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This past week, WECAN was on the ground in New York City to share our message loud and clear: We must end the era of fossil fuels and accelerate a Just Transition!
As part of our advocacy efforts during Climate Week, the UN General Assembly and the Climate Ambition Summit, we hosted the WECAN Climate Justice Forum to amplify the climate solutions of women in all their diversity worldwide; released reports on the impacts of the fossil fuel industry and why investing in a care economy can unlock a Just Transition; participated in marches and actions to end the era of fossil fuels; held strategy sessions with frontline land defenders and colleagues; accelerated the movement to implement Rights of Nature and Indigenous Rights globally, and contributed to the collective movement for climate justice and a Just Transition.
We were honored to co-organize a contingent at the March to End Fossil Fuels in NYC where 75,000 people demanded global leaders end fossil fuels. This was the largest climate march since the pandemic and was part of a larger global mobilization to end the era of fossil fuels. An estimated 600,000 people took to the streets globally in more than 700 protests and marches across 60 countries. The reach of this worldwide mobilization has only further demonstrated the urgent need for significant climate action and a fast and fair phaseout of fossil fuels.
Please continue on in this newsletter for an analysis and report back from Climate Week, as well as updates on ongoing campaigns.
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During Climate Week and the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres convened nations for the Climate Ambition Summit to highlight climate action goals and plans to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees. Notably, the UN barred the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Australia and other fossil fuel expanding nations from speaking due to their failure to meet the requirements of the Summit and show their progress to end fossil fuels, and increase climate financing. As António Guterres stated during the Summit, "the fossil fuel age has failed." Unsurprisingly, the overall outcomes of the gathering did not demonstrate the ambition needed to address the climate emergency. Yet, it is critical that governments met and pushed for stronger action at COP28. | |
Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director, engaged in the Summit as an invited Civil Society representative, and carried with her our own call to action for governments and financial institutions, which outlines concrete steps to take for achieving the collective goal of a healthy and just planet for current and future generations. The first steps? Implement a fast and fair fossil fuel phase out now, stop financing fossil fuels and invest in a Just Transition! Our communities can no longer bear the weight of inaction, and we need governments to step up and heed the frameworks and solutions of our global climate movements.
We know we can do better, and that we must act swiftly in the short window of time we have. Millions of lives are at risk as governments continue to delay real climate solutions. Governments and financial institutions have no more excuses and must end their delusions with false solutions and incremental fossil fuel phase-out plans. Science is telling us, we must act now.
In addition to our advocacy efforts at the Climate Ambition Summit, WECAN staff and representatives also engaged in high-level dialogues with government leaders and members of the COP28 Presidency.
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Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation) Ponca Environmental Ambassador and WECAN Board Member, and Katherine Quaid (Confederated Tribes of Umatilla), WECAN Communications Coordinator, joined a dialogue with H.E Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28, other Champions for the COP28 Presidency, and the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change. This continues ongoing conversations WECAN is engaged in with the COP28 High-Level Champions regarding gender and Indigenous rights.
During the dialogue in New York City, Indigenous leaders brought forward the need for participation in meaningful decision making; financing of Indigenous peoples solutions and engagement at the COP; the rejection of false solutions and fossil fuels; and the need for an urgent fossil fuel phaseout that respects and upholds Indigenous rights and sovereignty, including the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Indigenous peoples steward over 80% of the biodiversity remaining on Earth, and it is essential to support Indigenous communities in advocating for their rights and sovereignty in spaces like the climate talks, which are being increasingly taken over by the fossil fuel industry and corporate capture.
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Osprey Orielle Lake met with our dear colleague and partner Sonia Guajajara, Minister of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, to discuss further strategies on the road to COP28 and COP30, which will be held in Brazil. We also met with many partners from the Amazon to celebrate the recent victory in Yasuni and how we can support their ongoing efforts to protect the Amazon.
