Dear Community,

As deadly record-breaking heatwaves sweep across India, Southeast Asia, and Europe, the consequences of a global fossil fuel-based energy and economy are on full display. Heatwaves, caused by the climate crisis, are exacerbating droughts, bushfires, and crop failures, putting community food security, local economies, and our global climate at risk. Within this context, WECAN is preparing for London Climate Action Week in June, where we will be continuing to advocate for the end of the era of fossil fuels and for a Just Transition founded on rights and well-being for people and planet. 

Fossil fuels are the leading driver of the climate crisis, and in the coming weeks we are building upon our advocacy at the First Conference on Transitioning Away form Fossil Fuels in Colombia, to stop pipelines, call for a fossil fuel phaseout, and advance a Just Transition. We are furthering the deployment of solutions needed to usher in a healthy future, from protecting forests, to advancing gender-responsive climate policies, and supporting women-led climate resiliency projects.

Continue on in today's newsletter for updates from the WECAN Network.

Join WECAN in opposing the Line 5 oil tunnel project in the Great Lakes!

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has opened a public comment period on Enbridge’s permit request to discharge treated wastewater from the proposed Line 5 tunnel project under the Straits of Mackinac. The proposed tunnel would bring years of destructive construction to the Straits of Mackinac, a sacred site for Anishinaabe peoples, while threatening wetlands, fish and bird habitats, water quality, recreation, and local economies.

Public comments are accepted now through June 30. Tell Michigan to protect the Great Lakes, stand with Tribal Nations, and reject all permits for this dangerous Line 5 tunnel project. Click here to submit your comment today!

Every voice matters, and every comment submitted increases pressure to reject this project. The Great Lakes hold 20% of the world’s surface fresh water and supply drinking water to over 40 million people across the U.S. and Canada. This is not just a regional issue. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can submit a comment to help protect this globally significant ecosystem.

From the Bad River reroute to the proposed tunnel beneath the Straits, the continued operation and expansion of the outdated Line 5 pipeline threatens the Great Lakes, surrounding communities, Tribal sovereignty, and all life that depends on this essential ecosystem. 

Enbridge is counting on its massive and dangerous tunnel project to keep Line 5 pumping oil through the Great Lakes for another century, locking us into decades of continued fossil fuel dependence when we urgently need a Just Transition away from fossil fuels.

Together, we must speak out! On Thursday, June 18, please join us in participating in the virtual public hearing. This is yet another significant way to speak out against the oil tunnel and to stand in protection of the water! Register here.

WECAN is honored to facilitate and organize with the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance (IWTA), working to stop Line 5. Learn more about our work here.

WECAN DR Congo Food Sovereignty Project participants harvest sorghum. Photo Credit: WECAN

Since 2014, the WECAN Democratic Republic of Congo Women for Forests Project has been supporting women in South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), in addressing the immediate needs for ecosystem restoration, food security and sovereignty, and protection from gender-based violence, while also strengthening the resilience and autonomy of women and local forest-based communities. Located in eastern DR Congo, the Itombwe Rainforest constitutes a portion of the Congo Rainforest—the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world—which provides crucial habitat for immense biodiversity, especially for endangered plant and animal species. However, its enviable wealth of farming, mining, forestry, water, and cultural resources have been a constant source of conflict and war, leading to the ongoing suffering and human rights abuses of the Indigenous Pygmy forest communities. The women-led WECAN DR Congo Project is working to protect 1.6 million acres of old-growth forest in the Itombwe Rainforest, as well as surrounding communities, including those who face displacement due to ongoing conflicts.

On average, the project works annually with 5,000 participating women and their family members in planting over 25 native tree species by hand in degraded forest areas that have been clear-cut. The trees grown support both human uses (medicinal, food, fuel, and cultural) and reforestation purposes that promote the rewilding of damaged forest land, and by decreasing the community’s reliance on the Itombwe’s old-growth forest stands. Due in large part to the project’s reforestation efforts to date, the Itombwe Rainforest biome is changing. The vital rains are returning regularly, along with wildlife not seen in generations, addressing drought issues in the region and supporting biodiversity protection. The forest is rewilding itself alongside our efforts, and the number of trees and tree growth are far exceeding original scientific expectations!

(Left) WECAN DR Congo Women for Forests Project participants transport seedlings for reforestation efforts.

