women Could Reduce Climate Change

2023-03-29T11:40:33-04:00Tags: |

The members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) finalized the Gender Action Plan (GAP) during its annual conference in 2017. UNFCCC’s long-standing objective has been to comprehensively address climate change, and the GAP was enacted in order to highlight the role that women play in this battle. Specifically, the GAP acknowledges that while climate change particularly harms women, women are also a very suitable group to confront it. Since local women possess intimate knowledge of their environment and the climate, their input can only lead to more effective climate solutions. Moreover, their input is absolutely necessary at the local level and international level in order for policymakers to remain accountable to the people they impact. Thus, every effort needs to be made to increase female leadership, despite the tendency of governments to prioritize men’s perspectives. Photo credit: Pixabay

3 04, 2018

A More Just Migration: Empowering Women On The Front Lines Of Climate Displacement

2020-09-02T21:07:22-04:00Tags: |

Migration is one way women may be forced to adapt to climate change, but this displacement also puts women at greater risk for violence, a group of women leaders explained at a Wilson Center event. Eleanor Bornstorm, Program Director for the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), noted that because women are often in caretaking roles, they are also expected to volunteer and shield their communities from harm. Yet structural inequalities put women disproportionately at risk to violence during climate displacement. Carrying forward the former statement, Justine Calma, Grist environmental justice reporting fellow, vocalized the violence faced by women and young girls during climate displacement. For example, during the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, young girls were sexually exploited, sold and trafficked for food and other resources. Poor or uneducated women, women of color and migrant women are vulnerable to intersectional forms of discrimination, and their needs are often more urgent. Because of these structural inequalities, empowering women and enhancing their leadership may be the best strategy to address climate change, rather than mitigating its effects. WEDO is assessing factors impacting women during climate displacement, filling in the gaps unaddressed at the national and international level. Photo Credit: Agata Grzybowska.

2 04, 2018

In Service Of Climate Justice

2020-10-02T21:33:39-04:00Tags: |

Dineen O’Rourke was moved to step into leadership in the climate justice movement after experiencing the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy in her community in Long Island, New York City in 2012. She has since become a powerful voice in the movement through her ongoing initiatives promoting community building, policy advocacy, direct actions, and storytelling. In 2017, O’Rourke and fellow climate justice advocate, Karina Gonzalez, co-led a delegation of 15 youth from different parts of the United States to attend the 23rd annual United Nations ‘Conference of the Parties’ climate negotiations. Despite the lack of political will exhibited by the United States during COP23, O’Rourke, Gonzalez, and a crowd of supporters protested false solutions presented by the fossil fuel industry to hold elected officials accountable. Photo credit: Dineen O'Rourke

27 03, 2018

The World Is a Miraculous Mess, And It’s Going To Be All Right

2020-11-07T17:40:11-05:00Tags: |

In this article, Zenobia Jeffries interviewed activist, facilitator and author Adrienne Maree Brown for the 1st anniversary of her book, Emergent Strategy, a concept she describes as “the way complex plans for action and complex systems for being together arise out of simple interactions”. In short, this means transforming oneself to transform the world. Adrienne addresses movements building and how to include racial justice in broader conversations beyond Black Lives Matter such as #neveragain and #metoo. In relation to movements building and organising, she touches on themes such as connectivity, trauma, resilience and the capacity to heal, the difference between punitive, restorative and transformative justice, and pleasure activism. She suggests that pillars issues like climate change, racism and materialism are not going to be resolved overnight, but are transformative conditions that can be addressed through small compelling experiments and narratives becoming large enough to change the shape of society. Photo Credit: Bree Gant

23 03, 2018

Impunity For Violence Against Women Defenders Of Territory, Common Goods, And Nature In Latin America

2020-10-23T23:16:06-04:00Tags: |

This report by Urgent Action Fund of Latin America and the Caribbean (UAF-LAC) analyzes the condition of women who defend environmental rights in Latin American countries. By analyzing the case studies of thirteen women defenders, a clear continuum of structural violence against the women emerges. On the one end, women defenders are subject to the criminalization of their activities and to harassment from various actors such as companies, the police, and the media. At the most extreme end of this violence continuum, women defenders are assassinated or “disappeared.” In cases such as these, the state, if it is not actively colluding with the perpetrators, often remains silent. UAF-LAC, then, calls for the state to protect women defenders by eliminating the impunity perpetrators currently enjoy, by eliminating the criminalization of defenders’ work and by creating a safe environment for them to work in. Specifically, the state must financially, politically, legally and psycho-socially support women defenders. Photo credit: UAF-LAC

8 03, 2018

3 Women On What Climate Justice Means To Them

2020-10-23T23:36:25-04:00Tags: |

Climate change impacts more severely on women and is a significant impetus for female empowerment in the climate justice movement. This piece portrays women whose courage, inspiration and shared vulnerabilities in forms of resistance underscore their activism. By changing the narrative and creating herstory, these stories offer a symbol of strength, such as Joanna Sustento, the warrior of the storm, who is the sole survivor of the storm Haiyan that killed her family. With local female leaders, she heads community mobilisation for climate justice. Desiree Llanos Dee, campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, uses the power of storytelling to humanise climate justice issues and build more conscious communities with more people who care. Hettie Geenen, captain of the Rainbow Warrior Greenpeace ship, gives an international platform to the people and the planet through her tours. These are the women on the frontlines of the local, national and global climate justice movement. Photo Credit: Greenpeace

8 03, 2018

Climate Change ‘Impacts Women More Than Men’

2023-04-16T15:12:42-04:00Tags: |

The impacts of climate change exacerbate existing gender inequality. This article draws examples from the disproportionate burden placed on women during the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina in the U.S., where the number of surviving men outnumbered women.According to the UN, while 80% of women are displaced due to climate change, only 30% of women are represented in the global climate negotiating bodies. In this backdrop, Diana Liverman, an environmental scientist at the University of Arizona and an author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that, being half the world, more women must partake in climate decision making. Photo credit: Getty Images 

8 03, 2018

Climate Change ‘Impacts Women More Than Men’

2020-09-03T02:30:20-04:00Tags: |

This article demonstrates the overarching ways women are more affected by climate change than men. For example, after Hurricane Katrina black women were the most affected by flooding in Louisiana. Women are reliant on interdependent community networks for their everyday survival and resources. Displacement erodes these networks and increases the changes of violence and sexual assault against women. According to UN Data, 80 percent of people displaced due to climate change are women. Despite this women are seldom at the decision making table, says Diana Liverman, an environmental scientist at the University of Arizona. As an author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) she is internally paving the way for women to participate in major decisions. Photo Credit: Getty Images 

7 03, 2018

Resilient And Resolute: Women Human Rights Defenders Claiming Space

2023-04-16T14:29:09-04:00Tags: |

Women human rights defenders around the world are on the frontlines of countless movements for human rights and equality. These women’s fight for their rights and the rights of others are often hindered by laws against peaceful assembly and other freedoms of expression that work to silence those who challenge the status quo. These restrictions, however, have not stopped women from raising their voices as active agents of change. In this article, Pooja Patel, Programme Manager for Women’s Rights and LGBTI Rights at the International Service for Human Rights explains that women in the United Nations have made a series of demands for the women’s rights and gender equality agenda that will make processes and outcomes more equitable. These women, like other women human rights defenders across the globe, aim to create more just systems that support women in their fight for rights and representation. Photo credit: Bai Ali Indaya

27 02, 2018

Climate for women in climate science: Women scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

2023-03-29T11:59:26-04:00Tags: |

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an organization responsible for providing comprehensive reports about the state of climate change. Though diversity in IPCC authorship has been increasing over the years, authors are still most often male, white, and from Global North countries. Thus, many female IPCC authors report often feeling ignored or marginalized, with their gender, age, race, stature, and English fluency acting as strong barriers to their full participation. Childcare concerns and lack of financial support also hinder their participation. As such, they recommend IPCC organizers to consider virtual participation, financial support, gender training, and many other solutions to improve the experience of women. 

15 02, 2018

Gender Equality Crucial to Tackling Climate Change – UN

2020-10-23T23:42:17-04:00Tags: |

Women are disproportionately more susceptible to the impacts of climate change due to the hindrances caused by gender inequality that they must also face. The report written by UN Women on “Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, draws attention to the need to place gender equality front and centre throughout the implementation of the SDGs Agenda. The report highlights that, globally, more than one quarter of women work in agriculture. As the impacts of climate change on agriculture are already being severely felt, this is one of the areas that needs urgent action. Women face many restraints in accessing land, agricultural inputs and credit which increase their vulnerability reducing their resilience against climate change. However, women are an important representation of strength for combating climate change, they are not just victims. The report emphasizes that diverse women must be present in decision-making environments to ensure inclusive mitigation and adaptation to climate change at local, national and international levels. The UNFCCC has been increasingly recognizing the importance of equal gender representation in the development of gender responsive climate policies. In fact, the Gender Action Plan (GAP) was adopted at the COP23 to guide this goal.

13 02, 2018

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz: Indigenous Women’s Rights Are Human Rights

2018-07-13T17:25:17-04:00Tags: |

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples discusses the multifaceted human rights abuses experienced by indigenous women. The murder and sexual violence rates committed against indigenous women worldwide are exceedingly higher than those of non-indigenous women; though current statistics are considered to be underestimated. The author also speaks about the work indigenous women are doing to train and organize themselves to be aware of their rights and to empower each other.  Photo Credit: Midia Ninja.

12 02, 2018

Women on the Margins of UN Climate Panel

2023-03-29T11:15:25-04:00Tags: |

Miriam Gay-Antaki, an assistant professor at Colorado College, has been researching the barriers faced by women climate scientists worldwide. This article includes Gay-Antaki’s findings alongside interviews with women in climate science, and it emphasizes the importance of including women’s perspectives in global forums and scientific spaces. On the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), only 20% of members are women. Many report instances of exclusion within the organization, from difficulty participating given a lack of childcare access to experiencing additional discrimination due to intersecting marginalized identities. Women not only face the difficulties of being in a male-dominated field, but also must deal with the unique challenges of climate science in particular: countering misinformation, propaganda, denial, and hostility. Gay-Antaki’s research shows the need to create safer, more inclusive environments where women in science can have their contributions valued. Photo credit: Anne Christianson

10 02, 2018

Women Scientists Describe Challenges Of Careers In Conservation

2020-09-02T22:11:04-04:00Tags: |

Camila Donatti, Director with Conservation International (CI) while acknowledging the division of labor among men and women, does feel that women and men need an equal amount of training to share knowledge about climate change. It is the best solution to engage them in good work while respecting their time limits. Shyla Raghav, an Indian American Climate expert with CI believes to find the best solutions for climate change we need to connect the women’s issues with climate change issues. Similarly Kame Westerman, a gender adviser with CI shared her personal experience of being discriminated against because of her gender. Margot Wood, associate scientist with CI shares the same experience while working on the field. Photo Credit: Benjamin Drummand

2 02, 2018

Why Climate Deniers Target Women

2021-01-27T20:53:24-05:00Tags: |

In this thoughtful piece, journalist Jeremy Deaton highlights the link between sexism, climate denial and social hierarchy. He exposes the harassment endured by women involved in the field of climate change, particularly female reporters, policy-makers and researchers who are often targeted by right-wing political blogs. These women, such as former Canadian environment and climate change minister Catherine McKenna; atmospheric scientist Kait Parker; environmental reporter Emily Atkin; and climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe, face sexist attacks in response to their climate change public engagement and expertise. Deaton relates that, following social scientist views and empirical findings, it may be argued that men who value a hierarchical social system, from which they largely benefit, tend to downplay the risk of climate change and hold sexist views. The author further states that the climate crisis, rife with pervasive sexism, is therefore bound with other urgent societal issues such as racism, xenophobia and economic inequality. Photo Credit: Katharine Hayhoe

2 02, 2018

Why Climate Deniers Target Women

2021-01-15T17:17:19-05:00Tags: |

Women who work on climate science, policy, journalism, or advocacy continue to face harassment from climate change deniers, often in the form of sexist and dismissive labels. Although patriarchy and gender inequality pervade many social spaces, research shows that men who value hierarchy are more inclined to hold sexist views and deny the climate crisis. While the research draws no firm conclusions, it illustrates the power imbalances that enable both sexism and climate denial and the need for intersectional climate narratives that demand justice across movements. Photo Credit: Katharine Hayhoe

2 02, 2018

Rise: From One Island To Another

2021-01-15T17:11:52-05:00Tags: |

In a powerfully raw and attention-demanding short film, Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner and Aka Niviâna use poetry and imagery to showcase their inextricably linked climate realities of melting glaciers and rising sea levels. Jetñil-Kijiner and Niviâna highlight the interconnections between their ice and sea worlds and make it known that the rest of the world is as connected to our global climate change reality. The two women affirm that colonizers largely responsible for climate impacts can only hide behind screens and watch island and glacial ancestral homelands disappear for so long before they too are affected. Jetñil-Kijiner and Niviâna demand colonizer participation in climate action, and avow that they will not disappear while the world remains silent. Their poetic language showcases the strength and resilience of their communities and places the responsibility for climate change impacts squarely on colonizers’ shoulders. Jetñil-Kijiner and Niviâna declare that colonizers will no longer decide who will live and who will die--that, together, each and every one of us must decide if we will rise. Video credit: Dan Lin, Director

1 02, 2018

How the Wonder of Nature Can Inspire Social Justice Activism

2020-11-07T18:17:41-05:00Tags: |

Writer, activist, social justice facilitator (and more) Adrienne Maree Brown shares how the ‘wow’ or wonder of observing nature’s patterns of emergence can inspire social justice activism. Through extracts from conversations, she relates how people have gained and been transformed by exposure to nature, and how these exchanges have influenced her learning process in emergent strategy. Adrienne explains that paying attention to the beauty, magic, miracles and patterns of the natural world teaches about emergence. She refers to liberation educator and organiser Adaku Utah and her lessons from Mycelium Mushrooms in cultivating trust as an organising strategy (the mycelium organism uses trust as a mechanism to build and sustain an interconnected and mutually sustainable underground network with tree and plant roots). Adrienne also quotes independent strategist Ashingi Maxton on the pace of water, and to community organizer Hannah Sassaman on the learning from the seasons as teachers of evolution. Photo Credit: Ashim D’Silva/Unsplash

25 01, 2018

My Revolution Lives In This Body

2023-02-26T12:48:00-05:00Tags: |

This powerful spoken word performance, written by Eve Ensler and performed by Rosario Dawson, describes a revolution for “all that are life and give life.” The speaker describes this revolution as starting in the body and moving outward, placing women and Mother Earth at its center as it imagines a socially just world apart from the brutality of patriarchy and extraction. This is not a violent revolution, but a revolution against the violence perpetuated by capitalist, colonial, and heteropatriarchal systems that work to disempower women and destroy the planet. The speaker resists these systems and asserts that our “divisions are diversions.” She challenges women to stand together in connection with Mother Earth to build a better world. 

17 01, 2018

Mother Earth’s ‘Me Too’: An Open Letter To Middle-Class Women

2018-10-11T18:13:07-04:00Tags: |

Women across the world experience violence, exploitation, and objectification. The trauma our culture has inflicted upon women extends beyond us. Mother Earth is also facing similar abuse. This piece is an open letter to middle class women to stand for the rights of Mother Earth, just like as they do for themselves via online campaigns like #MeToo. The author argues that the same mentality that seeks to dominate women also seeks to dominate the Earth; thus, we should use the power and momentum of the #metoo movement to consciously link women’s sovereignty issues to ecological issues. Photo Credit: Big Stock Photo    

15 01, 2018

Rights Eroded: A Briefing On The Effects Of Closing Space On Women Human Rights Defenders

2018-03-06T18:10:24-05:00Tags: |

A new era of intensified government controls and restricted freedoms is hindering Human Rights Defenders from voicing their opinions. Constraints have been placed on feminist human rights and gender justice activists through government laws and restrictions. Berkeley Law and the Urgent Action Sister Fund adopt a human rights framework and gender approach to analyze the phenomenon of “closing space” and the challenges it poses for women human rights defenders and their innovative resistance strategies.

4 01, 2018

Which Works Better: Climate Fear, Or Climate Hope? Well, It’s Complicated

2018-07-13T15:33:41-04:00Tags: |

Lucia Graves explores the difficulty of communicating and engaging the public in climate change debates. Graves argues that the two dominant narratives, one of doom and gloom with apocalyptic visions of the future and the other of hope, with optimistic images of families on bikes, are over simplistic as in reality people’s emotions are complicated and multi-faceted. Research has shown that the binary of hope or fear is not enough to inspire action. Instead effort should be made to make issues relevant to your audience’s life as climate change may be global but it has a profoundly personal impact. Overall, Graves highlights the need for the conversation to take place as a 2016 report from Yale’s programme on climate communication found one in four Americans say they’ve “never” heard someone discussing it. Photo credit: Ariel Molina/EPA

1 01, 2018

Anne Lappe: Big Food And Public Health Don’t Mix

2018-02-15T12:57:27-05:00Tags: |

Equitable food systems advocate Anna Lappe addresses the hypocrisy that exists in the presence of the biggest multinational food and beverage corporations within the United Nations public health decision making process. As these corporations are the direct perpetrators and beneficiaries of childhood obesity and other health epidemics worldwide, Lappe highlights the global call for the creation of policies to bar the influence of “vested interests” of big food and beverage companies, similar to Article 5.3, which halted the tobacco industry from similar influence. Photo Credit: Leonardo Sa

27 12, 2017

Toxic Masculinity Is Probably Destroying The Planet

2018-03-02T20:08:00-05:00Tags: |

A recent article in Scientific American reveals that research involving over 2,000 participants in the United States and China has established a link between greenness and femininity. It also exposed that socialized gender roles mean men are less likely to embrace eco-friendly behavior. While some propose the promotion of more masculine marketing around environmental behavior change, instead, it is argued that toxic gender roles and patriarchy need to be examined as they often lie at the root of the exploitation of women’s bodies and the earth. Photo credit: Getty Images

21 12, 2017

How a Pioneering Botanist Broke Down Japan’s Gender Barriers

2021-01-27T20:38:26-05:00Tags: |

In this article, writer Leila McNeill offers a portrait of scientist Kono Yasui, a Japanese woman who broke grounds in academia, research and teaching. Aged 47, she was the first Japanese woman to earn a PhD in science (Tokyo Imperial University, 1927). This was an achievement in a cultural context in which women’s roles were restricted to being ‘good wives’ and ‘wise mothers’, rather than leaders of scientific inquiry. She was the first Japanese woman to publish in an academic journal, ‘Weber’s Organ of Carp Fish’ in Zoological Science; and the first to publish in a foreign (British) journal, Annals of Botany, ‘On the Life History of Salvinia Natans’ from her study of plant cells. Dedicating her life to research and committing to never marry, Yasui received ministerial funding to research abroad, in the US. In 1949, she contributed to the establishment of TWHNS, a national research university for women. Photo Credit: Ochanomizu University archive

21 12, 2017

Was 2017 The Year That The Tide Finally Turned Against Fossil Fuel Projects?

2018-03-02T13:47:05-05:00Tags: |

In this article, artist and activist Suzanne Dhaliwal of the UK Tar Sands Network marks a year of successful divestment efforts against the fossil fuel industry to mitigate climate impacts and defend Indigenous rights. Dhaliwal highlights the decision of Canadian-based Indigenous Climate Action and executive director Eriel Deranger, to reject a cash prize tied to tar sands projects and pipelines. This moral stand is among divestment commitments in 2017 from many financial institutions including AXA, BNP Paribas, KLP, and the World Bank. Going into 2018, Dhaliwal writes that continued action must focus on an intersectional just transition that puts everyone at the table, reinvests in the communities most impacted by climate change, and does not leave behind those previously dependent on the fossil fuel industry. Photo credit: Flickr/BeforeItStarts

15 12, 2017

Eight Great Women In The Business And Science Of Solar

2020-10-23T23:26:46-04:00Tags: |

The global photovoltaic industry required hard work and dedication, especially during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s when the solar struggle in surviving as an industry needed the conviction of those working within it that it would one day lead the future of energy generation. The photovoltaic industry would not have come as far without the perseverance of eight key women who were fundamental in pioneering the solar scene of today. Izumi Kaizuka from Japan is an awardee of one of the most prestigious scientific awards in the global photovoltaic industry, the PVSEC Special Award, for her contributions in the study of solar technologies, business models and deployment. Renate Egan from Australia is crucial to the solar industry for her ability to match creative with the technical and leads the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics. Darlene McCalmont from the United States is founder of Regrid Power and currently runs a McCalmont Engineering. Nicola Pearsall from the UK is the director of the Northumbria Photovoltaics Applications Centre and leads its Energy Systems research group. These women, amongst the others highlighted in the article, have extensive resumes, but their accomplishments are not the most defining feature of these influential figures. Rather it is their deep passion and commitment that they have dedicated to the global photovoltaic industry that sees their contribution as long-lasting and meaningful. Photo credit: Pixabay

15 12, 2017

Interview With Verona Collantes: UN Women

2020-12-15T22:07:32-05:00Tags: |

In a short video interview with Verona Collantes of UN Women during the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, in May 2017, Collantes discusses her work in gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment. In her work, she aims for equal opportunities, responsibilities, and consideration of perceptions, needs, and contributions of both men and women when addressing climate change. Collantes uses gender mainstreaming as a strategy to create greater equality. UN women do gender mainstreaming at both a national and global level in their climate education, training, and awareness building. In advocating for gender equality in intergovernmental decision-making processes, UN Women mainstream gender by looking at roles, responsibilities, needs, and unique impacts of climate change on women through themes, such as adaptation. In this way, an analysis of the situation is gained through a gender perspective, which allows for greater recognition of gender imbalances. Photo Credit: Screenshot

14 12, 2017

Seattle, 1999: Diverse Women For Diversity Declaration To WTO

2018-02-14T22:08:45-05:00Tags: |

In response to events at the 2017 World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, Indian seed-saving organization, Navdanya, released this article, which honors and calls to attention the Diverse Women For Diversity Declaration, which was issued during the 1999 Seattle WTO meeting. The full declaration shares women’s analysis and responses to how genetically modified seeds, intellectual property rights, and patents are impacting food, medicine and agriculture systems; Indigenous peoples rights and lands; and the health of the Earth. The declaration calls out the WTO and its unchecked support of free markets and unjust economies, presenting a collective voice of women standing for life and diversity - and against the interconnected dangers of the global war system, corporate free market economy, and agribusiness industry.

7 12, 2017

Aliens In The Mist

2018-07-13T15:07:17-04:00Tags: |

This interview highlights the incredible work of Dian Fossey, a female pioneer in the fields of primatology and conservation. Fossey’s studies introduced the world to the kind nature of gorillas, and changed the public perception of them from aggressive creatures to the gentle giants they’re known as today. Fossey gave her life to save the gorillas, which remain among the world’s most endangered animals. To carry on her legacy, Tara Stoinski setup, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, an non-profit dedicated to the conservation, protection and study of gorillas. Today, Tara primarily works in Rwanda and Congo leading Karisoke, the world’s longest-running gorilla research center. Her holistic conservation efforts directly help people and communities, improving the health and livelihoods of people who live near the gorillas and helping to build the next generation of conservationists in Africa. Photo Credit: Robert I.M. Campbell

6 12, 2017

Women Land Defenders In Asia Need More Protection As Violence Rises – Rights Groups

2018-03-06T17:59:29-05:00Tags: |

Rights groups from across Asia and the international community are calling on authorities to do more to protect women land rights defenders. In many cases, defenders reported threats prior to their deaths, but the reports were either ignored or downplayed. In the Philippines, for example, Elisa Badayos and her male colleague were murdered in 2017 after investigating land rights violations. In Thailand and Cambodia, women are facing increased violence, while the matrilineal tradition in Papua New Guinea has been fractured following a decades-long conflict over an open pit mine. In India, defenders also face pressure from their family members and community. Rights groups, therefore, are demanding that these defenders be heard and recognized by the state. Photo credit: Reuters/Samrang Pring

2 12, 2017

30 Books By People Of Color About Plants And Healing

2018-03-02T13:55:54-05:00Tags: |

Queering Herbalism present a diverse list of 30 books by people of color on herbalism and holistic healing. Although many black, brown and Indigenous communities rely heavily on oral traditions, many barriers exist when they seek to become published, meaning most books on this topic are written by white people. Books on this list cover topics from Indigenous rites of birthing, to African American Slave Medicine, and feature prominent herbalists and healers, such as Ayo Ngozi, who teaches herbal history and medicine making.

1 12, 2017

Dozens Of Female Activists Around The World Were Killed In 2017

2023-04-16T15:01:47-04:00Tags: |

Daniele Selby calls attention to the extreme violence that women activists face around the globe and highlights the extraordinary lives and work of some of the women who were murdered for their activism in 2017. Dozens of women were killed for their work in environmental justice, women’s rights, and LGBTQ+ activism in countries all over the world, including but not limited to Brazil, the Philippines, Colombia, and Turkey. Selby notes that these violent acts against women activists are a form of silencing individuals and communities who are fighting to protect the earth and each other. Despite the risks, countless women are still finding ways to take a stand for what they believe in. Photo credit: Flickr: Karla Cote

29 11, 2017

Jeanette Sequeira: Calling Out Violence Against Women Human Rights And Environmental Defenders

2018-03-06T18:21:52-05:00Tags: |

Jeanette Sequeira,  gender programme coordinator at the Global Forest Coalition, shares thoughts on the situation of global women who stand up for human rights and the environment, while facing violence and even murder. She shares the stories of frontline women leaders such as Lottie Cunningham, a lawyer from Nicaragua who defends Indigenous communities against illegal corporate and state led land-grabbing despite threats; and the Mapuche women in Chile who are engaged in a struggle to defend their land while facing criminalisation, militarization, and the risk of murder. Sequeira calls out state, non-state, paramilitary, private security and corporate actors who continue to silence activists and act within a culture of impunity.

28 11, 2017

Patricia Gualinga Of Sarayaku Ecuador Delivers High Level Intervention At COP23 Bonn

2017-12-28T14:51:29-05:00Tags: |

Patricia Gualinga of the Kichwa Pueblo of Sarayaku, Ecuador delivers a powerful high-level intervention on one of the closing evenings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany. In this video of her speech (Spanish and English language), Patricia explains how grassroots movements are continuing to implement innovative and effective solutions, while governments and corporations continue to make policies and deals meant to enhance material wealth at the expense of the climate and global communities and land-based and Indigenous peoples. She calls for a just transition to renewable energy, and respect for Mother Earth, women and youth. Photo credit: UNFCCC livestream

27 11, 2017

What Was The Outcome Of The UN Climate Talks For Indigenous Peoples?

2017-12-27T18:05:36-05:00Tags: |

Gal-Dem, a magazine and creative collective comprised of over 70 women and non-binary people of color - interviews Jade Begay, a powerful Dine and Tewa multimedia artist, digital storyteller, media strategist, and filmmaker and producer with Indigenous Rising Media. Jade Begay attended the United Nations COP23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany in 2017 as a member of the #ItTakesRoots and Indigenous Environmental Network Delegations, to document and share their work, directly through the eyes of an Indigenous media-maker. Jade speaks on the importance of POC-centered media, and of Indigenous and frontline communities voices being present to stand for their rights and the climate at government negotiations. Photo credit: Indigenous Environmental Network

26 11, 2017

Why Climate Change Is Creating A New Generation Of Child Brides

2018-07-13T16:53:03-04:00Tags: |

As climate change exasperates natural disasters such as droughts and floods, African farmers are finding difficulty maintaining economic stability, leading to an increase in the prevalence of child marriages in Malawi and Mozambique. While marriage under the age of 18 has been outlawed in both countries, the prevalence of child marriages has continued to persist in the face of increased poverty due to climate change. With shifting climate patterns affecting fishing and crop seasonality, many families are finding it difficult to feed each mouth, leading millions of young girls to be married off in response. And while the data detailing this intersection remains largely understudied, the occurrence of lost childhoods and educational opportunities continue to increase. Photo Credit: The Guardian

26 11, 2017

IM-Defensoras Statement During International Day of Women Human Rights

2017-12-26T15:57:00-05:00Tags: |

On the International Day of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD), over 1,000 diverse members of Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM -Defensoras) raised a collective voice to protect WHRDs and secure a dignified life for all. Between 2012 to 2016, at least 53 women defenders have been documented as killed, mostly by state actors, for their activism and voice. Violence and discrimination is used as a mechanism for social control, and women are standing to challenge the patriarchal mandate and demand from the state the protection they deserve. Photo credit: IM-Defensoras

24 11, 2017

The Resisters: Women Human Rights Defenders

2018-07-13T16:36:33-04:00Tags: |

To mark the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender Based Violence and the International Day for Women Human Rights Defenders, Amnesty Canada draws attention to fierce women doing incredible work in unimaginably challenging circumstances. In this article, Amnesty explores the experiences of three powerful women living in prison or under threat of violence due to their activism. In Egypt, Hanan Badr el-Din, motivated by the disappearance of her husband in 2013, co-founded a group that investigates these injustices. However, she was arrested on false charges and sentenced to 5 years in prison. In Guatemala, Maya-K’iche human rights defender, Lolita Chavez, works to defend Indigenous rights against corporate abuses. After significant threats, she now lives under police protection. In Honduras, activists still live in fear, a year after Berta Cáceres was murdered. Attacks and threats of rape and harm continue to be directed towards their daughters. Amnesty Canada calls for action to protect the rights of these courageous women. Photo credit: CORINH

23 11, 2017

5 Reasons Climate Change Is A Feminist Issue

2018-01-23T18:01:33-05:00Tags: |

Climate change isn’t only increasing the greenhouse effect, it is also creating an increase in the inequity of global power dynamics. With women representing 70% of the global poor, women are impacted first and worse by these changes. This overview article shares more information on this statistic, and five other examples which highlight why women are disproportionately impacted by climate, and why climate action must be pursued as a central goal of feminist organizing. Photo credit: Novara Media

21 11, 2017

Why I Disrupted The White House Fossil Fuel Panel At The United Nations Climate Talks

2018-07-13T17:11:13-04:00Tags: |

In this article, youth climate leader, Maia Wikler, shares why she is deeply invested in claiming the right to a healthy environment for herself and for the world. Born in the same year of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, she describes her struggles growing up with severe asthma and how her access to clean air has been negotiated on the international stage her entire life. To reclaim this space, she attended the 2017 climate talks as a youth delegate for SustainUS and protested with other frontline communities against the U.S. panel on ‘clean’ fossil fuels and nuclear power. Photo credit: Maia Wikler

17 11, 2017

Four Reasons Water And Sanitation Are A Gender Issue

2018-07-13T15:44:39-04:00Tags: |

Globally, women and girls are disproportionately impacted by poor access to safe clean water and adequate sanitary conditions. They are often responsible for collecting water for their household daily and at far distances, which significantly limits their productivity and time for schooling. Even when they do have time to attend school or work, a lack of private washrooms and clean water make it difficult to maintain hygiene during menstruation, meaning they instead stay home or drop out. Women and girls are also at increased risk of violence during their long travels for water and when using open toilets. Because they are likely tasked with cleaning children and household toilets, they are more exposed to wastewater and potential pathogens. Because of this intersection with gender, women and girls must lead and be engaged in strategies for improving water and sanitation. Photo credit: Asian Development Bank

16 11, 2017

Why I Disrupted Trump’s Fossil Fuel Agenda at COP23: A Young Person’s First-Hand Account

2018-10-11T18:59:08-04:00Tags: |

Michaela Mujica-Steiner, a SustainUS delegate at the United Nations and a youth from Colorado helped organize a singing disruption at the Trump Administration's fossil fuel panel. At the 2017 UN Climate Talks, the Trump Administration held a panel to promote the use of fossil fuels. With the intention to set the terms of the debate on fossil fuels, disrupt the Trump administration's lies, inspire people back home, and most importantly, stand on the right side of history, Mujica-Steiner’s delegation disrupted the Trump Panel by silencing their lies with song. She is advocate and change maker working to educate people about environmental justice issues.  Back home, she is ready to ensure that governor of Colorado, Hickenlooper, doesn’t harm the rights of environment by increasing the hydraulic fracking. Photo Credit: Unknown

16 11, 2017

Mind The Gap

2019-04-13T16:06:44-04:00Tags: |

Women are more vulnerable to climate change but are less represented at the U.N. Climate Negotiations.  The establishment of the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) at the Climate Negotiations has formalized the voice of women and gender equality. At COP23, in Bonn, Germany, the WGC pushed for a new gender action plan, to help increase female participation at the U.N, increase funding for women, and ensure climate solutions uphold the rights of women and indigenous peoples. Photo Credit:  Patrik Stollarz / Getty Images

15 11, 2017

On Gender Day At Climate Meet, Some Progress, Many Hurdles

2018-10-29T17:00:38-04:00Tags: |

The UNFCCC’s Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) was established in 2009 by 27 non-profit organizations at the Conference of the Parties (COP), also known as the Climate Negotiations. This year at COP23, the UNFCCC accepted the Gender Action Plan (GAP), a roadmap to integrate gender equality and women's empowerment in all its discussions and actions.  For Kalyani Raj, the focal point of the WGC and other female leaders attending the COP, this is a clear indication of progress. Unfortunately, the adopted GAP omitted several of the original demands, including those related to indigenous women and women human rights defenders. Photo Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

15 11, 2017

Gender Plan Seeks To Put Women In Driving Seat Of Climate Fight

2017-12-28T14:49:29-05:00Tags: |

Reuters reports from the United Nations COP23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany on the important Gender Action Plan (GAP) adopted at the 2017 conference, which aims to boost the number of women decision-makers; train policymakers on how to bring gender equity into climate funding programs; create better mechanisms for collecting gender-climate data; and involve more women grassroots and Indigenous women in policy leadership. Women leaders including Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland), Thilmeeza Hussain (Voice of Women), Osprey Orielle Lake (Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network) speak on the progress and challenges in work to achieve a gender balance in climate leadership in the United Nations, where women delegates represent at maximum 31-38% of the global representatives.

13 11, 2017

Peasant Men And Women Say ‘End Violence Against Women!’

2017-12-13T13:22:40-05:00Tags: |

On the International Day of Struggle Against Violence Towards Women, La Via Campesina launched a campaign and called on its global allies organizations and members to join together to condemn structural violence against peasant women. As their statement explains, structural violence is rooted in capitalistic and fascist patriarchal societies which discriminate against women. Peasant women especially, are victims of forced displacement, prostitution, human trafficking and gender-based violence on a regular basis. The campaign purposefully focuses on both peasant men and women, recognizing that it will take the voices of many breaking their silence to end these violations. Photo credit: La Via Campesina

13 11, 2017

Rights of Nature: Time to Shift the Paradigm in the EU?