It is vital to continue showing up to hold governments and financial institutions accountable on the road to COP28. International climate negotiations continue to be heavily influenced by the fossil fuel industry and corporations that are driving exploitation of communities, land, water, and Nature. We must continue to demonstrate and uplift what real solutions look like, and call out false solutions like carbon offsets, geoengineering and more, that only seek to continue business as usual.
A full photo album of WECAN advocacy and events
at Climate Week is available here!
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CELEBRATING WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP
AND SOLUTIONS AT THE
WECAN CLIMATE JUSTICE FORUM
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We want to send gratitude to all the wonderful Climate Justice Forum speakers, and to all attendees, partners and colleagues who participated virtually and in person for Climate Week. We appreciate all who joined us to hear from powerful women leaders in all of their diversity who are leading and building climate justice solutions!
During the Climate Justice Forum, WECAN released two new vital reports. Please click the buttons below to read the reports.
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"The Gendered and Racial Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry in North America and Complicit Financial Institutions (third edition)", 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 North America and complicit financial institutions. | |
"Prioritizing Care Work Can Unlock a Just Transition for All," examines the links between care and climate. The policy brief demonstrates how investing in the care economy can help cut emissions, address gender and racial inequality, advance systemic change, and provide millions of low carbon and just jobs globally. | |
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Please see below for recordings, photos, and
more details about the Climate Justice Forum!
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Transforming Global Economies for People and Planet | |
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To kick off the WECAN Climate Justice Forum, we hosted a virtual panel discussion on September 19, "Transforming Global Economies for People, Planet, and a Just Transition."
During this event, global women leaders spotlighted alternative economic models, solutions, and frameworks that are predicated on community-led solutions, feminist economics, Indigenous knowledge, and ancient concepts of reciprocity with the Earth and all living beings. Topics included land rematriation and Land Back, food sovereignty, care economy, post-growth, Buen Vivir, and much more. There are alternative economies to learn from and an emergence of socially just, place-based, caring economic and ecologically enhancing models that are structuring a path forward for people and planet.
Watch a recording of the event at the links below:
Speakers included: Monique Verdin (Houma Nation), WECAN Food Sovereignty Program Coordinator in the Gulf South, Turtle Island, USA; Natalia Greene, Global Coordinator and Co-founder of the Global Alliance for Rights of Nature, Ecuador; Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Climate Policy Program Director, Roosevelt Institute, Turtle Island/USA; Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Co-President of The Club of Rome, Belgium; Margaret Kwateng, Campaign Lead National Organizer, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Turtle Island/USA; moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, WECAN.
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Women Ending the Era of Fossil Fuels and
Leading a Just Transition
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As global leaders gathered for the UN Climate Ambition Summit on Wednesday, September 20, WECAN hosted an event, right across the street from the UN, bringing together women leaders to call on governments to reckon with their role in fueling climate chaos, and harm against communities and the planet by continuing the extraction of fossil fuels. Governments must invest in and deploy a Just Transition that is grounded in a climate justice framework and uplifts care economies, community-led solutions, Indigenous rights, and a different vision than business as usual. During the event, we hosted two panels detailed below.
Watch a recording of the event here!
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In the first panel, “Women Ending the Era of Fossil Fuels," speakers shared expertise and frameworks for transitioning away from extraction and ongoing policy advocacy and campaigns that seek to phase out fossil fuels and other harmful extractive practices.
Speakers included: Sharon Lavigne, Founder and President of RISE St. James, Turtle Island/USA; Farhana Yamin, Coordinator, Climate Justice & Just Transition Donor Collaborative, United Kingdom; Eriel Tchekwie Deranger (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation), Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action, Canada; Tzeporah Berman, Chair, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, Canada; moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, WECAN.
In the second panel, "Women-led Climate Solutions Are Central to a Just Transition and Thriving Future," leaders shared how to implement and support solutions that are advancing a Just Transition, and recent successes and victories for community-led climate just solutions!
