climate change Archives - International Alliance of Women

IAW Calls for a Changing World Order

Marion Böker — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 23:27:21 +0000

How UN's unreformed structure is challenging us in CSW66 - A Question of Peace and Progress
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Opinion by
Marion Böker, IAW Acting President and
Heide Schütz, Convenor of the IAW Commission on Peace

1. The landmark United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) framework and Feminist Foreign Policy are widely celebrated as progress and IAW on all levels of its membership supports them with various efforts. Peace, Freedom and Justice in Democracy exist all too rarely. Even in most of the countries where people are lucky to grow up in peace, their past and present cultures as a society, in families, in their economies are still influenced by and connected to armed conflicts and wars.

IAW is aware that the end of war is still a long way off and we need another, a multilateral level of working for Peace and the UN We Want. We hope to achieve this through better networks in our membership dealing with this issue, firmer grounding of our advocacy and by winning a new generation for the Women, Peace, Security (WPS) agenda, as well as fighting for the fulfillment of the Human Right to Peace[1] with a strong Treaty and Treaty Body, and reform of the United Nations (UN) and its Security Council to be able to fulfill the UN Charter’s mandate. The creation of peace is enshrined in the 5^th chapter of IAW’s Action Program, and this needs to be strengthened in an update of the Action Program for the next triennium.

During the 2021 Generation Gender Equality Forum in Paris, the IAW Peace Commission made commitments under individual areas of the Global Compacts on Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action. This allows us to unify our members around the WPS agenda in a project on assessing, evaluating and developing an approach for a more effective implementation and future of the WPS agenda, based on our members’ experiences on the ground. In the upcoming months we will present more on this topic and the next International Women’s News will also serve as a call for the participation in the project.

We see how important this step is while as we also acknowledge the bitter reality of a new re-militarization which is already depleting budgets globally for the social investments we need. This destroys lives, causes hunger, pain and another burden of violence to be digested over generations.[2]

Women peacemakers on the ground are still not heard and taken seriously as partners for peace. We learn this when looking into long persisting (armed) conflicts and wars all over the world, in many of our member organisations’ countries, in all regions but also looking into the painful lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an obvious backlash against our hard-fought achievements in gender equality, against hunger, for education, empowerment, justice, women’s human rights and in all areas. Women do not only care for the victims of society’s ills. Women now want a changed world order which starts from a caring and sharing climate-balanced economy, want to de-colonize, disarm and detoxify destructive gender concepts of toxic masculinity and femininity. Women need feminist and peace-loving men as partners to get a world order in place which gives humanity and the planet a future. The mere escape to another planet or a back-up of our world by artificial copy and paste we will not accept. Therefore we need gender parity in all sectors and new leaders who are capable of creating this new world. This is not a vision that is nice to have, it is a necessity for survival.

During the years, the war by the Russian Federation against Ukraine has been evolving into the same failure we have seen with the International Community in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and so many more places [3], to simply fulfill the United Nations Charter’s mandate to stop war and keep peace. We had called for a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reform but we only heard it would be impossible. Today many wish a reformed UNSC which would have been a chance for better outcomes, and we will never tire of calling for this! The responsibility for the mandate of peace-keeping must be shared by all, all countries, and all women, and all men.

An ineffective UNSC and a retrogressive, dependent UN General Assembly (UNGA) had as a result ignoring women’s voices from Ukraine directed to the them since 2014[4] as it had before from Syrian, Kurdish and Ezidi women and other communities. We have had to witness in the current case that the UNGA did not made the slightest reference to women and the UNSCR 1325 framework in its UNGA Res. ES‑11/1 of March 2, 2022, which demands a full withdrawal of forces of the Russian Federation, an end to the invasion into Ukraine, and a reversal of its decision to recognize the self-declared People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk announced on territory in Ukraine and the Russian Federation. No Feminist Foreign Policy was taken in consideration.