2017-12-13T13:07:22-05:00Tags: |

In this article, Nikoletta Pikramenou highlights the need for the European Union (EU) to recognize Nature’s rights. She explains that current EU legal frameworks treat Nature as an object and not as a subject of law. Consequently, environmental damage is only regulated instead of being eradicated and this leads to the acceleration of climate change in the EU and globally. She proposes the drafting of a new EU Directive which will grant rights to Mother Earth. Photo credit: Earth Law Center

9 11, 2017

Making Art, Making Change: Five Women Creatives You Should Know

2020-11-20T17:24:40-05:00Tags: |

In this exposé, writer Lauren Himiak presents artists whose imagination, art and advocacy create space for conversations and connection that influence personal, cultural and national debates transformation. Poppy Liu, playwright and storyteller, is the creator of Brooklyn-based grassroots movement Collective Sex around topics of sex, body, intimacy and identity. Sarah Edwards uses positive, nonviolent imagery and animal artwork to show humanity’s effects on the world and inspire reflection, conversation and action around climate change. Georgia Clark, Australian author and improv performer, organises New-York based female storytelling live event Generation Women; a unique, diverse and multigenerational literary salon with themed readings featuring a woman from each age group from 20s to 70s and up. Favianna Rodriguez creates visual art and prints that support social justice movements and conversation around immigration, climate change and racial justice. Tatiana Gill is a Seattle-based cartoonist taking on subjects like mental health, feminism, body positivity. Photo Credit: Kimberley Hatchett

6 11, 2017

Pocket Guide To Gender Equality Under The UNFCCC

2017-12-06T14:33:51-05:00Tags: |

The Women’s Environment & Development Organization and collaborators provide a ‘pocket guide’ overview of the history of the United Nations Framework COnvention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations on the topic of gender, as well as a reference guide to the key gender decisions adopted by the UNFCCC; and a brief analysis of current issues, demands and points of advocacy. Photo credit: WEDO

24 10, 2017

Why Women Are More Likely Than Men To Die In Natural Disasters

2018-01-24T11:25:22-05:00Tags: |

According to several case studies, more women die in environmental disasters than men, due to the fact that they often face gendered challenges during natural disasters and emergencies. For instance, women may face domestic violence due to lack of safe spaces in relief centers. In developing countries, women are often the ones responsible for providing water for their families, a task that becomes strained during disasters. This article also examines how women’s voices are absent in modern patriarchal disaster-response societies, and the need for gender-sensitive data collection and women’s inclusion in leadership and decision-making regarding disaster management.

20 10, 2017

Indigenous Women Take Pipeline Activism Global

2017-11-01T10:52:53-04:00Tags: |

Michelle Cook, a Diné human rights lawyer, founding member of the of the Water Protector Legal Collective at Standing Rock, and delegate to the Autumn 2017 Indigenous Women's Divestment Delegation to Europe, speaks on Rising Up With Sonali TV, providing hard hitting analysis of why financial and political institutions are morally and legally obligated to change their practices to respect Indigenous rights, human rights and the Earth - and how Indigenous women are taking action to push for this accountability and action in some of the European nations home to major investors and institutions funding fossil fuel extraction projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline. Photo credit: Teena Pugliese

20 10, 2017

WEDO Training On Gender And UN Climate Policy

2017-11-01T10:37:45-04:00Tags: |

Bridget Burns of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) provides a one hour online training for global women seeking an overview of the history of gender at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC);  integrating gendered -language in the policy process; and what to expect from the upcoming discussions on the gender action plan. Photo credit: WEDO

18 10, 2017

A Future Detoxified

2017-11-26T13:34:37-05:00Tags: |

The Basel and Rotterdam Conventions (BRS Conventions) have pointed out that hazardous materials cannot be managed without considering their human use. The effects of the use of these chemicals differ between women and men. In order to measure the impacts, the BRS Gender Action Plan (BRS-GAP) was introduced, which was updated in 2016. During the 2017 Conference of Parties to the BRS Conventions, an Environment and Gender Information (EGI) platform analysis was unveiled to measure the progress the Parties to the Conventions have taken towards a more sustainable future free of harmful chemicals. The report focuses on the development of indicators on gender-related issues and on how gender is mainstreamed in parties’ reporting and Convention documents. Photo credit: WECF

16 10, 2017

Women Lead On Climate: WEDO 2017 Regional Trainings

2017-10-27T15:52:27-04:00Tags: |

In 2017, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization conducted trainings on climate change policy and decision making in 3 regions, reaching 83 women from 31 countries. WEDO works for the inclusion of women in the frontlines of all levels of decision-making on climate change. Photo credit: Women’s Environment and Development Organization

11 10, 2017

Edges Of Transformation: Women Crossing Boundaries Between Ecological and Social Healing

2018-02-20T17:54:06-05:00Tags: |

In the collective book Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices, several authors, including Jeanine M. Canty, call for a restoration of our collective relationship with place and the reintegration of feminine wisdom. Western culture, corporate globalization, and the idea that we are separate, distinct wholes have been devastating. As Canty explains, global healing will therefore only be possible once we embrace our collective wounding and honor diverse perspectives, including recognizing women, people of color, and Indigenous communities as the heart of movements leading the way toward a more resilient society.  Photo credit: M. Jennifer Chandler

6 10, 2017

A Future Detoxified

2017-12-06T14:23:18-05:00Tags: |

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports on pushing for gendered considerations in hazardous chemicals and waste management, through the Gender Action Plan of the Stockholm Basel and Rotterdam International Conventions. The report includes thoughts from Stella Mojekwu, Chief Environmental Scientist at the Federal Ministry of Environment in Nigeria on the dangers posed to women exposed to oil-based, toxic PCB through cooking and handeling of cosmetics and chemical products. Resources are included to learn more about international and United Nations policy efforts and conventions to address this issue through improvement of  gender mainstreaming mechanisms. Photo credit: WECF

1 10, 2017

Why Native American Women Are Going After Europe’s Banks to Divest From Big Oil

2017-11-01T04:52:40-04:00Tags: |

A delegation of Indigenous women leaders from the United States traveled to Europe in October 2017, where they met with leaders of government and financial institutions in Norway, Switzerland, and Germany to share their experiences, and calls to action for immediate action to divest funding from the Dakota Access Pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners, as well as other dangerous fossil fuel extraction projects across Indigenous lands. In this Yes! Magazine interview, delegate Jackie Fielder (Mnicoujou Lakota and Mandan-Hidatsa), campaign coordinator of Lakota People’s Law Project and organizer with Mazaska Talks, discusses the events of the Delegation, as well as ongoing global, Indigenous-led movements for fossil fuel divestment such as the Divest The Globe and Equator Banks Act campaigns. Photo credit: Teena Pugliese

30 09, 2017

Making Change Happen: Rethinking Protection, Power, And Movements

2017-10-31T15:51:45-04:00Tags: |

Around the world, the intensity of threats to women human rights defenders continues to escalate. This report from JASS Just Associates and JASS MesoAmerica offers new feminist and social movement perspectives to questions surrounding why, despite increased attention and legal protections, women human rights activists and the organizations and communities with which they work continue to face worsening persecution and dangers.

28 09, 2017

Michelle Bender: We Need Rights Of Nature Legislation Now To Protect Our Planet

2017-10-28T23:15:59-04:00Tags: |

Michelle Bender, Ocean Rights Manager at the Earth Law Center writes on the importance of the oceans - which cover over seventy percent of our planet, regulates climate and provides food and jobs for hundreds of millions of people. Current changes to its systems have generated concerns for the future. Despite international laws and agreements designed for its protection, the health of our oceans is at risk. This is because current ocean law and policy largely focus on the impacts to humans, rather than the impacts on natural ecosystems. Implementing Rights of Nature legislation allows for such a basis, by recognizing that rights originate from existence and that humans are a part of the Earth, not above it. By adopting the Rights of Nature, and in this case the ocean, we ensure that our activities do not violate the oceans’ rights to life, to health, to be free of pollution and to continue its vital cycles. It is a vital step to not only ensure that we restore the health of the ocean, but protect our future. Photo credit: The Ecologist

26 09, 2017

It Is Time Governments Recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Contributions

2017-10-26T17:36:38-04:00Tags: |

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Igorot), UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, points out that despite the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, few governments have adopted national laws that reflect their commitments. Indigenous rights to land continue to be disrespected, and the right to self-determination is violated. She calls for a serious effort to address the reasons why the UN Declaration is not effectively implemented. According to Victoria the key obstacles are: the rights of Indigenous peoples are not prioritized, the historical injustices that have been happening to Indigenous Peoples have not been redressed and governments need to recognize the contributions of Indigenous Peoples in protecting the environment and making this world a more sustainable place. Photo credit: Broddi Sigurdarson

26 09, 2017

Eriel Tchekwie Deranger On Indigenous Rights In The Face Of Climate Change

2017-10-26T14:14:40-04:00Tags: |

Eriel Tchekwie Deranger of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) and Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action spoke at 2017 LUSH Summit about Indigenous rights and climate change. Deranger challenges extractive models of development and their impacts on people and the planet, and postulates that we must begin to draw inspiration from Indigenous beliefs of the Earth’s sacredness for collective life to persist. Her community resides downstream from large-scale Canadian tar sands surface mining fields and collectively, the ACFN have witnessed first-hand the complex impacts extractive industry can have on Indigenous peoples and the planet. Photo credit: LUSH Player

25 09, 2017

Linking Gender, Economic And Ecological Justice: Feminist Perspectives From Latin America

2017-09-25T08:24:34-04:00Tags: |

This is an analysis by Alejandra Santillana Ortiz, from Ecuador, who's an alumnae of DAWN's GEEJ training institute. Ortiz correlates the role of the Global South in extracting to export for the Global North, including the agricultural industry, mining, and oil companies, with the role of women in extractivism. Women are more vulnerable to the dangers in this practice (such as the effects of water pollution and seed contamination), but they are also leaders in feminist movements for equality in the workforce and gender equity in general. Alejandra questions the practice of extractivism in Latin America as part of the patriarchy and capitalism, and how it affects women from this region. Photo credit: DAWN

24 09, 2017

The Feminist Economics Peer-Reviewed Journal

2017-10-31T20:34:31-04:00Tags: |

Feminist Economics is a peer-reviewed journal that collects, publishes and advances research on women’s work and feminist economics to challenge the current global model of capitalism. Rooted in international research and case studies, Feminist Economics displays wide-ranging examples of women centered economies, women’s reproductive labor, and global trends regarding women’s land-based work historically and today. The journal brings forward issues surrounding all forms of women’s work, but also often demonstrates the multidimensional potential of an economy founded in feminist principles including the links between women’s work, land, environment and climate change. Photo Credit: http://www.feministeconomics.org/

24 09, 2017

Three Platforms For Girls’ Education In Climate Strategies

2018-01-24T11:52:49-05:00Tags: |

Globally, women and girls face acute impacts from climate change, however research has shown that investing in the empowerment and education of girls can act as a powerful remedy and solution to address climate change. This report discusses a few steps that can be taken to strengthen girls skills and abilities, while also moving towards global Sustainable Development Goal standards - including promoting girl’s reproductive rights, investing in girl’s education to develop leadership skills in them and by developing their life skills for green economy. Photo Credit: Brookings.edu

23 09, 2017

Extractives vs Development Sovereignty: Building Living Consent Rights For African Women

2018-01-23T17:44:43-05:00Tags: |

This report chapter by WoMin and Oxfam focuses on the right of consent of women and their communities with regards to mega-development and extraction projects, and emphasizes how the collaboration between corporations and states undermines community fights for sovereignty. The community of Xolobeni, South Africa is used as a case study of how the right of consent is determined by inequalities, and how women are too often excluded from decision-making and consent-giving processes due to their class and gender. The study confirms how women confined by the prevailing societal patriarchal structure, especially those with lack of resources and land ownership, have their voices silenced, and their opposition to dangerous projects ignored.. Photo credit: Oxfam

13 09, 2017

The Contribution Of Gender Justice To Successful Climate Politics

2017-09-13T11:27:54-04:00Tags: |

GenderCC in cooperation with the Wuppertal institute for Social-ecological Research (ISOE) is working on a project whose focus is on the contribution of gender justice to successful climate politics as well as the options for shaping climate policy. This work is valuable in that it gives a systematic review of the existing literature on gender and climate in order to provide critical data to industrialized and historical emitter countries. In addition, the research will give even more in depth analysis on the benefits of integrating gender dimensions into climate policies. Photo credit: IISD/ENB, Kiara Worth

8 09, 2017

Decolonize Justice Systems! An Interview With Dine’ Lawyer Michelle Cook

2020-09-08T21:23:05-04:00Tags: |

All over the world, Indigenous communities exist and function within two justice systems based on different worldviews: the European and the Indigenous. Human Rights Lawyer Michelle Cook (Diné), member of the Navajo Nation and born of the Honághááhnii clan, discusses the unequal relationship between these two frameworks and explains how the language of Human Rights can help challenge the colonial legal system which understates Indigenous' institutions. Photo Credit: Indigenous Rights Radio.

1 09, 2017

South Asia’s Women Face The Weight Of Climate Migration

2017-11-01T23:54:05-04:00Tags: |

With increasing natural disasters especially in coastal areas, homes and crop fields are swept away by tides, forcing people to migrate in search of work to urban places. The report Climate Change Knows no Borders, prepared by ActionAid, Climate Action Network South Asia and Bread for the World (Brot Fuer Die Welt) explores the gendered implications of natural disasters and compels national policymakers to urgently address the policy gap. Gender mainstreaming is required at all levels, especially in climate laws, policies and programs, to address the needs and priorities of both genders such as in access to resources, information, and credit. Photo credit: Manipadma Jena

1 09, 2017

To Fight Climate Change, Educate and Empower Girls

2017-11-01T22:57:25-04:00Tags: |

Supporting girls education had been found to be one of the most effective and equitable manners to address global climate change. Education helps girls deal with climate vulnerability and challenging circumstances, opens doors to healthy lives and women’s ability to contribute to fashioning climate solutions; and intersects with reproductive justice and women’s choices in their care for healthy future generations. This important analysis is shared by two women leaders of the Center for Universal Education in the Global Economy and Development. Photo credit: New Security Beat

31 08, 2017

Jane Goodall Calls For Climate Change Action To Save Planet At Global Citizen Festival

2017-10-31T23:08:33-04:00Tags: |

At the 2017 Global Citizen Festival in New York City, Jane Goodall took the stage to urge us all to take swift action on climate change. Goodall's pioneering research on chimpanzees has changed the way humans percieve non-human species, popularizing the idea that humans and animals are interdependent life forms. Jane Goodall is also United Nations Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute. Photo credit: Mary Kang for Global Citizen

31 08, 2017

Women Play Key Role In Solar Energy Projects

2018-02-20T17:48:14-05:00Tags: |

Women in Global South countries are taking a leading role in rural electrification using solar energy, through their efforts achieving economic independence and implementing sustainable solutions in their communities. With the support of Greenpeace, initiatives are growing including solar cooking trainings in Morocco and women-run solar cooperatives such as South Lebanon’s Deir Kanoun Ras el Ain project. Photo credit: SELCO/IPS

28 08, 2017

If Corporations Have Rights, Shouldn’t Nature Too?

2017-10-28T23:23:04-04:00Tags: |

The destruction of the environment continues despite the efforts made by governments, stakeholders and legislators to prevent it, argues the Earth Law Center. The goal of the Rights of Nature is to expand justice until all beings on Earth are efficiently protected by the law. In a Rights of Nature legal system, people have the legal authority to enforce these rights on behalf of ecosystems. Many argue that ecosystems are not humans and therefore they cannot have rights. However, rights for non-humans exist already, for instance, corporations have rights. Photo credit: public-domain-image.com

27 08, 2017

Sustainable Development Goals And Gender

2017-10-31T20:34:44-04:00Tags: |

A brief on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Gender introduced by the Global Forest Coalition focuses on the gender perspectives of realizing the goals, as well as the challenges and opportunities regarding the implementation of the SDGs. The brief also refers to the need of a meaningful participation of women, Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the SDG process.

27 08, 2017

Gender Remains One Of Climate Change’s Great Inequalities

2017-10-27T15:40:54-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Isabella Lövin, Sweden’s deputy prime minister, discusses women’s physical and economic vulnerability to climate change as well as their critical role in a just transition despite often limited power and access to resources in decision-making spaces. She advocates that gender equality in low-carbon development and climate change adaptation is essential not just for the means of female empowerment but for true transformative change. To illustrate this impact, she discusses two clean energy projects in East Africa and Mongolia funded by the Green Climate Fund that center female entrepreneurship and women’s quality of life.  Photo credit: Ashden

27 08, 2017

Mary Robinson Asks: Where Do You Go When Your World Disappears?

2017-11-01T02:19:08-04:00Tags: |

During the Women in the World Summit, Mary Robinson, president of the Mary Robinson Foundation, calls solidarity with people affected by climate change in 2015. Patricia Cochran, Executive director of Alaska Native Science Commission and Penelise Alofa, National Coordinator of Kiribati Climate Action Network stressed on the interconnection with woman human rights and climate justice. Photo credit: WITW

27 08, 2017

Here’s How Women Will Save The World

2017-10-27T11:26:29-04:00Tags: |

Journalist Angela Terry writes about the work of the Climate Change Coalition, a member organization that organises the Show the Love Campaign to highlight the aspects of the world people want to save from the destruction of climate change. Many of the Coalition’s supporters are women, and the video they made to inspire connection to the earth was viewed by almost 7 million people. Terry argues that women are at the forefront of online and offline organizing to battle climate change. Photo credit: Huffington Post

26 08, 2017

Recommendations To Protect WHRDs Confronting Extractive Industries

2017-10-26T23:28:57-04:00Tags: |

The Association for Women in Development (AWID and the Women Human Rights Defender International Coalition published a report entitled “Women Human Rights Defenders Confronting Extractive Industries” that lays out recommendations for practitioners to support this crucial work. They advocate for the recognition and support of women human rights defenders, an end to the criminalization of their activities, and empowerment and capacity-building for key leaders.

26 08, 2017

Defending People And Planet: Women Confronting Extractive Industries

2017-10-26T23:24:03-04:00Tags: |

This video introduces several women human rights defenders from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. They share their struggles for land and life, and speak to the risks and challenges they face in their activism. This video is released alongside a helpful practical guide entitled "Weaving Resistance Through Action: Strategies of Women Human Rights Defenders Confronting Extractive Industries” by the Association for Women in Development. Photo credit: AWID

26 08, 2017

Kate Raworth Breaks Down Reality-Based Economics On The Laura Flanders Show

2017-10-26T23:05:42-04:00Tags: |

In this episode of The Laura Flanders Show, Kate Raworth, an advisory member of Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, breaks down the process of thinking like a reality-based economist in the 21st century. Raworth discusses how economic growth came to supersede human and environmental welfare in Western society and argues we must revise our system of economic thinking to meet current environmental and social challenges. Additionally, Donna Andrews and Kashmira Banee chat about extractive systems, eco-feminism, and life on the planet. Photo credit: The Laura Flanders Show

26 08, 2017

TreeSisters Want Women To Wear Their Love For The Earth

2017-10-26T22:58:53-04:00Tags: |

Treesisters is inspiring earth-loving women to take action to protect the planet through more eco-conscious fashion choices. This blog details the ways in which individuals can avoid trends that are detrimental to the environment like “fast fashion” and make more earth-friendly decisions such as opting for recycled clothing, shopping locally, or purchasing sustainable fabrics to create a healthier planet for the future. Photo credit: TreeSisters

26 08, 2017

Commentary: Dams Are A Women’s Issue

2017-10-31T15:23:47-04:00Tags: |

Monti Aguirre, the Latin America Program Coordinator at International Rivers and a tireless supporter of people impacted by the Chixoy Dam in Guatemala, shares stories about the inspirational women she has met during her career fighting against mega-dams. For example, Nicolasa Quintreman, a Pehuenche Indigenous woman from Chile, fought for years against the Ralco Dam (backed by energy giant Endesa) and still stands strong even after being forced to relocate. Lupita Lara led her community’s resistance to the Arcediano Dam near Guadalajara City, Mexico with steadfast resolve. Due to women’s integral role as community leaders, organizations like Asprocig, the organization of downstream communities affected by the Urra Dam in Colombia, have found that elevating women in post-relocation trauma recovery programs has far-reaching impacts.

26 08, 2017

Mainstreaming Gender In Water Resource Management

2017-08-26T11:18:30-04:00Tags: |

Joke Muylwijk, executive director of the Gender and Water Alliance, explains the importance of mainstreaming gender in all levels of water resource management, from international policy-making to local governance. The Gender and Water Alliance brings member networks together to bridge the gap between decision-makers and water users so that the deep knowledge and experiences of women, Indigenous people, small-holder farmers and fisherfolk are centered in policy solutions. Water is life! is a slogan found in many communities the world over, and water remains one of the most important sites of ‘material contestation’ worldwide. Photo Credit: Gender and Water Alliance

26 08, 2017

In South Asian Slums, Women Face The Consequences Of Climate Change

2017-10-26T00:14:41-04:00Tags: |

Research by the Urban Institute quantifies how poor women in South Asia feel the impacts of climate change. Torrential rain and poor drainage contribute to the proliferation of disease, overwhelming women with more domestic work and sleep deprivation; not only that, but floods prevented women and men from working, leading to economic insecurity, alcoholism and domestic abuse. Climate change affects different aspects of women’s lives: their financial security, their marriage, and their physical well-being. Photo credit: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images.

25 08, 2017

Las Mujeres Somos Agua (Women Are Water)

2017-10-25T22:43:23-04:00Tags: |

In Latin America, where 37 million people suffer from water insecurity, grassroots women are taking initiative against government inaction and industrial pollution to gain access to clean drinking water. In Pirané, Argentina, Nelly Alcaraz, Candida Fernández, and Analía Alcaraz of Equipo de Mujeres del Movimiento Campesino de Formosa are fighting water quality issues and toxic health impacts from agrochemical spraying. In Yacuíba, Bolivia, Julia Suárez, Modesta Medina Romero, and Aquilina Pereyra of Asamblea del Pueblo Guaraní de Yaku-Igua represent the Guarani people against the environmental destruction caused by the Gran Chaco Liquid Segregation Plant. Lina López of Organización de Mujeres Mismo Indígena and Enriqueta Chávez of Organización de Mujeres Guaraní de Macharety support a coalition of over 400 women across Presidente Hayes and Boquerón in Paraguay, where severe droughts and flooding have led to crop loss, tuberculosis, and poor standards of living. Photo credit: Fondo de Mujeres Del Sur

25 08, 2017

Why It’s Still Important To Talk About Diversity In The Renewables Industry

2018-08-24T17:17:23-04:00Tags: |

Women and people of color make-up a low percentage of workers in the renewable energy industry. Though minorities can be found, they are primarily concentrated in administration, engineering, and technical departments. To increase the amount of women in the industry, Kristen Graf, the Executive Director of Women of Wind Energy founded Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE). She is determined to increase the number of women in the renewable energy field by supporting educational and training opportunities for women. Poor workplace diversity is not unique to the clean energy field, but is also seen throughout the green movement. It’s clear more work needs must be done to increase accessibility, inclusion, and equity in environmental fields to develop a diversified labor pool. Photo Credit: Grid Alternatives

21 08, 2017

Rural Women Speak Out Against Food Input Subsidy Programme In The SADC Region

2017-10-19T22:47:08-04:00Tags: |

Women from nine countries in Southern Africa united at a gathering of the Rural Women’s Assembly to speak out regarding challenges they are facing as women farmers, as their countries seek to instate Farmer Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs), which encourage industrial and chemical farming inputs, including use of GMOs. Women shared their concerns around forced loss of Indigenous seed varieties, and the violent impact of fertilizers and pesticides on lands, waters, and identities and lifeways—and laid down demands to their governments to right continuing injustices against rural women and the land. Photo credit: Rural Women’s Assembly

15 08, 2017

Biomimicry: Imitating Nature

2017-10-31T16:37:10-04:00Tags: |

On the podcast Mrs. Green World, Nicole Miller discusses the concept of biomimicry, which is emulating nature's time-tested patterns and strategies in order to find sustainable ways to approach human challenges. Nicole is the Managing Director of Biomimicry 3.8, the leading organization in the world in biomimicry innovation consulting and professional training. Biomimicry 3.8, so-named due to the natural intelligence accumulated on Earth in 3.8 billion years of evolution, was founded by two women, Janine Benyus and Dr. Dayana Baumeister. Photo credit: mrsgreenworld.come

9 08, 2017

Indigenous Women: Defending The Environment In Latin America

2017-10-12T14:18:06-04:00Tags: |

This article describes the successes of Indigenous peoples across in Latin America. Since the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, this article recognizes the strong leadership of Indigenous women who have stood at the front lines of many of these achievements and celebrate the Indigenous communities that have defended their lands from mega-dam and mining projects. However, it also highlights that despite this progress, Indigenous people must still fight to protect their rights, their lands, and their cultures. Photo credit: UNDESA-DSPD/Jimmy Kruglinski  

6 08, 2017

Women Build Capacity To Bring A Strong Pacific Voice To COP23 Negotiations In Bonn, Germany

2017-12-06T14:31:37-05:00Tags: |

In advance of the United Nations Framework COnvention on Climate Change COP23 in Germany, held under the Presidential leadership of Fiji, women leaders of the Pacific region gathered in Suva, Fiji to build capacities and strengthen collective demands for the 2017 climate talks. The Women’s Environment and Development Organization provides a report back and resources.

4 08, 2017

The Sophia Century: When Women Come Into Co-Equal Partnership

2017-09-06T21:30:54-04:00Tags: |

WECAN co-founder and director Osprey Orielle Lake, Amazon Watch executive director Leila Salazar, and renowned activist Lynne Twist are frontline movement leaders and educators on the interdependent rights of women and the environment. Discussing the The Sophia Century, a vision of a world where women come into co-equal and balanced partnership with men, — these climate justice voices are educating on how rising global women-led movements are enacting this vision. At the center of this narrative is how women worldwide are the most disproportionately affected by climate change while at the same time being the agents of solutions to the climate crisis. Photo credit: prx.org

3 08, 2017

Eryn Wise On Why Feminism And Fighting For The Planet Go Hand In Hand

2017-10-14T15:43:10-04:00Tags: |

In this interview we meet Eryn Wise, 26, a young two-spirit (LGBTQ) Native American leader who's been on the front lines of the Dakota Access pipeline protests since last year. She is Jicarilla Apache and Laguna Pueblo, an organizer for Honor the Earth, and the media coordinator for the International Indigenous Youth Council and Sacred Stone Camp. She grew up in Dulce, New Mexico. She explains the connection between environmental activism, being a feminist, and the Obama administration’s treatment of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Photo credit: Eryn Wise/Facebook

3 08, 2017

The Connection Between Women And Water

2017-09-03T21:07:29-04:00Tags: |

This article conveys the inspirational story of how one project, Water Bearers, initiated and led by women, is connecting both men and women around the same element that is the source of life for us all: water. Water Bearers strives to motivate women fortunate enough to have access to clean water to train the less fortunate, such as the Kichwa people of Yasuni National Park. Photo credit: Uplift

3 08, 2017

Saluting Women Water Warriors

2017-08-26T12:38:38-04:00Tags: |

When it comes to decision-making around water resources, women are seldom at the table - but Latha Anantha (India), Betty Obbo (Uganda) and Pai Detees (Thailand) are working to change that. Anantha leads the River Research Center, mapping ecosystems and educating children to protect biodiversity in regions like the Western Ghats. Obbo of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists succeeded in delaying the construction of the Bujagali Dam for 18 years, and is researching how to help impacted communities file grievances when their rights are violated. Pai Detees, of International Rivers, helped pioneer community research methodologies at the South East Asia Rivers Network, amplifying the voices of women water users into national and international policy. These three stories weave together the beauty and possibilities of women’s advocacy, resistance and leadership for water justice. Photo credit: Glenn Switkes

1 08, 2017

Feminism, Forests And Food Security

2017-11-01T03:20:28-04:00Tags: |

At the forty-fourth Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS-44), the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation organized a side event to address the links between "Feminism, Forests and Food Security." Gender equality is a crucial component of sustainable forest management and food security, a point elegantly made by Marlène Elias, Gender Research Coordinator of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, and Gender Specialist at Biodiversity International. The event also addressed the critical role rural women play in conserving biodiversity and natural resources, despite the unique challenges they face, such as lack of access to technology and credit. Photo credit: Juan Carlos Huayllapuma/CIFOR

1 08, 2017

La Via Campesina Peasants Initiate Debate On Gender And Sexual Orientation Diversity In The Movement

2017-11-01T00:49:38-04:00Tags: |

La Via Campesina is opening dialogue within its network to discussing how people in rural areas are targeted due to different sexual orientation that the heteronormative one. This LGBTQ self-organized event took place during the VII International Conference in the Basque Country, Spain, and presented an important first step for the network to consider this intersectional issue in its official political agenda and actions. Some member-organizations from La Via Campesina already fight for LGBTQ rights internally as well, such as the Landless Movement of Brazil (MST), the Sindicato Labrego Galego (SLG), and the European Coordination Via Campesina. Photo credit: La Vía Campesina

29 07, 2017

Gender Into Urban Climate Change Initiative

2017-10-29T01:04:47-04:00Tags: |

Is the climate policy of your city genderproof? There is a triangular relationship between climate change, gender and cities. GenderCC launched the Gender into Urban Climate Change Initiative at the 2015 COP21 climate negotiations, with Johannesburg, Makassar, and Delhi meetings held since then to organize and empower women around the links between climate change, gender and cities. Photo credit: gender cc

28 07, 2017

A Self-Care Guide To Helping The Planet

2017-10-28T22:23:33-04:00Tags: |

"Activist burnout" is a real phenomenon and can happen to those people who are passionate about an issue and sometimes, when tired, question the reason they are activists. Taking time for yourself, listening to yourself, focusing on hope, being around supportive friends, and knowing your limits are a few of the tips the article gives to people who need an extra push to continue their actions to help the planet. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

27 07, 2017

Female Equality Is Vital To Climate Policy And Future Sustainability

2017-10-27T15:14:59-04:00Tags: |

H. Patricia Hynes, a former environmental engineer and now-professor of environmental health, argues in this piece, published by Truthdig, that we cannot achieve sustainability goals without simultaneously guaranteeing the rights of women and girls worldwide. Hynes examines several climate and natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina in the United States and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, to demonstrate how women and girls become primary victims of climate change and argues the need for elevating the rights of women to avoid this phenomena. She presents in the piece several proven women-centered practices that elevate and empower women and mitigate impacts of climate change. Photo credit: Adam Jones

26 07, 2017

1 Million Women Advocates For Zero Waste Periods Worldwide

2017-10-26T23:01:58-04:00Tags: |

Maria Nguyen created this informative piece for 1 Million Women to advocate that women shift toward environmentally sustainable feminine hygiene products like menstrual cups and reusable pads. It takes about 500-800 years for plastic wrappings and tampon applicators to degrade in a landfill and over the course of a lifetime, the average woman who uses single-use products will discard over 11,000 tampons or pads. Moving away from single-use products would have a profound impact on the amount of waste an individual generates in her lifetime. The blog serves as a resource for women who require information on the issue of feminine product waste and how individuals can make more sustainable choices. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

23 07, 2017

Gloria Ushigua From The Sapara Tribe Of Ecuador Speaks In Oakland

2018-01-23T17:35:01-05:00Tags: |

During an event organized in honor of Ms. Ushigua from the Sapara Nation in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Indigenous women from Ecuador and the United States gathered to make their voices heard against the destruction of Mother Earth. Ms. Ushigua presented on the problems that her tribe is facing as their territory is covered by oil blocks and the oil is extracted for export to China. She discussed how, when her tribe was informed about the drilling plans, five Sapara women protested the destruction of their land and prevented the planes from landing in their territory. Gloria points out how Indigenous women in her area are victims of violence every time they fight for their land and rights, and shares thoughts on exactly why it is so important for her and her community to be part of the Indigenous Women of the Americas Defending Mother Earth Treaty, which was written by and for Indigenous women leaders of North and South America, uniting to defend their land and lives. Photo credit: Nanette Bradley Deetz

17 07, 2017

Rural Women’s Assembly Raises Key Issues On Exploitation Of Land, Power, Control Over Seeds

2017-10-16T18:00:53-04:00Tags: |

The Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) of Southern Africa held its 3rd annual feminist school under the theme “Land, Seeds and Labor: Women Hold More Than Half the Sky.” The space offered the women an opportunity for critical engagement around how power works and interacts within the economic, social, political, religious and cultural spaces to structurally deny women their rights over natural resources such as land and seeds. Feminism grounded in the specific realities of rural women of Africa is a revolutionary tool to raise consciousness and to help organize in dismantling patriarchal capitalism. Photo credit: Rural Women’s Assembly

15 07, 2017

Women Climate Defenders – Video

2017-12-15T14:20:04-05:00Tags: |

Global women’s rights organization, MADRE, participated in the People’s Climate March in Washington D.C., bringing together Indigenous and frontline women from across the world to ensure their voices are heard, and to highlight the disproportionate impacts of climate change felt by women. Amongst the Women Climate Defenders who marched with MADRE were Winnie Kodi (Sudan), Lucy Mulenkei (Kenya), Martha Ntoipo (Tanzania), and Alina Saba (Nepal), alongside Yifat Susskind, MADRE’s executive director, and Diana Duarte, MADRE’s policy and communications director.

12 07, 2017

World Indigenous Women Fight Climate Change at COP21

2017-09-22T10:05:49-04:00Tags: |

Indigenous women from around the world united at the International Indigenous Women's Day at the COP21 climate talks to demonstrate their central role in the battle against climate change. While Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka praised the draft climate agreement for shifting from being "gender-blind" to one that includes "gender references," including a controversial section on climate finance, the women also recognized that the text required more work to strengthen Indigenous rights. Grace Balawag of the Indigenous Peoples' International Center for Policy Research and Education discussed how the draft supports respecting the knowledge and traditions of Indigenous peoples (IPs) in adaptation to climate change; however, this part is left out in terms of mitigation and loss and damage. Photo credit: Fritzie Rodriguez/Rappler  

8 07, 2017

Waste Water Is A She

2017-09-21T16:22:07-04:00Tags: |

Key players in the global climate change debate often reduce water to a gender-neutral status. However, if one digs deeper one finds that there is an intrinsic link between women and daily water management, and it is women that are most impacted by lack of wastewater treatment. UNESCO’s World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) and the gender task force propose indicators disaggregated by sex to analyze the wastewater treatment gender gap.

3 07, 2017

Why Co-ops Matter For Women Around The World

2017-10-14T16:39:00-04:00Tags: |

Women in countries including Guatemala (Angelita Paz Cardona), East Timor (Abelina dos Santos), and Senegal (Khady Ciss) are taking the lead in their communities to work towards resiliency by starting and managing co-op businesses. These co-ops, including many farming and food services, help increase women’s economic participation and leadership, while also creating more sustainable models of local production and consumption. Photo credit: NCBA International  

2 07, 2017

How Being In Nature Makes Us Appreciate Our Bodies And Reject Unrealistic Beauty Standards

2017-10-28T14:13:31-04:00Tags: |

Viren Swami writes how being in a green space is good for mental health and increases happiness. Swami researched in order to test this theory with more than 400 American adults, focusing on body appreciation and its relation to being exposed to nature. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

1 07, 2017

The Solution For Reversing Global Warming Is Educating Girls And Family Planning

2017-11-01T23:01:02-04:00Tags: |

Salon Magazine speaks with Dr. Paul Hawken of Project Drawdown, who set out with a renowned international team to calculate out the most impactful, tangible climate solutions - and was surprised to discover that educating girls and empowering women is cumulatively the #1 most impactful global climate change solution.

