In the Northern Hemisphere, the Spring season is upon us. Similar to the millions of wildflowers emerging from Winter soil, women and feminists worldwide are rising, pushing forward actions, events, and campaigns that are combating the climate crisis, uplifting community-led solutions, and building momentum for a Just Transition. In this newsletter we are excited to share WECAN campaign and program updates, upcoming events, and ways to get involved!

We at WECAN are deeply saddened and outraged by the mass shooting hate crime that happened earlier this month in Atlanta, Georgia. Due to entrenched white supremacy and patriarchy, one man took the lives of 8 people, including 6 Asian-American women.

Systemic racism and violence against women is deadly, with women of color globally, and in the United States, bearing the greatest harm. In addition, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been escalating violent attacks on Asian-American community members. We mourn for the loss of these community members and are in solidarity with movements calling for justice and accountability. Please see below resources to support, learn more, and take action:

This Thursday, on April 1st, Indigenous youth and frontline DAPL and Line 3 Water Protectors are taking action in Washington D.C. to demand the Biden-Harris Administration #StopLine3 and #ShutdownDAPL. Learn more here from the Indigenous organizers!

For too long Indigenous communities have carried the weight of extraction and fossil fuel pollution despite their objections. To strengthen Indigenous sovereignty, the tenants of Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Treaty Rights must be the standard for Tribal Nations impacted by dangerous oil and gas infrastructure.

Five years ago on April 1st, the Sacred Stone Camp was founded and history was made as thousands of people gathered in peaceful protest to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). On the anniversary of this important moment of international solidarity, organizers are bringing the spirit of frontline, Indigenous pipeline resistance to Washington D.C. to demand President Biden Build Back Fossil Free by revoking the Army Corps permits for Line 3 and shutting down DAPL.

This is a stand for water, climate, Indigenous rights and our collective future.

The action in Washington D.C. will follow COVID-19 safety protocols. If you are in D.C. and want to attend this action, RSVP here!

On Thursday, April 1st, please join us for "Gender, Race and Climate Justice: National and Global Policy Perspectives", organized by the Consortium on Gender, Security, and Human Rights. Along with esteemed climate justice leaders, Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director is honored to be joining this powerful panel discussion.

During the panel, speakers will discuss their hopes and concerns regarding the mainstreaming of climate justice in U.S. policy and how climate leaders and movements would like it to shape U.S. foreign policy. Register for this important conversation here: https://fb.me/e/1mZ9cKwKG

Panelists include Jacqueline Patterson, Senior Director, Environmental and Climate Justice Program, NAACP; Colette Pichon Battle, Executive Director, Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy; Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International; Anita Nayar, Director, Regions Refocus and Camden Goetz, Coordinator, Regions Refocus. The conversation will be facilitated by Frances Roberts-Gregory, Future Faculty Fellow, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University.

In an era of continued oppression, fossil fuel expansion, deforestation, and false climate solutions, the voices of grassroots, Black, Brown and Indigenous women leaders could not be more important, as they work worldwide to build the visions, strategies, and solutions necessary to shape a healthy and equitable future. Women and feminists are working at the grassroots and international level to advance transformative cross-cutting solutions and climate policies that center the leadership of women, and acknowledge and address the generational impacts of colonization and racism while advocating for climate justice. Women are on the frontlines of climate impacts and solutions - it is time for them to be recognized at the forefront of climate action plans and decision making!

Frontline women leaders, alongside representatives from international climate justice organizations, will speak out to address the need for solutions based in a climate justice framework, including forest and biodiversity protection, Indigenous rights, agro-ecology, fossil fuel resistance, feminist care economics, and protection of women land defenders.

Presenters include: Neema Namadamu, WECAN Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Carmen Capriles, WECAN Coordinator for Latin America; Helena Gualinga (Kichwa-Swedish), Indigenous youth social and climate activist; Michelle Cook (Dine’/Navajo), Human rights lawyer and Founder of Divest Invest Protect; and comments and analysis by Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director.

In the lead-up to President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), on April 14th, will release a 100 page report spotlighting the intersections of gender, race, and the fossil fuel industry and complicit financial institutions.