Women’s and civilian issues which are now so obvious in the war were once more side tracked. When it is serious, it is still in many cases a men’s game following the medieval rules of Machiavelli: going to war is a tolerated option of politics. Going to peace must be as well. Deaths of civilians and sexual violence are weapons of war. Investigation of war crimes comes much later and is not yet a real obstacle for war parties of the old-world order to commit massive war crimes. We need to strengthen the International Criminal Court (ICC): states need to invest in it to make it strong in personnel and resources needed for all international investigations and the ICC needs to create effective mechanisms which serve as binding obstacles to war. Finally, a new UNSC needs to have a gender sensitive early warning system in place which is fed with data and observations of all stakeholders, including women, to alarm the International Community early enough on rising conflicts to order to be able to counteract and resolve them in a state before there are weapons in use. This investment for peace – next to the educational one from cradle to grave – can never be bold enough if we ever want to achieve a global capacity for peace keeping. Women’s claims within the UNSCR1325 framework had always covered this, we cannot repeat this often enough. As our Parallel Events during CSW66 showed, it is also related to Climate Change. A Gender Responsible Early Warning System (GREWS) needs to look into various systemic crisis developments, Violence Against Women in its whole scope, economics, justice, well-being, care and caring capabilities, leadership, climate change. In view of next year’s CSW67 on digitization, we want to define not only its gains, but also its threats and conflict potential for war.

2. Progress under the shadow of war is an illusion – We need to shape a UN capable of survival.

The protection of civilians, especially women and children, guaranteed by international law and women’s participation has deteriorated to mere decoration.

But we could demonstrate in two of our Parallel Events of CSW66 and our advocacy with the leading negotiators: women peace and change makers do not give up, no matter how many disasters are accumulating. While the systemic violation of women’s rights, health crisis, conflicts, climate change mount, there are women who fight against them and are always pointing to the path for peace. They need finances, support and to be acknowledged for their expertise, for example, Hands Across the Divide (HAD) in Cyprus, women peacemakers in Kashmir and India, women in Cameroon, DRC, Georgia, Ukraine, Cameroon. When talking of or drafting soft or hard law on Climate Change, we need to face down and decrease, finally getting rid of the military. From its production, transport, maneuvers, its use to kill, its remaining waste, it is in all its phases one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emission, pollution. It is also a man-made disaster for all the progress humanity wants and needs to make. When we hear that only a handful of countries can keep us from facing reality and the threats for humankind and nature’s future, we know which changes we need.

IAW, as part of the Women’s NGO community at CSW66, witnessed how much women of Civil Society, science, other areas and some member states were concerned about the war against Ukraine and other – not forgotten- similar suffering populations in countries under years of armed crisis, war, never-ending conflicts and divides while the UN Commission on the Status of Women was not showing any courage and flexibility to even mention it. Nor did it respond adequately, even though there is, as always, a strong link to the Priority issue of Climate Change and the disaster of man-made war and the military.

Due to the missed chance to discuss military as one contributor to the manifold devastation of humanity and of Climate Change, we need to look ahead and work with like-minded individuals, for example feminist politicians and diplomats, to include this issue in follow-up resolutions to the UNSCR 1325. We must also check into other activities of the UN. One of these networks, which is open for our NGO contribution, is the WPS Focal point network.

The UNSC is also, as we heard in briefings, an obstacle to progress. It was said that three to four states stopped any text referring to the military being included in the CSW66 Agreed Conclusions and text on the full scope of UNSCR 1325 was limited by their powers. As we have stated our support of the UN as a multilateral organisation in which we see the future of our planet, we have to give more concrete support to the reform we want of its entities. This is no longer something very visionary, it is the pure defense due to what we heard in briefings, that there is the attempt from within the UNSC to isolate itself from the UNGA. This is no less than the intention to keep privileges to a few superpowers and friends and destroy the core mandate and with it the UN itself.