1 07, 2017

Yes To The People’s Movement: Naomi Klein

2017-10-27T19:59:10-04:00Tags: |

Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything and No Is Not Enough, speaks with the Laura Flanders Show about her latest book, which explores the depth of the capitalist crisis, what it means for the Earth and global communities, and how movements of resistance and change can continue to take hold and change the global story of wealth and exploitation. Photo credit: Laura Flanders Show

28 06, 2017

Aditi Brennan Kapil, Playwright

2017-10-27T21:12:26-04:00Tags: |

This video by the UNFCCC Climate Action Studio shows Aditi Brennan Kapil, a playwright, during COP22 in Morocco. Kapil, a storyteller, talks about the importance of connecting art to climate action and making the stories about climate change impacts engaging for people all over the world. Photo credit: UNFCCC Climate Action Studio

27 06, 2017

Gender Equality For Successful National Climate Action

2017-10-23T22:02:44-04:00Tags: |

In this blogpost, Verania Chao, a Policy Specialist for Environment and Climate Change within the Gender Team at the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support at UNDP, argues for centering gender in climate change policy. The gendered barriers women face to not only add to women’s daily labor, but also increase the cost of managing the impacts of climate change.The dearth of gender-specific approaches and limited gender disaggregated data in major climate policies is one of the main obstacles to overcome to implement sound and just climate policy. Photo credit: Shashank Jayaprasad

27 06, 2017

Regional Gathering Of Defenders Of Land, Territory And Environment

2017-10-27T00:56:41-04:00Tags: |

Defenders of land, territory and environment, primarily women, from the Andean Region and the Latin American South gathered in Mexico City to scrutinize the context of violence in the region. Earth defenders in the region are a target of increasing violence, from both state and non-state actors, and imprisonment with little to no recognition of their rights. The culture of violence and discrimination against women and gender mandates reduce their authority and value of their work. A pact was made to ensure the protection of these women within their movements, to recognize and promote their work, to promote political formation for both genders and to foster their ownership of land. Photo credit: IM-Defensoras

26 06, 2017

Rising Voices: Collaborative Science With Indigenous Knowledge For Climate Solutions

2017-10-26T16:43:46-04:00Tags: |

Suzanne Benally (Navajo/Santa Clara Tewa), Jannie Staffansson (Saami), Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim (Mbororo) and Berenice Sanchez (Nahuatl/Otomi) share reflections and lessons from the ‘Pathways from Science to Action’ gathering, during which over 130 Indigenous leaders from across the world united to discuss how Indigenous, place-based science and knowledge can work in collaboration with western science to build impactful solutions to the climate crisis. Photo credit: Cultural Survival

26 06, 2017

Why Women Are More Likely Than Men To Die In Natural Disasters

2017-12-26T16:35:53-05:00Tags: |

Natural catastrophes affect men and women in different manners. According to research, women are more likely to face multiple challenges based on their gender due to several causes, such as the lack of safe spaces in relief centers. In addition, reports document how in countries where the socioeconomic status is low, more women die in natural disasters than men.  Photo-credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images, NOAA

26 06, 2017

Life On The Front Line Of Climate Change For Fiji’s Women And Girls

2017-12-26T16:33:16-05:00Tags: |

In this article, several powerful women from Fiji describe the negative impacts of climate change on there communities, where high-intensity cyclones and flooding are becoming increasingly common. Marica Kepa explains that women are more likely to become victims of gender-based violence during cyclones due to lack of privacy and proper lighting. Fijian women farmers speak on how storms have wiped out their farms and created severe losses. Finally, Sesarina Naliku speaks on how women vendors are trying to fight against climate change impacts through savings which will be used in the case of upcoming disasters. Photo-credit: Sonia Narang

16 06, 2017

Rivers As Persons: What It Means To Give Legal Rights To Nature

2023-02-05T22:51:27-05:00Tags: |

This podcast, hosted by the Director of the Victoria Law Foundation Lynne Haultain, explains what it means to give legal rights to nature and how this is demonstrated by recent legislative developments (in New Zealand, India, and other countries) that grant rivers legal personhood. The podcast features environmental law researcher Dr. Erin O’Donnell and economist Julia Talbot-Jones, who discuss the complexities of the Rights of Nature movement and its demands. Ultimately, they claim, rights of nature creates a framework for protecting the environment and natural resources under the law. 

14 06, 2017

The Future Of Work: Consider The Changing Climate

2020-10-23T22:30:08-04:00Tags: |

Juliet B. Schor is a professor of sociology at Boston College who in this article weighs in on the most consequential changes in the future workplace. Whilst conversations about the future of work are mostly about machines, she claims that an analysis of the context must include consideration of climate change because it promises to be extremely disruptive. However, an apocalyptic future is not our only option. Her studies show that countries with higher average annual hours of work have higher carbon emissions, and the opposite is also true. “If we could open our imaginations to a society in which good jobs did not come with killer schedules, we’d reap many benefits” - she claims. In addition to reducing carbon pollution, both men and women could achieve “work/family balance”, have time for hobbies and participate in political life. Photo credit: Tatiana Grozetskaya/Shutterstock

14 06, 2017

Renewable Energy Projects Are Uplifting Maasai Women

2017-11-14T21:46:11-05:00Tags: |

Maasai women are at the forefront of their villages’ new use of renewable energy from solar panels and clean cookstoves, changing their traditional domestic roles and empowering themselves as community leaders. The Maasai villages are marginalized nomadic tribes located in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. An international collaboration called Maasai Stoves and Solar Project introduced the idea of new and clean energy for the stoves through solar panels, training women to be in charge of this transition and new installations. Kisioki Moitiko, the manager for the project in Tanzania, explains how the groups of women work and that each group chooses their own leaders; for example, Leah Laiza manages the workflow for her group, and Esupat Loseku is in charge of installing the new stoves and solar panels with her group. These efforts have diminished air pollution and improved people’s health. Men of the community, who used to guard their cattle from wild animals at night, can light the enclosures at night instead of standing watch, enabling them to spend more time at home with their families. Photo credit: Christabel Ligami

14 06, 2017

World Employment And Social Outlook: Trends For Women 2017

2017-09-25T08:28:35-04:00Tags: |

The report "World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends for Women 2017" was published in 2017 by the International Labor Organization (ILO), specifically by the Labor Market Trends and Policy Evaluation Unit of the ILO Research Department in Geneva, Switzerland. The report analyzes the labor trends and gender gaps in the global market. The socioeconomic barriers that women face everywhere in the world and the gender norms established by society are aspects considered by the report in terms of female labor force participation. It takes into account the differences between women living in urban areas and in rural areas, and concludes that having equal rights in the workforce would improve individual welfare. Photo credit: AWID  

12 06, 2017

Indigenous Women And Science: First Voices And Climate Change

2017-10-18T11:23:25-04:00Tags: |

This article details the contributions Indigenous knowledge systems have made to understanding the Earth and the changing times we are living in. For example, the Nunavut women of Canada use knowledge systems and ecological resource management systems in response to the melting Arctic. Meanwhile in the Laramate district of Peru, the organisation Centro de Culturas Indígenas del Perú (CHIRAPAQ) implemented a crop cultivation programme for Indigenous women to improve food security using Indigenous knowledge. In the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, Indigenous women used traditional bee-keeping methods to sustainably produce more honey each year. Photo credit: Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo

10 06, 2017

Two Poems On What It’s Like To Live With Ebola, Climate Change

2017-09-06T21:48:13-04:00Tags: |

Marshall Island resident Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner and Liberian business-owner Patrice Juah are fighting Ebola with the power of poetry. The Pacific Islands and Africa are grappling with the particularly grave effects of climate change: menacing droughts, flooding, and rising sea levels are displacing communities. Jetnil-Kijiner and Juah’s verses express both difficulty and resistance to the crises at hand. Addressing her baby daughter, Jetnil-Kijner’s writes “they say you, your daughter and your granddaughter, too will wander rootless with only a passport to call home…dear matefele peinam, don’t cry…because baby we are going to fight.” Photo credit: Larisa Epatko/PBS NewsHour

5 06, 2017

Poem: For The Mamas On The Frontlines

2017-09-05T22:55:49-04:00Tags: |

Helen Knott is turning her daily activism into rhythmic pros in honor of the mamas on the frontlines of our interconnected struggles. Knott performed the lines “if mamas don’t fight for the children, then who will?” while reciting her poem at the 2017 Nobel Women’s Initiative conference. Drawing on the links between defending water and lands from patriarchal laws, Knott nods at women’s role in the climate justice movement while speaking truth to power across all stripes of social and political spectrums. Photo credit: openDemocracy 50.50

1 06, 2017

Helena Norberg-Hodge: Society Should Shape Business – Not The Other Way Round

2017-11-01T11:09:11-04:00Tags: |

Helena Norberg-Hodge, founder of organizations such as Local Futures and the Global Ecovillage Network,  is a vocal global advocate for localization of economies to truly meet the needs of people and planet. She demands a world that values wellness and sustainability over profit, a term she has coined ‘the economics of happiness’. This Guardian article profiles her life and invaluable contributions to movements for new economy, sustainable living, wellbeing and a just transition to renewable systems.

1 06, 2017

Rainforest Action Network Shares The Truth About Banks And Oil Pipelines

2017-11-01T03:29:06-04:00Tags: |

Lindsey Allen, the Executive Director of the Rainforest Action Network and woman climate leader, explains how RAN has exposed the list of banks that are financing the Keystone Pipeline, a project that would mean game over for the climate if built. Allen urges us to push banks to refrain from supporting such destructive projects, a strategy that proved effective in the Dakota Access Pipeline fight. Photo credit: CREDO Mobile

31 05, 2017

[H2opeful Women] GWWI East Africa Training Team Take On The World!

2017-10-31T22:51:26-04:00Tags: |

Godliver Businge, Comfort Mukasa and Rose Wamalwa are leaders in the Global Women's Water Initiative's training program. Because of their work implementing clean water systems in their communities, they have been crucial mentors to newer participants in the program and have shared their experience around the world. For example, Businge has spoken to audiences at Stanford University and the African Food and Peace Foundation about her pioneering work in renewable sanitation technology implementation in her community. Photo credit: Global Women's Water Initiative

30 05, 2017

To Save The World’s Forests, Protect Women’s Land Rights

2018-10-17T18:10:13-04:00Tags: |

Solange Bandiaky-Badji, the head of Gender Justice and Africa Programs at the Rights and Resources Initiative, comments on how Indigenous and rural women from low-to-middle income countries suffer from weak enforcement of land tenure security - and how this fails to meet international standards for fighting climate change and women’s rights. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, special rapporteur for Indigenous rights for the United Nations, states how land rights are essential for women’s security, well-being and presence at decision-making processes for resistance, resilience and development of their communities. Photo Credit: Joel Redman 

30 05, 2017

Creative Resistance: Meet The Women Challenging Extractivism And Patriarchy

2017-10-30T03:31:09-04:00Tags: |

Globally, the killings of environmental rights defenders is growing at an alarming rate. In 2015 alone, of the 156 killings investigated by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, 45% were those of land, indigenous and environmental rights. Inna Michaeli and Semanur Karaman, of the Association for Women in Development, write about the grassroots resistance of women like Havva Ana, a forest protector from Turkey. Bonita Meyersfeld, professor of law at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, argues that development projects are only successful if the economnic benefits are reinvested in communities. Photo credit: Gabby de Cicco

30 05, 2017

Lessons From Farmers And Indigenous Women: Cultivate Democracy

2017-10-30T03:29:22-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Jennifer Allsopp reports on the second day of the 2017 Nobel Women’s Initiative gathering in Dusseldorf, Germany, opening with inspiring words from Helen Knott, a human rights activist from the Prophet River First Nation in Canada. Knott and fellow activists Khadijeh Moghaddam (Iran), Julienne Lusenge (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Yanar Mohammed (Iraq), Veronica Kelly (Ireland) and Mariama Songo (Senegal) spoke about how Indigenous knowledge and intergenerational movements help communities fight climate change and live sustainably. Photo credit: USOFORAL

27 05, 2017

An Architect Of The Paris Climate Agreement Isn’t Losing Sleep Over Trump Pull-Out

2017-10-27T15:42:51-04:00Tags: |

In this interview, Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, shares her perspective on the United States’ pull-out of the Paris Agreement, the economic opportunity of decarbonization, and China’s clean energy leadership. Despite President Trump’s mistaken message on clean energy job creation and unwillingness to work with the international community, Figueres illustrates how initiatives ranging from renewable energies to carbon markets in countries like China are creating millions of jobs, cleaner air, and competitive economies. Photo credit: Quartz

27 05, 2017

Who Are The Women Leading The Fight Against Climate Change?

2017-10-27T15:39:26-04:00Tags: |

Following on the momentum of the People’s Climate March, women leaders gathered at a Women's Earth and Climate Action Network event to discuss their strides at the forefront of the climate justice movement. For example, indigenous leaders Cherri Foytlin of Bold Louisiana and Faith Gemmill of RedOil shared the impact of climate change and extractive industries on their native lands and ways of life. Leaders like Leila Salazar-López of Amazon Watch and Sally Jewell Coxe of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative focus their efforts on protecting the Amazon and Congo Basin rainforest ecosystems, home to rich biological diversity and serving as “the lungs of earth.” Photo credit: WECAN International

27 05, 2017

Rethinking Women Activists’ Safety At A Time Of Escalating Risk

2017-10-27T00:48:43-04:00Tags: |

An ever-increasing number of women activists are targeted due to their functions as advocates against all sorts of abuse. Because of that, the organization JASS and its partners have been trying to develop a different approach to guidelines for the safety of activists, one based on a feminist perspective. The Mesoamerican Women Human Rights Defenders Initiative has been informed by dialogues that take place in a plural environment, with the participation of organizations, activists, donors, the United Nations, etc. The idea is to provide insights and come to conclusions as to how to diminish the dangers these women are exposed to when confronting powerful interests. Photo credit: JASS Just Associates

26 05, 2017

Unlocking The Power And Potential Of Indigenous And Rural Women

2017-10-26T22:39:37-04:00Tags: |

Indigenous and rural women make up more than half of the 2.5 billion people who use their lands, but they are still absent from discussions of women’s property rights. Only when women have equal rights and opportunities, their communities and Lands can benefit. This new report provides an unprecedented assessment of multiple legal frameworks regulating Indigenous and rural women’s community forest rights. Photo credit: If Not Us Then Who?

26 05, 2017

Reports Highlight Women, Indigenous Peoples’ Role In Climate Action

2017-10-26T17:28:03-04:00Tags: |

UN Women with the Green Climate Fund has published a guidebook on gender mainstreaming, a brief on the role of women in climate change adaptation based on the Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation Program, and a report on decent work for Indigenous peoples. These publications underline the importance of women and Indigenous peoples in addressing and fighting climate change, and connect the role of Indigenous peoples to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The reports call for Indigenous peoples as well as Indigenous women to be seen as agents of change and be able to participate in the development of climate change measures as they constitute a particularly vulnerable population. Photo credit: UN Photo/Marco Dormino

13 05, 2017

Study Reveals Gender Gap In Tanzania, Uganda Climate Policies

2017-10-19T23:14:14-04:00Tags: |

Uganda and Tanzania are actively working to integrate gender into their climate action policies. While this fact is laudable, analysis of these two countries’ national and local policies have found some gaps, specifically in the ways that women’s experiences are being stereotyped as well as the erasure of their agency. In addition to this, while a lot of the policy proposals are laudable, the reality on the ground is much more complex with regard to implementation as there remains little to no budgetary allocation for the work. Photo credit: Hudson Apunyo/ Reuters

12 05, 2017

Celebrating Strong Mothers: A Photo Essay Of Mothers Affected By Climate Change

2017-10-25T22:36:13-04:00Tags: |

Climate change is ushering in an era of droughts, which exacerbate famine and armed conflict in eastern Africa. Mothers are now struggling to keep themselves and their children alive. In this photo essay, Oxfam celebrates a few of these incredible survivors, but also exposes the day-to-day battles they must face. Striking photography and compelling narratives give us a glimpse into the lives of these mothers. Photo credit: Petterik Wiggers/Oxfam

7 05, 2017

Interview With Anna Peters: Federation Of Young European Greens

2020-11-07T17:44:13-05:00Tags: |

In this short video (1:12), Anna Peters recalls how she started getting involved in activism at a young age (13 y.o.) by demonstrating against nuclear power plants because she felt strongly about the danger of nuclear power. Fuelled by a desire to do something and take action, she eventually joined the Federation of Young European Greens, which is an umbrella organisation encompassing 36 Young Green organisations from across the European continent. FYEG promotes capacity building, networking, political meetings; runs campaigns at street level and lobbies the European institutions on Green issues. Anna advocates the importance of showing initiative and act for what matters to one’s heart. The act of getting out there to do something and change things little by little can be empowering, especially for young women when they supported by mature people, family and friends. Photo Credit: Video Screen Capture

3 05, 2017

View: Women, Climate, Jobs And Justice

2017-10-31T19:57:34-04:00Tags: |

The April 29, 2017, People’s Climate March was billed as a mobilization for ‘climate, justice and jobs.’ In the lead-up to the march, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization argues that in transitioning to a renewable energy economy, we should also transform the gendered nature of economic labor to promote equity in the workplace. With the use of charts, they showcase the opportunity we have to increase women’s leadership and participation in the new energy economy.

2 05, 2017

Female Eco-Activists Live in ‘Constant State of Fear’ in Latin America

2021-01-27T20:47:45-05:00Tags: |

This article addresses the issue of violence against female eco-activists in Latin America (intimidation, threats, illegal detention). We read about the scale of the issue, with Honduran activist Berta Cáceres, assassinated in March 2016 for campaigning against plans to build hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River (in which the Honduran government was implicated). And 41-y.o. Evani Lisboa, coordinator of the Biological Reserve of Gurupi (Brazil), responsible for protecting the area from illegal logging or wildlife poaching, and constantly threatened by criminal organisations attempting to exploit the reserve’s resources. And Valeria Brabata, Global Fund for Women’s program director for Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights, who tries to help through financing, advocacy and networking for grassroots organisations. A note of hope with young activist Itandehury Castaneda (30), who co-produced a documentary with Carolina Corral La Battaa de la Cacerolas to tell the stories of Mexican women taking a stand for nature. Photo Credit: ATP Orlando Sierra

2 05, 2017

Women In The World Climate Talks: Building A Cohort Of Champions

2017-09-24T18:44:45-04:00Tags: |

For years the UNFCCC treated the impacts of climate change as gender neutral but due to women’s fierce activism inside and outside of the negotiating halls, the gender-specific ways in which women are impacted gained traction. One of the most important political blocs in the UNFCCC, the group of least developed countries (LDCs) have taken incredible steps over the last few years to ensure that the representation of women negotiators within its own ranks increases and that their overall advocacy work at the climate negotiations speaks to the multiple and intersecting ways that women in their countries are affected by climate change. Photo credit: IISD/ENB/Kiara Worth

1 05, 2017

How Sustainability Education Could Cure The Crisis Of Overconsumption

2017-10-28T14:05:52-04:00Tags: |

This 1 Million Women article, written by U.S. student Andie Mitchel, points to sustainability in school as a well to teach children about the many issues involved in overconsuming. It provides ideas on how to make less waste and have a more sustainable routine, and how to deal with the current economic system and the social pressures.

1 05, 2017

Standing Against The Banks: DAPL Divestment And Water Protectors’ Fight For Justice, Indigenous Rights, Water And Life

2017-11-01T05:00:19-04:00Tags: |

Michelle Cook, a Dine/Navajo human rights lawyer and founding member of the Water Protector Legal Collective at Standing Rock, and Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network, share an in-depth analysis on the need for Indigenous-women led movements to push policymakers and financial institutions to divest funding from fossil fuel extraction projects across Indigenous territories and around the world, drawing on their experiences in Europe during the Spring 2017 Indigenous Women’s Divestment Delegation to Norway and Switzerland.

28 04, 2017

Legal Rights Of Pacific Ocean Pushed Forward

2017-10-28T23:12:33-04:00Tags: |

The Pacific Ocean is the most populated ocean on the planet, and the Pacific states are culturally and economically dependent upon the sustainability of their marine environment. One of the voluntary commitments undertaken at the 2017 United Nations Ocean Conference was to accord the Pacific Ocean the same protective legal rights as individuals now enjoy. Granting legal rights to the Pacific Ocean allows lawsuits to be filed on behalf of ecosystems. Practically, this would, by 2020, allow the filing of lawsuits on behalf of ecosystems and this means that there will no longer be a requirement to demonstrate personal human injury to protect and restore the ecosystems' health. Scientific communities and NGOs are expected to advocate the initiative. Photo credit: Panos

28 04, 2017

Meet The Globetrotting Cyclist Collecting 1,001 Climate Change Stories

2017-10-31T16:47:43-04:00Tags: |

Some cycle for exercise and others bike to work, but 24-year-old Devi Lockwood is a woman who cycles to collect voice recordings of stories about climate change and water from across the globe. Her journey began at the 2014 People’s Climate March in New York City where she collected stories from the 400,000-person march for climate justice. Since then, she has collected more than 600 recordings throughout 11 countries ranging from the United States, Cambodia, and Morocco, contributing to the trend of women-led climate education. Lockwood is aiming to reach 1,001 stories, all of which can be found on her 1001 Stories website. Photo credit: Carolyn Studer

27 04, 2017

Victoria Tauli Corpuz: “The Dominant Economic Paradigms Are At Odds With The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples”

2017-10-31T20:35:48-04:00Tags: |

Victoria Tauli Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and former Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, advocates for the engagement of Indigenous women in climate action. While speaking to UN Women, she gave numerous examples of how Indigenous women actively participate in climate action. For instance, Maasai women in Kenya, Amazonian women in Peru, and Indigenous women of Cordillera region of Philippines have adopted new strategies in both risk reduction and disaster response. Photo credit: UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

26 04, 2017

AWID Report Reveals The Gender-Specific Risks Women Human Rights Defenders Face

2017-10-26T23:22:07-04:00Tags: |

Building off of findings from the report, “Women Human Rights Defenders Confronting Extractive Industries,” the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) outlines the gender-specific barriers Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) encounter when they defend their land and communities from extractive industries and environmental degradation. Testimonials from the women illustrate their individual experiences. In this post, AWID also emphasizes the inseparable link between extractive models of development and risks and threats WHRDs face worldwide. Photo credit: ACDI/Katalina Morales

26 04, 2017

Earth Day Prophecy: Women Rising Up In Fight Against Climate Chaos

2017-10-26T17:26:08-04:00Tags: |

Nowadays, there are more women in leadership positions at environmental and non-governmental organizations than in the past. Indigenous women who are leading the global resistance against development projects throughout the Americas continue to be underrepresented in the nonprofit sector, though many grassroots women are changing the system from outside-in. Take for example Lakota teen Jasilyn Charger who started a tiny prayer camp that ignited the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance movement, or women like Saik’uz First Nation Chief Jackie Thomas and the largely female Yinca Dene Alliance leading the Northern Gateway pipeline campaign. Furthermore, Valine Crist (Hada Gwaii) and Melina Massimo-Laboucan (Lubicon Cree) have both spearheaded renewable energy projects in their communities. Photo credit: Christian Aslund/Greenpeace

26 04, 2017

Indigenous Women: The Frontline Protectors Of The Environment

2017-10-26T17:04:25-04:00Tags: |

In parallel to the 2017 session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network organized a forum with powerful Indigenous women leaders from around the world. They discussed the effects of climate change in their communities and their actions to protect their land. Lucy Mulenkei, of the Indigenous Information Network, explained how Kenyan Maasai Indigenous women are fighting against the effects of climate change after the government declared a national drought emergency, while Kandi Mossett, Indigenous Environmental Network’s Extreme Energy and Just Transition Campaign Organiser, discussed how the fossil fuel industry and development projects are also impacting Indigenous communities in the United States. Photo credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

24 04, 2017

Gender And Climate Finance

2017-11-13T19:02:27-05:00Tags: |

This policy brief published by the Women’s Environment and Development Organization discusses the links between fighting for gender equality and climate finance. Climate finance, or flows of money from developed, industrialized nations to support mitigation and adaptation in developing countries, can support those impacted by natural disasters, energy shortages or economic changes. However, gender should be increasingly mainstreamed in climate finance policy to ensure that gender inequalities are not exacerbated by such measures.

24 04, 2017

Asia – Indigenous Women Fight For Justice, Influence And Equity

2018-01-24T12:08:06-05:00Tags: |

Asian Indigenous women are fighting for socio-economic and climate justice, and setting an example for women around the world. The stories of Rukka Sombolinggi, Piy Macliing Malayao and Jannie Lasimbang are shared as examples of how women are using their skills and sharing their traditional knowledge to protect the environment. Julie Koch, Executive Director of International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs confirms the importance of supporting Indigenous women in their action and advocacy work, and in opposition to continued discrimination and gender-based violence.

21 04, 2017

Eighty-Five Percent Of Climate Change Commentators Are Men

2017-10-08T22:51:08-04:00Tags: |

An analysis by Media Matters point to the gender gap in the media portrayal of people affected by climate change. Around 86 percent of the people praised by the media platforms on the issue are men. The former president of the Sierra Club, Allison Chin, stated that the inequality women face regarding climate change is already extremely large in terms of the effects of environmental disasters, and the fact that the media makes the gender imbalance even larger is not helping to achieve gender equality. Senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress and an expert in global climate policy Rebecca Lefton highlighted the importance of having women's perspectives while Christiana Figueres, the previous Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, discussed the issue of women suffering the harsh impacts of climate disasters. Two recognized female scientists on climate, Heidi Cullen and Katherine Hayhoe, admit to sensing the gender disparity in their work for being women. Photo credit: Media Matters

20 04, 2017

Defending Earth Every Day With Women Around The World

2020-04-24T16:00:22-04:00Tags: |

April 22 is Earth Day, and in 2017, women and men took over the streets of Washington, D.C. as part of the “March for Science” in recognition of the need to address climate change.  For many women around the world, however, Earth Day truly is every day. Because land is often passed down from father to son, and because land rights are so closely tied to economic empowerment and independence, women are keenly aware of the opportunities that accompany land rights. Not only that, but in many parts of the world, land is also deeply tied to ancestral knowledge and culture. These are only some of the reasons why women are leading powerful movements for land and women’s rights. Bai Bibyaon of the Philippines, Ana Sandoval of Guatemala, and Melania Chiponda of Zimbabwe are just a few of the women leading the resistance against environmental destruction by mining companies across the world. For these women and for women everywhere, land is about dignity and justice. Illustration credit: Maria Maria Acha-Kutscher

19 04, 2017

Gender, Climate Change And Food Security

2017-11-09T19:46:56-05:00Tags: |

According to a policy debrief on Gender, Climate Change, and Food Security within Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) published by GGCA, the challenges of climate change and food security are most obvious in the agricultural sector. Therefore, the response to climate change in the agricultural sector must be gender responsive. To that aim, engaging female rural farmers is essential for enhancing agricultural productivity and realizing the Sustainable Development Goals, including ensuring food security (SDG 2) and addressing the perils of climate change (SDG 13).

17 04, 2017

When Rivers Hold Legal Rights

2017-10-29T21:27:39-04:00Tags: |

Last March, New Zealand passed the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill, and the river became the first water system in the world to hold legal “personhood” status. Then, five days later, the High Court of Uttarakhand at Naintal, in northern India, issued a ruling declaring that both the Ganga and Yumana rivers are also “legal persons/living persons.” In this article, Shannon Biggs, Executive Director of Movement Rights and cofounder of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, explains the high significance of these laws which challenge the status of Nature as property and provide a legal framework for a true relationship to Mother Earth. She argues that recognizing the rights of the Whanganui River means that no matter who the actor, the law treats a harm to the river the same way as it would a harm to the tribe or a person. On the other hand, in India, it’s not yet that clear what legal personhood means for the Ganges and Yumana rivers. Lastly, Shannon explains that the Rights of Nature movement can shift the paradigm that modern Earth is available for human use and moves toward the understanding that the Earth is a living entity and should therefore be protected. Photo credit: Kathrin & Stefan Marks

14 04, 2017

The Crazy Lifestyle Of A Woman Who Repairs Wind Turbine Blades

2017-10-23T19:51:27-04:00Tags: |

Hailing from Rexford, Montana, Jessica Kilroy is a fearless rope-access technician who braves high winds and heights of 262 to 328 feet to keep the global wind industry in operation. Kilroy entered this line of work when brainstorming how to leverage her rock-climbing skills to support conservation efforts. She has been with Rope Partners for five years now and is one of only two women out of the company’s 75 technicians. Photo credit: Jeff Singer

13 04, 2017

Indigenous Women Of Standing Rock Resistance Movement Speak Out On Divestment

2017-10-19T22:35:32-04:00Tags: |

A delegation of Indigenous women from Standing Rock and their allies who observed and experienced human and Indigenous rights violations in North Dakota due to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) traveled to Norway and Switzerland in the spring of 2017 to share their stories as women leaders living and working in communities directly impacted by fossil fuel development and infrastructure. Wasté Win Young, Standing Rock Sioux leader and former tribal historic preservation officer; Tara Houska, Anishinaabe tribal attorney, national campaigns director of Honor the Earth and former advisor on Native American affairs to Bernie Sanders; Dr. Sara Jumping Eagle, Oglala Lakota and Mdewakantonwan Dakota pediatrician living and working on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation; Autumn Chacon, Diné artist and water protector; and Michelle Cook, Diné human rights lawyer and founding member of the Water Protector Legal Collective all met with actors including Den Norske Bank (DNB), the Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund Global, and the Norwegian Parliament to advocate for divestment from fossil fuels and respect for Indigenous rights. During their time in Europe, the presence of delegation members helped tip the scale for announcements of a large divestment by DNB.

12 04, 2017

Finally, A Breakthrough Alternative To Growth Economics: The Doughnut

2017-09-24T20:09:59-04:00Tags: |

Economist Kate Raworth is linking a faulty neoliberal economic model to outdated and destructive concepts of the Rational Economic Man. Instead, she is advocating for a doughnut economy that puts environmental and societal well-being first. The outer ring of the doughnut represents the ecological ceiling of an economy, while the inner ring shows the resources needed to sustain a good life for all humans. The hole in the middle indicates the billions of people around the world who live in deprivation. Living within the doughnut means investing in wealth equality, which is intrinsically linked to respecting environmental limits. Photo credit: Kate Raworth and Christian Guthier/The Lancet Planetary Health

12 04, 2017

Wear And Tear Series: The Women Who Make Our Clothes

2018-03-02T13:44:07-05:00Tags: |

The Across Women’s Lives, “Wear and Tear” series follows the women who make our clothes in the $3 trillion global garment industry. From the textile mills in North Carolina, where Acree Bell Lassiter worked her whole life to gain economic independence; to El Monte, California, where Rotchana Sussman was held against her will, working 18-hour days, until authorities raided the sweatshop; and then to Bangladesh, where the memory of the Rana Plaza collapse of April 2013 is fresh for women like Arati Baladas, who lost her mother and her foot in the collapse that she was buried under for 3 days. This piece explores the hidden impacts of the fast fashion export agenda on poor, rural and migrant young women working in the garment industry, who are exposed to hazardous and toxic conditions impacting both their lives, and the Earth. Photo credit: Ismael Ferdous/PRI

10 04, 2017

One Giant Step For Women’s Land Rights: The African Union Officially Endorses Pan-African Women’s Charter On Land Rights

2017-10-19T23:11:44-04:00Tags: |

While chanting “Our land, our lives, women let us mobilize,” a mass assembly of rural women from across Africa adopted a charter demanding land justice for women. In the 9th Annual African Union Gender Pre-Summit in Addis Ababa, these demands were officially endorsed. For African women facing inequalities in access to and control over land, this legal endorsement by the African Union is significant but concrete strategies, policies and infrastructure to make these demands a reality are now more pertinent than ever. Photo credit: International Land Coalition

1 04, 2017

Eve Ensler: Rise For Climate Justice And Mother Earth With The People’s Climate Movement

2017-11-01T02:39:04-04:00Tags: |

Eve Ensler is the writer of the piece “This spring, fight for our precious planet and join the climate march”, in which she explores the interrelations of different type of exploitation of natural resources and women’s bodies. One Billion Rising has been working with women’s issues in an intersectional way since the beginning. Through One Billion Rising for Justice and One Billion Rising Revolution activism, it has dealt with the issue of climate change, environmental injustice and its negative impacts on women, in particular those in developing and poor countries.  Photo credit: One Billion Rising

1 04, 2017

Beauty Products Black Women Are Exposed To Can Be Toxic

2017-11-01T01:27:15-04:00Tags: |

Janette Robinson-Flint is the executive director of Black Women for Wellness. In this article for Ebony magazine, she alerts other women to a mostly-overlooked environmental and health problem: beauty products. Black girls and women face hazards with some personal care and beauty products, which can be unregulated and contain dangerous elements, causing health issues such as respiratory issues, reproductive problems, early puberty, and cancers. Photo credit: Ebony

27 03, 2017

Global Forest Coalition #Women2030 Media Training Toolkit

2017-10-27T16:05:38-04:00Tags: |

This Media Training Toolkit published by #women2030, introduces basic information about sharing stories with new audiences using photography and social media. #women2030 is a program that aims to achieve gender-responsive implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by engaging women and gender-focused organizations worldwide. It is led by several movements and organizations such as the Global Forest Coalition. Photo credit: Global Forest Coalition

27 03, 2017

The Global Pulse Of Young Feminists Organizing

2017-10-27T14:57:50-04:00Tags: |

Young feminists are coming from diverse backgrounds and raising their voices for social movements like LGBTQ right, climate justice, and sexual and reproductive rights.  FRIDA, the Young Feminist Fund, who receives thousands of application from across the world from women trying to create safe space, alternates for fellow women. Unlike first and second waves of feminism, it is not necessary to form organizations to make an impact in third wave. For instance, groups from the Pacific Islands, Kirbiti, Fiji reported their issues ranged from women’s rights to climate injustice. Similarly, strong young feminist groups are emerging in Latin America, Central Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central North Asia. Photo credit: Girls for Life

27 03, 2017

Commemorating International Women’s Day: Highlighting The Role For Women In Climate Change Adaptation

2017-10-27T02:54:39-04:00Tags: |

International Women’s Day 2017 focuses on women and work, highlighting the need for economic parity. To achieve this, research and policy should focus on supporting women’s work that best assists them in meeting the challenges of climate change. Globally, research and policy is being informed by the use of collaborative and participatory research models to ensure solutions are meeting the unique needs of women in their communities. Photo credit: Neil Palmer (CIAT)

27 03, 2017

Women Environmental Defenders Condemn Systemic Violence Before The Inter-American Commission On Human Rights

2017-10-27T01:44:51-04:00Tags: |

A delegation of women environmental advocates appeared before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to denounce systemic violence against environmental land defenders. Among those testifying were Juliana Bravo Valencia, Amazon Program Coordinator for EarthRights International,  Joan Martínez Alier, Naomi Klein and Esperanza Martinez Yanez and Ivonne Ramos from Acción Ecológica. The timing of the hearing was meaningful for environmental defenders, as several governments in the Americas have prioritized the welfare of corporations over human rights. Photo credit: EarthRights International

27 03, 2017

On International Women’s Day, Honoring Women Land And Human Rights Defenders

2017-10-27T00:40:49-04:00Tags: |

Women represent a major force in the defense of the environment and human rights. Because of the resistance they present, women are harassed, criminalized and murdered around the world. The violence against them increases over time, and yet these women continue the fight for what they believe in. As a celebration of Women’s Day, learn from the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network about five incredible women: Melania Chiponda, Josephine Pagalan, Ana Mirian Romero, Joy Braun and LaDonna BraveBull Allard. Photo credit: CommonDreams

26 03, 2017

Women Leaders Using Social Media To Change The Way We Live

2017-10-26T22:55:32-04:00Tags: |

This blog, curated and published by 1 Million Women, showcases the work of five female Eco-YouTubers who are using social media to spread information and share the many ways that individuals can fight climate change through lifestyle choices. Bonny Rebecca discusses how a vegan diet aids in water conservation; Lauren Singer manages Trash is For Tossers, a video blog that offers zero-waste tips; Rachel Aust inspires her viewers to live minimalistically; Keiran from Thrifted Living focuses on DIY and sustainable fashion choices; and Natasha from ThatVeganCouple discusses vegan diets and advocates for minimalist lifestyles. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

26 03, 2017

A Call To Action: Insights Into The Status Of Funding For Indigenous Women’s Groups

2017-10-26T16:21:07-04:00Tags: |

In this report the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP), International Indigenous Women's Forum (FIMI), and AWID discuss the need for increased attention to make funding resources available directly to frontline Indigenous women so that they may themselves shape agendas and decisions affecting their lives and territories. The report is presented with the understanding that Indigenous women’s solutions are imperative for any effective action to address climate change and other pressing global concerns. Photo credit: AWID

24 03, 2017

Arati Kumar-Rao: Environmental Photographer And Writer

2017-09-03T15:13:05-04:00Tags: |

Independent environmental photographer and writer Arati Kumar-Rao documents the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change on South Asia’s rivers. Through her photography and online journal, she serves as an advocate for the protection of the environment and the rights of people dependent on river ecosystems. Photo credit: Arati Kumar-Rao

22 03, 2017

Banaban Academic Dr. Teresia Teaiwa On Pacific Islander Resilience And Climate Change

2017-10-09T21:07:25-04:00Tags: |

This video pays tribute to a powerful Pacific woman who passed away in 2017; she was an academic, a climate warrior, Pacific activist, poet, artist and friend. Dr. Teresia Teaiwa reflects on the immense resilience of Oceanic peoples and their ability to lead the frontline movement to combat climate change. Photo credit: Tagata Pasifika/Facebook

22 03, 2017

World Water Day: Women Water Protectors Working For Water Sustainability

2017-10-18T11:34:56-04:00Tags: |

Indigenous women such as Yoryanis Isabel Bernal Varela, a member of the Wiwa Indigenous People of Sierra Nevada in South America, have sacrificed their lives promoting water sustainability. It is only appropriate that on World Water Day, the United Nations recognizes the efforts of Indigenous women in protecting water and to condemn violence against Indigenous peoples. It is important to not waste water, but it is also equally important not to discount the women contributing to water sustainability. Photo credit: Feminist Task Force

16 03, 2017

The Future Of Coffee Farming Is Female

2017-08-22T09:16:23-04:00Tags: |

Women workers dominate the labor force for steps of coffee production that most affect coffee quality, from picking ripe coffee cherries to sorting beans. However, due to deep-rooted gender inequalities, many women are not able to realize their full potential as workers or community members. Women are taking advantage of agronomy training around the world, participating in projects focused on gender equity in numerous coffee-growing countries. With policies in place that empower women, the future of farming is female. Photo credit: Glenna Gordon

14 03, 2017

A Call To Action: Insights Into Funding For Indigenous Women’s Groups

2017-09-07T07:53:42-04:00Tags: |

This timely report by the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP), International Indigenous Women's Forum (FIMI), and the Association for Women in Development (AWID) shows that from 2007 to 2012, funding for Indigenous peoples skyrocketed from $41.4 million to $83.2 million. Although Indigenous women are proven agents of positive change, they continue to fight against the barriers of discrimination and marginalization, within and outside of their communities. Hence, it is critical that donors are effective in breaking down these barriers while also bolstering Indigenous women’s efforts as movement builders. Photo credit: The Association for Women in Development

13 03, 2017

Women’s Power List Celebrates Wind Industry’s Leading Female Figures

2017-09-26T13:49:46-04:00Tags: |

A Word About Wind recently launched a list celebrating women who work in the wind industry. The list celebrates the work of 100 women who were deemed the influential in the field. By publicizing the contributions of women in the wind business, the list promotes the work of women in an area where they are still underrepresented.

