COP21: A Movement Rising for Women Advocates – Accountability Vital – WEDO Reflections on COP21

There is a sense that to move forward we must find hope in what is, in essence, the best outcome that could be achieved in an unjust and unequal world. However, at WEDO, our hope is not in the words agreed in Paris but clearly grounded in the determined activism and voice of a growing climate justice movement which is unafraid to challenge the Paris Agreement for the numerous ways in which the outcome failed to rise to the moment to ensure protection for people, communities and countries most vulnerable to climate impacts.

We went to Paris calling for system change, not climate change. We went with determination to ensure human rights, gender equality, indigenous people’s rights, intergenerational equity, a just transition were securely anchored in the final outcome.

We didn’t get system change in Paris. Far from it. Too much power (political, financial, media, etc) remains in the hands of the wealthy and connected. We are missing specific language to urgently phase out fossil fuels, to move from a floor of $100 billion to predictably and adequately finance adaptation and mitigation, to provide compensation for loss and damage already happening in places that had no hand in causing climate change, to ensure safe, environmentally and socially sound technologies. We are missing language on gender equality in mitigation, technology and finance. Our colleagues at Heinrich Boell Foundation – North America have provided an excellent issue by issue analysis of the final agreement.

So where can we point to progress? We can and absolutely should recognize the significance of having an articulated temperature goal in the Paris Agreement of keeping warming well under 1.5 degrees Celsius, the point at which we know that communities in the Pacific will lose their homelands, and countries across the Global South will suffer increasing loss and damage. It is no easy feat to get countries to agree in multilateral processes, let alone recognize the need for a united ambitious goal. But it should be clear to all that while the Paris agreement gives us aspiration, it fails to follow through on action.

The achievement of this goal is in the hands of our movement- to hold Governments accountable – to call out hypocrisy in policies which go against the achievement of this goal- such as two in the last few days, the lift of a 40-year oil export ban by the U.S., or the U.K. slashing solar subsidies. We also must continue to hold leaders to account when they enter into unjust trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which allow for companies to potentially sue governments for policies made in the public’s interest- such as reforms in the energy sector.

In an excellent piece on the next steps for an ever growing and inclusive climate justice movement- one which women, youth, indigenous peoples and workers are at the heart of- The Guardian’s Martin Lukacs quotes Amilcar Cabral, leader of the anti-colonial liberation movement in Guinea-Bissau, who reminded the movement to: “Tell no lies. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories.” 

As the Women and Gender Constituency concluded in final hours of the closing plenary at COP21 on Saturday evening, “We will not be silenced from telling the truth to power, to highlight the lack of ambition and injustice in this agreement. We have used this space of international policy-making to raise our voices and embolden our movements. Together, we will continue to challenge injustice for the protection of the people and the planet.”

The climate justice movement is rising, with women at the center, unafraid to speak truth to power, and unwavering in our campaign for climate justice. This is where you can find hope that COP21 will be the turning point for a more just and sustainable world, as we are more determined than ever to push world leaders to keep their promises.

The road to Paris

When the ADP was launched in 2011, the ask was clear, we needed a cross-cutting mandate on gender equality which would inform all future climate actions, in relation to both mitigation and adaptation, and in all means of implementation.

In the beginning of 2015 in Geneva, WEDO, as part of the Women and Gender Constituency, started working alongside a number of ‘rights-based’ Constituencies including youth groups, indigenous peoples and trade unions, to call for an inclusive set of demands to be anchored in the core of the outcome in Paris. The paragraph read as follows:

“This Agreement shall be implemented … ensuring the integrity and resilience of natural ecosystems and ensuring the respect, protection, promotion and fulfillment of human rights, including the rights of indigenous peoples; gender equality and the full and equal participation of women; intergenerational equity; a just transition of the workforce that creates decent work and quality jobs; and food security.”

There were many champions who fought for the multiple aspects of this language throughout the year, including the Philippines who re-introduced it in October when the co-Chairs had left it out of the proposed negotiating draft.

COP21

Across the two weeks of COP21, the inter-Constituency group mentioned above, took strong stands of solidarity, working together in unprecedented ways through press conferences and actions. We were clear from the beginning that while Parties may choose to separate the critical issues, we will continue to advocate for people and the planet.

By the second week of the negotiations, this language had been whittled down to human rights and gender equality, and then just human rights on the final day, with the rest of what had come to be called ‘the solidarity package’ noted in the Preamble. The Preamble does not carry the legal weight of the operational text.