Speakers included: Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation), Ponca Nation Environmental Ambassador and WECAN Board Member, Turtle Island, USA; Helena Gualinga (Kichwa from Sarayaku), Indigenous Youth Climate Leader, Ecuador; Ozawa Bineshi Albert (Yuchi and Anishinaabe), Climate Justice Alliance Co-Executive Director, Turtle Island/USA; Elizabeth C. Yeampierre, Executive Director, UPROSE, Turtle Island/USA; Zukiswa White, Coordinator, Women and Gender Constituency, South Africa; moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, WECAN.
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How Worldviews and Climate Justice
Can Remake a World in Crisis
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To close out our advocacy efforts at Climate Week, WECAN hosted our final event, "How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis," where we heard from movement leaders and change-makers who wove together stories, worldviews, experiences and victories of restoration and justice that demonstrate the healthy and equitable world we know is possible and needed.
Watch a recording of the event here!
Speakers included: Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation), Ponca Nation Environmental Ambassador and WECAN Board Member, Turtle Island, USA; Helena Gualinga (Kichwa from Sarayaku), Indigenous Youth Climate Leader, Ecuador; Jacqui Patterson, Founder and Executive Director of The Chisholm Legacy Project, USA; Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN); moderation by Antonia Juhasz, Senior Researcher on Fossil Fuels, Human Rights Watch, and Investigative Journalist.
| At the closing of the event, Osprey Orielle Lake also shared a preview of her forthcoming book "The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis," to be released in January 2024. Learn more about the book here. | |
MOBILIZING TO END THE ERA OF FOSSIL FUELS! | |
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Our peoples' movements were in fierce action during Climate Week demanding major polluters and financial institutions stop the expansion of fossil fuels!
On Sunday, September 17, WECAN marched with over 75,000 people in New York City to demand President Biden and global leaders listen to science and communities and end the era of fossil fuels. This is the largest climate march since the pandemic and participation was much larger than organizers ever anticipated.
A full photo album from the march is available here!
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We organized and marched as part of the Feminists for Climate Justice bloc, advocating for no more fossil fuels, gender just climate solutions, and an immediate Just Transition for the health of current and future generations. We also supported the Rights of Nature bloc and Indigenous women in our network. | |
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On Monday, September 18, WECAN participated with local and national groups in a massive direct action on Wall Street to demand the Federal Reserve hold financial institutions accountable for their financing of the fossil fuel industry. Over 150 people were arrested during the action, making it one of the largest direct actions in the past decade!
Find photos from the action here, and a livestream of the action here.
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On Tuesday, frontline communities and allied partners also held a direct action at the Bank of America headquarters in Manhattan, blocking the entrances, and calling for Bank of America to stop harming frontline communities and end its financing of fossil fuels and deforestation. | |
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Additionally, during Climate Week, the state of California announced its decision to sue Big Oil for more than 50 years of deception, cover-up, and damage. We joined our friends and partners at Movement Rights in Times Square to demand polluters pay and show support for California’s decision to sue the fossil fuel industry.
As our communities become increasingly destabilized by climate chaos, we cannot put the interests of Wall Street above life on Mother Earth. Financial institutions must be held accountable for their harms against people and planet as they continue to finance fossil fuel extraction and expansion across the globe.
These mobilizations are a testament to the immense power of our communities when we are united and follow the leadership of Black, Brown, Indigenous, other communities of color, and frontline communities who are on the frontlines of fossil fuel extraction and climate catastrophes. We will continue to fight until all our communities and ecosystems are safe!
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ACCELERATING THE RIGHTS OF NATURE MOVEMENT AT CLIMATE WEEK | |
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Included in our advocacy efforts for Climate Week, WECAN as part of the Executive Committee of the Global Alliance for Rights of Nature (GARN), joined GARN partners at Movement Rights, Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), Wild Law Institute, and others to promote and uplift the ongoing global movement for Rights of Nature.