13 03, 2017

Lead Scientist, Lizzie McLeod On Women, Gender Equality And Climate Change

2017-12-13T13:04:22-05:00Tags: |

Lizzie McLeod works with the Nature Conservancy as the Climate Adaptation Scientist for the Pacific Region. After many years as a coral reef scientist, as part of her work she now helps facilitate learning exchange for women across many Pacific Island Nations, to come together and share their climate change experiences and expertise and lessons learned. The aim is to combat the severe lack of women in environmental decision making bodies and climate science, by bringing together women of various walks of life in one platform for knowledge sharing, development of new adaptation actions, and dissemination of collective knowledge. Photo Credit: Reef Resilience

8 03, 2017

On International Women’s Day, Celebrate Indigenous Women

2017-09-04T22:05:35-04:00Tags: |

On March 8, is International Women's Day, first celebrated in 1909. While too many women all over the word suffer from violence and rights abuses, it is important to recognize the efforts of Indigenous women in claiming their rights and transforming violence into power and action. To commemorate this day, the author recommends the reader share radio programs by and about Indigenous Women and celebrate some of the amazing Indigenous women working to make change happen around the world. The perspectives and inclusion of Indigenous women is essential to gender equality worldwide. Photo credit: Cultural Survival

8 03, 2017

These Indigenous Women Are Leading The Fight To Save The Planet

2018-02-15T12:20:27-05:00Tags: |

As part of the celebration of International Women’s Day, Indigenous women leaders Dina Júc and Yuam Pravia are interviewed on the importance of women’s leadership in struggles to protect Indigenous rights and land rights. Dina Júc is a Maya Pocomchi’ woman from Guatemala, who has acted as a leader of the Association Ut’z Che’ in the fight against forceful evictions from so-called “Protected Areas”. Yuam Pravia, a representative of the Miskitu people of Honduras, has been central to the communities efforts to defend legal titles to their lands in the face of deforestation. Photo Credit (use first photo): Stand For Trees Project

7 03, 2017

Barefoot Solar Warriors Take On Gender Injustice And Climate Change

2017-09-21T20:57:41-04:00Tags: |

The Barefoot College of Tilonia in India has trained over 30 women from 13 countries across rural Asian and African communities as community solar and renewable technicians. Many of the women “Solar Mamas” come from conflict zones and face social barriers to education and employment, but the advanced training has provided a way to write their own stories, start their own businesses, address energy and climate issues in their home countries, and even teach the next generation of barefoot engineers. Photo: Stella Paul/IPS

6 03, 2017

Killing The Messenger: Attacks Rise On Women Human Rights Defenders

2018-03-06T17:52:20-05:00Tags: |

More and more often, women who defend the rights of their communities and lands are victims of sexual and physical violence and are even killed for “crossing the line.” In 2012, Juventina Villa was killed alongside her son in the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico. For years she had led the environmental organization Peasant Ecologists of Petatlán and Couca, and as a leader, she worked tirelessly to defend the forests, rivers, and communities of the region. Anoterer woman, Josefina Reyes, was killed in 2010 after criticizing the military’s violation of human rights along the U.S.-Mexico border. Margarita Chub Che, too, was murdered when she fought back against displacement due to agribusiness expansion. In Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, more than 24 women human rights defenders have been killed in a few short years. As a result, organizations of women across the world are demanding protection for those courageous enough to stand up against injustice.

1 03, 2017

Rights of Nature: A New Paradigm for Environmental Protection with Mari Margil

2017-11-01T04:26:01-04:00Tags: |

Mari Margil, Associate Director of the Community Environmental Defense Fund shares a video presentation on her organization's work to uplift Rights of Nature and the Universal Declaration for the Rights of Nature of Mother Earth. Mari has assisted organizations and governments around the world in understanding and implementing Rights of Nature law, including working with Ecuador’s Constituent Assembly; working in Nepal, India, Australia, and other countries to advance Rights of Nature framework; assisting members of the Ho-Chunk Nation in drafting the first US tribal constitutional amendment on the Rights of Nature; and even consulted with members of the Green Party of England and Wales in developing a party platform inclusive of the the Rights of Nature. Photo credit: National Community Rights Network

1 03, 2017

Challenging Corporate Power With Lindsey Allen

2017-11-01T03:27:38-04:00Tags: |

In this interview, Lindsey Allen, Executive Director of the Rainforest Action Network and woman climate leader, discusses the importance of corporate campaigning in fighting against the destructive extraction of palm oil. Millions of people in Indonesia, Congo and the Amazon, and countless species, are harmed by logging and deforestation in the pursuit of palm oil. She urges us to use our power, as consumers and activists, to support the preservation of Earth's rainforests. Photo credit: Well.org

27 02, 2017

Pacific Women Hone Climate Change Negotiation Skills

2017-10-27T02:14:06-04:00Tags: |

Women from the Pacific Islands know all too well how climate change is affecting their homes, livelihoods and health, as they are on the frontlines of the crisis. 22 women, including Moira Simmons-Avafoa, from Tuvalu’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended a workshop organized by the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) in Suva, Fiji on the intricacies of the climate negotiations and how best activists can leverage these spaces to push forward their agenda. Photo credit: Ariela Zibiah

1 02, 2017

Without Global Solidarity The Women’s Movement Will Collapse

2017-11-01T00:42:11-04:00Tags: |

Our efforts for global gender justice are threatened by the rise of authoritarianism, populism, xenophobic and racist views and travel bans, writes Sudanese refugee and human rights activist Nazik Awad. With President Donald Trump, it has become more difficult to enter the United States, even for international and United Nations summits and conferences - another way of silencing the voices of Global South women, victims facing mass rapes, hunger and war. Women and children represent 70-80% of the refugee population worldwide, making them also the most affected by countries closing their borders. Without solidarity and support from women in more stable conditions and countries, women’s mobility will  shrink even more than it already has. It is only through global solidarity and open borders that we can still hope for a better future. Photo credits: PA Images/TNS.

30 01, 2017

Women Gathered In South Africa Say No To Violent Extraction And Pesticides

2017-10-30T03:05:42-04:00Tags: |

At the Alternative Mining Indaba held in Cape Town South Africa, the People’s Dialogue, the Rural Women’s Assembly, Women on Farms, Women Affected by Mining in Action (WAMUA) and WoMin organized a public meeting where women affected by mining and industrial agriculture shared their powerful testimonies regarding the structural violence that they face. The event, entitled “They Are Killing Us: Violence Against Women in Extractives Dialogue,” brought together women from different parts of Africa to not only share the ways in which extractivist violence structures their personal and public lives, but to also build collective power across borders. Photo credit: Rural Women’s Assembly

29 01, 2017

The Urban Disadvantage: Rethinking Maternal And Newborn Health Priorities

2017-10-29T00:39:16-04:00Tags: |

What happens when those invested in newborn and maternal health in impoverished urban areas are faced with the reality that more than fifty percent of the world now lives in cities? Massive hurdles occur, especially when trying to translate maternal care from rural methodologies to urban ones, in a scramble to cater to the dramatically increasing migration of mothers into urban areas. The environmental destruction and gender discrimination that are embedded in urbanization are heavily felt by pregnant women and new mothers, whose vulnerability is compounded by climate change.

29 01, 2017

Pachamama Day: A Tribute To Mother Earth Around The Globe

2017-10-29T00:20:20-04:00Tags: |

Every August 1st, Indigenous people in South America pay tribute to Pachamama (World Mother). To that aim, Indigenous people in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru celebrate Pachamama Day with different ceremonies and rituals to honor Mother Earth. At the Pachamama Raymi (feast), people develop a strong bond with Nature and perform a ritual to return to Mother Earth what she has offered to them. The water, the earth, the sun, and the moon are deeply connected to Pachamama and this has inspired organizations to advocate and educate people on the importance of natural balance to sustain life. Photo credit: EFE

28 01, 2017

Rights Of Nature: Indigenous Philosophies Reframing Law

2017-10-28T23:10:52-04:00Tags: |

The recognition of the Rights of Nature in Ecuador, Bolivia and New Zealand is proof that Indigenous activism has significantly contributed to create a new legal phenomenon: the idea that nature itself can have rights. In 2008, Ecuador was the first country to establish Rights of Nature in its Constitution. Bolivia followed Ecuador’s steps with Evo Morales, the first Indigenous head of state in Latin America, who called for a constitutional reform that established rights of nature in 2009. However, unlike Ecuador and Bolivia, New Zealand’s rights of nature are not embedded in its constitutional law, but rather protect specific natural entities. The legal concept of rights of nature signals the influence of Indigenous peoples as political actors in state-making and shows us the way to preserve the earth for future generations.

27 01, 2017

Women’s Role In Combating Climate Change

2017-10-27T11:00:44-04:00Tags: |

The C40 Women4Climate conference has organized women mayors all over the world to work within the framework of municipal governments to mitigate the effects of climate change in their respective areas. For instance, in Caracas, Venezuela, under the mayorship of Helen Fernández, women are taking initiative to protect the environment at the local level. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris and the chairwoman of C40, explains that mayors are closer to the climate issues emerging at local levels, making them more committed to solving these issues than larger governments are. Zandile Gumede, the first woman mayor of Durban, South Africa, was elected in part due to her leadership on environmental issues. Photo credit: STR/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

25 01, 2017

Our Warming World On Her Shoulders

2017-10-25T23:14:04-04:00Tags: |

Exploring issues from domestic violence to conflict zone poverty affecting women, this article from the Natural Resources Defense Council offers the reader a window into the challenges and hurdles women confront everyday. This piece also highlights how women can be the major force for change even as they fight through great adversity. A telling article on the role of women as leaders in the fight against climate change. Photo credit: Nazario Graziano

23 01, 2017

Thirsty For Change: The Untapped Potential Of Women In Urban Water Management

2017-10-31T13:18:38-04:00Tags: |

Waste, pollution, and the rising demand for water by an estimated 5 billion people by 2030 is placing stress on urban water infrastructure, resulting in health and economic impacts particularly felt by urban poor and marginalized communities. Urban centers in developing countries, where women and girls are the primary water resources managers, are already being hit hardest by water stress. Drawing on studies which find that water projects involving women are transparent and equitable, increasing the number of women working in the urban water sector will help solve challenges related to design, distribution, operation, and maintenance of water systems.

23 01, 2017

Mari Margil: On The Rights Of Nature

2018-01-23T17:20:37-05:00Tags: |

Mari Margil, Associate Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, writes for Intercontinental Cry on why, despite the repeated alarms and calls from various scientist about environmental degradation, intensive exploitation of the environment continues. Mari frames the limitations of current environmental laws, which regulate the use and exploitation of environment instead of actually protecting the Earth because under the law, nature is considered as property. To counter this, many communities are coming together to take action, from Ecuador to Wisconsin, from India to Pennsylvania.

22 01, 2017

Southern Africa’s Women Wrestle With Climate Change On Their Own

2017-08-22T09:37:41-04:00Tags: |

Extreme weather linked to climate change is having a significant impact on women in countries like Zimbabwe and Lesotho. Often left as the sole breadwinner for their families after their husbands pass away or emigrate to South Africa, many women are now breeding goats, which are inherently resistant to drought. They are also growing drought-resistant small grain crops for home consumption or sale. Photo credit: Jeffrey Moyo

19 01, 2017

Women’s Marches, Occurring Across Seven Continents, Include A Focus On Environment

2023-03-19T08:28:12-04:00Tags: |

This op-ed written by Noël Bakhtian captures the truly global issue of climate change through the Women’s March Global movement. This grassroots campaign is active on all seven continents with women-led marches occurring in a growing list of 61 countries across the world set for January 21, 2017. Antarctica is the last to join the movement, with their focus on the fragile ecosystems in the Antarctic Peninsula and the continent as a symbol of global cooperation. The framework proposed for this growing global movement is based on Health, Economic Security, Representation, and Safety (H.E.R.S.) with climate change being a critical element across all themes. This framework is incorporated in different ways for each local march, with environmental justice, governmental accountability, and intergenerational engagement in climate action demonstrated according to local priorities. Photo credit: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

16 01, 2017

Women Bearing The Strain Of Climate-Forced Migration

2017-11-01T13:45:16-04:00Tags: |

Discover the efforts and work of ActionAid, Climate Action Network South Asia and Bread for the World in their vital recent report, “Climate Change Knows No Borders,” which documents and shares vital analysis on the impact of climate induced migration on women in South Asia. Photo credit: Manipadma Jena/thethirdpole.net

12 01, 2017

Arise: Women Protecting The Environment

2018-01-12T14:37:58-05:00Tags: |

Arise, an award winning film made by Lori Joyce, Candace Orlando and producers Molly Ross, documents the insights of women leaders from around the world regarding how they are working to protect the Earth. Voices featured include Winona La Duke (founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project), Vandana Shiva ( Indian environmentalist and anti globalization author),  Majora Carter (environmental justice advocate from New York City and founder of Sustainable South Bronx), and Dr. Theo Coburn (founder and president of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange in Colorado). Photo Credit: KCET

10 01, 2017

Women Bear The Brunt Of Climate-Forced Migration

2017-11-01T13:17:20-04:00Tags: |

ActionAid International, the Climate Action Network South Asia, and Bread for the World have prepared a new report, “Climate Change Knows No Borders,” warning of the devastating and increasing impact of climate change on migration in South Asia and calling on national policy makers to especially address the impacts on women. The International Organisation for Migration explains that migrant women and men have different vulnerabilities, priorities, responsibilities, and opportunities. Photo credit: Mangala

6 01, 2017

Tui Shotland And Sami Jannie Staffansson On Indigenous Databases And Biocultural Community Protocols

2017-09-08T21:58:21-04:00Tags: |

n the interview, Maōri leader Tui Shotland explains how she assisted her community to make a database of sacred sites, thereby enacting digital data sovereignty. This allowed her tribe to share cultural information with younger generations while simultaneously protecting it from appropriation. Saami woman Jannie Staffansson of Norway speaks of community knowledge systems and how climate change has been affecting her lands. Her work for the Arctic Council allowed her to blend Western and traditional sciences to develop fundamental principles on the use of Indigenous knowledge (samu) to help guide the work of the Saami in the Arctic Council. She reflects on her activism against mining and climate change through a bottom-up grassroots approach.

1 01, 2017

Katherine Lucey And The Solar Sisters Revolution

2017-10-02T23:10:36-04:00Tags: |

Energy poverty affects 1.6 billion people around the world, most of them women and girls. Understanding women’s crucial role in family well-being and economic prosperity, Katherine Lucey founded Solar Sisters to recruit, train and mentor women to build sustainable businesses selling portable solar lamps, mobile phone chargers and clean cookstoves. The organization supports female entrepreneurs with sales and distribution of renewable energy equipment and, since its launch, has employed more than 1,000 women. Photo credit: Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

1 01, 2017

GenderCC – Women For Climate Justice

2017-10-08T22:43:28-04:00Tags: |

GenderCC Women for Climate Justice is a worldwide network focused on the intersection between women’s rights, gender equality and climate justice. Composed of global activists, specialists and organizations, GenderCC is marking a strong presence at the annual international climate negotiations where women leaders are putting issues of gender onto the negotiating table. Showing how the causes of and attitudes to climate change vary according to gender and amplifying how women are disproportionately affected by global warming and climate policies, GenderCC is spreading the the message that climate justice means gender justice. Photo credit: GenderCC

1 01, 2017

Environment And Climate Change: Relevance Of Gender In The Policy Area

2017-09-13T11:13:39-04:00Tags: |

Increasingly the European Union as a political bloc is elevating the issue of power relations between men and women that determine access and control over natural resources. Gender also is an important consideration in the design and implementation of adaptation and mitigation measures as responses to climate change. Given its powerful influence over international multilateral climate policy spaces such as the UNFCCC, it is imperative for the bloc to think and work harder about using its role for positive structural transformation for women especially in the fight against climate change. Photo credit: European Institute for Gender Equality

1 01, 2017

Women’s Rights In Land Investment Decision-Making: Interview With Celine Salcedo-La Viña

2017-07-20T17:27:23-04:00Tags: |

Celine Salado-La Viña spoke with FoodTank about her recent publication Making Women’s Voices Count in Community Decision-Making on Land Investments. Celine supports women in Tanzania, Mozambique and the Philippines to exercise their rights to land and natural resources by promoting gender-equitable community decision-making on land investments. As a policy researcher, Celine also advocates for regulatory reforms by conducting outreach activities to engage stakeholders, promote awareness, and encourage implementation of the reformed framework. Photo credit: FoodTank

1 01, 2017

Sarain Fox And Michelle Latimer On Their VICE Series, RISE, Telling Indigenous Stories

2017-11-01T03:57:41-04:00Tags: |

Host Sarain Fox (Anishinabe Canadian) and Director Michelle Latimer (Algonquin and Métis) are two Indigenous women leaders behind the Vice News series ‘RISE’, which follows Indigenous communities around the world in their quests for environmental justice and respect for their rights and lives. In this interview, both women discuss their experiences capturing these vital stories, and what it means to them to be an Indigenous woman storyteller at a moment of great conflict, change and hope. Photo credit: Sundance Institute

1 01, 2017

As Climate Change Threatens To Strain Resources, Women Are Increasingly Re-evaluating Reproductive Decisions

2017-11-01T01:30:15-04:00Tags: |

Sara Kelly writes about how women are rethinking having children because of the environment, and how this is a controversial topic. According to Mother Jones, a child in Ethiopia produces 221 pounds of CO2 yearly, significantly less than an American one, at 45,000 pounds yearly. Josephine Ferorelli and Meghan Kallman, co-founders of the organization Conceivable Future, a network for parents and non-parents, created the forum to discuss this complex dilemma.

27 12, 2016

Gender Just Climate Solutions

2017-10-27T16:33:46-04:00Tags: |

In this report, the Women and Gender Constituency showcases model technical, non-technical, and transformational climate solutions with a gender-just framework. The winning projects include solar cooker training for women and school children to prevent deforestation in Morocco; women-driven, community-based water assessments and management solutions to address water scarcity and disaster risk in Indonesia; and the preservation of sustainable, ancestral and artisanal fishing practices to protect the mangrove ecosystem and women’s economic autonomy in Senegal. Photo credit: Women and Gender Constituency

27 12, 2016

The Women Of The Paris Climate Negotiations

2017-10-27T02:45:59-04:00Tags: |

Women from diverse professional backgrounds and geographic locations, like Edna Cartoyo (Kenya), Flavia Cherry (St. Lucia), Reem Almealla (Bahrain) and Maria Nailevu (Fiji) are present on the front lines of the climate change negotiations in Paris. Women globally hold a small percentage of top ministerial positions in environment-related sectors, leading to half of the global population being underrepresented.  This group of strong women representatives from Bahrain to Peru, Navajo Nation to Kenya, are in Paris to ensure the voices of women are heard. Photo credit: John Picklap

27 12, 2016

Angela Adrar COP22 Takeaways

2017-10-27T01:25:48-04:00Tags: |

Angela Adrar, executive director of the Climate Justice Alliance and Our Power Campaign, communicates about the activities of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance during the COP22 climate talks, and notes the key points to address after the conclusion of COP 22, including the new president of the United States. She expresses concerns over the fossil fuel industry’s on the Paris Agreement implementation strategy. Photo credit: Climate Justice Alliance 

1 12, 2016

Naomi Klein: We Are Hitting The Wall Of Maximum Grabbing

2017-11-01T01:09:02-04:00Tags: |

Naomi Klein gave a powerful speech at the Sydney Peace Prize event after Donald Trump’s presidential victory. In her talk, she addresses the power of hate and of blaming “the others,” especially in times of economic crisis, how economic pain is very real, and how failed leaders are seen as the responsible for that. Klein urges all of us to fight racism and misogyny and explores themes such as climate justice, coal mines, Australian history and world politics. Photo credit: Reuters/Ivan Alvarado

30 11, 2016

Largest All-Female Expedition Braves Antarctica To Fight Climate Change And Inequality

2017-10-19T23:03:37-04:00Tags: , |

For women doing academic research on climate change, the male-dominated field of science is often a challenge to navigate. The largest all-female expedition to Antarctica, comprising 76 scientists, is linking the ways in which they experience patriarchy in their work to the experiences of women on the frontlines of climate change, while building a formidable network of women scientists dedicated to dismantling patriarchy and climate change. Photo credit: Homeward Bound

30 11, 2016

Defending The Territory, Defending Life: Women Human Rights Defenders Resist Extractivism In Latin America

2018-03-06T18:04:32-05:00Tags: |

Across Latin America, women human rights defenders are creatively organizing themselves as they resist the extraction of natural resources that destroys their lands and ways of life. Since the 1990s, Latin America has received the greatest foreign direct investments for the extractive sector, which has nearly destroyed entire ecosystems and communities. Watershed headwaters, the Amazon jungle, and Andean lagoons all face threats. Most of these projects are imposed on marginalized communities, thereby demonstrating the link between social and environmental violence. In response to territorial destruction, women have risen up against mining projects, dams, and monocultures, only to be met by brutal repression, criminalization, and sexual and physical violence. Some defenders, such as Berta Cáceres of Honduras, have been murdered, while others, like Lonko Juana and Machi Millaray Huichalaf of Chile, have been imprisoned. Still, despite all the obstacles they face, women have been able to temporarily stop or paralyze extractions in Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. They have organized autonomously and organically, and they have led collective transformations of solidarity. Photo credit: Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition

29 11, 2016

Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD-IC) Statement On International Women Human Rights Defenders Day

2020-10-13T20:23:06-04:00Tags: |

Since, 2006 the world has been celebrating International Women Human Right Day to promote the human rights under various International Human Rights treaties like International Bill of Human Rights and Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women. Women Human Right Defenders often face the resistance from mainstream society for protecting women rights and environmental rights. Thus, to protect the rights of these defenders, the government must ensure justice and establish its law in sync with UN treaties. Photo Credit: Unknown

28 11, 2016

5 Alarming Ways That Climate Change is Racist

2017-11-01T23:23:43-04:00Tags: |

Devi Lockwood, a woman activist, explains why environmental racism is considered as a form of violence against communities of color. In this article, she explores several different concepts of environmental and social justice and she calls us to recognize the interconnectivity between oppressions of race, gender, and environmental injustice. Photo credit: Everyday Feminism

27 11, 2016

Indigenous Latin American Women Craft Climate Change Solutions In Marrakech

2017-10-27T16:30:09-04:00Tags: |

A group of Indigenous women from Latin America, called Chaski Warmi (which means women messengers in Kichwa), collected stories from their regions about people affected by climate change. The Indigenous group brought stories of women affected by the fossil fuel industry and climate disasters, in addition to resource extraction. The Indigenous women went to COP22 in Marrakech to share their cultural struggles and environmental strategies. Photo credit: Binod Parajuli/Seble Samuel

27 11, 2016

Gender Just Climate Solutions Award Winners Announced And Publication Launch

2017-10-27T16:19:38-04:00Tags: |

The Gender Just Climate Solutions Award was launched in 2015  by the Women and Gender Constituency of the UNFCCC, and praises women who work towards climate justice and gender equality. The ceremony in November of 2016 was hosted by the Women Engage for a Common Future during COP22 in Marrakech. The three winners of the award were Foundation MOHAMMED VI, YAKKUM Emergency Unit, and ENDA Graf Sahel. Photo credit: Annabelle Avril, WECF

27 11, 2016

How Women Are Going From Climate Victims To Climate Leaders

2017-10-27T15:49:48-04:00Tags: |

At United Nations COP22 climate talks, grassroots women fought for representation and participation in international climate policy discussions, and demonstrated solidarity with women’s struggles across borders. Indigenous leaders such as Alicia Cahuiya of the Huaorani in Ecuador, Kayla DeVault of the Navajo Nation, and Fadma El Khallouri of the Amazigh (Berber) are actively resisting extractive industries that have ravaged their native lands and bodies, and presented about their efforts during a COP22 Women's Earth and Climate Action Network event. Photo credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images

27 11, 2016

UN Official: Global Economy Needs Radical Makeover To Fight Climate Change

2017-10-27T15:27:51-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Rachel Kyte, CEO of the U.N. Sustainable Energy for All program, shares her perspective on government accountability for the decarbonization of the global economy. She is a leading advocate of clean energy for all, especially to mitigate climate change and improve conditions for women. Photo credit: Georgetown University

27 11, 2016

Gender And Climate Change: A Closer Look At Existing Evidence

2017-10-27T12:21:28-04:00Tags: |

This report by the Global Gender and Climate Alliance highlights literature that analyzes vulnerability to the impacts of climate change based on gender. Men and women have different experiences in the context of climate change resulting cultural, social, economic and political implication and inequalities. Gender responsive climate policies will reduce vulnerability and improve the adaptation of men and women to the impacts of climate change. There still are, however, many gaps in the gender and climate change literature that needs to be addressed through further research. Photo credit: GGCA

27 11, 2016

Indigenous Latin American Women Craft Climate Change Solutions In Marrakech

2017-10-27T02:37:24-04:00Tags: |

A year before the COP22 climate negotiations in Marrakech, a group of Indigenous women from across Latin America united through the Caksi Warmi network, which means “women messengers” in Kichwa. Ivonne Ramos, coordinator of Acción Ecológica (Ecuador), explains how the women brought stories about climate change and natural resource extraction to the United Nations, proposing an alternative development model that respects their lives and communities. For example, Gladys Panchi, Emberá of Colombia, is resisting mineral extraction on her community’s lands, while Martha Cecilia Ventura, Maya K'iche' of Guatemala, promotes cultural resilience by preserving Indigenous medical systems. Cecilia Flores, Aymara of Chile, and Blanca Chancosa, Kichwa of Ecuador and the vice-president of Ecuarunari, join the chorus call as messengers for a just, sustainable future. Photo credit: Binod Parajuli

27 11, 2016

Women Move From Victims Of Climate Change To Climate Leaders

2017-10-27T02:27:14-04:00Tags: |

Women around the world are uniting to demand the opportunity to be part of the solution for climate justice. Coverage of a Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network event at the COP22 climate talks shares the struggles and triumphs of women fighting for climate justice, from the Navajo Nation to the camp at Standing Rock to Morocco. Women are leading work to defend food, seeds, water and land, and are driving real climate solutions. Photo credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images

26 11, 2016

Women Rising Radio On Anti-Nuclear Abolitionists

2017-10-26T23:27:21-04:00Tags: |

Jackie Cabasso, executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation, Abacca Anjain-Maddison, a senator from the Marshall Islands, Kate Hudson, head of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Britain, Nadezda Kutepova, founder of Planet of Hope in Russia, Sharon Dolev, head of the Israeli Disarmament Movement, and Fujiko Yoshikawa, a Japanese American writer, discuss their work advocating for nuclear nonproliferation and peace in this podcast.

26 11, 2016

Women Rising Radio On Anti-Nuclear Abolitionists: Part Two

2017-10-26T23:25:41-04:00Tags: |

Women Rising Radio presents Part Two of their series on female anti-nuclear activists.  In Part One we profiled women struggling to eliminate nuclear weapons and war. Claire Greensfelder, formerly director of Greenpeace’s Nuclear Free Future campaign, Aileen Mioko Smith, director of Green Action Japan, and Ursula Sladek, a renewable energy pioneer, speak about their work to transition energy sources from uranium-based fuel and nuclear plants to more sustainable alternatives.

18 11, 2016

Land Rights For Women Deter Violence And Leverage Equality

2017-11-12T19:44:00-05:00Tags: |

A historic Guatemalan Supreme Court decision acknowledged that abuse committed against women was triggered by the community’s attempt to register the land they depend on for their livelihood and identity. However, this appears to be a global issue, as research shows that having land with documented rights makes a bigger difference than employment or education in reducing domestic violence. Researchers have also found that female ownership of property increases a woman’s economic security, deters spousal violence, enhances legal rights and access to justice, and decreases rates of child marriage. Photo credit: Maria Fleischmann/World Bank

18 11, 2016

Gender And Finance: Coming Out Of The Margins

2017-09-24T18:42:11-04:00Tags: |

This policy brief by the South Centre stresses the importance of climate finance being used for the empowerment of women as key actors in climate protection and sustainable development policies. Appropriate climate finance matters in several key ways for women because there continues to be an underrecognition of women’s pivotal roles in managing ecosystems as well as the ways in which climate change adversely affects them. In addition to this, climate finance provides the potential to build structures that will rectify the already existing inter- and intra-generational gendered inequalities that continue to oppress women in their diversity. In short, climate finance is political and it policy considerations must take gender into account. Photo credit: WECAN International

9 11, 2016

Greenpeace Activists On Women Rising Radio

2017-10-12T18:30:40-04:00Tags: |

This podcast offers three poignant vignettes from women activists of Greenpeace, the legendary eco-activist organisation. Hettie Geenan discusses working as a first mate on the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, while Leila Deen recounts her anti-fracking campaign work and Laila Williams discusses Greenpeace’s work in tandem with Indigenous communities, women’s groups and people of color.

7 11, 2016

A Gender Analysis Of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions

2017-10-16T23:23:52-04:00Tags: |

This report published by the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) takes a critical women’s rights and feminist approach to analyzing the intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs), which are an important tool of the UNFCCC to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the context of tackling the climate crisis. This report is a valuable resource in understanding the extent to which the submitted INDCs comprehend the intersections of gender and climate change and evaluating if they go far enough to address the gendered experiences and inequalities around the climate crisis. Photo credit: Women’s Environment and Development Organization

6 11, 2016

A Gendered Analysis Of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions

2017-12-06T14:35:14-05:00Tags: |

This Women’s Environment & Development Organization research paper provides an overview of intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change climate process, evaluating to what extend existing commitments have measured up to explicit needs to respect and address women’s human rights and the linkages between climate change and gender. Photo credit: WEDO

1 11, 2016

The WECAN Women’s Climate Action Agenda

2017-11-01T10:01:24-04:00Tags: |

Drawing from the input and calls to action of over 100 global women leaders united by the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, the comprehensive ‘Women’s Climate Action Agenda’  and ‘Women’s Climate Declaration’ set forth a strong analysis of how women are most impacted by climate change; and the solutions which they are calling forth and building - from eco-cities to international policy and trade; from seeds and farming, to oceans - from reconnecting with Nature, to the just transition for 100% renewable energy. Photo credit: Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network

1 11, 2016

How Do You Decide To Have A Baby When Climate Change Is Remaking Life On Earth

2017-11-01T01:25:06-04:00Tags: |

Madeline Ostrander, an environmentalist journalist, ponders having children in a world with climate change. Elaborating on Paul and Anne Ehrlich’s theory about how the population boom and lack of resources would have terrible consequences for the world, she writes about the struggles that people such as herself, aware of the world’s reality, face when dealing with this personal, though with common, choice. She also writes about Meghan Kallman and Josephine Ferorelli, and their project Conceivable Future, through which they want to open a place for compassionate discussion regarding bearing kids in an era of climate change. Photo credit: Karl-Raphael Blanchard

1 11, 2016

Illicit Financial Flows: Why We Should Claim These Resources For Gender, Economic And Social Justice

2017-11-01T00:51:15-04:00Tags: |

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development organized this policy report to explore how illicit financial flows affect women, especially in developing countries. They suggest ways to reverse the negative impacts and advocate for stronger regulation on financial issues, through supporting feminist and gender justice organizations and advocates. Photo credit: AWID Women’s Rights

1 11, 2016

African Eco-Feminists Finding Solutions For A World In Crisis

2017-11-01T00:31:05-04:00Tags: |

What are the alternatives for African women in a world that is in deep crisis around an imminent eco-system collapse, resource wars, climate change and toxic socio-political and economic system? In this newsletter, women and feminists from the WoMin alliance in Africa try to answer these questions by giving specific context to the devastation in their lives and communities and the urgency of scaling up resistance and alternatives to these intersecting crises. Photo credit: WoMin

31 10, 2016

Funders Go Fossil Free

2017-10-31T19:17:26-04:00Tags: |

On Global Divestment Day, members of Rachel's Network, a coalition of women's environmental funders, pledged to divest their stock holdings from the fossil fuel industry. Online tools such as the As You Sow website and the Divest-Invest movement are helping individuals and investors to make sure their money does not support oil, coal and gas companies. Photo credit: Rachel's Network

31 10, 2016

Gender, Urbanization And Democratic Governance

2017-10-31T00:44:55-04:00Tags: |

With the rapid growth of urban growth, increasingly impacted by climate change, there is also proving to be a rising rate of gender inequality within cities. This document explains how gender inequality and urban vulnerability to climate are linked. Political decision-making and social and economic power have a deeply rooted gender bias that favors men in urban areas. For this reason, gender equality and women’s empowerment are of principal importance in the post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda.