Even prominent UN representatives had announced at CSW66’s beginning that the priority theme would be ambitious and should achieve progress over the Paris Agreement or the COP26; all this is now proven to have been empty words. Progress was left behind. The standards were reaffirmed, repeated, and left us with nothing new, except that we have to build stronger alliances with women NGOs, women at all decisions-making levels, and we start from the scratch. This is especially true for the women and their families in war-torn countries and regions. We are questioned in our means. We are too limited. We need to focus more seriously on changing the world order. We, while also supporting the UN and multilateral organisations, cannot leave the governments, the UN alone. We need to rise up and so focus on more real engagement.

CSW66 was a place to learn that we need a Global Cease Fire and a true Culture of Peace, the rule of Human Rights and Law, in order to deal with increasing Climate Change without delay. This should unite us across borders and conflicts. For this immense challenge, we need all brains; what we do not need are soldiers, or dictators, or leaders who deny facts and mingle with dictators.

IAW will stand firm. Not only are we taking our lessons learned in the CSW66 Parallel Events seriously and will follow up in the Peace Commission. We had passed a resolution during Congress in November 2020 on “Fund for health care not war fare”, and our mission for peace has been known since our founding mothers established this NGO in 1904 for women’s suffrage and gender equality and peace. We have known through generations: where there is no peace, there is no gender equality, no human rights. And today we must state: where there is no caring society and economy in peace there is only disaster, suffering, inhumanity and the loss of our planet earth as our basis in nature.

[1] Adopted by the UNGA as a Declaration on the Right to Peace on 19 December 2016 by a majority of Member States. IAW worked on it during the 2018 Board Meeting in Berlin (see documented in DFR-Dokumentation-IBFS_Quadratur-des-Kreises-fuer-Frauen-Frieden-und-Sicherheit-2018.pdf (deutscher-frauenring.de) page 50 – 57 (partly in German, please use translation tools such as DeepL Translatee. ). You can find Hon. Pres. Rosy Weiss‘s presentation there in English.

[2] We know that non-feminist states regard women mainly as an object, a source of reproduction of the population, of soldiers, and therefore control women; see the newest book Our Bodies Their Battlefield – Christina Lamb ; we need to see women as subjects and decision makers sharing power.

[3] To be informed on the number of armed conflicts, long term frozen conflicts by and between states, war, or, as in the last decades, conflicts initiated by non state actors, one can check List of ongoing armed conflicts – Wikipedia, CrisisWatch | Crisis Group, Home | SIPRI or Peace research units of Universities. Unfortunately, there is no international unified mechanism. Wiith available technical means, the UN should have one available for its priority purposes under the Charter. This could include a Human Rights warning mechnaism. The way SIPRI is working could be a basis for this because it works with indicators for a long time.

[4] IAW has been in communication with the National Council of Women of the Ukraine since Feb 2021 about their alarm call to the women‘s NGO‘s communities. Thus we created broad solidarity within the European Women‘s Lobby and during CSW66, together with the NGOCSW North American & European Caucus presenting Statements to the UNSG, UNGA and UNSC on its behalf.

Commons Photo Credit: Source

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IAW Programme on Climate Change and Sustainable Development

Natalia Kostus — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 18:19:05 +0000

On October 7 2015, at the IAW International Meeting in Paris, the Board decided by consensus to give a mandate to Natalia Kostus, Chair of the Commission on Climate Change and Board Member of IAW to start forming the IAW Programme on Climate Change and Sustainable Development to be adopted and launched at the Congress in 2016 and to have the possibility of attracting funding.

Natalia explained that the bases for the Programme are two outcomes: Paris Agreement on Climate Change to be adopted in December 2015 and Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development adopted in September 2015. Natalia stressed that both outcomes represent global calls to action, leadership, and partnership, represent people’s revolutionary movements, set ambitious and specific goals for implementation and are set to attract significant amounts of funding.

Natalia explained that the overarching global programme will comprise of a global component and a portfolio of multiple local projects developed and implemented jointly with IAW member organizations, capitalizing on the niche of IAW, which lies in providing the connection between global policy and IAW member organizations that work on the ground. The programme will be focused on climate change, sustainable development, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and specific issues, including: energy, cities, food security, environment, and consumption.

