Today, as we celebrate International Women's Day, we reflect with great appreciation and respect upon the countless women leaders rising up worldwide in defense of the Earth and their communities. We recognize the immense challenges ahead and renew our commitment to amplifying women's voices and leadership in climate justice and solutions.
For the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network, 2015 has already proven to be a year of great change and opportunity. We began this year in the Democratic Republic of Congo where we held an online training session, bringing together diverse participants to create an action plan for protection of the Itombwe rainforest and the Indigenous people who live there. In February, we gathered with thousands at the largest anti-fracking march in US history, calling for a ban on fracking in the state of California.
Read on for details surrounding our recent mobilizing efforts, profiles of women working on the front lines, and information on how to join women mobilizing for climate justice in the USA through our new national organizing calls. Sign up to join the calls here.
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 Climate Women in Action
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WECAN International Training: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 2015
In January 2015 , WECAN International, in conjunction with our partners from SAFECO in the DRC, brought together participants for the first session of a two-part training aimed at creating a climate action plan specific to the needs of the Indigenous communities of the Itombwe rainforest, who seek to protect the health of the forest and their communities. The second part of the training is currently underway on the ground in the Itombwe region.
Sessions focus on tangible solutions that maintain diverse ecosystems and Traditional Ecologic Knowledge (TEK) of the region's Indigenous people. Participants also learn about current environmental laws that better equip them with the tools necessary to form and carry out an effective advocacy plan. Hands-on information on reforestation efforts, the construction of clean cookstoves, advocacy techniques, and the importance of women's leaderships form the backbone of the training.
We are very thankful to our DRC partners at SAFECO and to all of the participants who made this training such a success. Click here to visit our blog and learn more about the climate solution training and collaborative plans moving forward.
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March for Real Climate Lea
dership
In February, WECAN organized a women's contingent to join the March for Real Climate Leadership.
Marching
alongside more than
8,000 people
we joined the call for a frack-free California at what is now considered the largest anti-fracking demonstration in U.S. history. Thank you to 350.org and all the main organizers of this historic march.
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To celebrate International Women's Day, WECAN International would like to recognize some of the remarkable and courageous women leaders who are fighting to protect and defend Mother Earth. We are honored to unite with them and help tell their stories.
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Maxima Acuna de Chaupe
is a member of the Asociaci�n de Mujeres en Defensa de la Vida (Association of Women in Defence of Livelihood) and the Uni�n Latinoamericana de Mujeres (Latin American
Women's Union).
For the past 24 years, Maxima, a fearless
human and Earth rights defender, has been fighting to protect her land
in Cajamarca, Peru
from being turned into an open pit gold mine. Since refusing to sell her iand in 2011, s
he has
withstood
more than 200 trespassers who came onto her
families land
and demolished the foundation of her new home, as well as countless other episodes of intimidation and violence. On December 17, 2014 Maxima and her family were found innocent by the Court Justice of Cajamarca of all the charges that were brought against them by the Yanacocha mining company.
Patricia Gualinga Montalvo
is an Indigenous Kichwa leader from Sarayaku, Ecuador, working ceaselessly to protect the rainforests of the Amazon. She, along with many other women from across the region, have been mobilizing together to call for justice and the end of oil drilling and mining in one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Marching from the Amazon to the Andes with a contingent of women, Patricia and her allies met with the Ecuadorean government at the National Assembly, demanding that corporate entities not be allowed to exploit their native lands. Patricia and her community continue to fight and organize on multiple fronts.
13-year old Sliammon youth, Ta'Kaiya Blaney is the creator of Salish Sea Youth Foundation
and has been advocating for environmental issue through song since before she
can remember. The messages she writes are a direct reflection of the teachings from her culture. She spoke at the UN's Rio+20 conference in 2012 when she was just 11 years old and continues to use her words to inspire others to make changes in their communities. People under 30 make up more than
half of the world's population, and, as Blaney exemplifies, their stewardship of the planet is of the upmost importance.
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 Women's Earth and Climate Action Network USA Organizing
The Women's Earth and Climate Action Network is launching a new Climate Organizing Call campaign as a way for women across the U.S. to connect, mobilize, strategize, and collaborate
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Our main goals will be to draft a US Women's Climate Action Agenda, mobilize women around the country to demand action at COP21 in Paris, and to advocate for real climate leaders in the 2016 election. We will also conduct webinars to increase our knowledge base and support women in climate related work across the US.
Themes include frontline and Indigenous communities, women for 100% renewable energy, a just transition to a clean energy economy, health and climate change, violence against women/ violence against the Earth, fracking, divestment and much more. We invite you to make your voice heard by
registering here for upcoming national calls.
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 Imene Hadjer Bouchair is an Environmental Activist From Constantine, East Algeria. She graduated with a Masters Degree in Environmental Engineering and is very active in social and environmental issues. She is working with WECAN as a Co-Coordinator of the North African region helping to organize training sessions in the area.
Kiyomi Nagumo is WECAN International's new Coordinator for the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Kiyomi has worked in a number of civil society organizations on climate change, environment and empowerment of social organizations, indigenous peoples and intercultural communities. As part of the WECAN team she will be working to support women working in their communities to find sustainable solutions to climate change. Most recently, representing WECAN she spoke at the U.N. General Assembly read our blog to
find out what she had to say.
Shameika Hanson is a graduate from
Stony Brook
University, obtaining a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Humanities in May 2014. She is the new Communications Coordinator at WECAN and will be working to provide information regarding the network of women striving to promote sustainable change as well as keep WECAN supporters up to date regarding our mobilizing efforts.
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WECAN Blog-
'Women Speak: Climate Justice & Solutions'
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Find WECAN on Social Media
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Call to Action:
Ensuring Climate Justice Towards a Just and Healthy Planet
WECAN International is a co-sponsor with the UNFCCC Women and Gender Constituency, Women's Environment and Development Organziation (WEDO), Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF), Asia Pacfic Forum on Women, Law & Development (APWLD) hosting an event on March 10, 2015 from 2:30 to 4:00 at the Church Center for the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women. Join us as we explore a call to action for climate justice.
To learn more about this event and how you can participate click here.
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As we head into 2015 WECAN International will be expanding climate training programs for women in the DRC, Middle East North Africa Region, Latin America, and the US.
DONATE HERE
to support trainings and other on-the-ground initiatives aimed at fostering climate justice and womens leadership in climate solutions.
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