30 10, 2016

Dr. Rauna Kuokkanen: Indigenous Gender Justice

2017-10-30T20:17:30-04:00Tags: |

Dr. Kuokkanen is a Sámi woman and an Associate Professor of Political Science and Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto. During her talk, she presents a part of her new book and focuses on Indigenous gender justice. She points out how Indigenous feminist discourse links violence against Indigenous women to self-determination, self-government and the survival of Indigenous communities. Based on the data that she has collected, she advances a theory of Indigenous self-determination that affirms Indigenous women’s rights and gender justice. Photo credit: University of Alberta Faculty of Arts

30 10, 2016

Indigenous Women Lead The Environmental Fight In Latin America

2017-10-30T20:10:08-04:00Tags: |

This video features some of Latin America's indigenous women leaders fighting for environmental justice. Maxima Acuna of Peru, Machi Francisca Linconao of Chile, Milagro Sala of Argentina, and Berta Caceres of Honduras are among the human rights defenders who have led the resistance against extractive industries, government corruption, and attacks on indigenous people and their lands. Photo credit: TeleSUR English

30 10, 2016

Energy: A Women’s Rights Issue

2017-10-30T03:17:56-04:00Tags: |

This brief by the WoMin Alliance of Africa brings into focus the power relations at play around the question of energy by exploring what kind of energy is needed, how is it produced, who produces it and how is it distributed amongst various groups, using an eco-feminist and feminist political ecology framework. It is a quick and succinct reminder that in order to achieve energy justice for women, we must remember to deal with the questions of power in the cultural, socioeconomic and political spheres.

29 10, 2016

Sustainable Cities, Gender And Transport

2017-10-29T00:58:23-04:00Tags: |

This online factsheet from the Women’s Environment and Development Organization argues for centering gender in sustainable cities development. Although cities are providing economic growth and wealth, such wealth can replicate patterns of gender discrimination, linked to devastating environmental destruction. Environmental sustainability and climate change are embedded in gender equal approaches that result in more sustainable policy development, urban infrastructure, and transportation which meet the needs of all abilities, races, ages income levels. Photo credit: WEDO

28 10, 2016

Fighting for Our Shared Future: Protecting Human Rights And Rights Of Nature 2016 Update

2017-11-01T23:23:18-04:00Tags: |

The Earth Law Center published an initial report on the co-violations of human rights and Rights of Nature in 2015, and published this updated version in 2016. This new and improved report examines 100 additional case studies of rights co-violations, such as arrests and murders of frontline environmental defenders around the world. According to the report’s findings, 28 percent of human rights violations involved at least one murder and 30 percent of them involved harm to Indigenous peoples’ rights. The goal of the report is to propose solutions which can prevent these harms from destroying peoples and Nature. There is an increasing need to transform the current legal systems to reflect the shared well-being of humans and the natural world. Photo credit: Earth Law Center

28 10, 2016

Osprey Orielle Lake: Awakening Resolve For Sustainability Solutions

2017-10-27T20:11:30-04:00Tags: |

Speaking in advance of the United Nations COP21 climate change talks in Paris, France, Osprey Orielle Lake, Cofounder and Executive Director of the Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network (WECAN) International, speaks with the Restorative Leadership Institute about why women’s leadership is critical at this moment of global climate crisis. Photo credit: WECAN

27 10, 2016

Carmen Capriles Of Bolivia On Transforming The World By 2030: The Challenge For Women

2017-10-31T20:36:01-04:00Tags: |

Carmen Capriles of Reacción Climática writes about how the last five decades an agenda to achieve gender equity has been introduced but with few results. This is due to a lack of its effective implementation that could guarantee women’s basic rights. The new sustainable development agenda may not solve all the issues but a new era has begun where the major obstacles for women are no longer invisible. There is a hope for the new agenda to be adequately implemented but only by empowering women at all levels and by pushing for a strong political will from Governments to guarantee women’s rights. Photo credit: Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era

27 10, 2016

Climate Justice Is Gender Justice: Reflections From #COP21

2017-10-27T15:30:35-04:00Tags: |

In this article, young feminists and FRIDA advisors Alina Saba and Ayesha Constable share their perspective on the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. They discuss how gender justice and women’s rights took center stage in many conversations due in part to the leadership of the Women and Gender Constituency, a coalition of civil society and non-state groups. These conversations included the impact of climate change on women and indigenous groups as well as the women’s involvement in developing climate solutions. Photo credit: Christine Irvine/Survival Media Agency

27 10, 2016

Challenging Corporate Power: Struggles For Women’s Rights, Economic And Gender Justice

2017-10-27T01:46:50-04:00Tags: |

This is a joint report produced by AWID and the Solidarity Report, a result of studies conducted in early 2016 in São Paulo, Brazil. It includes an analysis of the effects that corporate power has on the lives of women, including women from the LGBTQI community, Indigenous and black women, human rights defenders, and female workers. The struggles of these women in defying big corporations is portrayed in the report, and the recommendations at the end mention the need to seek collective power through various social movements. Photo credit: AWID

27 10, 2016

Women Deliver: Young Women Climate Warriors Speak

2017-10-27T01:41:15-04:00Tags: |

Nearly five hundred participants from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe gathered at the 4th Women Deliver Conference, the world’s largest forum centering on the well-being and health of women and girls. Most of the participants had witnessed first-hand women from their communities living in harsh environmental and economic conditions with susceptibility to health risks. Among the participants were  Majandra Rodrigues Acha, a Peruvian environmental activist illustrating links between climate change and women’s health, Alicia Moncada, project manager for the Indigenous Women’s Organization (Venezuela), campaigning for women’s rights to a safe environment and Betty Bakrha of Fiji, appealing for committed climate action. Photo credits: Women Deliver

27 10, 2016

‘They Said They Would Rape Me’: Defenders Of Women’s Rights Speak Out

2017-10-27T01:11:22-04:00Tags: |

Activists advocating for women’s rights around the world are systematically targeted with threats and abuse. Daysi Flores, Renu Adhikari Rhajbhandari, Azza Soliman and Li Tingting, four campaigners from Honduras, Nepal, Egypt and China share their stories.

26 10, 2016

Gender Equality And Sustainable Urbanization

2017-10-26T00:27:58-04:00Tags: |

Over half of the global population lives in urban regions. Ninety-five percent of urban growth is happening in the developing world while the world’s urban population is predicted to increase to 70 percent by 2050. Urbanization is intensifying environmental destruction while simultaneously resulting in gender discrimination. This UN Women Watch report demonstrates the positive socioeconomic outcomes of cities that are designed for environmental sustainability and are also equipping themselves to eliminate urban gender inequalities. Adequate shelter, proper water and sanitation, and policy which tends to the unequal burdens women carry in moments of urban climate crisis are powerful solutions. Photo credit: UN-HABITAT

25 10, 2016

Roots Of Change: Food Sovereignty, Women And Eco-Justice

2017-08-18T18:41:21-04:00Tags: |

Roots of Change is a powerful short film that explores the various challenges women farmers around the world face in their daily lives, from climate change to water privatization and land grabbing. The film highlights the positive impacts of simple solutions, like educating women and girls, while addressing the global inequalities in power and wealth that undergird our interlinked social and planetary crises. Photo credit: Temple of Understanding

23 10, 2016

Reframing The Climate Narrative

2020-10-23T22:17:22-04:00Tags: |

Drawing on her experiences at the 2015 UN Climate Talks in Paris, the author and WECAN-member Karina Gonzalez stresses the importance of changing the narrative around climate change. Instead of solely focusing on technological solutions and the reduction of greenhouse gases, she calls for an approach that focuses on the systemic root causes instead. In doing so, one can value the unmeasurable and qualitative, challenge biases and power relations and remove the illusion of predictability.

17 10, 2016

Bringing More Women Entrepreneurs Into The Clean Renewable Energy Revolution

2017-09-28T21:09:11-04:00Tags: |

According to a recent report by the International Energy Agency, access to energy at low rates can increase greatly with the use of decentralized sustainable energy technologies. Moreover, another report, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, asserted the possibility of lowering levels of carbon at the entire globe. In spite of all the good news, many clean energy initiatives are planned by and for men, ignoring the fact that women manage household energy use in developing countries. Thus, even though clean energy is a feasible solution to climate change, policies lacking gender sensitivity may endanger that for as long as they do not address barriers to women entrepreneurs in developing economies. It is time for a change!

17 10, 2016

Land For The Women Who Work It: Struggles In Latin America

2021-01-27T20:41:31-05:00Tags: |

In Latin American, women own less land and less productive land, even though they make up an integral part of the agricultural workforce and collective agricultural knowledge. The disregard for the work of peasant women stems from a gendered division of labor that creates a stark inequality between male and female land rights. Across Latin America, indigenous women and peasants have risen up against these disparities: in Brazil, the women of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) and The Peasant Women’s Movement of Brazil (MMC) have both carried out campaigns; and La Vìa Campesina’s Jakarta Declaration highlights the need for female land rights and integral agrarian reform. Additionally, Bolivia’s government recognizes the harmful effects of patriarchal, capitalist structures in regards to female labour, and Zapatista communities include subsistence agriculture in their political beliefs. The nurturing relationship between women and land is essential to food sovereignty and integral agrarian reform. Photo Credit: grain.org

6 10, 2016

Violence On The Land, Violence On Our Bodies: Building an Indigenous Response to Environmental Violence

2017-12-06T14:21:18-05:00Tags: |

This report by the Women’s Earth Alliance and Native Youth Sexual Health Network examines case studies from across Indigenous lands of the United States and Canada, including the Dine/Navajo Nation, Lubicon Lake Nation, Grassy Narrows First Nation, Ohkey Owingeh Pueblo, the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation, and others - asking why and how Indigenous women in frontline communities are being impacted by intense environmental racism, and sexual and gendered violence due to expansion of extractive and toxic industries in their homelands. It also examines community-based strategies being implemented to resist impacts to health, safety and the land. Photo credit: WEA  

1 10, 2016

Where Women Are Economically Empowered, There Are Fewer Disaster Victims

2017-11-01T23:45:51-04:00Tags: |

Kelly F. Austin of Lehigh University and Laura A. McKinney of Tulane University used data from 85 less developed nations for their study entitled “Disaster Devastation in Poor Nations: The Direct and Indirect Effects of Gender Equality, Ecological Losses, and Development.” The study aims to quantitatively assess the drivers of suffering from disasters across less developed nations reveals that women who are economically empowered have a disproportionately positive impact on disaster outcomes. The researchers found that advancing the economic status of women reduces the proportion of people affected by disasters directly, because economically empowered women are able to better prepare for and respond to disasters and indirectly, as they enhance health resources in the community that help reduce harm and prevent death.

27 09, 2016

Using Other People’s Water

2018-10-17T18:14:39-04:00Tags: |

In this 41-minute podcast of BBC's The Forum, Esther De Jong, who specializes in tropical engineering and gender in agriculture, discusses the use of water and its relation to women, specifically in developing countries. Esther is the Deputy Director of the Gender and Water Alliance. She highlights the struggles of women in poor countries who are mostly responsible for procuring and managing household water, and all of the safety concerns that come with this task. According to Esther, the role of women in getting the water is often forgotten due to the unequal way men and women are treated in the society. Photo Credit: BBC

24 09, 2016

An African Ecofeminist Perspective On The Paris Climate Negotiations

2017-09-24T19:14:01-04:00Tags: |

While many groups across the world hail the Paris Agreement as a victory for climate justice, the WoMin Alliance offers us a brilliant African eco-feminist critique of the pertinent issues. The alliance reminds us of the disproportionate impacts of climate change on the continent of Africa as a whole and to African women in particular. For them, the real test of any agreement from COP21 was whether it would be able to articulate a vision for climate justice that decisively put in place frameworks to move away from the dominant extractivist development models and offer concrete spaces for an articulation of alternatives, such as agroecology, energy and gender justice, to name just a few. Photo credit: WoMin

4 09, 2016

Gendering Documentation: A Manual For And About Women Human Rights Defenders

2023-04-16T14:51:32-04:00Tags: |

The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition’s 2016 publication, Gendering Documentation: A Manual For and About Women Human Rights Defenders, highlights the activism of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) from around the world and the violence they face as a result of their work. The manual aims to utilize feminist documentation as a methodology for politically-motivated storytelling, centering women’s experiences defending human rights at the same time their own are blatantly violated. Gendering Documentation is rooted in gender analysis to present well-informed critiques of unjust social systems and uplift the women who fight to dismantle them.

1 09, 2016

Intersectional Feminist Writer Says Climate Change Policy Must Include Voices Of Women Of Color

2017-11-01T01:35:42-04:00Tags: |

Like Classical liberal feminism, the mainstream media has been criticized for its exclusion of women of color. Ama Josephine Budge, a feminist author and artist, says feminism needs to be decolonized. Her recent interview with newsdeeply.com unveils her concern about the exclusion of colored women from climate change policy. Using the example of Berta Caceres, an Indigenous environmental activist who was killed for her work defending land and communities in Honduras, Budge argues for women of color to take center-stage in the climate fight. Photo credit: Zachary Maxwell Seutz

29 08, 2016

I Am River

2017-10-29T00:01:50-04:00Tags: |

This blog by 2016 EarthRights School Mekong student, Lily, tells the story of Nu River from it's own perspective. The source of this vital river  is located in the Tibetan Tanggula Mountains and it extends to Myanmar, Burma and Thailand. Many people pass through it  or live in its coasts. For instance, the Karen are Indigenous peoples and have lived in Nu River for hundreds of years. However, humans use it to take green electricity which is harmful for its health. People do not realize that by harming the River, they will lose their land and their life. The River does not ask humans to protect it, but to think about their lives if Nature is destroyed. Photo credit: EarthRights International

24 08, 2016

Small Farmers Are Not Who You Think: How Female Farmers Are Feeding The World

2018-01-24T18:53:50-05:00Tags: |

Female farmers comprise 60-80 percent of farmers in non-industrialized countries, however, women still don’t have the same rights as men, especially regarding access to credit, property rights and education. Consequently, gender inequality continues to be a major obstacle to farming and food production for women. Supporting women farmers by closing the gender gap will increase food security and sustainability in the face of mounting environmental and population pressure. Photo-credit: Flickr: Asian Development Bank

4 08, 2016

Report Celebrates African Rural Women As The Custodians Of Seeds

2017-08-19T12:41:24-04:00Tags: |

In a new collaborative report, Liz Hosken and Theo Sowa highlight the vital role that rural African women play in enhancing the development of seeds and protecting biodiversity. Rural African women hold a wealth of knowledge about crops, wild foods, nutrition, medicinal plants and biodiversity that is on the verge of being lost, as seed monopoly laws and climate change restrict their ability to practice traditional agriculture. This report shares stories of resistance from the African women’s movement for food sovereignty. Photo credit: Seeds of Freedom

15 07, 2016

African Women And International Climate Negotiations

2017-11-14T21:41:24-05:00Tags: |

African women are solely responsible for producing between 60 and 80 percent of the food eaten on the continent and bear the biggest brunt of the reality that 630 million people in Africa do not have access to modern and cleaner energy sources, even as two-thirds of African households depend on them for their energy needs. While it is no secret that Africa will be the hardest hit by the impacts of climate change, statistics show that African women have weak representation at international processes on climate change such as the UNFCCC platform. Given the specific inequalities around the climate crisis that affect African women, there is an immediate urgency to increase their substantive and qualitative representation at the national, regional and international policy levels. Photo credit: The Hague Institute for Global Justice

14 07, 2016

Erika Mackey Offers Solar Solutions To People In Africa

2017-10-02T23:23:46-04:00Tags: |

Erika Mackey is COO and cofounder of Off-Grid Electric, a solar pay-as-you-go company founded in Tanzania. In their model, customers pay the same price as, or even less than, what they pay for kerosene, which has been a great incentive to switch power sources. The company has already expanded to other countries and aims at providing renewable and affordable energy for households and businesses. Photo credit: Power for All

9 07, 2016

From Basket Weavers To Salt Farmers: Women Leading A Renewables Revolution

2017-10-01T17:39:15-04:00Tags: |

Around the world, women are innovating to contribute to the renewables revolution. Throughout Africa, many women are becoming solar entrepreneurs, such as Hilaria Paschal from Tanzania. Along with other women from the local solar energy community, Hilaria sells solar lights and cookstoves as a solution to energy poverty and climate change. In a similar project, Hansa Chaudhary, from India, has been able to provide her community with off-the-grid clean energy technology while saving money for college. As for Bhavnaben Mangabhai, an Indian salt farmer participating in a Global Fairness Initiative project, the adoption of solar powered salt pumps has lightened her chore burden and helped her save money. Photo credit: Solar Sister

6 07, 2016

Meet Africa’s Solar Sisters

2017-10-24T19:45:53-04:00Tags: |

Chantal Uwingabire of Cyeza, Rwanda, and Fatma Mziray of Moshi, Tanzania, are Solar Sister entrepreneurs helping to electrify and empower their local communities through solar energy technology. Through their leadership and networks, these women are helping to power the three-quarters of the African population who live without modern energy. Photo credit: Solar Sister

5 07, 2016

Europe’s Dark Cloud And Its Silver Lining: How Coal-Burning Countries Are Making Their Neighbors Sick

2017-10-13T16:00:22-04:00Tags: |

A new report issued by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) European Policy Office, and Sandbag details the damaging health effects of coal consumption in Europe. Mary Anne Hitt of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign writes of the international ramifications of coal pollution and climate change.

3 07, 2016

60 Amazing Photos Of Women Protesting Around The World

2017-07-20T17:53:26-04:00Tags: |

From Venezuela to the Ivory Coast, Washington D.C to Turkey, these powerful photos capture women around the world making their voices heard. Protesting land expropriation, breast-feedings bans, the treatment of rape victims and the construction of the Israeli security fence along the West Bank, grassroots political movements give underrepresented women a voice. Photo credit: Yamar Naziri/Getty Images  

2 07, 2016

Bringing Power To The People: Women For 100% Renewable Energy

2017-07-16T14:32:59-04:00Tags: |

Diane Moss, co-founder of the Renewables 100 Policy Institute, Wahleah Johns, Solar Project Manager with the Black Mesa Water Coalition, and Lynn Benander, CEO and President of Co-op Power, are leading the transition to renewable energy in the United States. They shared lessons and best practices from their work transitioning fossil fuel infrastructure to community-owned renewable solutions at the “Women for 100% Renewable Energy: From Installation to Advocacy” open online training presented by the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network: U.S. Women’s Climate Justice Initiative. Photo credit: Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network

28 06, 2016

Granting Women Their Land Rights Benefits Everyone

2017-08-20T09:15:00-04:00Tags: |

More than 400 million women around the globe are farmers, but many have no rights to the land they till. Land tenure specialist Melany Grout argues that securing women’s land rights, including inheritance and tenure, will reduce poverty and increase sustainability. Photo credit: AP/Deepak Sharma

27 06, 2016

How Can Women Solve Climate Change?

2017-10-27T02:22:59-04:00Tags: |

The face of climate change activism and policy is changing as women move from being seen as passive to active agents of the movement. Gender balance is also region-dependent, with lower participation from women in least developed countries. Rural women around the world continue to lead the mitigation and adaptation actions and are the faces of resilient climate change. Women around the world continue to prove that there will be no climate justice without gender justice.

26 06, 2016

The Integral Role Of Indigenous Women’s Knowledge

2017-10-26T18:03:58-04:00Tags: |

This is a book review on the new collection “Living on the Land: Indigenous Women’s Understanding of Place” where diverse global Indigenous women speak about patriarchy, gender, and colonialism. They share their experiences as both knowers and producers of knowledge and at the same time they speak about their remarkable contributions to their communities. Photo credit: rabble.ca

25 06, 2016

Impact Journalism Day: Global Indigenous Youth Taking The Planet Into Their Own Hands

2017-10-12T15:00:32-04:00Tags: |

Young activists Amelia Telford (an Aboriginal woman from Bunjalun country, Australia) and Joseph White-Eyes (a Lakota man from the United States) bring different cultures together in solidarity to fight for environmental and climate justice. After witnessing the impacts of a severe storm on her homeland in 2009, Amelia joined the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and founded Seed, a network of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth fighting for climate justice. Photo credit: Penny Stephens

14 06, 2016

Breakthrough: Karyn Rode, Polar Bear Witness

2018-02-14T22:16:36-05:00Tags: |

Karyn Rode is a wildlife biologist for the United States Geological Survey who works in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in order to determine the effects of sea ice loss in the Arctic on polar bears. Rode flies helicopters over vast areas of arctic ice, finding bears and tranquilizing them in order to check vitals, collect fat biopsies and blood samples, as well as check if the bears have already been previously tagged. She uses this information to determine population trends and the overall health of bears in the areas. She is also able to ascertain how much time bears spend on land and what kinds of habitats are most conducive to survival. Rode has found that bears in the Beaufort Sea, which is experiencing ongoing sea ice loss, show declining body conditions, declining populations, and lower levels of cub survival. When there is less sea ice, she says, the bears have less access to hunting grounds and seals. Photo credit: Science Friday

13 06, 2016

Assessment: Gender Equality, Economic Empowerment, Clean Energy Model

2017-10-23T20:19:13-04:00Tags: |

Solar Sister’s women entrepreneurs, including Rose, Hilaria, and Basilisa, support education and health, local business growth, income security, and expanded mobility for their community members and themselves by selling clean energy technologies. For example, Hilaria and other solar businesswomen in Mwada village have helped women better afford water during Mwada’s drought crisis through energy savings. Photo credit: Lindsey Allen and Serena Chan

1 06, 2016

“I’m Living In A Sacrifice Zone”: Women Speak Out For Climate Justice

2017-11-01T02:27:10-04:00Tags: |

This Huffington Post article covers the September 2015, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN International) symposium titled “Women Speak: Climate Justice on the Road to Paris & Beyond”. Framing the discussion, co-founder and Executive Director, Osprey Orielle Lake speaks about the disproportionate impacts of climate change for women and how they must be leaders in the process of tackling such a problem. Global presenters Melina Laboucan-Massimo (Lubicon Cree) speaks about environmental pollution and contamination in her area, creating “dead zones”; Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, Jacqui Patterson, speaks about the harm of living close to coal plants and the correlation of food sovereignty and contaminated soil; Indigenous Kichwa leader Patricia Gualinga Montalvo speaks on the struggle against oil companies in Ecuador; Thilmeeza Hussain, founder of Voice of Women speaks about survival in face of global warming; and finally, Cherri Foytlin brings participants’ attention to sacrifice zones, where POC and Indigenous populations suffer from toxic elements. Photo credit: Huffington Post

1 06, 2016

One Third Of Women And Girls Worldwide Don’t Have Toilets: Here’s Why That’s A Feminist And Environmental Issue

2017-11-01T01:37:48-04:00Tags: |

One third of women and girls across the world, primarily in developing countries, don’t have toilets at home, which makes them vulnerable to sexual violence. According to UNICEF, one in ten girls either drops out or skips school during their monthly cycle in developing countries. Lydia Zigomo, WaterAid’s head of region for East Africa, argued we need to look at deeper questions like 24/7 water supply to the toilet in densely populated settlements. Photo credit: AP/Channi Anand

31 05, 2016

Putting Gender Equality At The Heart Of The New Urban Agenda

2017-10-31T01:04:19-04:00Tags: |

By 2030, 60 percent of the global population is expected to live in urban areas. The New Urban Agenda is UN document that drafts a plan to dramatically rethink the way that cities are lived in and constructed today. UN Women Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri speaks about the link between urban environmental sustainability and gender equality and an argues that genuine green cities are not possible without a focus on women’s empowerment and equality within urban settlements. Photo credit: UN Women

30 05, 2016

Beva Sanchez-Padilla Reflects On The International Meeting of World March of Women

2017-10-30T02:28:39-04:00Tags: |

Beva Sanchez-Padilla, Xicana woman leader with the Southwest Organizing Project, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance and New Mexico Con Mujeres, joined the 10th International Meeting of World March of Women outside Maputo Mozambique to meet with other women leaders from across five continents and discuss feminist visions and strategies for social, climate and economic justice. Beva reflects on the importance of solidarity between women across borders - and most especially between those women leaders working to organize with poor, rural, and communities of color. Photo credit: Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

29 05, 2016

Uplifting Rights Of Nature To Protect Our Living Earth With Shannon Biggs And Osprey Orielle Lake

2017-10-29T00:18:35-04:00Tags: |

On April 25, 2016, activists, educators, students, mothers and allies joined together to explore the open online training “Rights of Nature: Protecting and Defending the Places We Live.” Presenters Shannon Biggs of Movement Rights and Osprey Orielle Lake of WECAN explained how Rights of Nature can challenge current legal frameworks which commodify Nature. Moreover, Lake explained that because the Earth is treated as property, it has no legal standing which makes the “defenseless” in the modern justice system. Biggs focused on helping people to create new laws that recognize their right to protect the Earth and determine what happens in their communities. At the end of the training, it was pointed out that Rights of Nature can be used as a powerful tool to empower communities and restore democracies by challenging corrupted governance structures which facilitate natural and social abuses. Photo credit: Emily Arasim

28 05, 2016

Adelita San Vicente Of Mexico Speaks Out During Global March Against Monsanto

2017-07-19T21:15:59-04:00Tags: |

Activists in more than 400 cities in 50 countries marched against seed and agrochemical giant Monsanto in May 2016. Adelita San Vicente, an outstanding woman leader of the movement to protect Mexico’s seeds and cultural and agro-ecological diversity, was amongst the protestors and solution-builders who spoke out against Monsanto’s attempts to spread genetically modified seeds in Mexico and beyond. Photo credit: Al Jazeera Plus  

27 05, 2016

Mary Louise Malig: In The Aftermath Of Paris Agreement, Nature And Humanity Lose

2017-10-27T12:17:58-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Mary Louise Malig, Campaigns Coordinator with the Global Forest Coalition, draws attention to how the Paris climate agreement fails to create an effective mechanism to ensure the drastically-needed reduction of carbon emissions. She highlights how Article 5 speaks about conserving forests specifically through result-based payments. Unfortunately, this article is not in sync with SDG 15. She argues that the real progress towards implementing the Paris agreement will be made in grassroots and Indigenous movements. Photo credit: Global Forest Coalition

27 05, 2016

Milestone Gender And Environment Report From UNEP Shows Gender Should Be At Heart Of Sustainable Development

2017-10-27T12:13:36-04:00Tags: |

A report entitled “Global Gender Environment Outlook” was launched by United Nation Environment Program in collaboration with Women in Europe for Common Future and Global Forest Coalition to bring attention to the gender aspect of environmental challenges, and call for the inclusion of women at all levels and use of traditional knowledge to heal the environment. Photo credit: Global Forest Coalition

27 05, 2016

Ten Things To Know: Gender Equality And Achieving Climate Goals

2017-10-27T02:32:20-04:00Tags: |

The Climate & Development Knowledge Network has released a document summarizing the findings and recommendations of their study on the benefits and challenges of pursuing climate development from a gender perspective. Using global case studies, the report tells us first and foremost that gender equality matters and works from a climate perspective. Location also matters and gender approaches should take into account urban development. Photo credit: Jeremy Horner

13 05, 2016

Air Pollution And Impacts On Women’s And Children’s Health And Climate Change

2017-11-01T12:38:00-04:00Tags: |

Dr. Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization shares an analysis on the impacts of air pollution on women and children globally, and provides pointed statistical data as well as alternative measures in effecting the reduction of air pollution—through global coalitions, participatory state involvement in environmental affairs and other strategies to reduce the harsh effects of air pollution on a globalised scale.

8 05, 2016

Honoring Women Defenders Of Land And Life

2017-07-20T17:30:04-04:00Tags: |

On Mother’s Day, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network honored the inspiring stories of six women leaders dedicated to defending land and life. Maanda Ngoitiko of Tanzania, Máxima Acuña of Peru, Suryamani Bhagat of India, Cherri Foytlin of the United States, Antonia Melo de Silva of Brazil, and Tep Vanny of Cambodia are powerful women leaders fighting to protect and heal our earth. Photo credit: WECAN SAFECO Regional Climate Solution Training Programme

27 04, 2016

Women’s Rights In Protected Areas: Championing Gender Equality In Biodiversity Policy

2017-10-27T02:34:56-04:00Tags: |

The livelihoods of many women around the world depend on the conservation of protected areas. Pham Thi Kim Phuong, for example, bikes every morning to harvest clams and snails from mudflats in a protected areas. However, as Lorena Aguilar, Global Senior Gender Adviser at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), explains that the promotion of gender equality in protected area conservation is often overlooked. A study by the IUCN’s Environment and Gender Information (EGI) platform demonstrated that gender equality is rarely written into policy: only nine gender keywords were mentioned out of the 1,290 World Heritage Convention State of Conservation Reports analyzed. Aguilar notes the missed opportunities here, as protected areas should be engines not just for conservation, but also gender equality, and calls for gender mainstreaming in protected areas management. Photo credit: Peter Howard/IUCN

27 04, 2016

The Dammed Of The Earth

2018-10-17T18:33:57-04:00Tags: |

Listen to Sian Cowman and Philippa de Boissière, researchers at The Democracy Center, discuss their article “Dammed of the Earth” in which they address the terminal environmental and human rights impacts of hydroelectric projects on indigenous territories. They also provide background to the assassination of Berta Cáceres and hint at possible means of continued resistance. Photo credit: Daniel Cima

6 04, 2016

Violence Against Women Human Rights Defenders In Mesoamerica 2012-2014 Report

2018-03-06T17:55:26-05:00Tags: |

Hostilities against women human rights defenders (WHRDs) take many forms, and are initiated by various state and non-state actors. In this informative report, IM-Defensoras adopts a gender perspective to highlight the experiences of  WHRDs on the ground in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua as of 2014. Whilst quantifying the scale and types of violence against WHRDs in the region, it also recognizes their specific and place-based needs of diverse women and their communities. Photo Credit: Im-Defensoras

30 03, 2016

The Empowerment Of Women Will Be Central To Realizing Sustainable Global Development

2017-10-30T20:41:41-04:00Tags: |

“Planet 50-50 by 2030 - Step It Up for Gender Equality” was the theme of the 2016 International Women’s Day. For Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, this is a call to leave no one behind in the process of development. Though some progress is made to include Indigenous and grassroots women in United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), more efforts are needed. For example, only 36% of the delegates at COP20 were women. Photo credit: IPS News

30 03, 2016

Sheila Oparaocha’s Take On Gender And Energy

2017-09-28T20:44:51-04:00Tags: |

Sheila Oparaocha is International Coordinator at Energia, an international network that tackles gender and renewable energy issues. In this talk she explains the evolution of thinking around gender and renewable energy from 1990 to the present day. Sheila exposes the transformations that led to the establishment of the Sustainable Energy for All Decade, the first two years of which were dedicated to Energy for Women and Children’s Health. She also gives examples about targeted programmes that have successfully addressed gender and energy. Photo credit: Energia

27 03, 2016

Webinar Highlights: Corporate Power And Women’s Economic Justice

2017-10-27T01:56:52-04:00Tags: |

In February of 2016, a webinar on gender justice regarding ecology and economics was organized by the Association of Women in Development (AWID) and the Gender and Development Network (GADN), leading up to the 61st Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The webinar was moderated by Ana Abelenda, from the Association for Women's Rights in Development, and the speakers were Kunthea Chan, from JASS Southeast Asia, Chidi King, from the International Trade Union Confederation, Rachel Moussié, a consultant, Dr. Mariama Williams, from South Centre, and Jessica Woodroffe, from the Gender and Development Network. The online meeting focused on measures to limit the tremendous power of global corporations regarding the violation of women's rights, including the concepts of economic justice and feminism in the discussion. Photo credit: AWID

27 03, 2016

Closing Gender Finance Gaps: Discussion On Financing Scenarios For Women In Agriculture

2017-10-27T01:48:19-04:00Tags: |

In October of 2015, there was a teleconference by the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development, including the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, UN Women, and AWID's Economic Justice team (represented by Anne Schoenstein). With a theme of "financing and economic empowerment scenarios for women in agriculture", the online discussion focused on the outcomes of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3), which took place in July 2015. Anne Schoenstein made statements on behalf of both AWID and the Women's Working Group on Financing for Development ((WWG on FfD), highlighting the need to address illicit financial flows and to regulate the activities of transnational corporations through human rights law.