Natalia led the initial consultation and interactive discussion, gathering the first round of input on the programme direction, scope, strategy, and structure.

Rakesh Dhawan Representative of All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) and Board Member of IAW stressed that climate change is one of the biggest threats to civilization today; pointing to accelerated natural disasters and the incredible pressure on ecosystems, overexploitation of natural resources, and high carbon emissions. Rakesh detailed initiatives taken by AIWC in India: popularizing solar energy and energy efficiency though fairs and training programs for women, integrating training for women on cutting emissions though efficient waste management, supporting traditional practices, and awareness rising for women water leaders. Rakesh concluded with an appeal to together combat this greatest challenge for survival and implement strategy for environment and climate protection.

Renee Gerard, Representative to the Council of Europe of IAW stressed that there are many projects IAW should develop, especially focusing on waste, food security, small technologies, and education for environment in school and in public.

Arina Angerman, Representative to the European Women’s Lobby of IAW advocated that for this programme IAW should focus on SDG target on women in decision making. Arina highlighted the importance of communication and sustainable Internet technologies and suggested to include green ICT platforms for this programme.

Monique Bouaziz, Representative to UNESCO of IAW and Danielle Levy Board Member and Representative to UNESCO of IAW detailed French NGOs preparations for Paris COP and the NGO climate change village in November and December 2015.

Rita Marque Mbatha, Executive Director at Women’s Comfort Corner in Zimbabwe stressed the importance of technology and communication, and shared experiences on cell phone donation programmes and partnership with wireless providers to help give rape victims and domestic violence victims and survivors their voice. Rita explained additional benefits of the program for cleaner environment; instead of the phones being thrown away they are being recycled. Natalia highlighted the important role cell phones play in the event of natural disaster.

Joke Sebus,Co- Editor of the IAW Newsletter pointed out the importance of water and sanitation. Jessica Kehl Executive, Vice President of IAW highlighted the difference between waste and recyclable materials. Dr. Horeya Megahed, Coordinator for the Arab Countries of IAW called for action on climate change and discussed experiences on solar energy and sustainable water management from the Arab Region. Priscilla Todd Editor of the International Women’s News of IAW recommended partnerships for IAW and to include consumption and education.

If you would like to contribute to the development and participate in the online discussion on the new IAW Programme on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, please e-mail Natalia at: Natalia.Kostus.IAW@gmail.com

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IAW on Habitat III: A human rights framework must shape all issue papers

Soon-Young Yoon — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 08:06:40 +0000

Habitat III is the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development to take place in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 – 20 October 2016. Member States of the General Assembly, in resolution 67/216 , decided that the objective of the Conference is to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable urban development, assess accomplishments to date, address poverty and identify and address new and emerging challenges. The conference will result in a concise, focused, forward-looking and action-oriented outcome document.

On behalf of IAW, Soon-Young Yoon, main representative to the United Nations, New York has submitted a comment on the current issues papers of Habitat III :

GENERAL COMMENT

The sustainable development goals can only succeed if women’s human rights are at the center of the discussion. Equally important, women’s leadership can help scale-up and speed-up progress toward innovative, inclusive, compact and resilient cities.

What’s missing?

Habitat III offers a unique opportunity to ensure that a human rights framework that includes women’s or integrates gender to guide the formulation and implementation of the New Urban Agenda. Habitat III must be a continuation of the Post-2015 Agenda and the SDGs, and build on the internationally agreements that address gender and other inequalities. Valuable insights can be found in the Beijing Platform for Action (191 countries) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (188 countries) as well as other international documents adopted at the Vienna Conference on Human Rights and International Conference on Population and Development. But as important these agreements have been in establishing policy norms and standards, none of these milestones on the path to social progress and women’s empowerment are mentioned in the issues papers.