Racial and Gendered Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry in North America and Complicit Financial Institutions: A Call to Action for the Health of our Communities and Nature in the Climate Crisis, addresses the disproportionate gender and race-specific health and safety impacts as well as human and Indigenous rights issues of fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure in the United States and selected parts of Canada— interlocking issues that have been sorely neglected in the discourse regarding fossil fuel extraction. The report explicitly exposes the role that a specific set of financial institutions, including banks, asset managers, and insurance companies, play in preserving and perpetuating negative gender and racial impacts through focusing on eight case studies in North America.

If you would like to help us spread the word on social media and with your networks please contact [email protected].

This year, on International Women’s Day, we hosted "Womxn Act for Climate Justice", a dynamic international network-wide event highlighting the struggles and solutions of womxn climate leaders in the WECAN network. During the interactive gathering, we heard from frontline leaders from diverse regions globally who shared inspiring words, action opportunities, and updates. Please be welcome to watch the recording at the links below!

Speakers included: Neema Namadamu, WECAN Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation), Environmental Ambassador, WECAN Senior Project Lead/Board Member; Carmen Capriles, WECAN Coordinator for Latin America; Monique Verdin (Houma Nation), member of Another Gulf is Possible, Director of The Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange, and WECAN Indigenous Food Security & Sovereignty Program Coordinator; Daiara Tukano, Tukano Indigenous peoples of the Brazilian Amazon, Independent communicator and coordinator of Radio Yande; Karina Gonzalez, WECAN Women Speak Programs Coordinator; Rebekah Sawers (Yupik) and Kari Ames (Tlingit), WECAN Indigenous Representatives in the Tongass Forest, Alaska; and comments and analysis by Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director.

Why Womxn? for this event we chose to use the written word Womxn, which has roots in intersectional feminism, to uplift the varied and intersectional experiences of womxnhood globally.

Throughout the month of March, WECAN organized and facilitated several high-level workshops for international financial institutions that focused on policies and practices regarding Indigenous rights, deforestation, fossil fuel extraction, and how financial institutions can align with the Paris Climate Agreement and, in fact, exceed it (with the critical understanding that the Paris Agreement is fully insufficient to meet the scale of the crisis and does not address climate justice).

WECAN held two workshops with BlackRock to present information on aligning with the Paris Climate Agreement and addressing human and Indigenous rights issues and policies. The workshop engagements offered valuable insights on the significant impact of extractive industries on local and Indigenous communities, the operationalization of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) as outlined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the impacts on women and girls in extraction zones, and how sustainability and human rights policies are necessary to meet and exceed the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Presenters for the Blackrock workshops included: Devi Anggraini, President of PEREMPUAN AMAN – an association of Indigenous women across Indonesia and the women’s wing of AMAN; Puyr Tembé, Leadership, human rights and environmental activist, Treasurer of the Union of Indigenous Women in the Brazilian Amazon, and President of Fepipa (Federation of the Federation of Indigenous Peoples of the State of Pará); Rita Uwaka, Forest and biodiversity expert, Nigeria; Patricia Gualinga (Kichwa), Indigenous leader from Sarayaku, Spokeswoman for Mujeres Amazónicas Defensoras de la Selva, Ecuador; Helena Gualinga (Kichwa-Swedish), Indigenous youth social and climate activist, Ecuador; Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation), Environmental Ambassador, Senior Project Lead/Board Member for WECAN, USA; Faith Gemmill-Fredson (Pit River/ Wintu), Neets’aii Gwich’in Athabascan from Arctic Village, Alaska, campaign organizer for Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), USA; Michelle Cook (Dine’/Navajo), Human rights lawyer and Founder of Divest Invest Protect, USA; and Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, Women's Earth and Climate Action Network, USA.

In March, WECAN also collaborated with BankTrack, and other partners to host a series of workshops for Equator Principles Financial Institutions (EPFIs).

The EPFIs are a group of 116 international financial institutions that have adopted the Equator Principles (EP), a risk management framework used for “determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in projects and is primarily intended to provide a minimum standard for due diligence and monitoring to support responsible risk decision-making.” These workshops were designed to create open discussion to further progress useful knowledge exchange, enabling civil society organizations to articulate their expectations from EPFIs based on the Equator Principles as the climate crisis escalates. 

We were honored to partner with Indigenous leaders for the second workshop, “Human and Indigenous rights under the Paris Agreement”, which was facilitated by the Indigenous Human Rights Defenders and Corporate Accountability Program (IHRDCAP), Divest Invest Protect (DIP), and the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN). The discussion focused on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the operationalization of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and also what the interests, rights, and impacts are to frontline human rights and land defenders.