27 03, 2016

Human Rights Defenders Paying A Heavy Price To Ensure Gender Justice

2017-10-27T01:42:55-04:00Tags: |

The assassination of Berta Cáceres, Honduran environmental activist and leader of the Lenca people, sparked international uproar for the stopping of unlawful and brutal attacks on activists. Women are often in the firing line as victims of these attacks. They are the target of violence by corrupt governments and corporations and repressive institutions. The matter has gained interest amongst academics and civil society groups. According to Jagoda Munic, chairperson of Friends of the Earth International, environmental justice can not be attained without eradicating violence against women. Photo credit: Young Feminist Fund

26 03, 2016

Out Front: Women Speak Up At The First Central American Indigenous Community Radio Conference

2017-10-26T22:32:07-04:00Tags: |

At the First Central American Indigenous Community Radio Conference, indigenous community broadcasters gathered to share how they have amplified their voices through community radio and how they aim to fight for women’s right to freedom of expression. As rural and Indigenous women, much of the material they cover as broadcasters has naturally come to include regional land and water protection. Photo credit: Glenda Lopez

22 03, 2016

Human Rights Defenders Paying A Heavy Price To Ensure Gender Justice

2018-07-13T16:15:23-04:00Tags: |

Around the world women environmental defenders are being shot in broad daylight, kidnapped, threatened and tried as terrorists for standing in the way of so called “development”. Ayesha Constable, writing for Frida the Young Feminist Fund, highlights that the murder of Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres reveals the systematic violence that targets women who dare to challenge patriarchy and capitalism. A Global Witness report in 2013, “Deadly Environments”, names Honduras the second deadliest country in the world for environmentalists, with 101 activists murdered between 2010-2014. Before her death, Berta pointed out that this aggression is worse for women as, “we are women who are reclaiming our right to the sovereignty of our bodies and thoughts and political beliefs, to our cultural and spiritual rights…”. While calls for an independent investigation into Berta’s murder grow louder, Jagoda Munic, Friends of the Earth International, affirms that no environmental justice can be achieved without ending violence against women. Photo credit: Frida

18 03, 2016

UN Envoy Warns Of Environmental Activist Murder Epidemic

2017-07-17T14:47:22-04:00Tags: |

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, has urged world governments to take urgent action to address violence against defenders of the Earth, which she sees as a growing global epidemic. Photo credit: Jorge Cabrera/Reuters  

8 03, 2016

Why Climate Change Is A Gender Equality Issue

2017-07-20T17:09:10-04:00Tags: |

Around the world, women are disproportionately impacted by climate change, as they make up three quarters of the global poor and face the most immediate consequences of gender-based social and economic inequality. But women offer powerful solutions to climate change, such as in rural communities across Africa where women are selling solar lamps that provide clean, safe energy and bring in revenue. Photo credit: Greenpeace

8 03, 2016

Women Are Fighting Tough Environmental Battles Around The World

2017-07-20T17:40:48-04:00Tags: |

From organizing protests against big mining companies and polluters in South Africa and Indonesia, to helping relocate those whose homes are threatened by rising sea levels in Papua New Guinea, women are at the forefront of  the fight against climate change. Photo credit: thinkprogress.org  

8 03, 2016

How Women-Led Movements Are Redefining Power

2017-06-21T07:30:07-04:00Tags: |

Eriel Deranger, who belongs to the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation of Alberta, Canada, has campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness of the cultural, health and climate dangers of tar sands. She believes that as a matriarchal society, the power of her community comes from the women. All over the world women are reclaiming leadership roles and emerging as powerful voices against climate and social injustice. Photo credit: Rucha Chitnis

8 03, 2016

Celebrating The Power Of Environmental Feminism

2017-07-20T18:20:47-04:00Tags: |

Women around the world are at the forefront of life-changing movements, from Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha who pressured the state of Michigan to admit to high levels of lead in Flint’s water to Majora Carter, the urban planner and Black environmentalist behind "Greening the Ghetto." Photo credit: UN Women

7 03, 2016

International Women’s Day: The Stories I Will Tell My Daughter

2017-11-09T19:34:15-05:00Tags: |

Jen Maman is the Senior Peace Advisor for Greenpeace International; she writes this sensitive article about stories she wants to tell her daughter. These stories include painful, awful and shocking stories about gender inequality and how women and girls face many hardships of all kinds throughout their lives. But besides those stories, meant to prepare her child for the future and the world we live in, there are also stories about amazing women and girls fighting and pushing to change these situations worldwide and to bring about change, environmental justice and hope. Maman is proud to have two women leaders at the front of Greenpeace, for the first time, and this is just the beginning. Photo credit: Greenpeace

28 02, 2016

The Rights Of Nature Must Be Recognised In Law

2017-10-28T23:17:43-04:00Tags: |

Currently Britain's environmental regulations consider nature as an object of commerce within the law, and this poses a barrier to the efficient protection of ecosystems. Existing models of protecting nature are failing, as they serve to regulate nature's destruction rather than prevent it. They tend to adopt a capitalistic approach which does not protect the environment because it involves a further commodification of nature's ecosystems. The only answer to the problem is to give formal recognition to the Rights of Nature, challenging the leading anthropocentric idea that nature is ours to consume. Photo credit: Pablo Fernández via Flickr

28 02, 2016

Recognizing The Rights Of Nature And The Living Forest

2018-10-17T18:17:15-04:00Tags: |

Mirian Cisneros, Ena Santi, Patricia Gualinga and Nina Gualinga are some of the women leaders of the Kichwa community of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest, who are opposing continued oil extraction, and setting forth a vital proposal for the healthy and just future they envision for their community and the forest that they live in relationship with. The women shared their communities’ Kawsak Sacha, ‘Living Forest’ proposal at the International Rights of Nature Tribunal in Paris, France during the United Nations 2015 climate negotiations. This article shares background and analysis from Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, regarding the Living Forest proposal, Rights of Nature and the importance of Indigenous women’s leadership in these movements for deep systemic change in law, policy, and ways of living with the Earth. Photo credit: Emily Arasim/WECAN International

27 02, 2016

Five Superwomen Fighting For Our Earth

2017-10-27T11:32:05-04:00Tags: |

Emphasizing the link between nature and women, Global Mom's Challenge shares on how  transformative eco-feminists all over world are using their best efforts to save our planet in the local, national and international arenas. For instance, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, United Nations Secretary General Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate, advocates global justice for poor and vulnerable people. Similarly, Winnie Bynanyima integrates the gender perspective into policy and decision-making in international commitments, and Osprey Orielle Lake leads the international climate trainings in areas such women for forests, Rights of Nature and United Nations forums. Moving further, Dr. Jane Goodall, the international chimpanzee researcher, is spreading her message about the conservation and emphasizing personal responsibility to get others to care. Lastly, Diana Duarte, Communication Director of Madre partners with communities to adapt climate change. Photo credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

12 02, 2016

Empowering Women To Mitigate Climate Change

2017-10-16T23:34:21-04:00Tags: |

Increasingly, governments and multilateral institutions are making the connections between women and climate change and how the latter is exacerbating already existing inequalities that mostly poor and working class women across the world face. Gender considerations in the formulation of climate policies and implementation have been proven to be empower women, but a greater focus needs to also be on  dismantling the socioeconomic and political structures that work to oppress women and which climate change increases, and these strategies need to put women’s activism and actions at the forefront. Photo credit: WECAN International

11 02, 2016

16 Women Who Are Standing Up To Violence

2017-07-20T18:27:52-04:00Tags: |

At an annual gathering organized by peace organization Inclusive Security, strong women activists from around the world shared their stories. These 16 women - hailing from South Sudan to Ukraine, Myanmar to Mexico - are fighting violence in all its forms. Photo credit: The Institute for Inclusive Security  

5 02, 2016

Can Gender Equality Solve Coffee Sustainability Problems?

2017-07-19T21:40:50-04:00Tags: |

Worrisome trends in rising temperatures and erratic rainfall worldwide are endangering the global coffee industry. Women such as Sunalini Menon, the first female coffee taster to open business in Asia, are working to fight climate change and the coffee industry’s entrenched problems with gender inequality in the workforce by opening their own businesses. Photo credit: FNC 2016

3 02, 2016

Zika: A Perfect Storm Of Climate Change, Disease And Reproductive Rights

2017-07-20T17:11:57-04:00Tags: |

Zika virus has spread rapidly across 23 countries and regions in the Americas. Along with dengue, malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases, the spread of Zika virus is interlinked with the effects of climate change. The virus has also highlighted the challenges to maintaining women’s sexual and reproductive health in the region. Photo credit: Felipe Dana/Associated Press  

15 01, 2016

Maria Theresa Lauron: CPDE / UN Sustainable Energy For All Forum

2017-10-24T19:50:47-04:00Tags: |

Maria Theresa Lauron engages in research, education, and advocacy on socioeconomic issues in the Philippines and global development practices through her dual roles as Chair of the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness and Programme Manager of the IBON Foundation. At the 2015 Sustainable Energy For All Forum, Lauron aimed to recenter frontline communities and civil societies in global energy policy discussions by emphasizing energy technologies that are sustainable and nondestructive and calling for greater government’s responsibility in advancing climate change solutions. Photo credit: UN NGLS

6 01, 2016

A Call To Foundations: Divest Now From Fossil Fuels

2017-12-06T14:44:55-05:00Tags: |

Ellen Dorsey, Founder of Divest-Invest, and colleagues, write on the imperative for foundations and philanthropic actors to immediately divest all funds from fossil fuel corporations, and other actors contributing to environmental and social injustices. She speaks on the Paris Climate Agreement and movement of renewable energy markets, arguing that strides have been made, but that philanthropic investors have a critical moral imperative to take action and use their resources to influence more just, effective and speedy change. Photo credit: Be The Change

1 01, 2016

Women We Love: 25 Influential Women In Food And Agriculture

2020-10-10T20:35:41-04:00Tags: |

This article lists an international array of influential women farmers and system changers who are helping to combat the climate crisis through their agricultural and food work. Some of the women and their respective organizations include: Food Corps co-founder Debra Eschmeyer; urban gardener and Executive Director of Abalimi, Tengiwe Cristina Kaba; agricultural engineer and founder of IBS Soluciones Verdes, Susana Chaves Villalobos; community activist and co-founder of Black Urban Growers, Karen Washington; farmer and founder of the Women, Food, and Agriculture Network, Denise O’Brien; and Dinnah Kapiza, the CEO of Tisaiwale Trading, a chain of farm supply stores in rural Malawi. Photo credit: Food Tank

29 12, 2015

Four Women Leaders For Sustainable Cities

2017-10-29T00:54:47-04:00Tags: |

Four women are taking leadership on transforming their cities into more sustainable habitats. Ekroop Caur, managing director of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), is improving women’s transport safety so that sustainable commuting can feel safe and thus more desirable. The director of Philadelphia’s Mayor’s Office of Sustainability Katherine Gajerwski, is also head of the city’s Greenworks program, which links health and happiness through environmental commitments. Tanya Muller is Secretary of the Environment in Mexico City, taking on the impacts of air pollution and urban environmental health through a push towards sustainable transportation via expanding the city’s bus system, propelling investments in bike shares, and restricting the use of private car. A widespread expansion of green roofs is also on her sustainable city to-do list. Then there is the Mayor of Yokohama, Japan Fumiko Hayashi, a child care advocate whose success in eliminating long childcare waiting lists in Japan’s second largest city has removed women’s hurdles of getting back into the workforce post pregnancy. Photo credit: BMTC

27 12, 2015

Maybe Women Should Lead the Way In The Battle Against Climate Change

2017-10-27T15:11:25-04:00Tags: |

Women are leading way in the battle against climate change. During a Women's Earth and Climate Action Network event in Paris during the United Nations COP21 climate negotiations, we hear from Josefina Skerk, political activist and Vice President of Sami Parliament,is  fighting to protect her people and Patricia Gualinga, an Indigenous leader from the Kichwa Pueblo of Sarayaky in the Ecuadorian Amazon, who helped her community win landmark case against oil extraction in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Photo credit: Fox Photos/Getty Images

13 12, 2015

Worldwide, Indigenous Women Are Implementing Climate Solutions

2017-07-17T16:09:46-04:00Tags: |

Edna Kaptoyo, a Pokot Indigenous woman from Kenya, has already felt the impact of climate change. Kaptoyo says the traditional ways of her people such as preserving food and building houses has become a struggle so it is harder to protect her children. Indigenous woman all over the world have a wealth of traditional knowledge which is key to finding solutions to climate change. Photo credit: Shutterstock

9 12, 2015

Three Solar Power Projects Where Women Are Taking The Lead

2017-11-12T18:17:52-05:00Tags: |

Women are often excluded from larger decision-making processes—a likely reason for their stronger presence in grassroots movements and ground-level solutions to climate change, particularly in the Global South. Three examples of women’s projects related to solar power show the benefits of decentralizing clean energy for everyone. Solar Sister is a women-led project that puts women at the center of the sales network that is bringing the clean energy of solar lamps and clean cooking stoves to the poorest and most remote communities in rural Africa. Solar Grannies is an Indian project focused on older women who are trained to be solar engineers by the Barefoot College in Rajasthan. Eden Full Goh is an American woman who invented a solar panel that efficiently uses sunlight throughout the day, while at the same time filtering and cleaning water. Photo credit: Greenpeace

5 12, 2015

Fossil Fuel Extraction Dangers: Native American And Women’s Organisations Request UN Help On Sexual Violence

2017-10-06T19:29:45-04:00Tags: |

The fossil fuel industry is breeding lawless hubs of human trafficking and sexual violence against Indigenous women and girls in the Great Lakes and Great Plains region of the United States and Canada, but women are fighting to stop the violence. A coalition of Indigenous and women’s organizations, including Honor the Earth, Brave Heart Society, the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, One Billion Rising and the Indigenous Women’s Network have filed a request for intervention with the United Nations. The request focuses on the Bakken oil fields of western North Dakota and eastern Montana, and the Tar Sands region of Alberta, Canada, where an influx of industry workers into temporary housing "man-camps" is causing a rapid rise in sexual violence. Members of the coalition draw attention to current violence as an extension of a legacy of colonization, genocide and systematic abuses towards Indigenous peoples, which has always had a disproportional impact on women and girls. Photo credit: John Isaiah Pepion

2 12, 2015

Shyla Raghav On The Hidden Impacts Of Climate Change On Island Nations

2017-10-31T23:46:51-04:00Tags: |

Policy Director at Conservation International and delegate from the Maldives Shyla Raghav explains how island states are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels before the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris in 2015. Raghav, also a U.N. delegate for the Maldives at COP21, articulates how the Maldives is threatened by extreme catastrophic weather disasters due to climate change. Photo credit: Vice News (Video)

2 12, 2015

Run For Your Life: Collective Poem for COP21 by Isabella Borgeson, Enice Andrada, Terisa Siagatonu, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

2017-09-13T10:41:12-04:00Tags: |

The Spoken Word for the World competition winners teamed up with the Run for your Life project - climate performance and a relay from the Arctic to Paris. The four selected poets were Isabella Borgeson, Enice Andrada, Terisa Siagatonu and Kathy Jetnil Kijiner. They moved through the streets of Paris and recite a poem, empasizing Indigenous solidarity between women. Photo credit: Global Call for Climate Action

1 12, 2015

African Women Gender And Climate Change At COP21

2017-10-16T23:26:39-04:00Tags: |

The African working group on gender and climate change and the New Economic Partnership for Africa (NEPAD), separately held two side-events at the African Pavilion during COP21 in Paris. These events addressed the intersection of gender and climate change in Africa, specifically on the lack of gender disaggregated data which would better inform climate science reports and actions. Additionally, the sessions emphasized that climate funds, and especially the NEPAD climate fund established in 2012, should be more targeted at adaptation and mitigation measures supporting African women’s work in agriculture, value chains and their contributions towards climate solutions. Photo credit: c21stnigeria

1 12, 2015

Gender Day At COP21

2017-11-01T23:08:14-04:00Tags: |

On Gender Day inside of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP21 climate talks in Paris, France, diverse women leaders from around the world joined together and raised their voices on the importance of gender equality and women’s leadership at the forefront of the negotiations. Photo credit: Project Survival Media

1 12, 2015

Women On The Frontlines Of Climate Change At COP21 And Beyond

2017-10-31T23:45:15-04:00Tags: |

Writing in advance of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP21 climate negotiations in Paris, Osprey Orielle Lake, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International, shares an analysis of why women’s voices and solutions must be at the forefront of all climate decision making in order to make just and effective progress in addressing the climate crisis. Osprey reminds us that despite facing a myriad of challenges and disproportionate climate vulnerabilities - women hold great strength coming from their close relationship to the Earth, and their vital ability to envision and plan grassroots, bottoms-up solutions, which contrast with the popular top-down and large scale methods which often ignore the root causes of climate change. She shares examples of how women are leading the way, from renewable energy and sustainable food systems, to policy making and peace building. Photo credit: Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network

1 12, 2015

Women Hold The Solutions To Rebuild After Disaster

2017-07-20T17:25:14-04:00Tags: |

Women remain more likely than men to die because of natural disasters and climate change-related events. Despite offering creative and local solution to climate change issues, women are still often excluded from decision-making and lack legal assets, rights and the resources to rebuild their lives after natural disasters. Photo credit: Jose Miguel Gomez/Reuters

1 12, 2015

Teresa Almaguar Of PODER Rejects REDD

2017-11-01T11:10:55-04:00Tags: |

Teresa Almaguar of California a grassroots environmental justice organization, PODER speaks with Indigenous Rising Media during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to share her thoughts on REDD carbon schemes, which she explains contribute to the displacement of Indigenous and other frontline communities, while allowing polluters to buy their way out of their abuses instead of stopping them. Photo credit: Indigenous Rising Media

30 11, 2015

13 Women Who Set The Policy Agenda At Paris Negotiations

2017-07-12T20:34:04-04:00Tags: |

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim is the co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change and a key leader in the fight to mitigate the disastrous effects of Lake Chad’s disappearance. An estimated 30 million people in the West African countries of Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger depend on the lake. She and 12 other women leaders appear in Vogue for their leadership during the COP 21 climate negotiations in 2015 in Paris, France. Photo credit: Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

29 11, 2015

Lisa Mead: Depletion Of Marine Life

2017-10-29T00:05:04-04:00Tags: |

This video was shot at the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature International Tribunal at the Paris COP21. Lisa Mead, Director of the Earth Law Alliance, presents a new case for consideration to the panel of Tribunal Judges. Marine life is severely threatened by several factors such as deep-sea mining and oil extraction, pollution from plastics and other toxics, sewage and agricultural run-off, birds and mammals which are being killed by nets and lines and fish farming which affects native species. The case that she presents on “Depletion of Marine Life” concerns three issues which are interrelated: the lack of an integrated Ocean care and governance, the extensive overfishing and the inadequacy of marine conservation efforts. Photo credit: Rights4Nature

27 11, 2015

Shell Advert: “Renewables Are Unreliable, Like Women”

2020-12-02T19:58:00-05:00Tags: |

This humorous analysis illustrates not just the greenwashing inherent in Shell’s 2015 advert on natural gas, but also underlines the ways in which it heavily relies on antiquated gender stereotypes. It portrays renewable energies as unreliable and in dire need of a strong partner (enter natural gas). Not only is the portrayal of renewable energies as unreliable not up to date, the suggestion of natural gas as a “clean” alternative to other fossil fuels openly ignores its negative climate impacts. Photo Credit: Shell

27 11, 2015

Listening And Learning – A Climate Justice Dialogue With Grassroots Women

2017-10-27T15:46:49-04:00Tags: |

At the Bonn Climate Change Conference, grassroots women had the opportunity to share their experience engaging with climate solutions with international negotiators in order to encourage gender-responsive policy-making. Through learning circles, the women discussed the need for accessible funding, purposeful involvement in local project development, and established trust with government leaders. Their local and traditional knowledge helped informed the climate negotiations and the development of the Gender Action Plan. Photo credit: Mary Robinson Foundation

27 11, 2015

COP21: Overarching Narratives, Real Lives

2017-10-27T15:06:42-04:00Tags: |

In this Open Democracy report from the United Nations COP21 climate negotiations in Paris - we hear from Ursula Rakova, campaigner and human rights advocate, who explains to delegates at COP21 that displaced islanders do not want to be known as victims, and expresses disagreements that that the Paris Agreement was “balanced”, primarily because displaced islanders cannot hope to return to their homelands. Neema Namadamu, Democratic Republic of Congo discusses reforestation in Africa, and Indigenous women leaders including Pennie Opal Plant, Kandi Mossett and Casey Camp Horinek discuss why the voices of frontline women must be heard. Photo credit: Open Democracy

23 11, 2015

Shannon Dosemagen: How The BP Oil Spill Inspired A New Citizen Science Model

2017-10-25T22:48:09-04:00Tags: |

Shannon Dosemagen is the cofounder and president of the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science. Through her organization, Dosemagen offers an open-source platform for community-based science to target environmental pollution and protect public health with a justice lens. The project stemmed from her efforts to develop “community satellites” to document and make transparent the impacts of oil spills. Believing that impacted communities should have access to tools to defend themselves and create change, Dosemagen and the Public Lab connect the public to technology and expertise to collaborate on environmental justice solutions. Photo credit: Bioneers

1 11, 2015

Pennie Opal Plant Speaks Outside #COP21

2017-11-01T23:16:37-04:00Tags: |

Pennie Opal Plant, Indigenous leader from Richmond, California and Indigenous Environmental Network delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP21 climate negotiations, speaks out from just outside of the COP event space, after participating in a public action to oppose fracking. Pennie shares a poignant analysis on the COP process, and her hopes for overcoming continued greed and capitalist solutions in the climate policy process.

1 11, 2015

A Reality Check on the Paris Agreement: Women Demand Climate Justice

2017-11-01T23:09:52-04:00Tags: |

Members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Women and Gender Constituency issue a powerful statement at the close of the Paris climate negotiations - calling out failures and policies not commensurate to the level of climate crisis faced, or responsive enough to the realities of climate impacts, especially on women and frontline and marginalized communities worldwide. The Constituency points out that despite promised to stay under 1.5 degrees warming, current commitments measure up to 3.2 – 3.7 degrees rise; and declares it’s unwavering commitment to continued advocacy to push for gender equality, climate justice and real action by world governments.

1 11, 2015

Roots For The Future: The Landscape And Way Forward On Gender And Climate Change

2017-11-01T23:20:45-04:00Tags: |

The ‘Roots for the Future: the Landscape and Way Forward on Gender and Climate Change’ report produced by the Global Gender Office of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA), examines vital research, data, strategies, and results on gender and climate change policymaking; proposes key recommendations; and provides step-by-step guides, case studies and examples for gender mainstreaming and gender-responsive approaches in climate policy making. Photo credit: GGCA

1 11, 2015

Dorah Marema from GenderCC Southern Africa Speaks Out At COP21 Climate Talks

2017-11-01T04:01:35-04:00Tags: |

Dorah Marema from GenderCC Southern Africa speaks with members of GenderCC during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP21 climate negotiations in Paris, sharing her thoughts as an African woman on the need for climate policymakers to urgently address with tangible solutions the lived daily impacts felt by peoples in her region and around the world. Photo credit: GenderCC

31 10, 2015

Jane Goodall Tells Of Shared Threat To Humans And Animals

2017-10-31T23:00:49-04:00Tags: |

Renown conservation biologist Jane Goodall spoke out at the Paris climate talks about the importance of preserving biodiversity in efforts to create a sustainable and healthy planet. With her seminal research on chimpanzees, Goodall has contributed invaluable knowledge about the importance of conserving non-human species of plants and animals. Azzedine Downes, head of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, agreed on the topic, adding insights from her work with elephants. Photo credit: Jens Schlueter/AFP/Getty Images

31 10, 2015

Climate And Environmental Justice

2017-11-01T00:52:34-04:00Tags: |

This video explores the leadership of women from the Pacific Island feminists to the Black Mesa Water Coalition in responding to the gendered and economic effects of climate justice. The video was produced as a collaboration between the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), the Association for Women in Development (AWID), the World March of Women, the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJA), DIVA for Equality, the Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) and the International Forum of Indigenous Women (FIMI). Photo credit: Women's Environment and Development Organization

30 10, 2015

Gender and Urban Climate Policy: Gender-Sensitive Policies Make A Difference

2017-10-30T21:20:44-04:00Tags: |

This guidebook published by the Dutch government (GIZ), GenderCC - Women for Climate Justice and UN Habitat explores the theme of gender in urban climate change adaptation and mitigation. It explores the principles of gender-sensitive urban climate policy and advocates for more women’s representation at every level of policy-making.

30 10, 2015

International Rights Of Nature Tribunal: Pachamama Versus ‘Macho Papas’

2017-10-30T21:13:56-04:00Tags: |

The third International Rights of Nature Tribunal took place in Paris at the same time as COP21. There, several presenters from around the globe shared their testimonies and experiences on several topics such as the effects of petrochemical pollution and fracking on communities, environmental racism, the violations against Rights of Nature, and the current disconnection of human beings with the Earth which leads to further environmental destruction. Tribunal judges commented on the need to include the rights of environment defenders in the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. Photo credit: Ché Ramsden

30 10, 2015

Africa: COP21 – Grassroots Organizations Spotlight Women’s Voices At UN Climate Conference

2017-10-30T20:53:06-04:00Tags: |

Titi Akosa, a Nigerian lawyer and the Executive Director of the Centre for 21st Century Issues, rallied with other women and NGO allies at the COP21 Paris climate talks, including Lean Deleon, who pointed out that those most affected from the climate crisis are women and marginalized people who lack access to decision-making bodies

30 10, 2015

The Challenges Of Gender Equality And Climate Change

2017-10-30T20:47:45-04:00Tags: |

Gladys Vila Pihue, a leader of the National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women of Peru (ONAMIAP), writes about the exclusion of rights of Indigenous Peoples in Article 2 of the Draft Agreement negotiated at the 2015 Paris climate talks. It is important to coordinate between policymakers and the Indigenous women of the Andes and the Amazon in order to articulate a common vision of justice to international community. Photo Credit: Women's Earth and Climate Action Network

30 10, 2015

Women and Climate Change Symposium – Women and Climate Change: Impact And Agency In Human Rights, Security, And Economic Development

2017-10-30T20:40:16-04:00Tags: |

Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson presented a keynote address at the “Women and Climate Change Symposium” at Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security to launch the report “Women and Climate Change: Impact and Agency in Human Rights, Security and Economic Development.” She stressed the importance of women’s participation in the decision-making processes of the UN climate change negotiations and emphasized the need to close the gap between commitments and implementation. Photo credit: Mary Robinson Foundation

30 10, 2015

An African Ecofeminist Perspective On The Paris Climate Negotiations

2017-10-30T20:35:14-04:00Tags: |

WoMin, or African Women Unite Against Destructive Resource Extraction, comment on the shortcomings of the 2015 Paris climate talks. The members of WoMin are organizing against non-renewable energy and mineral extraction in dozens of African countries. Along with that, they have outlined alternative development framework consisting of climate and ecological justice, energy justice, food justice and gender justice in Africa. Photo credit: Heidi Augestad

30 10, 2015

WoMin Alliance Launches Crowd-funding Campaign For Pan African Film On Women’s Resistance To Mining And Destructive Extractive Industries

2017-10-30T03:22:21-04:00Tags: |

The popular African proverb “Until the lions get their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter” reminds us of the importance of telling our own stories. WoMin, an African gender and extractives alliance, is taking this saying to heart by crowd-funding of a ground-breaking pan-African feminist film entitled “No Good Comes from the Mine” to highlight African women’s resistance to coal, oil and uranium mining in South Africa, Uganda and Niger, as well as the people-centered alternatives that these women and their communities are building. Photo credit: WoMin

30 10, 2015

Meet Yifat Susskind of MADRE

2017-10-30T02:49:10-04:00Tags: |

The Nobel Women's Initiative profiles Yifat Susskind - the Executive Director of MADRE, an organization that works with women’s human rights activists from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America to combat violence against women and promote women’s health, environmental justice and international peace. Susskind is also a proficient writer and journalist, having covered women’s issues for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy in Focus and other publications. Photo credit: Nobel Women’s Initiative

30 10, 2015

Information And Communications Technologies For Feminist Movement Building, Activist Toolkit

2017-10-31T16:00:28-04:00Tags: |

JASS Just Associates, in partnership with Women’sNet and the Association for Progressive Communications, has published a guide to using information and communication technologies (ICTS) for women’s rights activists and advocates in Africa. The toolkit includes strategies for online-to-offline organizing and movement building, including telling stories that break down gender norms and inspiring others to take concrete steps to make change. They profile stories of powerful online activists, such as Nana Karkoa, who uses her blog “Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women” to combat stereotypes of African women’s passivity in the bedroom. Similarly, photographer Zanele Muholi uses digital multimedia to publish the stories of lesbian, bisexual and trans women and promote the multifaceted ways women can experience their gender and sexuality. Photo credit: Just Associates

28 10, 2015

Fighting For Our Shared Future: Protecting Human Rights And Rights Of Nature

2017-10-28T23:25:52-04:00Tags: |

This report, with co-authors including woman leader Linda Sheehan, examines the co-violations of Nature’s and people’s rights around the world, as humans and Mother Earth are directly linked. Currently, Nature is treated globally as property, and as a result both humans and ecosystems are severely injured. The aim of the report is to highlight this problem via an analysis of 100 case studies of mining in Northern Europe, Canada, Latin America and Africa. At the same time, the publication identifies solutions and recommendations to combat and prevent human rights violations and violations of Rights of Nature. Photo credit: Earth Law Center

27 10, 2015

Women’s Participation: An Enabler Of Climate Change

2017-10-27T16:38:29-04:00Tags: |

In this report, the Mary Robinson Foundation illustrates how gender-responsive climate action generates benefits for both men and women. Julia Antonia Menjiva and other Guadalupe women’s involvement in adaptation planning bolsters gender balances in decision-making and guides gender-responsive climate policy in El Salvador. In Chile, Celia Reyes secures government assistance to combat water scarcity, lends traditional knowledge to municipal projects, and leverages solar energy training to benefit her family. Photo credit: Mary Robinson Foundation

27 10, 2015

Climate Justice And Women’s Rights: A Guide To Supporting Grassroots Women’s Action

2017-10-27T16:36:45-04:00Tags: |

This report by the Global Greengrants Fund, the International Network of Women’s Funds, and the Alliance of Funds offers eight case studies of successful women-led climate solutions. For example, Ursula Rakova mobilized the resettlement of her community in Papua New Guinea in response to rising sea levels and limited government assistance. Additionally, Mama Aleta Baun of Indonesia and Lam Thi Thu Suu of Vietnam are leading sustained efforts against extractive and unsustainable industrial projects in their homelands. Photo credit: Global Greengrants

27 10, 2015

Pacific Gender And Climate Change Toolkit

2017-10-27T14:44:20-04:00Tags: |

To support climate change practitioners primarily in the Pacific Islands, UN Women has designed the Pacific Gender and Climate Change toolkit which aims to include gender has important strategy in programs and policies. This toolkit provides practical gender needs (PGN) advice to create a sustainably developed world.

27 10, 2015

The Weight of the World – Can Christiana Figueres Persuade Humanity To Save Itself?

2017-10-27T12:15:34-04:00Tags: |

Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is a powerhouse woman leader. This New Yorker piece provides a detailed portrait of her leadership in the outcomes of the Paris agreement, including signers committing to design domestic plans to reduce the carbon, known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) Figueres argues that emergent issues like money gaps and the North/South divide need to be tackled with mutual corporation of developing and developed worlds.

27 10, 2015

COP21 Was Male Dominated, Says United Nations Special Envoy

2017-10-27T10:55:28-04:00Tags: |

Ireland’s first female president and United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Change Mary Robinson knows all too well what it means to both be in top positions as a woman, and just how few women manage to get to these positions. Mary Robinson also understands the implications of having climate policy spaces dominated by men while women are either absent, present but absent in critical positions, or missing completely. Mary Robinson rightly notes that climate change disproportionately affects women, especially in the Global South, and that there is a need to connect the greater issues of economic development, gender inequalities, migration and the present refugee crisis, with the climate crisis discourse. The solutions being negotiated within the UNFCCC corridors must also keep in mind the multiple and intersecting oppressions women in their diversity face. Photo credit: IISD/Kiara Worth

27 10, 2015

Mary Robinson, Christiana Figueres And Amina Mohammed On Gender Equality And Earth’s Future

2017-10-27T02:10:45-04:00Tags: |

Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Christiana Figueres and Deputy-Secretary General of the United Nations Amina Mohammed see the ways in which gender inequality and climate injustice do not happen in a vacuum, and all are imbued with power relations touching on multiple socio-political, cultural, economic and even religious spheres. For these three women who have spent their lives working for justice, the transformation and redistribution of power is at the heart of attaining both gender equality and climate justice.

25 10, 2015

The Impact of Hazardous Chemicals on Women

2017-10-25T22:54:21-04:00Tags: |

Although there is a depth of information about the health impacts of specific chemicals on women, there still remains a dearth of research and knowledge on the topic of women and chemicals in general. This report by Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) attempts to fill this gap as well as push for better recognition and legislation by policymakers of women’s health, rights and autonomy. They highlight the disproportionate impacts of hazardous chemicals on women and the socio-political and economic power relations at play. Photo credit: Women in Europe for a Common Future

25 10, 2015

Extractivism’s Impacts On Women’s Bodies, Sexuality And Autonomy

2017-10-25T22:48:56-04:00Tags: |

This collection of six papers produced by the WoMin alliance focuses on the environmental, social and economic impacts of industrial mining to working class, poor and peasant women in Sub-Saharan Africa. The papers deal with the realities of sex work associated with the mining industry, sexual and reproductive health rights of the women working in mines and in proximity to mining areas, migration issues, the toxic masculinities witnessed within mining communities and the violence which women in these spaces often endure. This collection serves as a reminder of the myriad of problems that extractivist projects bring with them and specifically the gendered nature of these issues, which our movements must constantly analyze and work to dismantle.

19 10, 2015

Women Call For Stepped-Up Gender-Responsive Climate Policy And Action

2017-09-24T19:09:25-04:00Tags: |

In the lead-up to the Paris climate meeting (COP21), UN Women together with the UNFCCC secretariat and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) facilitated an experts meeting in order to encourage the incorporation of gender perspectives related to the climate process. The meeting outcome stressed the importance of supporting women’s leadership and agency in climate responses and ensuring that the related mechanisms were alive to the ways in which different women experience climate change and the material structures needed to support them. Photo credit: WECAN International

16 10, 2015

Women Gaining Ground: Securing Land Rights As A Critical Pillar Of Climate Change Strategy

2017-10-16T23:15:30-04:00Tags: |

Research shows that the majority of the world’s poor rely on natural resources such as land, seeds, forests and rivers for their livelihoods and general survival. In addition, women from the worst climate affected regions (Africa and South Asia) are not only disproportionately affected by climate change but also have limited rights around the access and control of natural resources. Multiple studies now show that if these women had much more secure rights, specifically around land, they would be much more empowered to tackle climate change. There is an urgency to secure these rights though adequate policy frameworks and implementation. Photo credit: WECAN International

6 10, 2015

New Research Shows How Climate Change Will Influence Infant Health

2017-10-31T20:11:45-04:00Tags: |

Researchers from the University of Utah, led by Kathryn Grace, spent two years examining the relationship between fetal development and pregnant women’s exposure to low precipitation and very hot days. They studied data from 19 African countries and found a strong link between reduced rainfall and high heat and low infant birth weight. Low birth weight is a worldwide public health problem, associated with numerous health issues and resulting in economic burdens.

1 10, 2015

Women Environmental Tacticians

2017-11-01T23:21:20-04:00Tags: |

Rabble podcasts hears from global women leaders Sandra Steingraber, biologist, leader of the We Are Seneca Lake movement, and anti-fracking advocate; Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women's Earth & Climate Action Network; Sonia Guajajara, National Coordinator of Brazil's Association of Indigenous Peoples, Maranhão, Brazil; Casey Camp-Horinek, Ponca Nation elder and Indigenous Environmental Network representative; and Nina Gualinga, Kichwa youth leader from Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon - regarding the diverse manners they are standing for climate justice, from storytelling and science education, to petitions, blockading, marching, speaking out, and even putting their lives on the line. Photo credit: Rabble.ca

30 09, 2015

Biogas Digesters Help Women Respond To Climate Change

2017-10-31T12:13:09-04:00Tags: |

Poorer countries are hit hardest by climate change, as they struggle to manage the economic costs and health consequences of climatic disasters. However, women in the Global South are adopting smart technologies to respond. One such technology is the biogas digester, which simultaneously provides sanitation and animal waste management, a free, cleaner cooking fuel alternative, and produces organic fertiliser. Photo credit: Hilary Bambrick

30 09, 2015

Four Ways Climate Change Affects Women More Than Men

2017-07-12T21:34:26-04:00Tags: |

Women and girls in communities from Mozambique to Bolivia are more vulnerable than their male counterparts to the impacts of climate change in many aspects, from food security to health and education. However, women are also taking action to combat climate change, benefiting from initiatives such as a water access campaign launched by the Self Employed Women’s Association in Gujarat, India, and farming associations in Mozambique that place collective responsibility on finding solutions to climate disasters, such as planting drought-resistant species of rice, corn, and cassava. Photo credit: Elisa Walton/USAID

29 09, 2015

These Women Are Leading The Cause For Climate Action

2017-10-28T14:03:01-04:00Tags: |

1 Million Women highlights female leaders fighting against climate change, including Mary Robinson, United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Change and first women president of Ireland, Farhana Yamin, climate lawyer and activist for a net zero carbon world economy, Christiana Figueres, leader of the negotiations leading up to the Paris Agreement, Osprey Orielle Lake, founder of WECAN, among many other incredible women leaders. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

24 09, 2015

Why Women Are Central To Climate Justice And Solutions

2017-10-27T20:05:41-04:00Tags: |

Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, Osprey Orielle Lake, discusses why and how women are disproportionately impacted by climate change, as well as examples of how their agency, skill and knowledge is central to just and effective sustainability solutions, including in farming, water management and protection, and law and policy making.