Missing also are mandates at the regional level that can help to support regional follow-up initiatives to Habitat III. The papers should explore the political potential of regional agreements such as the African Charter and European Union Gender Equality Law. More than just lip service to gender equality and women’s empowerment, these mandates have practical value. For example, they can be used in designing regional-level pilot projects to showcase human rights based and gender-responsive framework that is in line with vision of the New Urban Agenda.

The current draft also ignores data and statistics on gender equality or women’s human rights and empowerment as they relate to sustainable development and climate change. [1] Nor does it identify gaps and methodologies needed to be able to monitor and evaluate gender-based discrimination and violence at the city level.

As noted by several governments, the issues papers should include more examples of best practices. These should be relevant in developed as well as developing countries, correcting the current bias in the papers towards developing countries. In the case of women’s empowerment, there are a host of examples that could be cited in most of the issues papers to reflect conditions at grass roots as well as national and international levels.

A human rights framework must shape all issue papers

Gender equality in the papers is presented primarily as an “add on” to urban planning rather than a comprehensive framework guiding policy and programs. The wide diversity of women’s situation is not acknowledged and women are presented primarily as one of the many vulnerable groups rather than key decision-makers. Women’s unpaid care work is not acknowledged nor a recognition of how redistribution and provision of services can support sustainable cities. Furthermore, the public policy bias of the papers ignores the critical connection with the home and private sphere. The role of civil society, including the leadership of men and boys to achieve gender equality is critical to the success of the New Urban Agenda but is hardly mentioned. In brief, the issues papers need a comprehensive gender analysis. The following are some points that should be noted:

Private and Public spheres are connected– Public policies and services must always measure their success by whether or not they have improved the lives of citizens –not just in the workplace or the public sphere, but in the context of the home and family as well. There is no safe city when women’s human rights are violated due to domestic violence in the home. There is no end to poverty if women’s income must be meekly handed over to a male head of household. And there is no true democracy to strengthen civil and political rights if women and girls are not allowed to make decisions about their own bodies and exercise their sexual and reproductive health rights.
Women are not just victims or a vulnerable group—Women are key decision-makers concerning economic and social rights related to food security, biodiversity, cultural heritage, migration, energy consumption and family size. They also play critical roles in the use of water, energy and natural resources and finding climate solutions. They have a specific role in the urban ecology as managers of household energy. Indeed, women are at the heart of the water-energy-food nexus. In many developing countries, rural and urban women are the human transporters of water, fuel and food and their capacity defines the speed and quality of the rural-urban flow of goods.
Urban women are diverse – The gender analysis of the New Urban Agenda must avoid stereotyping and acknowledge the wide diversity of women’s situation by including the intersections of age, gender identity (including LGBTI) ethnicity, disability, religion, economic, social and political status, as well as cultural and ecological status. The human rights framework must be inclusive enough to apply to women heading corporations, working in city government, active in politics –as well as women living in poverty. In addition, since in many developed countries indigenous women must live and work within urban environments their concerns and specific challenges also need to be addressed.
End violence against women – The New Urban Agenda must include a commitment to prevent—and ultimately end–violence against women and girls. Mental, sexual and physical abuse that take place within the home, in the community or by the State and the threat of violence inhibit women’s political participation and lead to unequal access to services. Men and boys must take stronger leadership roles to address cultural norms and behavioral changes needed to end violence against girls and women of all ages.

Read the comment

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UN Climate Summit 2014: Catalyzing Action

Natalia Kostus — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 13:01:06 +0000

International Alliance of Women (IAW) joined the UN Climate Summit 2014, hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in UN Headquarters in New York, US on 23 September 2014. The Summit brought together over 100 Heads of State and 800 leaders from government, private sector, and civil society. The Summit laid solid foundation for successful negotiations under the UNFCCC, catalyzing concrete commitments for action on the ground, and raising political support necessary to reach a universal agreement on climate change in 2015.

At the opening ceremony, a woman civil society leader and a mother from Marshall Islands Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner recited a poem dedicated to her baby daughter—making a promise that she will not be a climate refugee and will have a safe home—as the future survival of island States depends on climate action now. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stressed: “Climate change is a defining issue of our age, of our present. Our response will define our future…That is why I have asked you to be here today. Thank you for your leadership. I’m asking you to lead.”

