Gender Day – Pacific Women Speak!

16 November 2017

Tuesday Nov 14 was Gender Day and ECO attended several events highlighting the work of Pacific Women in climate change. Diverse activists shared voices, views, actions and campaigns. Pacific women have also worked as part of the broader Women and Gender (WGC) constituency group, ensuring all Parties and Observers are heard and are taking into account the WGC’s 19 key demands at COP23.

At a Pacific women-led Gender, Ecological and Climate Justice speak-out session on Monday, November 13, ECO engaged in frontline conversations with Pacific Women. Speakers travelled from Fiji, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Tokelau, Vanuatu, and other Pacific island states and territories to share their urgent climate justice messages with the world. These messages include: the need to do more of this work at every climate change intergovernmental space from national to global; to stop coal production and ensure a safe, just and urgent transition to low-carbon renewable economies; to finance loss and damage and adaptation funds; to ensure a strong and resourced Gender Action Plan to be taken seriously by every Party; to call for ambitious mitigation strategies to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels; and to hear, affirm and resource gender-just climate solutions in every region and across the UNFCCC.

At the Women Human Rights Defenders event on Gender Day, ECO not only learned about the disproportional impact of climate change on women, but also about the resilience, knowledge and action of these female activists and communities.

Say it loud and proud with ECO: No climate justice without gender justice! What do we want? Gender climate justice! When do we want it? NOW!