Day 5 of COP25

We are approaching the end of the first week of COP25, and the 5th day of COP has been - as always this week - busy with amazing side events about gender equality and climate action, as well as youth engagement. The negotiations, on the other hand, not so much. There are some complications around human rights language in Article 6, and the enhanced Gender Action Plan is still under discussion.

This recap is being posted a bit later than usual because EmpoderaClima was busy at the Climate Justice March, where we marched with over 500,000 people for gender equality and justice. We will share more information about it below.

Beijing +25: Gender Equality in the context of Climate Urgency'

2020 is a very eventful year. It marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, signed in 1995 in China, and it also celebrates 5 years of the Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda, 10 years of UN Women, and 5 years of the Paris Agreement. Considering the current state of the climate emergency, it is impossible for us to ignore the correlation between gender equality and climate action.

This event at the SDG Pavilion was organized by the Women Earth and Environmental Organization (WEDO), as well as WECF International, Generation Equality and The African Women’s Development and Communication Network, and included powerful women who were in Beijing in 1995 and witnessed this historical moment. 

The talk started with some thoughts about the progress we have made (and what we still need to work on) since Beijing in 1995, and how this has been taken forward under the UNFCCC. 

The discussion then brought the regional perspective of an indigenous woman, and the UN perspective - thinking about how UN entities can work to create synergies across these processes. The UNFCCC, in its work for climate justice, has been mainly making efforts to integrate gender equality in the NDCs. 

#FridaysforFuture Silent Sit In 

A silent sit in by Fridays for Future took place in solidarity with those who could not be there today. This message is important and reminds us that we, in this space of privilege should remember that those who are most vital in climate action - grassroots activists, indigenous peoples, those from the global South - could not be here. We all have a responsibility to use our platforms to highlight these important issues, as they are the ones at the front of climate action. We also welcomed climate leader Greta Thunberg to COP25 today, after sailing across the Atlantic Ocean once again to attend the new location of COP in Spain.

Global Climate Heroes

The Human Impacts Institute presented a beautiful exhibit today that showcases women from the Global South who are climate leaders in their communities. The exhibit highlights powerful ladies from all over the developing world, such as Oladosu Adenike, leader at Fridays for Future in Nigeria, and Dr. Maisa Rojas, Director of the Center for Climate and Resilience Research at the University of Chile.

Each short story can be listened to by scanning the QR code of each poster and go to a Soundcloud link on your phone. This was a very fun, inspiring, and interactive exhibit!

The audios from the exhibit can also be found online, with more information about the leaders featured in the initiative.

Gender Negotiations

Following the endless discussions of Day 4 of COP25 around the GAP and including, or not, the human rights language, today the focus of the negotiations of the Gender Action Plan is around activities - specifically around Priority Area A: capacity-building, knowledge management and communication, Priority area B: gender balance, participation and women’s leadership, Priority area C: coherence, Priority area D: gender-responsive implementation and means of implementation, and finally, Priority area E: monitoring and reporting.  The draft text can be read here.

For context: The Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 51) is discussing the enhanced Gender Action Plan, and the 51st session of the SBI is taking place from 2 to 9 December 2019 in Spain. Gender and Climate Change is Agenda item 17, and it is still a work in progress. At the moment, the negotiators are under Informal consultations, co-facilitated by Winifred Masiko (Uganda) and Jorge Pinto Antunes (European Union). The latest draft text was updated this Saturday morning (December 7), which you can read here.

What is Gender-Responsive Adaptation Really About? A debate 

At the Action Hub Space of COP25, an interesting event about gender-responsive adaptation took place in the afternoon. The event was hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and brought two young people that are experts in different topics related to gender-responsive adaptation to expose their arguments.

The debate centered around the following statement: increasing women’s participation in decision-making is the key to unlocking gender-responsive approaches to adaptation. But how to best do this? followed by an interactive discussion with the audience. 

This event was quite fun as it provided an interactive setting where the audience was able to share their opinions with everyone attending, as well as ask questions to the two experts. The audience will decide on the winner based on what they consider to be the best arguments. Although, we argue that integrating gender equality into all areas of climate action is not up for debate, this event was interesting in highlighting the importance of women in participatory structures. 

You can watch the debate on this link.

Climate Justice March 

The march had to be one of the great highlights of this week! It was incredible to see women’s collective power and solidarity in demanding climate justice for all. Our message was clear: we will not stop until immediate action is taken to address the climate crisis. Moreover, human rights must be at the centre of this action. In doing this, it was important to address the injustices women and non-binary people face in all spaces, from climate action to domestic violence. It was a privilege to be able to march alongside other Ecofeministas in ensuring a rights-based and people-centred framework in pursuing a just transition for all.

Note: when we were writing this recap, a member of the official delegation of the Dominican Republic saw one of our stickers, which reads “Destroy the Patriarchy, Save the Planet” and asked if EmpoderaClima is one of “those groups” that believes men are to blame for everything. It is always interesting to see that while we are in the 25th COP and making progress on gender equality, there's still quite a few diplomats who do not understand what feminism is, and its correlation to sustainability - especially the older and more privileged ones. EmpoderaClima stands strong and empowered in these situations, and we hope you continue to smash the patriarchy for equality between men and women!