24 09, 2015

Advancing Gender Equality The Cooperative Way

2017-09-24T16:42:09-04:00Tags: |

The International Cooperative Alliance and the International Labor Organization have joined forces to analyze how emergent trends in cooperative economics influence gender equality and women’s empowerment. International challenges surrounding the sexual division of labor, including women’s pay, unpaid labor, the difficulties women face in advancing in the labor market, and disproportionate levels of labor precarity for women, are of key concern. Photo credit: International Labour Organization

12 09, 2015

Three Solar Power Projects Where Women Are Taking The Lead

2018-02-20T18:18:02-05:00Tags: |

Women are underrepresented in international climate negotiations and the energy industry. However, that hasn’t stopped women leading the way in these three grassroots solar energy solutions that exemplify the benefits of decentralized clean energy for the world’s most vulnerable and the planet.  Solar Sisters aim to eradicate energy poverty in Africa by creating a women-centered direct sales network through which women can buy solar items to use and sell in their communities. The Barefoot College in Rajasthan, India, trains older women to become solar engineers which in turn increases their social standing and benefits their communities. Eden Full Goh, a young American engineer has invented a simple solar technology that also cleans drinking water as it tracks the sun, removing the choice women are often forced to make between clean water and energy. Photo credit: Unearthed, GreenPeace

3 09, 2015

If Climate Change Is A Human Story, Men Are Telling It

2017-09-04T12:12:28-04:00Tags: |

Even though women make up 70% of the world’s impoverished population and are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, their voices are often left out of environmental reporting. This report found that in covering climate change, the media tends to neglect women and are more likely to quote men. Photo credit: The World Bank

1 09, 2015

Weathering The Storms Together: Grassroots Women’s Response To Climate Change

2017-11-01T02:31:17-04:00Tags: |

Kahea Pacheco and Melinda Kramer of the Women's Earth Alliance reflect on the importance of women's environmental leadership, and share the story of Sunita Rao, an Indian seed saver, farmer and founder of Vanastree, a seed saving collective of women farmers. Her organization, Malnad Mela, is taking many vital actions to lead the way, including a festival for women farmers to come together and exchange experiences and traditional knowledge to improve Indigenous solutions to threats to their seeds, crops, food and water security. Photo credit: Women’s Earth Alliance

1 09, 2015

From Ecuador To Nigeria – Women Speak For Climate Justice, Build Solutions

2017-11-01T02:23:07-04:00Tags: |

The Global Women's Climate Justice Day of Action happened on September 25th, 2015, including women from more than 50 countries. The main idea of this initiative was to draw attention to how women are disproportionately affected by climate change and the importance of having women at the forefront of decision-making processes to of tackle climate issues. Throughout the world, different expressions and demonstrations happened. In Nigeria, African women gathered for a March for Energy, Food and Climate Justice, protesting the extraction of fossil fuels and its impacts on the environment, explained WoMin (African Women United Against Destruction Resource Extraction). Belen of Ecuador also discussed protests against non-renewable energy and the demand for a transition to green energy sources. In India, Reetu Sogani of Chintan International Trust spoke about how women exchange seeds to protect their rights to connect with nature. Caritas Pakistan organized discussions about climate change and the planting of fruit trees. Many other organizations around the world organized different speeches and events for this day, such as Winona LaDuke, Founder of Honor the Earth and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and President of the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice; and Women's Earth and Climate Action Network Executive Director, Osprey Orielle Lake, who was the main organizer of this initiative. Photo credit: WoMin

6 08, 2015

Why Women’s Work Is Key To A Just And Sustainable Future

2017-06-20T21:29:49-04:00Tags: |

The concept of women’s work refers to often underpaid tasks, from caring for the elderly and doing cooking and cleaning to reproductive, educational and emotional labor in many forms. However, in a low-carbon future, women’s work will be indispensable, as our economy moves away from consumer-driven industries that rely on fossil fuel energy to a caring economy. Photo credit: National Domestic Workers Alliance  

6 08, 2015

Helena Norberg-Hodge: A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity

2017-12-06T14:42:37-05:00Tags: |

Helena Norberg-Hodge, Director of Local Futures and producer of the film, Economic of Happiness, discusses her life of work to support the local-living movement, which she also frames as a movement towards happiness and interdependence, and the ‘decentralization’ of economics, politics, and lifestyle. Photo credit: Happen Films

29 07, 2015

Q&A With Mary Robinson: What Is Climate Justice?

2017-10-23T21:24:00-04:00Tags: |

Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson makes clear that to adequately tackle the issue of climate change, we must first of the most vulnerable people, those on the frontlines of the climate crisis. We must also remember that women continue to disproportionately bear the effects of the crisis. A moral stand in this case constitutes centering people, rights and justice in this struggle against climate change. Photo credit: Mary Robinson Foundation

30 06, 2015

Poem: 2 Degrees

2017-10-08T23:05:38-04:00Tags: |

The touching poem 2 Degrees was written by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, from the Marshall Islands. She wrote it for a CNN series on why the 2 Degrees Celsius mark is a crucial limit for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Kathy wrote about the danger climate change poses to her home, her island, mentioning the importance of keeping the global temperature increase to 1.5 Degrees. Photo credit: WECAN International

24 06, 2015

Gender And Urban Climate Policy

2017-09-24T19:16:05-04:00Tags: |

This report by UN Habitat is a call to critically think about the multitude of ways that gender interacts and informs climate change and climate policy, regarding policy around cities in this case. Cities are increasingly being recognized as essential actors of climate change policies and in the last 20 years, cities in low- and mid-income countries across the world have been prioritizing adaptation and mitigation efforts. Given how power relations with regard to access and control over natural resources continue to play out in cities and overwhelmingly put women at a disadvantage, it is prudent that we think strategically about how to craft climate-related policies that create just cities for women. Photo credit: UN Habitat

16 06, 2015

DDT Chemical Linked To Fourfold Increase In Breast Cancer Risk

2017-06-25T21:06:00-04:00Tags: |

Epidemiologist Barbara Cohn led a study which revealed that women exposed in the womb to DDT, a powerful pesticide, face a quadrupled risk of developing breast cancer. The pesticide is still used sub-Saharan Africa to kill mosquitos and fight malaria epidemics. Photo credit: John Stanmeyer, National Geographic Creative

28 05, 2015

Shannon Biggs: Hydraulic Fracking Violates Rights Of Nature

2017-10-28T23:52:42-04:00Tags: |

During her passionate speech at the Paris International Rights of Nature Tribunal, Shannon Biggs, Executive Director of Movement Rights and co-founder of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, explains how fracking is a global issue and one of the worst threats of life on Earth. In the U.S. fracking sets stage for disaster with over 1 million active fracked oil and gas lines. She states that fracking is a clear violation of Rights of Nature as it violates the rights of water, air and climate, soil and life. Moreover, it causes earthquakes and contributes to climate change, cancer and asthma as it uses and brings to the Earth’s surface radioactive materials that cannot be safely disposed. In the end, Casey Camp-Horinek, Indigenous rights activist who helps maintain the cultural identity of the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma, in an emotional speech described how fracking has major impacts in the lives of tribes located in Oklahoma. Photo credit: Rights4Nature

28 05, 2015

California Drought: A Precursor Of Things To Come

2017-09-21T16:37:05-04:00Tags: |

In this eye-opening article, Maude Barlow—a Canadian author, activist, Movement Rights board member, Head of Council of Canadians and founder of Blue Planet Project—sheds lights on the California drought of 2015. Water plundering by private industries was the culprit of this drought. Water is a human right, and lack of access to water is no longer a dilemma facing only the Global South. Governments need to stand up to industries and private interests for a water-secure world. Photo credit: AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

25 05, 2015

A Climate Change Poem For Today: X By Imtiaz Dharker

2017-09-06T21:40:54-04:00Tags: |

Imtiaz Dharker is a British-Pakistani poet using her writing as a weapon against climate change. In her poem “X” she recounts the experience of a woman which is up to the reader to uncover. The connections between climate change and women speak volumes and are understood through engagement with the text embedded in creative thought. Photo credit: emilyspoetryblog.com

16 05, 2015

Climate Justice For All: Putting Gender Justice At The Heart Of The Paris Climate Change Agreement

2017-10-16T23:18:13-04:00Tags: |

The result of existing inter- and intra-generational unequal gender relations work to ensure that women face unique challenges as a result of climate change. Using a gender lens to analyze the impacts of the climate crisis is not only important as a first step to begin to deal with gendered inequalities, it also allows us to squarely put women at the heart of the response by valuing their existing knowledge, skills and innovation through various platforms such like policy and implementation levels. Photo credit: WECAN International

3 05, 2015

Four Women, Three Countries, One Free Flowing River

2017-08-26T12:43:29-04:00Tags: |

The Amur-Heilong River, which originates in the Khan Khentil wilderness in Mongolia and flows through Russia and China, is one of the world’s ten largest ten rivers as well as one of the last free-flowing rivers left on the planet. An all-female team of scientists from the United States and Australia is bringing this little known river to the world stage, drawing attention to its breath-taking biodiversity and the threats it faces from climate change, illegal wildlife trade, pollution, resource extraction and proposed dam projects. The team is collecting scientific data as well as photos and videos which the women will public in a web atlas of the Amur River, to be shared with the world. Photo credit: Petr Sharov and V. Solkin

1 05, 2015

Climate Change And Feminist Environmentalisms: Closing Remarks

2017-10-27T20:17:08-04:00Tags: |

This article on the Feminist Wire was written by Cristina Awadalla, Piper Coutinho-Sledge, Alison Criscitiello, Julie Gorecki, and Sonalini Sapra. It is the closing speech of the Climate Change and Feminist Environmentalisms Forum, which focused on the impacts of climate change on women from the Global South and other minorities, as well as the barriers that capitalism builds in the road towards a sustainable planet.

1 05, 2015

Book Review by Sehin Teferra: The Remaking Of Social Contracts: Feminists In A Fierce New World

2017-11-01T12:59:39-04:00Tags: |

With the special focus on “gender power” in the global south, the new book The Remaking of Social Contracts: Feminists in a Fierce New World raises the question of structural inequalities both in governmental approaches and non-governmental methods towards empowering women. Connecting the dots between climate change and consumption habits, Sefin Teferra, a PhD Candidate in Gender Studies at SOAS, University of London and a writer for Development Alternatives for Women in a New Era (DAWN), is highly critical of neo-liberal state where common natural resources like water and food get privatized and women’s unpaid work is not recognized. Finally, Teferra highlights the absence of women’s groups demanding climate justice and urges the reader to see women as active participants of development, not as victims.

30 04, 2015

Climate Equality: Women On The Front Lines

2017-09-13T11:09:09-04:00Tags: |

Women affected by climate change in areas such as the Carteret Islanders (in Papua New Guinea), Central Vietnam, Nepal, and Bangladesh are being recognized on this article for their protagonism and resilience in the fight against climate disasters. These women's work ranges from giving first-aid classes to advocating for the creation of drinking water facilities, and governments in these locations are working with local women groups to create policies for climate change adaptation. The Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law, and Development used the Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) to increase women leadership in developing policies on climate. One of the protagonist groups in these efforts is the Mugal Indigenous Women's Upliftment Institute, which focuses on the adaptation of farming practices for extreme weather conditions due to climate change. The Mugal women have also been leading efforts to create climate policies in Nepal, working with the government to include traditional knowledge in initiatives against climate change. In Bangladesh, women's groups are also working with government officials to draft new environmental policies, especially on alternative crop productions. A female leader of one of these movements was elected as a member of the Village Committee in the southwest of Bangladesh, near the Sundarban mangrove forests. Photo credit: The Huffington Post

26 04, 2015

Unsung Heroines Who Take Action On Climate Change

2017-10-26T00:32:18-04:00Tags: |

The climate action campaign Women for Results is putting the spotlight on a global trend of women who are successfully addressing the impacts of climate change in urban and rural communities. Women are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change not only in rural regions but also in urban settings. They are also the best suited in pushing forward climate just solutions as they overwhelmingly manage water, food and energy supplies. This international wave of women is positioned on the frontlines of climate change adaptation initiatives including spearheading affordable and accessible low carbon technologies, and mitigation for droughts and serious flooding in specifically India, Thailand, and Indonesia. Photo credit: Medilyn Manibo

8 03, 2015

23 Women Changing Food

2018-10-11T18:17:32-04:00Tags: |

On International Women’s Day, Food Tank celebrates 23 women from around the world who are working to change the food system for the better. Globally 70% of farmers are women, however female farmers lack resources and land rights, however, from Jamaica to New Zealand they are aiming to create a well-nourished world. The women documented include Rebecca Adamson, who is promoting traditional ecological knowledge as president of First Peoples Worldwide and Nancy Karanja who is the sub-Saharan Africa Regional Coordinator for Urban Harvest, a project to increase food security in and around cities. Photo credit: Food Tank

7 03, 2015

Facing Violence, Resistance Is Survival For Indigenous Women

2017-10-06T19:31:52-04:00Tags: |

Throughout North, Central and South America, Indigenous women are fighting battles against fossil fuel extraction, mining and the sexual violence that accompanies these projects. For example, women elders from the Klabona Keepers are leading non-violent blockades to protect the Sacred Headwaters in British Columbia from mining contamination, while their peers participate in the Unist’ot’en blockade against fracked gas pipelines. In Panama, the first-ever woman chief of the Ngäbe Buglé people successfully led a grassroots resistance to halt the construction of the Barro Blanco hydroelectric project. In Ecuador and Peru, women are key leaders in blocking the construction of gold, silver and copper mega-mine projects. Photo credit: 15MBcn_Int/ mtmundo.org

28 01, 2015

Suzanne York On Exceeding Earth’s Limits

2017-10-28T23:39:38-04:00Tags: |

In this Movement Rights blog, Suzanne York, expresses her concern for the future of the world which is heading towards a “danger zone” as it is crossing several planetary boundaries that could destabilize the earth. She highlights the Rights of Nature movement that is trying to shift the paradigm and move from exploitation to the coexistence with Mother Earth.  The International Rights of Nature Tribunal enforces Nature’s rights by putting the current global system on trial. According to Suzanne, there is no time to wait as the later it gets, the more difficult it will be to stem the tide. She calls us to act immediately as that’s the only way for all future generations to inherit a livable world. Photo credit: Jeffrey Bury

28 01, 2015

Helena Norberg-Hodge – The Economics Of Happiness

2020-10-05T20:28:47-04:00Tags: |

Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder of the organisation Local Futures and the producer and co-director of the award-winning documentary, ‘The Economics of Happiness’, as well as the author of several books. In this video, she speaks at UPLIFT 2014 about bringing together inner and outer transformation, which she sees as inextricably interconnected, to create a world that works for everyone. In this process, she argues for the importance of moving away from fear into a love-based existence. She also believes, in order for the transformation to happen, in the need for global communication and interaction. 

21 01, 2015

Women Still Lag Behind In Non-Profit Leadership Roles

2017-07-20T19:13:45-04:00Tags: |

Women are still underrepresented on the boards of nonprofits, especially those with higher budgets. While the numbers are disappointing, Maggie Wilderotter, CEO and Chair of Frontier Communications, believes shareholders are starting to look more at diversity. Photo credit: ey.com

5 01, 2015

UN Report Highlights Women’s Role In Resource Management During And After Conflict

2017-07-20T18:29:35-04:00Tags: |

Women play an important role in conflict recovery and peacebuilding, yet peace agreements repeatedly neglect to consult women or make provisions for women’s needs in the reconciliation process. This report highlights the necessity of centering women’s needs and knowledge during and after periods of conflict. Photo credit: New Security Beat

1 01, 2015

Anya Cherneff Empowers Nepalese Women With Solar Energy

2017-10-02T23:05:33-04:00Tags: |

Anya Cherneff cofounded Empower Generation, a social enterprise that links solar energy suppliers with Nepalese women, who then distribute the technology in their communities. The company has already supported 15 women-led businesses to deliver 50,000 solar products to people in need. Anya believes in encouraging women to participate more in the energy sector and speaks publicly about her work to share her vision. Photo credit: Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Awards

1 01, 2015

WoMin Launches Fossil Fuels, Energy And Climate Justice Toolkit

2017-10-01T17:46:47-04:00Tags: |

African Women United Against Destructive Resource Extraction (WoMin) has developed and launched the project Women Building Power, a collection of useful materials and tools for African women-led grassroots campaigners to address problems relating to fossil fuels, renewable energy and climate justice. The project introduced seven booklets that give tips for practitioners on how to deal with common challenges and organize communities for climate justice.

26 12, 2014

Stories And Solutions From Climate Women In Lima During COP20

2018-03-01T12:26:45-05:00Tags: |

In Lima, Peru during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP20 - Indigenous women land defenders and community leaders from across the Americas and around the world gathered at a Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network to speak out against issues of social and ecological violation affecting their homelands, and to share their stories and calls to action for justice. Amongst many topics, presenters including Gloria Ushigua (President of the Association of Sapara Women in Ecuador); Hueiya Alicia Cahuiya Iteca (Vice President of the Huaorani nationality of Ecuador); Tantoo Cardinal (Native Canadian actress and activist); Nina and Patricia Gualinga (Kichwa Pueblo of Sarayaku); Mrinalini Rai (Indigenous advisor and gender expert from Nepal, working with the Global Forest Coalition); Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation elder and Counci lWoman); Sonia Guajajara (National Coordinator of Brazil’s Association of Indigenous Peoples); and Nino Gamisonia (Rural Communities Development Agency in Abkhazia, Georgia) discussed the impacts of oil extraction, mining and mega-dams on biodiversity, global climate and Indigenous territorial integrity.  Photo credit: Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network

13 12, 2014

COP20 Closing Statement: You Have Negotiated Only Which Lives, Communities And Lands Will Be Lost

2017-12-13T14:03:08-05:00Tags: |

At the closing of COP20, Carmen Capriles delivered a statement prepared by Marina Parvin of the Asian Pacific Forum for Women in Law and Development in Bangladesh. The statement explains that during the negotiations, she was hoping to see a commitment that upholds human rights, gender equality, and the rights of future generations. Unfortunately, she and other women from most-impacted communities witnessed governments focused on putting prices and measures on the loss of ecosystems, displacement of communities and destruction of cultures..

12 12, 2014

Nina Gualinga: A Call To Keep Fossil Fuels In The Ground

2017-11-05T13:41:58-05:00Tags: |

In her blog, Nina Gualinga, a young woman leader from Sarayaku, a small Indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon, writes about her experience during the United Nations COP20 Climate Conference where she demanded that world leaders respect her people’s ancestral rights. International communities must create climate policy that leaves fossil fuels in the ground. Indigenous peoples have persistently been on the forefront of the fight against environmental disaster and climate change. It is the obligation of governments, state parties, corporations, organizations, and other such institutions to make sure indigenous peoples are included in the decision-making process at COP20 and other high-level governmental meetings. Photo credit: Amazon Watch

28 11, 2014

Small Grants Help Frontline Women Promote Climate Solutions

2017-07-11T17:08:23-04:00Tags: |

Women are leading some of the most effective climate change projects and solutions across the world, however they receive disproportionately little attention and scant backing from funders and climate finance programs. Refusing to wait on anyone or anything in their often life-or-death struggles to protect the Earth and their communities, women such as Aleta Baun in West Timor are using small grants to protect their lands and implement solutions. Photo credit: Goldman Prize

2 11, 2014

Why Women Hold The Key To Fighting Pollution

2017-11-02T00:02:56-04:00Tags: |

Budi Susilorini, Pure Earth’s country director for Indonesia, explains how women are adversely impacted by pollution and environmental toxins. She is spreading the word about the multigenerational impact of pollution on families on the international stage and fighting for a cleaner environment at home. Photo credit: Pure Earth

1 11, 2014

Kathrin Henneberger On One Billion Rising For Climate Justice

2017-11-01T03:01:00-04:00Tags: |

Kathrin Henneberger is a German activist for climate justice and member of the European Youth Climate Movement. She writes this article on the impacts of climate change on women for the European campaign “Push Europe” and in support of the OneBillionRising campaign. With statistical data to support her text, Henneberger writes about how generally women, especially those in situation of poverty or extreme poverty, are the ones that suffer the most from climate change hazards. She urges us to pay attention to the special needs of women in climate justice matters at multiple levels: local, national and international. Photo Credit: One Billion Rising

30 10, 2014

Fracking And Lima Climate Talks Slammed At Nature Rights Tribunal

2017-10-30T21:18:00-04:00Tags: |

Thirteen judges meet in Peru at the International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature to hear charges of how Rights of Nature are being violated. The goal of the Tribunal is to investigate cases of possible violations according to the Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth. In total, 12 cases were heard and experts and impacted people from around the world spoke as “witnesses.” Among the experts there were Casey Camp-Horinek who spoke about the negative impacts of fracking on the Ponca Nation, and Shannon Biggs, who highlighted how fracking is destroying livelihoods within the United States. Photo credit: Free source

30 10, 2014

Four Takeaways On How Women Are Using Grassroots Environmental Grants

2017-10-30T21:09:27-04:00Tags: |

Grassroots women leaders are leveraging Global Greengrants to fight on the frontlines of climate change. These efforts include advancing sustainable forest practices, protesting extractive industries, reducing urban emissions, and building solidarity across movements. Photo credit: Global Greengrants

30 10, 2014

Nalini Singh Of Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women At COP20

2017-10-30T21:06:01-04:00Tags: |

In this interview from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP20 meeting in Lima, Peru, Nalini Singh of the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) discusses the how climate change is negatively impacting women’s sexual reproductive health and human rights. For example, she shares how women often have more children than desired because they lack options or information on family planning. Photo credit: Climate Home

30 10, 2014

Gertrude Kenyangi Of Women’s Environment & Development Organization

2017-10-30T21:03:57-04:00Tags: |

In this interview from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP20 meeting in Lima, Peru, Gertrude Kenyangi of Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO) discusses how government accountability and gender-just climate solutions are critical to transformative social change. She illustrates how climate change abuses the rights of women and how this inequality is exacerbated in fragile economies; however, women are also  leading climate change mitigation and sustainable development through strategies such as subsistence farming and fuel-saving technologies. Photo credit: Climate Home

30 10, 2014

Usha Nair, All India Women’s Conference

2017-10-30T21:02:21-04:00Tags: |

In this interview during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP20 meeting in Lima, Peru, Usha Nair of the All India Women's Conference (AIWC) discusses the importance of gender-responsive climate policy. She shares how women are more vulnerable to climate change impacts than men and are important agents of change, especially given their decision-making role at the domestic level. Photo credit: Climate Home

29 10, 2014

Linda Sheehan: Codifying Nature’s Rights In Human Law

2017-10-29T00:09:30-04:00Tags: |

Linda Sheehan was one of 45 leading scholars, authors and activists who convened at The Great Hall of Cooper Union, for the public presentation: "Techno-Utopianism and the Fate of the Earth." Speakers discussed the profound impacts—environmental, economic and social—of runaway technological expansionism and cyber immersion; the tendency to see technology as the savior for all problems. During her speech, she explained how modern environmental laws have limits and treat land as a commodity and not as a community in which we belong. Denying rights to Earth leads to separation and does not create communities where humans and Nature can coexist. The movement for Earth rights is going to shift the narrative where human superiority prevails and prove that it is illogical to recognize rights to humans and not to Nature. Photo credit: IntlForum

28 10, 2014

Osprey Orielle Lake On The Rights Of Nature And Earth Economics

2017-11-01T23:23:07-04:00Tags: |

Osprey Orielle Lake’s presentation at The Economics of Sustainability Conference 2014 focused on the reinvention of modern economies and legal frameworks so that humans can coexist in harmony and reciprocity with Nature. Modern environmental legal frameworks have failed to protect Mother Earth and most of the world’s economies are based on treating Nature as property. Accordingly, there is a need to replace the current model with a new just and restorative economy which considers social, gender, Indigenous, economic and environmental justice. The rights of Nature legal framework can affect our economies in a positive way as it requires a transition to a renewable energy and organic agriculture. Photo credit: Sam Euston

28 10, 2014

Robin Wall Kimmerer: Returning The Gift

2017-10-28T22:27:31-04:00Tags: |

Doctor Robin Wall Kimmerer is an Indigenous Potawatomi Professor of Environmental Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York, as well as a scientists and writer. Kimmerer writes about the many gifts that we receive daily from planet Earth and the need to give back and develop a sense of  gratitude for the Earth as part of our cultural evolution. She provides ways that we can practice reciprocity with our planet, including ensuring that the economy is aligned with ecology principles and respecting the ecosystems by not taking too much from it and understanding that growth is limited. Photo credit: Center for Humans and Nature

28 10, 2014

#Frack Off: Indigenous Women Lead Effort Against Fracking

2017-10-28T22:19:33-04:00Tags: |

During Climate Action Week, Shelley A. Young (Mi’kmaq), Kandi Mosset (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara), Elle-Maija Tailfeathers (Blood and Saami), and Ellen Gabriel (Mohawk) were among the Indigenous women headlining #FRACK OFF: Indigenous Women Leading Media Campaigns to Defend our Climate. Across First Nations in Canada and the United States, Indigenous women gathered to resist fracking and fight inaction and corruption across governments and tribal councils to prevent its severe environmental and health impacts, especially the impact on women’s wellbeing. Photo credit: Jessica Harjo/Fanny Aishaa/Ossie Michelin

27 10, 2014

Alina Saba Of Nepal And Agnes Kinaka Of Papua New Guinea Reflect On Their Participation In UN Climate Summit

2017-10-27T12:02:40-04:00Tags: |

Alina Saba, a young Indigenous women from the Limbu Indigenous community in Nepal and Agnes Kinaka, a single mother from the Cataret Islands in Papua New Guinea, were supported to attend the 2014 UN Climate Summit in New York by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development. In this article, they reflect on the experience of speaking to Bolivian President Evo Morales and the Prime Minister of Tuvalu. Both passionately advocated that climate change is a social justice issue. Photo credit: Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development

27 10, 2014

Hands On: Women : Climate : Change – Women Seeking Solutions

2017-10-27T11:11:41-04:00Tags: |

Local women in four continents are redefining the narratives of tackling climate change in policy, protest, education and innovation. For instance, Maheshvari in South India delivers satellite information on weather conditions to help protect fishermen’s livelihoods. Similarly, Jasmine Thomas is supreme force in preventing efforts to build tar sands pipelines threatening water security. These women are working at the grassroots level not only to protect our environment, but also to create sustainable life for future generations. Photo credit: IAWRT

26 10, 2014

Indigenous Women: Earth Defenders Speak Out From The Front Lines Of Climate Change

2017-11-01T00:11:21-04:00Tags: |

This event was hosted during the “Gender Day” by the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network. The panel was comprised of Indigenous women from around the world who met to share their solutions to climate change. Speakers included Indigenous women leaders on the front lines of defending the Earth from exploitation by fossil fuel companies such as Patricia Gualinga (Kichwa; Sarayaku, Ecuador), her niece, Nina Gualinga, Tantoo Cardinal (Native Canadian from the tar sands region of Canada), Sonia Guajajara (state of Maranhão, Brazil), and Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation, Turtle Island, United States). They call us to resist and act against corporations and governments that keep on destroying Mother Earth as this is not only about Nature, it is our destruction as well. Photo credit: Democracy Now

26 10, 2014

Where Is The Money For Indigenous Women’s Rights Organizing?

2017-10-26T16:22:48-04:00Tags: |

During a ‘Resource Mobilization Hub For Indigenous Women’s Rights’ event at the the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP) World Summit on Indigenous Philanthropy, members of the International Indigenous Women's Forum and AWID share findings on the need for increases in funding to Indigenous women’s organizations on the vanguard of global fights for land, water and communities.

25 10, 2014

Identifying Opportunities For Action On Climate Change And Sexual Health

2017-10-25T23:03:29-04:00Tags: |

This study released by Arrow, a women’s sexual and reproductive rights group, provides guidance for addressing gender equality as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the context of climate change. This study reveals that gender equality objectives are being mainstreamed and incorporated in national level adaptation plans and policies. However, the degree to which these gender equality objectives are being operationalised, through appropriate and sustained allocation of human and financial resources along with political leadership and commitment, remains uncertain. Arrow offers solutions such as continuing the collecting of data and information, building and adapting on existing progress, and supporting women seeking support in these matters.

1 10, 2014

One Billion Rising For Climate Change Awareness Around The World

2017-11-01T02:36:53-04:00Tags: |

One Billion Rising participated in the largest march for climate change to date: the People’s Climate March, through which activists from all over the world demanded action and change in the way resources are used, advocating a transition to clean and renewable energy. The article reports on actions in New York City and Santa Fe, United States; New Delhi, India and Dumaguete, Philippines, with comments from Eve Ensler, Bing Ve, V-Day and One Billion Rising Organizer, and Jessica Montoya, One Billion Rising Coordinator. Photo credit: One Billion Rising

29 09, 2014

Breaking The Gridlock Of Climate Change Negotiations: Learning From Allies

2017-10-16T23:37:08-04:00Tags: |

Women across the world are pushing back on the essentialist, NGO-ized, bureaucratic and technocratic narrative that permanently positions them as victims of climate change and in need of constant “capacity building” in order to rescue themselves from this tragedy. Women on the frontlines of climate change, such as peasant farmers or Indigenous women resisting mining operations on their lands, are not only providing radical solutions, but are also actively engaging within other cross-cutting justice movements and frameworks. Women have long understood the dangers of silo movements and politics, and in a world where their oppressions are increasingly interconnected, we need bolder transversal and transnational frameworks/movements for justice. Photo credit: WECAN International

1 07, 2014

Women, E-Waste, And Technological Solutions To Climate Change

2017-11-01T13:09:45-04:00Tags: |

Researchers Lucy McAllister, Amanda Magee, and Benjamin Hale have published a study suggesting that technological solutions to climate change may disproportionately and adversely impact some populations over others. Many of the most attractive technological solutions, such as solar energy and electric car batteries, will likely add to the growing stream of electronic waste (“e-waste”). The accumulation of such waste is burdens women disproportionately, affecting their mortality/morbidity and fertility, as well as the development of their children. As such, greater inclusion and recognition of women waste workers and other disenfranchised groups is necessary for ensuring climate justice in policy solutions.

4 06, 2014

Caribbean Women Protect Their Crops With Green Technologies

2017-10-02T23:01:40-04:00Tags: |

Women farmers from Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica have been battling infrequent rainfall linked to climate change. Understanding women’s fundamental role in agriculture, the Caribbean Policy Development Center and UN Women recently invested in deepening the women’s expertise in sustainable, climate-resilient agriculture. Women farmers are now rotating crops, employing renewable energy technologies, harvesting rain and using greenhouses to amplify their crop yields. Photo credit: UN Women

2 06, 2014

Gender Inequality And Urban Informality

2017-11-01T12:25:20-04:00Tags: |

Charlotte Scott from SouthSouthNorth, an environmental NGO based in Cape Town, writes about issues related to African urbanisation and informal settlements. Scott states that an understanding of climate resilience within these contexts should be assessed alongside with the impacts of climate change on women. Scott describes the challenges of women face in developing countries, where 44 percent of households are women-headed and women and girls are vulnerable to gender-based violence (using Bihar India’s “sanitation-related rape” as an example). Scott encourages a solution-based framework established on the statistical data of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific,  and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and the contributions of local government and policymakers in tackling the wideset issues pertinent within gender inequality and the reduction of risk in communities and nations. Photo credit: Meena Kadri

8 05, 2014

Why Effective Climate Policy Needs Women

2017-10-16T23:39:50-04:00Tags: |

One of the most dangerous outcomes of climate change is the way in which it rapidly exacerbates the already existing inequalities and entrenching of toxic power relations especially between men and women. While it is laudable that the UNFCCC negotiations have integrated gender equity principles within the agreements, it is important that a robust understanding of women’s experiences in their totality in addition to rejecting essentialist tropes over their lives is the foundation for any meaningful outcome. The common ‘add and stir’ approach to gender justice work must be rejected. Photo credit: UN Photos/Martine Perret

23 04, 2014

Empowering Women In Renewable Energy: Interview With Rabia Ferroukhi

2017-10-22T00:10:27-04:00Tags: |

In this interview, Rabia Ferroukhi, senior policy advisor at the International Renewable Energy Agency, discusses how governments and businesses should amplify women’s participation in the renewable energy sector. She highlights how women—often suffering from extreme poverty—can gain relief from long hours of household labor, reduced vulnerability to indoor air pollution, and employment through renewable energy. She shares recent government efforts to enable women’s success, such as gender audits in the energy sector, access to funding and training, and gender equity in the labor market. Photo credit: IISD Reporting Services

7 04, 2014

Call Climate Change What It Is: Violence

2017-09-06T21:51:39-04:00Tags: |

Renowned feminist, writer and activist Rebecca Solnit addresses the violence of climate change, emphasizing how the disappearance of island states, unpredictable weather patterns, and increased famine caused by rising food prices and crop failures are just some of the ways that systemic climate crises result in societal violence. A concrete example of climate violence can be found in the origins of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, when food shortages caused wheat prices to soar and citizens to revolt when hunger set in. Through her writing on these issues Solnit has joined the vast contingent of women writing on climate in the media. Photo credit: Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

1 01, 2014

From The Women Seed Forum In South Korea: Providing Seed Heritage Of The People For The Good Of Humanity

2017-10-19T22:53:45-04:00Tags: |

Women farmers and seedkeepers from across South East Asia and East Asia gathered at a La Via Campesina network meeting entitled “The Women Seed Forum” in South Korea in 2008, producing a booklet of information documenting threats to regional women farmers and their traditional and Indigenous seeds, as well as examples of how women seed stewards are acting to protect and share their seed heritage. Photo credit: La Via Campesina

1 01, 2014

Gender, Climate Change And Health

2017-11-01T12:20:49-04:00Tags: |

This collaborative research document was conducted between the Department of Gender, Women and Health (GWH), and the Department of Public Health and Environment (PHE) of the World Health Organization (WHO). The piece discusses systematic gender inequality in matters of climate change and health. The conflation between climate change, health and gender paradigms are reviewed and conveyed through documented evidence of the implications of climate change on aspects of health as a result of gender differences. The document includes adaption and mitigation measures to assist in the protection and promotion of health.

1 11, 2013

How Economic Growth Has Become Anti-Life

2017-09-24T20:14:43-04:00Tags: |

Ecofeminist, seed activist, theorist and author Vandana Shiva reminds us that the terms ecology and economic come from the same Greek etymology “oikos,” meaning home. Economics, in its original sense, was concentrated on the basic needs of women centered households. With the rise of today’s capitalist economic model of growth and production, women’s housework and reproductive labor have been rendered invisible, while women’s traditional land labor is often unrecognized and undervalued even though women produce the vast majority of the world’s food. Climate change is a result of an economic model that only considers economic growth as valuable and thrives on the exploitation of natural resources and women’s work. Shiva encourages us to do away with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) scale and focus on concepts like gross national happiness instead. Photo credit: Joe McNally/Getty

29 10, 2013

Women At CSW 57 Confronting Unsustainable Development

2017-10-29T01:12:29-04:00Tags: |

During the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, feminists from all over the world raised their concerns about environmental degradation due to unsustainable production and consumption. For instance, in Guatemala, according to Norma Maldonado from NGO Tierra Verde, Indigenous women are deprived of their basic right to enjoy life because they have to walk long hours in order to get the drinking water primarily because extractive/mining industries are using their water recklessly. Isis Alvarez, young environmentalist from the Global Forest Coalition in Colombia, raised the issue of growing agro fuels in Latin America, which is impacting rural and Indigenous women. Similarly, Elina Doszhanova, a Kazakh woman from the NGO Social-EcoFun, observed that the nuclear arms race is poisoning the land of Kazakhstan in context of radiation and uranium mining. Lastly, Noelene Nabulivou of Development Alternatives for a New Era (DAWN) and DIVA for Equality in Fiji called for strong action against unsustainable development and violence against women in every form impacting women of the world.

29 10, 2013

Editorial: Gender And Urban Change

2017-10-29T01:06:06-04:00Tags: |

This editorial in the Environment and Urbanization Journal co-authored by Cecila Tacoli, argues that climate change increases environmental hazards for urban working women and hits low-income women the hardest. Poor health amongst these women is disproportionately higher due to bad sanitation and poor access to medical care. The problem is intensified by the fact that taking sick days in wage labor urban economies means a dangerous decrease in earned income.