Heads of State made announcements on national climate action and ambition. President Obama stated: “This is something that President Xi of China and I have worked on together. Just a few minutes ago, I met with Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, and reiterated my belief that as the two largest economies and emitters in the world, we have a special responsibility to lead. That’s what big nations have to do.” President Obama stated that America will meet the emissions reduction target of 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 and early next year will announce next target. Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli stated that China has adopted national plan on climate change to ensure a 40-45% reduction in carbon intensity by 2020 from 2005 levels and will announce post-2020 ambition as soon as possible. Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli stressed the importance of building consensus and implementing actions for a cooperative and win-win global climate governance system.

President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso reiterated emissions reduction target of 40% by 2030 from 1990 levels and total of €14 billion in climate finance to developing countries. Further announcements on emissions reductions included: Monaco 30% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% by 2050; Belgium 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050; UK 80% by 2050; Chile 20% by 2020 conditional on international support; Australia 5% by 2020, 22% reduction from business-as-usual levels; Singapore 16% below 2020 business-as-usual levels; Sweden 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and zero net emissions by 2050; and Finland 80% by 2050. On climate finance, a number of countries made commitments to the Green Climate Fund (GCF): Germany US$ 1 billion; France US$ 1 billion over the next four years; Switzerland a minimum of US$ 100 million; Republic of Korea US$ 100 million (including previously pledged US$ 50 million); Denmark US$ 70 million; Norway about US$ 33 million in 2015; Mexico US$ 10 million; Czech Republic US$ 5.5 million; Luxembourg US$ 5 million; and Italy.

130 women leaders attended the “Leaders’ Forum on Women Leading the Way: Raising Ambition for Climate Action,” co-hosted by UN Women and the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice on the eve of UN Climate Summit on 22 September 2014, including President of Chile, H.E. Michelle Bachelet, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan; First Lady of Peru Nadine Heredia de Humala; Member of the Elders Graça Machel; former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard; former President of Finland Tarja Halonen; former President of Malawi Joyce Banda; former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Brundtland; former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Administrator of the UNDP Helen Clark; and leaders from indigenous groups, civil society, youth groups, private sector, and government. Women leaders discussed in roundtables—using traditional learning circles methodology—their commitment to ambitious climate action and gender equality, recognizing the power that women have, taking ownership and responsibility, demanding accountability and access to decision making. “Women need to be empowered, it means that they need to be at the decision making table. Women are working on the grass-roots level, where on the daily basis they are facing impacts of climate change, so there is no viable solution if they are not at the decision making table” said former Prime Minister of Senegal Aminata Touré.

One of the thematic discussions during the Climate Summit, “Voices from the Climate Front Lines”, Co-Chaired by President of Bolivia H.E. Evo Morales and Prime Minister of Tuvalu H.E. Enele Sosene Sopoaga, focused on giving voice to women, young people, children, and indigenous people, highlighting their leadership for climate solutions and resilience. Organized by UN Women, UNFPA, and UNICEF, the session included young women panelists and agents of change from Nepal, Solomon Islands, and Uganda. President of Bolivia H.E. Evo Morales presented Bolivia’s proposal for the UNFCCC 2015 climate agreement— “Climate Resilience and Sustainable Development Mechanism” based on: development in harmony with nature; integrated ecosystem management; significant reduction of carbon emissions; integrated management of systems addressing climate risk; and eradication of extreme poverty and reducing gender inequality and inequity between peoples. During the event, UN Special Envoy for Climate Change Mary Robinson held up a book and said “This is my book. This is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Climate change is all about human rights and unfortunately it is making a lot of human rights worse.”

