The much-anticipated UN Conference on Climate Change has finally launched in Copenhagen. Over the next two weeks, we will be hearing a lot about what needs to be done to avoid the most dire climate change scenarios and to protect the life of the planet.
We at MADRE will be posting regular updates and links to useful resources for those looking to follow the crucial developments at this conference. Here on the blog, we will highlight issues that should be priorities--but that are too often ignored. Despite the fact that women worldwide are disproportionately impacted by the threats of climate change, gender and women's human rights are almost entirely left out of the climate change discussions. What's more, women farmers are advancing practices of sustainable agriculture that hold incredible promise to confront climate change. We will underscore these and other urgent issues as we select resources to share with you.
Let's get started. In an article published today by IPS, Sabina Zaccaro interviews Lorena Aguilar Revelo, a senior gender advisor to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), who states:
Of the three major conventions related to climate change – desertification, biodiversity and climate change – the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change is the only agreement with no mention of gender.
There are innumerable global mandates calling for integrating a gender perspective into environmental and poverty reduction efforts that also apply to climate change. Nevertheless, there is no gender plan of action and even no mention of gender or women’s issues.[...]
[W]e need to make sure that there are specific resources for women; whatever project is going to come out it must consider this, otherwise women are feeling the effects, they have a tremendous amount of knowledge on mitigation and adaptation but they are not part of anybody’s agenda.
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