Any terms you are unsure about? Scroll down to a specific term and find a quick and simple definition to get you up to date with gender & climate policy language! Missing a term? Feel free to comment below to suggest terms we should add!

I

Indigenous Peoples

It is estimated that there are more than 370 million indigenous people spread across 70 countries worldwide, practicing unique traditions and retaining social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. They are the descendants, according to a common definition, of those who inhabited a country or a geographical region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived. Indigenous peoples are often marginalized and face discrimination in countries’ legal systems, leaving them even more vulnerable to violence and abuse, but have a special relationship with the land on which they have lived for generations, possessing crucial knowledge about how to manage natural resources sustainably and act as guardians or custodians of the land for the next generation. Losing their land means a loss of identity. 

Intersectionality

A simple but effective way to begin to understand intersectionality is the expression “one thing does not exclude the other”. There are countless ways of overlapping issues such as race, class, gender, sexual identity and a series of other social categorizations. The theory of intersectionality - coined by feminist and activist Kimberlé Crenshaw in the 1980s - proposes that prejudices do not exist independently from one attribute or characteristic, but it is the combination of identifiers which may put a person at a disadvantage. Understanding intersectionality is essential in combating the existing prejudices that people face daily.  To fully integrate intersectionality into our view of the issues we must recognize the various systems of inequality that interact with one another further perpetuating deep-rooted marginalizations between one another, learn to communicate about the different issues, recognize our differences to one another, seek other points of view, and participate in cases that benefit the social common good. 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an United Nations body, established in 1988, responsible for the elaboration of Assessment Reports, Special Reports and Methodology reports about the state of the scientific, technical and socio-economic knowledge on climate change. The IPCC`s main goal is to provide policymakers around the world with regular scientific assessments on climate change, presenting major economic, social, and environmental impacts and risks, as well as  adaptation and mitigation options. The reports are considered objective and neutral, as they are drafted and reviewed in several stages and are based on the existing and relevant scientific literature on the subject, the equivalent to a peer review process. 

K

Kyoto Protocol 

Adopted in 1997, at COP3 in Kyoto, Japan, the Kyoto Protocol operationalizes the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by committing industrialized countries and economies to limit and reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. The convention asks countries to adopt policies and measures on mitigation and to report those measures. The Protocol binds developed countries and places them at a higher standard due to their responsibilities and respective capabilities as they are responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere.

L

LGBTQIA+

LGBTQIA+, also commonly referred to as LGBT, is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and more. This term is used to describe a person’s sexual orientation, referring to a person’s physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction towards other people; and gender identity, which refers to the deeply felt and experienced sense of one’s own gender. While the term has gained increasing recognition, many different cultures use various terms to describe people who have same-sex relationships or who exhibit gender non-conforming identities. The LGBTQIA+ community is protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but they are often discriminated against. Many States have made an effort to strengthen the human rights protection for the community, while many others have continued to perpetuate violations against the identity of LGBTQIA+ people, affecting them systematically and personally. The intersection of discrimination based on race, color, descent, nationality or ethnicity makes LGBTQIA+ more vulnerable to discrimination and hate-motivated violence.

Lima Work Programme on Gender

The Lima Work Programme on Gender was established in 2014, and works hand in hand with the Gender Action Plan. It is a two year plan to further enhance gender balance; providing knowledge and capacity building on gender responsive climate policy. Although gender-related mandates have existed since 2001 - they were often stand alone and existed in siloes. The aim of the Lima Work Programme was to enhance and consolidate all existing gender mandates. 

N

Nature-based solutions

Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously benefiting people and nature. This initiative addresses societal challenges through the protection, sustainable management and restoration of both natural and modified ecosystems, benefiting both biodiversity and human well-being. Nature-based solutions are underpinned by benefits that flow from healthy ecosystems. They target major challenges like climate change, disaster risk reduction, food and water security, biodiversity loss and human health, and are critical to sustainable economic development. 

Net zero emissions

Net zero emissions is intrinsically a scientific concept with the objective of keeping the rise in global average temperatures within certain limits. Physics implies that there is a finite budget of carbon dioxide that is allowed into the atmosphere, alongside other greenhouse gases, any further release must be balanced by removal into sinks. Net zero emissions are achieved when anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere are equally balanced by anthropogenic removals over a specific period. When multiple greenhouse gases are involved, the quantification of net zero emissions depends on the climate metric chosen to compare emissions of different gases (such as global warming potential, global temperature change potential, and others, as well as the chosen time horizon).

P

Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21 in December of 2015, by 197 Parties, and is a global agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) aiming at strengthening the global response to the threats of climate change - dealing with greenhouse gas emissions, mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement’s long-term goal is to keep the increase in the global average temperature below 2°C, recognizing that this would substantially reduce the risks and impacts of climate change, but aiming to keep the temperature increase below 1.5°C. Objectives also include strengthening the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change by applying appropriate financial flow, technological framework, and capacity building framework, thus supporting actions from the developing world. The agreement is also the first international climate treaty to include references to climate justice and gender equality in its text.