(Right) WECAN DR Congo Food Sovereignty Project participants harvest crops from garden beds to distribute to community members. Photo Credits: WECAN

In 2020, the WECAN DR Congo Project initiated a Women for Food Sovereignty component to the project to combat malnutrition, undernourishment, and poverty among vulnerable households suffering the consequences of conflict. Local women are caring for gardens and fields to increase food security in their communities near two displacement camps, supporting over 20,000 people with fresh food items such as cabbage, onions, potatoes, sorghum, beans, and more. As part of the project’s food sovereignty efforts, the construction and use of Clean Cookstoves and Solar Lanterns—which decrease the need for wood to cook, provide heat, and light homes—alleviate the need to cut down old-growth trees and support the improvement of women’s health by reducing the exposure to toxic indoor smoke and the chance of gender-based violence. Learn more about this program here.

 UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) in Bonn, Germany

This month, WECAN is engaging in the 64th sessions of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) to advocate for climate justice, uplift women’s leadership, and advance the Just Transition. SB64 are formal UNFCCC negotiations that will take place from June 8-18 in Bonn, Germany, and are an integral part of preparing for the annual Conference of Parties (COPs). Governments, constituencies, and civil society leaders will gather in-person and virtually to engage in technical negotiations, prepare draft decisions, and advance various climate workstreams. 

WECAN will strategically participate in SB64 as a member of the Women & Gender Constituency (WGC) around two primary agenda items: the Belém Gender Action Plan (Belém GAP) and the Just Transition mechanism. As a result of intense advocacy by the WGC and allies at COP30, the Belém GAP was adopted with the aim to ensure gender-responsive and transformative policies throughout climate action across the UNFCCC. Now it is time to move the Belém GAP from theory to practice. WECAN will join the WGC in SB64 negotiations focused on enhancing gender-disaggregated data, National Gender and Climate Change Focal Points, and gender-responsive climate finance. 

Constituencies were also integral to securing a strong outcome on the Just Transition Work Program during COP30, which included a mandate to develop a Just Transition mechanism. WECAN is a member of the WGC Just Transition Working Group and will be advocating for ambition and a strong mechanism that reflects the inputs of communities, rights-holders, the WGC, and civil society. For more information on agenda items and topics, please visit WECAN’s analysis of COP30 outcomes here. 

As we look toward COP31 this November in Antalya, Türkiye, SB64 presents a key opportunity to unlock momentum for climate justice and a Just Transition. Meaningful progress at SB64 will be vital to outcomes at COP31, as we collectively push governments on implementing justice, equity, and care. WECAN will work to ensure that calls for climate justice are heard at SB64 and beyond. Follow the WGC on Instagram to stay up to date on advocacy efforts in Bonn! 

A Historic Win: U.N. General Assembly Affirms Landmark ICJ Ruling 

Big news! In May, 141 countries voted to affirm climate action, human rights, and international law.

In 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world’s highest court, issued a landmark ruling that made the world’s most pressing priority abundantly clear: States have a responsibility to rapidly reduce emissions, transition away from fossil fuels, and protect human rights.

Now, with this vote last month, the UN General Assembly has endorsed the ruling, calling on States to follow through with their climate pledges to keep global temperature rises below 1.5C. The vote was spearheaded by Vanuatu and a block of other Global South countries who sit on the frontlines of the climate crisis, advancing a historic win for climate accountability.

In the lead up to the UNGA vote, WECAN joined over 400K people worldwide and 75+ civil society organizations in calling for States to step up, support, and co-sponsor the resolution.

The resolution passed with over 140 members voting in support, and only eight voting against, including the United States. Turkey, the host for COP31, abstained from the vote alongside 27 others. This landmark resolution can strengthen the weight of the ICJ ruling across UN climate frameworks and negotiations and supports the global advancement of a Just Transition. It also requests that the Secretary-General provide a report in 2027 on how to advance compliance with the outlined obligations, maintaining scrutiny on climate ambitions.

London Climate Action Week

From June 17-28, the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network will be at London Climate Action Week!

Alongside global partners, WECAN will be participating in London Climate Action Week to uplift women- and community-led strategies and solutions for a Just Transition and fossil fuel phaseout, and to provide feminist and climate justice analyses on the path to COP31.