Workshop presenters included: Patricia Gaulinga (Kichwa), Indigenous leader from Sarayaku, Spokeswoman for Mujeres Amazónicas Defensoras de la Selva, Ecuador; Helena Gualinga (Kichwa-Swedish), Indigenous youth social and climate activist, Ecuador; Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation), Environmental Ambassador, Senior Project Lead/Board Member for WECAN, USA; Michelle Cook ( Dine’/Navajo), Human rights lawyer and founder of Divest Invest Protect, USA; Jessica Parfait (United Houma Nation), research associate, The Water Institute of the Gulf; and Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, Women's Earth and Climate Action Network, USA. This workshop was conducted with the support of Global Witness, First Peoples Worldwide, and OECD Watch.

For the past month, Indigenous frontline leaders resisting the Line 3 pipeline project in Minnesota, and Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), have been meeting with offices and agencies of the Biden-Harris Administration advocating for immediate action to stop the construction of Line 3 and halt DAPL. In March, leaders met with officials from the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Department of the Interior (DOI), and the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE). WECAN has been honored to organize these Indigenous-led meetings.

During the meetings, Indigenous leader and climate movement allies brought further attention to the problematic permitting of Line 3 and DAPL, lack of tribal consultation and consent for Line 3 and DAPL, the negative impact on Indigenous ways of life, local ecosystems, communities, and the global climate, and presented the link between extractive projects and the epidemic of Missing, Murdered, Indigenous Women (MMIW). The discussions have also focused on how the Administration can move toward a Just Transition.  

To truly address the scale of our ever worsening climate crisis we need feminist climate policies developed in partnership with frontline communities that prioritizes the leadership and rights of women of color, Black, Brown, and Indigenous women, LGBTQIAP+ people, youth, and more.

As a co-founder of the Feminist Coalition for a Green New Deal, and a member of the Steering Committee, WECAN joins the FemGND coalition this month in launching a policy screening and resource guide to ensure that climate policies are guided by intersectional rights-based feminist values, and prioritize the leadership of frontline communities. Read the full guide here: bit.ly/femgnd-policies

This month, WECAN Tongass Indigenous Representatives, Rebekah Sawers (Yupik) and Wanda Culp (Tlingit), brought forward a proposal to advocate for Indigenous rights and sovereignty, and the protection of their forest homelands in the Tongass Rainforest of Alaska.

The Tongass Rainforest is the traditional homelands of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Peoples. It is the largest national forest in the U.S., and has been called 'America’s climate forest' due to its unsurpassed ability to sequester carbon and mitigate climate impacts. For decades however, industrial scale logging has been destroying this precious ecosystem, and disrupting the traditional lifeways, medicine, and food systems of the regions Indigenous communities. 

The WECAN Tongass Indigenous Representatives have been developing alternatives to local and national governance structures that have allowed the massive logging and destruction of their forests. Their proposal builds on these alternatives, and focuses on bringing forward matriarchal values that uplift local food sovereignty, traditional tribal governance structures and protect local forests and water ways. Rebekah and Wanda are continuing to work with local and national governance bodies to push their proposal forward.

This week, WECAN joined our colleagues in sending a letter to the Biden-Harris Administration calling for a commitment for protecting a network of carbon-dense forests across the country, highlighting the Tongass National Forest, in its update to the United State's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Climate Agreement.

Article 5 of the Paris Agreement encourages Parties to conserve and enhance sinks and reservoirs, including forests. The United States’ NDC cannot approach the needed commitment level without strong, science-based natural climate solutions that include protecting all of our remaining old and mature forests, like those in the Tongass.

WECAN has been honored to work in the Tongass since 2016 with the WECAN Indigenous Women’s hub in Southeast Alaska, advocating for the protection of the forest, local waters, communities, and our global climate. If you would like to learn more, please see our website here.

WECAN is honored to welcome Helena Gualinga to the WECAN Team!

Helena Siren Gualinga is a youth social activist, of Kichwa-indigenous and Swedish origin. She is known for her advocacy for climate and environmental justice. Helena is a WECAN Young Women Project Lead and is also on the Steering Committee for WECAN's 'Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice' in September 2021.

Please stay tuned as we continue to uplift the leadership and solutions of women worldwide fighting for climate justice and the defense of the planet for current and future generations.