IAW marched in New York, together with 400,000 women and men from all over the world for People’s Climate March on 21 September, 2014. On the same weekend, 2646 climate change events were organized in 162 countries, including marches in Kathmandu, Melbourne, Sydney, Jakarta, and London. Mary Robinson, called the people’s climate justice movement “a revolution,” and called on us to keep it up, because political leaders respond to pressure from the people. IAW marched in solidarity to spark a momentum for climate change action, and now we have to keep this passion for change and to make sure that leaders keep their promises for COP 20 in Lima later this year and COP 21 in Paris in 2015.

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Petition for a world powered by 100% clean energy

IAW Communications Unit — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 19:19:38 +0000

To national, local, and international leaders:

Scientists warn us that climate change could accelerate beyond our control, threatening our survival and everything we love. We call on you to keep global temperature rise under the unacceptably dangerous level of 2 degrees C, by phasing out carbon pollution to zero. To achieve this, you must urgently forge realistic global, national and local agreements, to rapidly shift our societies and economies to 100% clean energy by 2050. Do this fairly, with support to the most vulnerable among us. Our world is worth saving and now is our moment to act. But to change everything, we need everyone. Join us.
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/100_clean_final/?bGqcPhb&signup=1&cl=5764104188&v=44869

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Women for Climate Justice: A Call to March in New York City and Around the World on 21 September 2014

IAW Communications Unit — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 13:14:14 +0000

We are calling all women to join our contingent of Women for Climate Justice as we help create a massive Peoples’ Climate March – the largest climate march in history – on Sunday, September 21st in New York City, two days before heads of state of the world’s nations will meet in a climate Summit at the United Nations.

To change everything, it will take everyone.

Scientists warn us that global warming is spiraling out of control and we are running out of time to avoid planetary catastrophe. The time for change is now, not only to preserve the planet for future generations but to ensure a world worth saving- to create a global community where women and girls, men and boys live in harmony and equality fulfilling their individual hopes and dreams on an ecologically sustainable planet.

On September 21st, we call on women’s human rights organizations, activists and allies to march with us for climate justice. March with us to demand a new model of sustainable development. March with us to halt the destructive path towards climate chaos. March with us to deliver more equitable distribution of power, resources, energy, and wealth between countries, between rich and poor and between men and women.

March with us to proclaim that there can be no climate justice without gender justice- acknowledging that women, particularly in the Global South, have contributed the least to global warming and degradation of the planet and yet they suffer the most from environmental destruction and unsustainable consumption and production.

As women community leaders, caretakers, and innovators, we have an urgent opportunity to act for transformative change – change for the climate – change for our futures.

We especially call on you – the diverse, vibrant and energetic women’s human rights community in the United States to join us in New York City on September 21st to change the climate change narrative in this country.

Climate change is not only a women’s human rights issue in developing countries but also here at home. The United States needs to be a leader in the fight against climate change, to take responsibility for how our actions as a nation affect people around the globe. We must demand the U.S. government acts in order to create a future in which climate protection, human rights and gender equality are realized throughout the world.

We also call upon women’s human rights and social justice activists around the world to use this unique moment to re-commit and to mobilize for action- whether you are with us in New York City on September 21st, or in solidarity though actions and statements of resistance and for change in your local communities. We will march in solidarity with all women on the frontlines around the world to demand action for climate justice and support for community resilience.

An opportunity for global transformation is within reach, and it will neither start nor end with one day. But we know when the challenge is greatest, and the moment is right, there is power in taking to the streets. A brighter future will not be realized unless we demand it and our demand will best be heard with all women’s voices in a beautiful chorus together.

Join us in New York or in your local community on September 21st, as we join together as women to call for a future for ourselves, our families and our children- as we join together as women to march for climate justice. Together, we can change everything.

We urge all women and women’s organizations to share this call with their members, networks and social media.

-Women’s Table for the People’s Climate March

– Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)

– International Alliance of Women

To endorse this statement, please e-mail Gina Stovall at mobilize@wedo.org

Please visit www.peoplesclimate.org/women for resources, a full list of events, and to subscribe to the mailing list and join the PCM Women Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/pcmwomen/) to stay connected to the hub of women supporting the People’s Climate March.

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