WECAN will present on-the-ground climate justice projects from food sovereignty to reforestation, share reports and policy briefs for building a Just Transition, and uplift frameworks and strategies for systemic change, including Rights of Nature, Indigenous Rights, real zero, care economies, and democratized and localized renewable energy. London Climate Action Week is a key gathering to strengthen the global justice movement's calls for immediate and just climate action.

Please stay tuned on WECAN's social media for more information on events WECAN will be co-organizing and participating in during London Climate Action Week!

Rebekah Sawers (Yupik), WECAN Tongass Representative, and Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to protect the Roadless Rule and Tongass Rainforest. Photo Credits: (Left) Earth Justice, (Right) WECAN

WECAN was in Washington D.C. recently, partnering with forest defenders and environmental groups from across the U.S., including Earthjustice, to defend national forests and stop the rescission of the 2001 Roadless Rule.

Right now, the Tongass rainforest in Alaska and forests nationwide are under attack. The U.S. Administration is in the process of rescinding the Roadless Rule, which would remove bedrock forest protections across 45 million acres of critical forests.

In Washington D.C., Rebekah Sawers (Yupik), WECAN Tongass Representative, and Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director, engaged with Members of Congress in 13 meetings, and advocated for Congressional Representatives to take action against the repeal of the Roadless Rule, sign a congressional letter supporting the Roadless Rule, and co-sign the Roadless Area Conservation Act (RACA) to codify the Roadless Rule.

Rebekah Sawers (Yupik), WECAN Tongass Representative, sharing comments during a Congressional Press Conference outside the U.S. Capitol on upholding the Roadless Rule. Photo Credit: WECAN

WECAN also participated in a Congressional Press Conference, highlighting key issues including: protecting national forests via the Roadless Rule (including the Tongass), protecting Indigenous sovereignty and lifeways, and mitigating the climate crisis. Rebekah Sawers (Yupik) spoke alongside Congressional Representatives who have co-signed the Roadless Area Conservation Act (RACA) and forest defenders. Watch the Press Conference here.

WECAN and partner organizations meeting with Members of Congress to share the importance of upholding the Roadless Rule and protecting national forests, including the Tongass Rainforest. Photo Credit: WECAN

Within the traditional homelands of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples, the Tongass is the largest temperate rainforest in the world and is regarded as ‘America’s climate forest’ for its unmatched ability to sequester carbon and mitigate climate impacts. If the Roadless Rule is rescinded, it would remove critical safeguards against industrial development, opening this forest back up to vast logging and mining, and endangering Indigenous sovereignty, local economies, and the global climate.

For over eight years, WECAN has worked with Indigenous women leaders in Alaska to protect the Tongass, and we are standing with communities and the forest as we call for “No Action” on the Roadless Rule in order to defend the climate and our future. Learn more about WECAN's advocacy to protect the Tongass.

The public comment period for rescinding the Roadless Rule will open soon, and we need your voice to speak out for these vital forests and our global climate! Stay tuned for updates on the comment period!

This month, WECAN is celebrating the one year anniversary of the powerful week of dialogue, strategy, and action during the Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice: Path to COP30 and Beyond, organized by the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network.

From June 23-28, 2025, more than 125 women climate leaders in all of their diversity from 50 countries came together virtually to share visionary solutions, grassroots strategies, and urgent calls to action to advance climate justice and system change. The Assembly was a clarion call for immediate, systemic change, including fighting for democracy, negotiating an end to fossil fuel expansion, implementing Just Transitions and well-being economies, ending deforestation, advancing the Rights of Nature, implementing feminist climate policies, increasing women’s representation and leadership at all levels of decision-making, and more.

Across 25 panels, assembly speakers included parliamentarians, grassroots leaders, youth activists, scientists, and frontline organizers. From Indigenous women’s leadership and forest protection, to media and storytelling for climate solutions, to calls for a Just Transition and fossil fuel phaseout, the Assembly uplifted the critical leadership and lived experiences of women, especially those from grassroots, frontline, marginalized, and Indigenous communities. 

WECAN continues to amplify the powerful insights shared during the Assembly, which had over 1 million participants over the six day event shared across serveral digital platforms.

As part of the Assembly, more than 200 organizations from over 50 countries released a global Call to Action, urging governments, financial institutions, and corporations to take effective and immediate climate action by enacting policies that match the scale of interlocking and accelerating climate and social crises. The Call to Action was delivered to governments at Climate Week in New York City and COP30 in Belém, Brazil.

Please consider supporting WECAN 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.