Rights of Nature is a framework and legal system based on the recognition and honoring of the Earth’s fundamental and inviolable right to exist, live, thrive, evolve and regenerate. The majority of the world’s legal frameworks treat nature as property, meaning that life-giving rivers, forests and mountains are seen as objects to be sold and consumed. Legal systems built on the premise of Rights of Nature challenge the idea that natural communities and ecosystems are property to be exploited endlessly by humans, and instead recognizes the Earth as a living, rights-bearing entity.
Since our founding, WECAN has been an active advocate for Rights of Nature, and during Climate Week we participated in several events to uplift Rights of Nature and Indigenous worldviews and lifeways that are at the foundation of the principles encapsulated by the Rights of Mother Earth.
Learn more about our Rights of Nature advocacy on our website: https://www.wecaninternational.org/rights-of-nature
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ENGAGING WITH GLOBAL MOVEMENT PARTNERS | |
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A key part of Climate Week is the opportunity to engage with and connect to many of our partners globally and strengthen our collective strategies on the road to COP8 and beyond.
We heard from frontline communities calling for the end of extraction in their regions; we engaged with feminist partners from the Feminist Green New Deal Coalition and the Women and Gender Constituency; strategized with partners from the Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treaty; and met with partners from the Amazon who are calling for more women's leadership and protection of their territories from extraction and deforestation.
We send huge gratitude to all our partners—we are honored to be in this movement with you!
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Thank you to all who supported our efforts at Climate Week
and all who took action for people and planet!
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TAKE ACTION: Submit a Comment to Stop the Dakota Access Pipline (DAPL) | |
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The fight to stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) continues! Right now, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is taking public comments on DAPL’s fatally flawed Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).
This is a key opportunity to let the United States government know that we stand with Standing Rock and all the Water Protectors who put their bodies on the line to protect their communities, ecosystems, and our global climate. We must continue taking action in solidarity with Indigenous leaders to stop this pipeline from causing any further harm.
Demand that the Corps shut the pipeline down and conduct a proper environmental review, not one prepared by the fossil fuel industry. This is our best chance to end DAPL! Please click the button below to submit a comment before November 13.
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The G20 Affirms Support for Women's Leadership in Climate Mitigation and Adaption | |
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At the beginning of September, G20 nations met for their annual Summit, and as part of their dialogues and outcomes, resolved to increase women’s participation and leadership in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and support gender-responsive solutions to build resilience to climate chaos.
In the G20 declaration, nations wrote, "We commit to close gender gaps, promote full, equal, effective women’s participation in the economy as decision-makers." As some of the largest and growing economies in the world, this commitment is vital for not only supporting frontline women, who are disproportionately impacted by climate change, but also for ensuring the active leadership and participation of women who are situated for effectively addressing the impacts of the climate crisis.
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WECAN has been advocating for this outcome, and in 2022, ahead of COP27 in Egypt, WECAN released, "Gender integration in Climate Policy: A G20 Analysis." The report analyzes the level of gender integration - or lack thereof - in the national climate policies and nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of G20 nations. The report found that despite the increasing acknowledgement that the impacts of climate change vary depending on gender— and the crucial role of women as drivers of climate solutions— gender had yet to be comprehensively or meaningfully integrated into G20 countries’ climate policies. The report also called for governments to seriously ramp up efforts to effectively and coherently integrate gender considerations into climate relevant policies, ensuring active participation of women and frontline communities.
We are glad to see that the G20 is taking steps forward in supporting women's leadership and gender responsive policies, and we will continue, along with many allied organizations, to apply pressure on these countries to deliver real results.
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Please find below highlighted media coverage for WECAN campaigns, programming, partner and coalition efforts:
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Please consider supporting WECAN as we continue to uplift the leadership and solutions of women and feminists worldwide fighting for climate justice and the defense of the planet for current and future generations. | |
For the Earth and All Generations,
Women's Earth and Climate Action Network
(WECAN) International Team
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S T A Y C O N N E C T E D | | | | |
