Dear Friends and Allies,
Winter Greetings! The Women's Earth and Climate Action Network delegation has just returned from an intense, inspiring and moving two weeks on the ground in Paris during COP21 climate negotiations. We come home with hope
derived from the epic efforts of the climate justice movement
, and with a deepened sense of the great work ahead.
In Paris, world governments from 195 nations signed onto an unprecedented global climate agreement. WECAN acknowledges the groundbreaking effort, which sends critical signals around the end of the fossil fuel era - however we must be very real about what the agreement is not.
Countries have agreed to aim for a temperature rise below the 2 degree level and included 1.5 degrees as an aspirational target (which we applaud),
however thus far there are not nearly
sufficient
carbon emission reduction
commitments, legal and financial mechanisms, and resources
needed to truly achieve this.
Due to the level of urgency for the most vulnerable communities, we find this type of vague commitment simply unacceptable - we are talking about life and death circumstances for frontline communities. Moreover, the Paris accord fails to address the root causes of the climate crisis and the structures of injustice that perpetuate it.
For further analysis please see our
blog
in which we breakdown the text of the Agreement in more detail.
The really good news coming out of Paris is that people around the world are standing up boldly and calling forth the healthy, just future that we are envisioning together. The climate justice
movement made an impact in pushing governments to act more ambitiously then they would h
ave
a
nd has been vibrantly
displayed in Paris, with
major
actions on the st
reets
with tens of thousands of people,
hundreds of events, assemblies, concerts and educational workshops all focused on just climate solutions
. P
eople's movements are
where power and hope lies as we move forward. And move forward we will!
We return home more dedicated than ever to care for our Mother Earth, all generations and all species.
Explore this end of the year newsletter
for the beauty and power of what is possible and
for recaps of
strong
actions and events in Paris and photo
highlights from an incredible year. Then we invite you to participate in end of year donations so we can continue our work together for climate justice in 2016, thank you!
|