27 10, 2013

Statement for Endorsement: We Will Not be Mainstreamed Into A Polluted Stream: Feminist Statement On The 2015 Development Agenda, Bonn 22 March 2013

2017-10-27T15:57:17-04:00Tags: |

This statement was read at the international conference on “Advancing the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda: Reconfirming Rights – Recognising Limits – Redefining Goals” where several gender focused organizations from around the globe cautioned against the creation of another set of goals that ignore the changes required to address the failure of the modern development system which exacerbates gender, race and class inequities. They called for the enactment of new policies that recognize the unequal burdens of women and girls in sustaining societal well-being and economies.

27 10, 2013

We Won’t Solve Climate Change Without Women’s Knowledge

2017-10-27T15:16:30-04:00Tags: |

Katrina Rabeler published this piece in Yes! Magazine and explains why society cannot hope to mitigate the impacts of climate change if they ignore women’s voices. Women’s rights and equality go hand-in-hand with implementing climate policies, she argues. On one hand, women are often primary victims of climate and natural disasters; on the other hand they also have greater control over sustainable economies through their purchasing power as consumers. Women’s ideas of solutions  position them to assist in developing a more sustainable future for everyone and thus their voices cannot be ignored. Photo credit: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam/Flickr

26 10, 2013

Women Connect To Boost Resilience Of The Planet

2017-10-26T23:17:55-04:00Tags: |

Jensine Larson, Founder and CEO of World Pulse, joined dozens of other women leaders from around the world at the International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit, co-founded by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of WECAN International, and Sally Ranney, an environmental leader and conservationist. Larson digests her experience in this essay; moreover, she suggests that women are empowering one another, strengthening the “immune system” of the planet, and inspiring transitions to a sustainable future.

25 10, 2013

Climate Change: What’s Gender Got To Do With It?

2017-10-25T23:06:26-04:00Tags: |

This short video by Pachamama Alliance on their Speaker Series featuring representatives of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network gives us a glimpse into the various ways women feel the impacts of climate change, in addition to providing world useful links to follow in order to learn more. A plentiful of resources to grow our knowledge and change on impact on the Earth. Photo credit: Pachamama Alliance

21 10, 2013

Women Rising Podcast: International Council Of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers

2017-10-31T14:53:54-04:00Tags: |

This podcast examines how women are gaining influence as leaders throughout the world fighting for peace, justice, civil society and the environment. In this program, several members of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers Rita Pitka Blumenstein, Flordemayo and Beatrice Long-Visitor Holy Dance converse on these issues. Bringing 900 years of collective wisdom to the table, the women come together to speak in one voice, with one urgent message: we must be careful stewards of our natural heritage.

15 10, 2013

Women In The World: Interview With Rosemary Enie

2017-10-16T23:42:30-04:00Tags: |

Rosemary Enie is a Cameroonian geologist and director of Women’s Environment Climate Action Network (WECAN), based in Tanzania. Enie works to make the connections between economic, socio-cultural rights and ecological justice, and for her, just like countless other women environmental activists, there is no climate justice without gender justice. As an African woman living on the continent, she sees firsthand the devastation that climate change is leaving and the growing need for a global solidarity of women committed to robust and holistic ideas of justice that not only center women’s lives and experiences but that also put them in the driver’s seat of these solutions. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

8 10, 2013

Interlinking Gender, Economic And Ecological Justice In Latin America: Towards A Development Based On The Sustainability Of Life

2017-10-08T22:13:52-04:00Tags: |

Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) is showing how gender is wedged in the middle of economic and environmental justice in Latin America. In this educational document DAWN emphasizes how the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) fall short, especially in addressing the essential intersections between the economy, gender, and ecological justice. In turn, DAWN educates and advocates for a systemic transformation rooted in gender, economic and ecological justice in Latin America. Photo credit: DAWN

1 10, 2013

How Six Women Did Something Incredible To Save The Arctic

2017-11-01T03:51:37-04:00Tags: |

Ali Garrigan, 27 (United Kingdom), Liesbeth Deddens, 31 (Netherlands), Sabine Huyghe, 33 (Belgium), Sandra Lamborn, 29 (Sweden), Victoria Henry, 32 (Canada), and Wiola Smul, 23 (Poland) spent 15 hours climbing Europe's tallest building, the Shard, to send protest Shell oil's plans to drill in the Arctic. They livestreamed their brave climb on YouTube, generating a virtual sensation. Photo credit: GreenpeaceVideo

27 09, 2013

Women Of The World Call For Urgent Action On Climate Change And Sustainability Solutions

2017-10-27T11:36:02-04:00Tags: |

From September 20th-23rd, 2013, women leaders from over 35 countries gathered in New York to craft a Women’s Climate Action Agenda at the first International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit.On this episode of Voice of America Go Green Radio, Founder and Co-Director of the International Women’s Earth and Climate Initiative, Osprey Orielle Lake, discusses the insights gleaned from this meeting of grassroots women. For example, approximately 60-80 percent of food production in developing countries can be attributed to women. Since agriculture is a very essential key point in climate change, integrating women in the whole process is important to recognize the motivations and challenges faced by women every day. The concrete solutions to tackle the climate change from feminist perspectives are radical ones, with women coming together to heal the disconnect between the head and heart.

26 09, 2013

There Is No Longer Time: Mphatheleni Makaulule On The Agency—And Urgency—Of Women’s Leadership International

2017-10-26T22:27:14-04:00Tags: |

Mphatheleni Makaulule of the South African VhaVenda people is among the indigenous women leaders foregrounding traditional knowledge in climate solutions. At the Global Leadership School for Indigenous Women, she received a Global Leadership Award for her work building the Luvhola Cultural Village and Mupo Foundation to foster food security, environmental conservation, cultural preservation, and local capacity-building. Photo credit: Cultural Survival

25 09, 2013

Women And Climate Change: Supporting And Uplifting Women In Africa

2017-10-25T23:10:33-04:00Tags: |

In this compelling interview, Thom Hartmann, Osprey Orielle Lake and Rosemary Enie of Women’s Earth and Climate Action discuss the impact of climate change on women in Africa after the International Women's Earth and Climate Summit (2013). Women bare the brunt of the work when it comes to food and agriculture, as well as water and the growing cases of environmental changes, such as desertification, only increase the risks women face on a daily basis. Lake and Enie call for women to be seen as agents of change, rather than being seen as victims. Photo credit: The Big Picture RT

7 09, 2013

Why Are Women Left Out Of Climate Change Policy Making?

2017-12-07T18:05:06-05:00Tags: |

The first International Women’s Earth and Climate Initiative Summit, organized by the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, brought to the forefront vital questions about women’s leadership in climate decision making. Over 100 women leaders collaborated to draft a Women’s Climate Action Agenda, which addressed women’s disproportionate climate vulnerability, and explores the ways women are taking action to build strong solutions in response.  Photo credit: Oxfam Hong Kong

6 09, 2013

Female Leaders Gather At Summit To Push For Action On Climate Change

2017-12-06T14:36:48-05:00Tags: |

NBC News reports on the International Women's Earth and Climate Initiative summit, which united women from 35 countries for a multi-day summit to build strength, strategize and share stories and plans for women-led action on climate change. Osprey Orielle Lake, representing the event organizer, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, shares analysis on women and climate as an ‘untold story’, which holds vital solutions to address both environmental and social degradation. The work of summit participants, including renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams, marine biologist Sylvia Earle, former Brazilian Minister of Environment Marina Silva, and leaders from the Global Gender Climate Alliance and the Women's Environment and Development Organization, are highlighted.

27 04, 2013

International Women’s Earth And Climate Summit Declares Climate Emergency

2017-10-27T12:00:02-04:00Tags: |

The International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit declared climate emergency at the first International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit held in Suffern, New York. Over 100 women from the northern and southern hemisphere came together to discuss the solutions to prevent climate change at the local and international level. There are major hurdles to overcome in preventing climate change, such as the tar sands in Canada and gas pipelines like the Keystone XL in the United States.

11 03, 2013

Climate Change And The Potential Effects On Maternal And Pregnancy Outcomes

2017-10-31T19:21:40-04:00Tags: |

While climate change affects human health across the board, pregnant women, the developing fetus, and young children have increased sensitivity to the effects of climate change. The Lancet Commission’s assessment of published literature in the field of environmental health suggests that climate change will increase the risk of infant and maternal mortality, birth complications, and poorer reproductive health, especially in tropical, developing countries.

30 01, 2013

Feminist Movement Builders’ Dictionary

2017-10-31T15:52:58-04:00Tags: |

Words have political power, which is why Just Associates decided to create a dictionary especially for feminist movement builders. This publication provides a diverse lexicon for activists, organizers and women leaders to use in their work. The document was compiled using the expertise of diverse women from Mesoamerica, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa.

1 01, 2013

Gender And Urban Change

2017-10-29T21:38:57-04:00Tags: |

This editorial in the Environment and Urbanization Journal, co-authored by Cecila Tacoli, argues that climate change increases environmental hazards for urban working women and hits low-income women the hardest. Poor health among these women is disproportionately higher due to bad sanitation and poor access to medical care. The problem is intensified by the fact that taking sick days in wage labor urban economies means a dangerous decrease in earned income.

1 01, 2013

AWEPON Advocates For Gender And Climate Justice In Africa

2017-09-13T11:18:46-04:00Tags: |

The African Women’s Economic Policy Network (AWEPON), which is also an executive member of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) has been organizing climate change tribunals aimed at contributing to debates and dialogues of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in different community spaces in Africa and with a diverse audience of key groups such as women, youth and persons with disabilities. AWEPON’s work continues to be instrumental in making visible locally and nationally the dialogues and processes held in international policy spaces such as the UNFCCC. Photo credit: AWEPON

7 12, 2012

Asian Indigenous Women’s Strategy on Forest/Land Tenure and Climate Change

2017-12-07T18:00:04-05:00Tags: |

Indigenous women from across Asia, such as Norairri Thoungmuengthong of the Karen community in Thailand, are leading and encouraging fellow women in efforts to manage and protect local forests, through the reclaiming of their voice in local politics, where they are pushing for policies and initiatives that support both sustainable traditional harvesting practices and economies, and regenerative forests for climate stability and generations to come. This report from Rights and Resources Initiative shares handful of case studies demonstrating how Asian Indigenous women are protecting their lands, forests and community rights through growing involvement in local and international politics. Photo credit: Rights + Resources

1 11, 2012

La Via Campesina Booklet: Stop The Violence Against Women

2017-11-01T00:48:30-04:00Tags: |

Within the Global Campaign to End Violence Against Women, started in 2008 by La Via Campesina, this booklet on violence against women, available for downloading, was produced. It aims at informing and sharing discussions, events and progress from the campaign and offers a guide to understanding what violence against women is, what kind of attitude can consist in violence against women, what kind of consequences it has, and also how this appears and happens within the agribusiness and capitalist systems. Finally, it also debates ways of fighting to end gender violence. Photo credit: La Via Campesina

29 10, 2012

Momentum For Change: Women for Results

2017-10-29T00:36:36-04:00Tags: |

The United Nations project Momentum for Change: Women for Results is recognizing the necessary leadership and significance of  women’s climate solution-based initiatives, and shares several examples in this video, from El Salvador, Colombia, Morocco, and Guinea -  amplifying the reality of women as catalysts to mitigating genuine environmental sustainability, while also advocating for the scaling up and replication of their successful projects. Photo credit: Momentum for Change: Women for Results

27 10, 2012

Governments Gamble With Our Future; South Feminists Demand Responsible Action Now

2017-10-31T15:44:25-04:00Tags: |

Even though the Rio principles are reaffirmed at Rio+20, the outcome is imbalanced regarding sustainable development without sufficient attention to gender, social justice and women’s rights. In addition, systemic inequities and economic growth are prioritized over ecology and equity. Feminists in the global South demand the governments to start addressing the structural transformations that are required in order to move towards an efficient sustainable development.

19 10, 2012

Women At The Frontline Of Climate Change: Gender Risks And Hopes

2017-10-19T23:06:31-04:00Tags: |

An analysis of power relations is key to understanding just how women in the various spaces they occupy are both disproportionately affected by climate change but are also actively defying the gendered stereotype of ‘victimhood’ by providing leadership over this crisis in ways that subvert both patriarchy and capitalist economies. Photo credit: GRID Arendal

24 09, 2012

The Future We Want: A Feminist Perspective

2017-09-24T20:23:13-04:00Tags: |

In this report on the inseparable relationship between economics, gender and ecology, researcher Christa Wichterich explains how oftentimes green economic modeling lacks a gender perspective and offers solutions. Wichterich argues that the pathway towards a new sustainable economy should fuse together ecological and gendered approaches for gender justice on a livable planet. 

31 08, 2012

Women Spend 40 Billion Hours Collecting Water

2017-10-31T19:25:53-04:00Tags: |

According to the U.N. Development Programme, women in sub-Saharan Africa collectively spend an average of 200 million hours per day and 40 billion hours per year collecting water. Although women perform most water-related tasks, their participation in decision-making processes on water and food management remains very low. Lakshmi Puri, deputy executive director of U.N. Women, discusses projects in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas aimed at reducing women’s water-carrying burdens and expanding their participation in policy making.

23 08, 2012

Gender And Climate Change – Iconic Stories From South Asia

2018-01-23T20:17:38-05:00Tags: |

This blog shares the reflections of Mairi Dupar, Global Public Affairs of Coordinator of the Climate And Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), who spoke with a group of young South Asian journalist and editors about the importance of covering the story of women and climate change, including their hardships and leadership. Mairi shares examples of exciting projects being led by women across the region to protect water, forests, diversity and more. Photo credit: Climate And Development Knowledge Network

18 06, 2012

Women’s Major Group Members At Rio+20 Call For End To Nuclear Power

2017-10-24T19:39:26-04:00Tags: |

Makiko Imai of the Japan Civil Network for the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, Sascha Gabizon of Women in Europe for a Common Future, Kaisha Atakhanova of the Social-Ecological Fund of Kazakhstan, Svetlana Slesarenok of the Black Sea Women’s Club of Odessa, Ukraine, and Christine von Weizsäcker of Ecoropa are among the representatives of the Women’s Major Group at Rio+20 advocating for an end to nuclear power and the irreversible harm of radioactive materials, and pushing for an international commitment to safe, clean energy development.

10 05, 2012

Lighting Up Lives: African Women Train As Barefoot College Solar Engineers

2017-10-01T18:05:12-04:00Tags: |

Women from Uganda, South Sudan, Liberia and other African countries are taking advantage of the opportunity to become solar engineers through Barefoot College. Stella is a hard-working grandmother from Malawi who graduated from the program in India and returned to her village to work in solar energy. As for Bawor Mamma, her work as a solar engineer provides relief from the daily chores of farming and the opportunity to help her community access renewable energy. Photo credit: UN Women/Gaganjit Singh

1 04, 2012

Noelene Nabulivou Analyzes The Concept of Additionality In Climate Change Responses

2017-09-24T18:14:18-04:00Tags: |

Noelene Nabulivou, Executive Committee Member of DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era), questions the climate response systems in the Pacific in terms of their ignorance of human rights as a key factor of climate justice. Noelene presents DAWN's project, called GEEJ (Gender Economic and Ecological Justice), which consists of trainings and consultations on gender and development in the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, Caribbean and Asia. The author of the article points to the paradox of women acting as leaders of advocacy campaigns on climate change, yet being subjected to violence and the lack of access to basic rights such as sanitation. Gender equality needs to be mainstreamed in every aspect of climate policy. Photo Credit: WECAN International

26 01, 2012

Luisah Teish: Indigenous Voices

2017-09-06T22:03:29-04:00Tags: |

Luish Teish is advocating for the unlearning of the myths that disconnect us from Mother Earth. Relearning our love for the land is central to cultivating a respectful relationship with the environment and between ourselves. Balancing relationships between man and woman, partner and partner, parent and child, and stranger and stranger is what will ease the disequilibrium that is leading to the environmental destruction of our Earth. Reconnecting with dynamic oratory practices instead of hegemonizing stagnant written methodologies is also crucial. Photo credit: Earth & Spirit Council

1 01, 2012

Nothing Is Impossible: Global Women’s Water Initiative

2017-10-18T11:43:43-04:00Tags: |

The 2011 graduates of the Women’s Water Initiative share their success stories a year after the 3rd Women and Water Training. Their newly acquired skills in building biosand filters, rainwater harvesting tanks and latrines have not only aided them in solving their communities’ water and sanitation challenges, but also influence water policy and earn incomes professionalizing their services. Their achievements are remarkable. Photo credit: Vimeo

1 11, 2011

Silent Forests And Famine In East Africa

2017-11-01T03:22:23-04:00Tags: |

In this piece, Nobel Prize winner, Green Belt Movement leader and feminist Wangari Maathai discusses the tendency of the REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) initiative to promote the planting of exotic trees at the expense of indigenous varieties. Maathai argues that as indigenous forests regulate climate and rainfall patterns, and as the destruction of the world's indigenous forests is responsible for emitting about 17% of climate-warming carbon dioxide, governments should take more care to promote the conservation of indigenous forests to properly respond to climate change. This action is crucial not just maintaining indigenous forests, but also to preserving the livelihoods of rural and forest-dependent people around the world. Photo credit: Ken Oloo/Red Cross and Red Crescent/HO/EPA

30 10, 2011

International Changemakers: Honoring Elder Women Activists

2017-10-30T03:32:40-04:00Tags: |

In this Women Rising radio project, three elderly women are interviewed and honored for their far-reaching contributions to social causes, environmental justice, women’s rights, peacebuilding, and civil rights. Dr. Helen Caldicott is an Australian advocate for the international anti-nuclear movement and founder of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute. Dolores Huerta is Latino woman who fights for civil and women’s rights for farmworkers and co-founded the United Farm Workers of America. Mairead Corrigan Maguire co-founded the Community of the Peace People and advocated for a peaceful movement in Northern Ireland, which won her a Nobel Peace Prize.

27 10, 2011

Project Survival Media Reports On Women, Gender, and Climate Change

2017-10-27T12:19:53-04:00Tags: |

Maria Theresa Lauron, a member of People’s Movement on Climate Change from the Philippines, worries that despite efforts by the Green Climate Fund, low funding may still deter developing countries to act on climate change. Anju Sharma, a member of International Institute for Environment and Development, and  Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, a member of the Indigenous Peoples Africa Coordinating Committee from Chad, promote the necessity for money to aid in the implementation of gender-sensitive policies, not simply workshop or trainings. Photo credit: Project Survival Media

21 10, 2011

Women Rising XVII: Climate Change And Water

2017-10-31T12:16:44-04:00Tags: |

Maude Barlow is a Canadian author, activist, chairperson of Council of Canadians and cofounder of Blue Planet Project. Ge Yun is a Chinese environmental activist and executive director of the Xinjiang Conservation Fund. Listen as they speak with Women Rising Radio on the interlink between the loss of water and climate change. Individual actions are important in protecting our waters, but we need to drastically change our agricultural and production methods to address growing inequalities and balance our economic growth, in order to witness significant changes.

21 10, 2011

Women Rising Radio On Rescuers of Wildlife

2017-10-12T18:33:09-04:00Tags: |

This podcast by Women Rising Radio features four animal rights activists. Elena Bykova discusses her work with the Wildlife Conservation Network’s Saiga Conservation Alliance to preserve the Saiga Antelope in Uzbekistan. Alice Ng, with Wild Aid, speaks about founding Animal Balance in the Galapagos Islands and directs the Animals Asia Foundation. Rosamira Guillen shares her experience as the executive director of Proyecto Titi in Colombia, protecting the cotton-top tamarin monkey and its habitat. Lorena Aguilar, with with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, works in community and gender issues.

21 10, 2011

Women Rising XIII: Enterprising Women

2017-09-25T08:21:52-04:00Tags: |

The Women Rising Radio interviewed four successful women who are leaders in the fields of peace, justice, the environment, and civil society for its Enterprising Women program. These women include Brigitte Kitenge, creator of Future Hope for Women, a women's cooperative organization in the Congo for women affected by war in that region; Jane Kunyiha, who makes micro-grants for small startups in Kenya through Project Baobad; Rashmi Dixit, a woman who founded and runs a restaurant focused on the indigenous culture in India, and finally, Lucky Chhetri, co-founder of Empowering Women of Nepal (EWN), an organization focused on empowering girls and women through adventure tourism.

1 09, 2011

Governing Climate Funds: What Will Work For Women?

2017-10-12T14:23:54-04:00Tags: |

Elizabeth Arend and Sonia Lowman examine four funds—climate funds and non-climate funds—to draw out lessons for gender integration in global finance mechanisms. As the international community mobilizes in response to global climatic changes, climate funds must ensure the equitable and effective allocation of funds for the world’s most vulnerable populations. Women and girls, disproportionately vulnerable to negative climate change impacts in developing countries, have largely been excluded from climate change finance policies and programmes. They must not only be included in adaptive and mitigative activities, but also recognized as agents of change who are essential to the success of climate change interventions.

28 06, 2011

Women Excluded From Climate Change Projects In Africa, UN Experts Warn

2017-09-24T18:47:10-04:00Tags: |

While millions of dollars are being provided in Africa for climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, the majority of it is being allocated to financing large-scale technology and infrastructure projects, which are traditionally male-dominated sectors in the formal economy, while little trickles into small-scale projects that directly benefit women and their livelihoods in the informal economy. This situation then runs the possibility of exacerbating already existing inequalities that climate change perpetuates, for as long as these policy decisions keep being made. Photo credit: Jacob Silverberg/Getty Images

1 03, 2011

No Plot Of One’s Own: How Large Dams Reinforce Gender Inequalities

2017-08-26T13:33:47-04:00Tags: |

New dams tend to aggravate existing gender inequalities and increase rather than close gender gaps, writes researcher Lyla Mehta. Since 1991 she has followed the lives of several families who were displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Dam, cataloging how women were not compensated for non-monetized resources (such as land use rights to communal property) in the resettlement sites and struggle to raise children without the clean water and forest resources of their ancestral village. Though some women enjoyed increased leisure time after moving, displacement also often encourages alcoholism and an uptick in sexual violence. But some women, like Chittaroopa Pali of Narmada Bacha Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement) are leading successful nonviolent campaigns to protect their land and communities. Photo credit: Karen Robinson

1 03, 2011

Our Rivers, Our Lives

2017-08-26T12:50:47-04:00Tags: |

Women from all corners of the globe are organizing their communities to resist harmful development projects that threaten the health of river ecosystems. In this beautiful essay, we meet five water warriors: Larissa Elena, Dipti Bhatnagar, Anabela Lemos, Liane Greef and Caleen Sisk-Franco, who is a Tribal Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemen Wintu Tribe. From Panama to Mozambique, these powerful women allow us to read their love letters to the rivers they fight to protect and to the communities of courage and resistance to which they belong. Photo credit: International Rivers

1 03, 2011

Why We Cannot Keep Silent: Women Speak Out For Rivers

2017-08-26T12:41:12-04:00Tags: |

Women around the world are at the forefront of non-violent struggles against dams that would pollute water, destroy livelihoods and forever alter sacred landscapes. In the midst of this tireless work, it is sometimes necessary to stake a step back to share, reflect and heal. The “Rivers Of Life” breakout at the Third International Meeting of Dam-Affected People provided an opportunity for women to share stories of their resistance. Maria Chuy of from Temaca, which faces submergence by the El Zapotillo Dam, shared a powerful story of her leadership in the fight to save her home. This powerful group of activists, like Soniamara Maranho of Brazil's Movement of Dam-Affected People, affirmed that women often face disproportionate struggles while trying to fight for their communities - yet persevere for their families and Mother Earth. Photo credit: Karen Robinson

1 03, 2011

Watering The Grassroots: Training African Women To Solve Water Problems

2017-08-26T12:18:24-04:00Tags: |

According to the United Nations Development Fund for women, African women and girls spend approximately 40 billion hours a year carrying and fetching water, a figure equivalent to the output of France’s entire labor force. Furthermore, more people die from unsafe water per year than all forms of violence, including war. In response, the Global Women’s Water Initiative (GWWI), a program of the Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA) is working in 13 African countries to co-design strategies and trainings with ordinary African women and water and sanitation technicians on long-term solutions to the water crisis faced in the continent. Comfort and Georgia, both from Ghana, are graduates of the program who launched a rainwater harvesting system at three schools in their community. Photo credit: Global Women’s Water Initiative

29 10, 2010

Gender Equality For Better Cities And A Better World

2017-10-29T01:01:50-04:00Tags: |

Like climate change, urbanization disproportionately affects women and girls. Underprivileged poor and, urban women, especially those who live in slums, have little decision-making power, and have few services and resources available to them. This WomenWatch feature is dedicated to understanding and developing the connections between urban development and gender equality and how such connections are exacerbated by climate change. Photo credit: UN-HABITAT

27 10, 2010

Women Have A Better Understanding Of Science, Reveals Study

2017-10-27T11:37:36-04:00Tags: |

Feminists all over world had been breaking the traditional gender stereotype by their words and actions. An interesting study by sociologist Aaron McCright reveals that even though men claim that they understand their surrounding and environment much better than a women, women are in sync with scientific consensus when it comes to environment. The study suggests that,policymakers should not generalize the public as men in the social realm; rather, they should communicate about climate change keeping while the gender aspects in mind.

27 10, 2010

Women From Mining Affected Communities Speak Out: Defending Land, Life And Dignity

2017-10-27T01:59:49-04:00Tags: |

In this book, the International Women and Mining Network/Red Internacional Mujeres y Mineria (RIMM) is the voice for the millions of women affected by mining activities worldwide. It is a compilation of informative and inspiring case studies from different campaigns put together through the hard work and dedication of Sunita Dubey and Tanya Roberts-Davis. The book is divided into four regions: Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas with a list of resources for action. Photo credit: International Women and Mining Network/Red Internacional Mujeres y Mineria

16 09, 2010

Women More Likely Than Men To Believe The Science On Global Warming

2017-11-07T12:11:11-05:00Tags: |

The first of its kind, a study from Michigan State University shows a gender divide in climate change belief. Eight years of data from Gallup’s annual environmental poll showed that more women than men tend to believe the scientific data on climate change and its possible effects on the planet—and that it is caused by humans. The study found that regardless of the occupations of the respondents, this trend was seen among women in general. How does this affect women’s decision-making, choices for sustainable options, daily activities, support and advocacy for environmental policies? This is material for further research that needs to be done, sparked by these findings.

30 10, 2009

Women And Climate Change: Vulnerabilities And Adaptive Capacities

2017-10-30T21:11:11-04:00Tags: |

In this article, International Union for the Conservation of Nature gender adviser Lorena Aguilar describes how climate change impacts are unevenly distributed across gender lines, and how women are key agents of change. Grassroots women are important drivers of community revitalization, natural resource management, forest preservation, and sustainable agricultural practices. The Global Gender and Climate Alliance aims to better integrate a gender-responsive framework in global, regional, and local climate discussions and decision-making.

30 10, 2009

Mari Rose Taruc Speaks In Copenhagen At Chevron International Headquarters

2017-10-30T02:59:19-04:00Tags: |

Mari Rose Taruc from the Asian Pacific Environmental Network spoke at Chevron’s international headquarters in Copenhagen about the link between Asian-American populations and tar sands. Her home of Richmond, California is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, which disproportionately impact communities of color. The Asian Pacific Environmental Network fought alongside Communities for a Better Environment and the West County Toxic Coalition to halt the expansion of a local Chevron refinery. Photo credit: RTC_USA

26 10, 2009

Women Feeding Cities: Mainstreaming Gender In Urban Agriculture And Food Security

2017-10-26T00:44:25-04:00Tags: |

Globally, women are leading in household food production, in transforming unused city spaces into vegetable gardens, and in taking charge of raising animals. These tasks are fundamental to tackling malnutrition and food insecurity in cities and with urban poverty in general, urban crises that are all exacerbated by escalating climate change. Yet women’s central role in urban agriculture is being ignored despite their critical contributions which include generating income, providing household nutrition, and strengthening social inclusion within impoverished areas. The report Women Feeding Cities examines the fundamental contributions of women with the intention of bringing women into urban agriculture, development and research. Photo credit: RUAF Foundation

24 09, 2009

Women, Gender Equality And Climate Change

2017-09-24T18:36:59-04:00Tags: |

UN WomenWatch is getting the facts right with this gender and climate change information sheet. Acting as a digital gateway for issues of women’s empowerment and gender equality, UN WomenWatch educates about how gender justice is dependent on climate justice. They advocate for the necessity of gender focused solutions to the impacts of climate change, especially in the domains of agriculture, food security, biodiversity, human settlements, and migration patterns — all arenas where global warming hits women the hardest. Women as drivers and leaders of energy and new technology and adaptation are fundamental in closing the gap between these climate and gender-related inequalities. Photo credit: UN WomenWatch

24 09, 2009

Women Are Central To Local Economies In Central America

2017-10-31T16:42:34-04:00Tags: |

Rita Cassisi, Gilda Esposito, Mayra Falck, and Angelica Faune authored a UN Women publication about women entrepreneurs in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Using participatory-action research as their model to interview over two thousand people, the researchers demonstrate the need to protect women entrepreneurs from anonymity and discrimination, which is a way to address the issue of economic justice. Photo credit: UN WOMEN

1 02, 2009

Sylvia Earle: Protector Of Our Oceans

2017-07-12T21:04:22-04:00Tags: |

As a marine biologist, explorer, author, and lecturer, Sylvia Earle has dedicated her life to advocating for the world’s oceans. In this TED Talk, Earle emphasizes the importance of oceans to maintaining human life and the linkages between human actions and ocean health, especially in the face of climate change, pollution and exploitation. She encourages all viewers to support a global network of marine protected areas. Photo credit: oceanelders.org

14 12, 2008

Environmental Disasters In The Asia-Pacific: What About Reproductive Health In Emergencies?

2018-02-14T22:04:43-05:00Tags: |

The Asia-Pacific is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change induced disasters, which pose a serious threat to maternal and infant health. Such was the case in Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis in 2008, where women in the Ayeyarwady Delta women were affected by the destruction of homes and roads, as well as the death of midwives, which increased the risks associated with childbirth. In 2004 in post-tsunami Indonesia, the interruption of access to reproductive health services, particularly contraceptives, impacted women on Aceh and Nias Islands. These examples and others emphasise the importance of a gendered approach to disaster management, and responses that recognize the two-way relationship between reproductive health and women’s empowerment.

1 11, 2008

Declaration Of The Third Assembly Of The Women Of La Via Campesina

2017-11-01T00:46:57-04:00Tags: |

During the fifth International Conference of the La Via Campesina, in Maputo, Mozambique, 2008, women from all over the world gathered to make a joint declaration. In this text, they reaffirm their fight against gender norms that violate the human dignity of women worldwide - as well as the neoliberal economic system that perpetuates such practices, which affect women and girls in rural areas the most. Not only that, but they also claim their right to nondiscrimination and their sexual and reproductive rights. The women of the Via Campesina commit themselves to reach a violence-free rural world, with justice, solidarity and with food security. Photo credit: La Via Campesina

19 10, 2008

Gender Perspectives: Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction Into Climate Change Adaptation

2017-10-19T23:23:59-04:00Tags: |

This reports highlights two main issues: the ways in which women in the developing world and on the frontlines of the climate crisis feel the impacts of climate change, and the positive change these women are  making in their communities. The report challenges the stereotypes that permanently place women as victims without agency, and emphasizes the importance of crafting and resourcing disaster risk reduction policies that put women firmly as solution providers. Photo credit: WECAN International

25 01, 2008

The Gendered Nature Of Natural Disasters: The Impact Of Catastrophic Events On The Gender Gap In Life Expectancy, 1981–2002

2017-10-25T23:53:52-04:00Tags: |

New research conducted by the Association of American Geographers addresses the specific vulnerability of girls and women to harm and even mortality from natural disasters. The study analyzes the causal impacts of disaster strength, life expectancy and women’s socioeconomic status on their vulnerability to disasters in 141 countries. The results show that women’s socially constructed vulnerability results in higher female disaster mortality rates compared to men.

8 03, 2007

Climate Change Will Affect Women More Severely Than Men

2017-10-31T19:27:38-04:00Tags: |

To celebrate International Women’s Day, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released a report entitled “Gender and Climate Change” that explores how women will be disproportionately impacted by climate change. The report explores how natural disasters and weather changes exacerbate extant inequalities in race, social class or political power. The report advocates for centering women’s voices in policy-making and disaster preparedness, as well as in all aspects of governance.

1 11, 2006

The Work Of The Gender And Water Alliance

2017-08-26T11:24:09-04:00Tags: |

Ethnè Davey, the Chairperson of the Gender and Water Alliance, maintains that there no natural reason why women should fetch water while men get educated as water engineers. Since 2000, the Gender and Water Alliance has challenged gender assumptions to ensure that the voices of poor women, children and men are heard in the planning and implementation of water management policies and systems. With 80% of its membership hailing from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, the organization actively educates community members and policy-members about how gender can reinforce age, ethnic, socioeconomic and other power differences, and the need to take these dynamics into account when designing water policy. Photo credit: Gender and Water Alliance

8 01, 2005

Gender Equality And State Environmentalism

2021-01-27T20:34:57-05:00Tags: |

In this empirical study from a large sample of nation-states, Kari Norgaard and Richard York analyse the correlation between gender equality within state organs of government and state environmental policy. They find that countries with greater gender equality and women in power (e.g. government, parliament) are more likely to support ecological protection and ratify international environmental treaties. The authors posit that gender and eco-feminist theories can help better understand state environmentalism, and inform the relationship between society and nature more positively. Since women tend to be more risk-averse, engage in social movements and suffer disproportionately from environmental disasters, the authors argue that gender equality and pro-environmental values could be factors for ecological reforms. They conclude that feminist theories can contribute greatly to further empirical work on environmental sociology, and that global environmental efforts would be more effectively supported through elevating the status and representation of women in politics. 

1 11, 2003

Diverting The Flow (2003)

2017-10-18T11:47:42-04:00Tags: |

In this informative guide, the Women’s Environmental and Development Organization and Public Citizen study the impacts of privatization of water on women. The privatization of water resources by international financial and trade institutions, such as the World Bank, IMF, and WTO, is having damaging impacts on women and their livelihoods. By introducing a price on water and through policy packages such as the Structural Adjustment Programs, profit is placed before people. As access to water is compromised, women are paying the heavier price by trekking longer distances to fetch water, limiting their availability for household and incoming generating activities, which then forces them to accept lower-quality water, creating health and sanitation hazards. Women leaders and activists are, however, continuously organizing to fight this injustice through lobbying, participation in forums challenging privatization of water and using existing institutions, such the UN, to seek gender equality and water rights.

19 01, 2003

Untapped Connections: Gender, Water And Poverty

2017-10-16T18:14:04-04:00Tags: |

The Women’s Environment and Development Organization published this report to explore women’s central role in water management and distribution and the imperative governments face to implement gender-sensitive solutions to poverty eradication. The document highlights the leadership of organizations such as the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) of India, which led a ten-year campaign to revive water resources during a drought, and the Grameen Bank, which centered women’s access to land and credit in irrigation projects. The document proposes gender-sensitive approaches to water management and outlines government commitments to gender, water and poverty that were current at the time. Photo credit: Women’s Environment and Development Organization

28 10, 1921

Should Trees Have Standing?

2022-05-14T17:03:50-04:00Tags: |

In his groundbreaking work, Christopher Stone challenges the legal premise that nature and trees are to be treated as objects in the eyes of the law. He argues that it is pointless to state that natural objects should have no rights to seek legal redress merely because they cannot speak up for themselves. He elaborates by using the case of corporations, who cannot speak but still employ lawyers to act on their behalf; the same can be said for states, estates, children, etc. Accordingly, he proposes that someone could apply to the courts to be the guardian of a natural object that is perceived to be in danger. Therefore, for nature to have rights under the law, the fundamental basis of legal systems must change.

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