In efforts to save this language in the core of the final agreement at the eleventh hour, 14 countries signed a statement from a group called the “Friends of Principles” (initiated by Mexico) – calling on human rights and gender equality to be secured in the operational section of the agreement entitled “Article 2”. Those who signed included Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Finland, Guatemala, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Philippines, Switzerland, Sweden and Uruguay.

But this language did not survive in the final iteration of the agreement, though all concepts are noted in the Preamble of the text. Similarly, language on gender-responsive approaches was not achieved in mitigation, finance or technology- though references remained in adaptation and capacity building.

In a press conference with the inter-Constituency group on the final day, Meghan Rowling of Reuters asked Bridget Burns from WEDO how we would measure the progress made on gender given the references that had been retained. Ms. Burns replied, “Yes there is language on gender in certain areas of the text–and wherever there is language– we will use this to enhance implementation. However in terms of progress already made under the UNFCCC, this is not a huge step forward. For example, gender equality was made a clear criteria for National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) in 2001 at COP7 in Marrakesh. We had a turning point at COP20 in Lima with the adoption of the Lima Work Programme on Gender, and this year, the UNFCCC hosted the first workshop on understanding gender-responsive climate policy in relation to mitigation and technology transfer and development. But where we do have mandates, they are most often only in relation to adaptation and capacity building. This is why we were pushing to ensure gender equality was achieved as an operative cross-cutting mandate, to ensure it would inform all climate actions, including mitigation actions. We cannot only consider gender when it is seen in relation to vulnerabilities and not capabilities. What we have in the Paris Agreement is not enough. It is time to understand fully that we need to ensure both gender equality and the full and equal participation of women in all climate actions. We need to do more than acknowledge it, we need to operationalize it.”

Our partners and colleagues – over 50 activists and advocates in Paris, and scores more around the world – share with us the energy and hope, the evidence and inspiration, and the serenity and ferocity to take the giant steps needed in the coming days, months and years. We know that another world is possible.

WEDO stands firm on its calls for climate justice to ensure women’s human rights and gender equality – for all people, everywhere. But it’s more than that. WEDO steadfastly allied itself with rights-holders throughout the process leading to COP21. And regardless of language in the agreement, we will continue to strive for climate justice.

WEDO will demand from governments, corporations and ourselves that – at minimum – all climate actions, both adaptation and mitigation, respect, protect, promote and fulfill human rights, gender equality, the rights of indigenous peoples, intergenerational equity, a just transition and decent work, food security, and ecosystem integrity and resilience.

We will make noise with our international colleagues, and our US-based colleagues, to make it clear we do not accept rights being traded away; we do not accept military interests prioritized over people; we do not accept further extraction of fossil fuels that defile the land and the air and steal land from people; we do not accept false solutions like nuclear, geoengineering or forest plantations – or the calls for net-zero emissions that open the door to false solutions and the associated land and resource grabs.

We will work inside and outside the UNFCCC. At the UNFCCC, we are committed to success of the Lima Work Programme on Gender, to a successful, gender-sensitive implementation of the Green Climate Fund, and across the Finance and Technology Mechanisms. We will strengthen and continue the women’s leadership and capacity building program of the Women Delegates Fund. We will facilitate women’s participation, advocacy and leadership through our participation and leadership within the Women and Gender Constituency. We will build advocacy and technical skills of newcomers and support strategy and coordination among experts from within the women’s movement. We will continue to demand action based on equity and common but differentiated responsibilities, where developed countries lead and act on their historical responsibilities and debts.

Outside the UNFCCC, we will work in solidarity with colleagues on campaigns for climate justice, gender justice and system change. We will amplify voices, solutions and resistance through media and movement building. We will strategize and create tools to translate international policy to national action and implementation. We will work to influence local and sub-national policies, to bring an intersectional lens that recognizes the differences in impacts, needs, inputs and expertise of diverse women and men in communities. We will stand with environmental and women’s human rights defenders to fight for the world we know is possible- and we will and call out suppression of civil society opposition to false solutions and harmful industries.

One thing for sure, we will not give in and we will not give up.

We have used this space of international policy-making to raise our voices and embolden our movements. Together, we will continue to challenge injustice for the protection of the people and the planet:

Another world is possible!

– Final Statement of the Women and Gender Constituency