Dear Community,

On March 8, International Women's Day, we are honoring women in all of their diversity taking action globally in our collective struggles and visions for a just, safe, and thriving world.

We are speaking out at a time when women's rights are regressing as decaying patriarchal systems fuel violent conflicts, gender-based violence, and the worsening climate crisis. When we analyze root causes, it is clear that women are experiencing the brunt of ongoing crises precisely because their basic rights continue to be denied in varying forms and intensities across the world. Despite increasing threats and risks, women worldwide are stepping to the forefront, leading movements with an unwavering commitment to building strong and safe communities, and furthering restorative climate solutions informed by a need for systemic change.

Women in all their diversity are stopping extractive industries that threaten communities and ecosystems; protecting forests, waterways, and biodiversity; and advancing policies that uphold human rights and the Rights of Nature. Our leadership is not only essential—it is transformative, demonstrating pathways forward rooted in care, collaboration, justice, joy, and stability.

We also want to highlight the vital, and often dangerous, advocacy of women land defenders, many of whom face persecution, violence, and criminalization for protecting their lands, peoples, and our global climate. We stand in solidarity with women resisting environmental destruction as well as with those facing war, displacement, and human rights violations. There is no climate justice without human rights. There is no Just Transition without the leadership of women in all of their diversity and frontline communities.

During Women’s History Month, we also send gratitude to all of you in our community. Whether you're building climate solutions, amplifying feminist movements, or engaging in the fight for systemic change, we all have a role to play in building the world we want and need. We invite you to explore this newsletter for ways to engage and support women's leadership.

WECAN is excited to announce that we are hiring for a Policy and Communications Manager, please read through to the bottom of this newsletter for more details!

Women’s Momentum Assembly for a Just Fossil Fuel Phaseout

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

1:00 - 5:00 PM EDT New York Time

Interpretation in Spanish, Portuguese, French, English

Please join us during Women’s History Month for the “Women’s Momentum Assembly for a Just Fossil Fuel Phaseout,” a virtual global assembly with women leaders in all of their diversity in the lead up to the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, a multilateral government convening in Colombia.

From April 28-29, Colombia and the Netherlands will host the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels—coordinating governments to institutionalize global cooperation for a managed, equitable fossil fuel phaseout. This is a breakthrough opportunity to convene committed countries after the failure to include a transition away from fossil fuels in the final outcomes of the UNFCCC COP30 at the end of last year. 

Aligned with the 2025 International Court of Justice’s ruling that nations have a legal duty to address fossil fuel production, licensing, and subsidies, the Colombian conference will reinforce the Paris Agreement and mark a critical step toward a just and equitable global transition away from fossil fuels. While the conference is specifically organized by and for governments, civil society and other stakeholders have been invited to have meaningful engagement. WECAN serves on the Fossil Fuel Treaty Steering Committee and is honored to participate in organizing events and advocacy in the lead-up to and during the conference.

Decades of research demonstrate that women’s global leadership is necessary to achieve equitable and successful climate policies and solutions. Yet, data from March 2025 reveals that women remain underrepresented at all levels of political decision-making worldwide. At the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, a successful outcome requires the leadership and experiences of women leaders within a climate justice framework.

​In support of this vital gathering, on March 31, 2026, WECAN is hosting global women leaders at a virtual pre-conference Assembly to strategize and generate momentum for action on a fossil fuel phaseout and a Just Transition. During the “Women’s Momentum Assembly for a Just Fossil Fuel Phaseout,” policymakers, frontline leaders, global advocates, and parliamentarians will discuss the challenges to ending the era of fossil fuels as well as successful policies, campaigns, and solutions to ensure a just and equitable path forward. Meet the speakers, with more to be announced soon, on our website!

Amplify and Share with your Networks!

We invite you to share the Assembly with your communities and network! In our outreach toolkits, please find downloadable graphics, social media posts, and an email template to support you in sharing the event. 

Toolkits available in: English  –––  Español  –––  Português  –––  Français 

The upcoming Women’s Momentum Assembly for a Just Fossil Fuel Phaseout was recently highlighted in an article by We Don’t Have Time. Please read and share the full op-ed from We Don’t Have Time here.

Everyone is welcome to the virtual Assembly as we collectively build momentum for the conference in Colombia!

On February 24, women participants of the WECAN Women for Forests Program gathered together for an online program workshop, “Why Women are Central to Climate Justice, Reforestation, and Forest Protection Solutions.”

Through presentations and group discussions, this workshop explored the root causes of the climate and biodiversity crises, showcased how women are disproportionately impacted, and highlighted how women are leading climate justice, reforestation, and forest protection solutions. During this workshop, knowledge exchanges were made by women working collectively in our world’s largest rainforests and how they lead through reciprocity and matriarchal values of care for future generations. In Brazil, group leaders shared the importance of "reforesting the mind," leaders from Ecuador shared Kawsak Sacha, the Living Forest Declaration, and forest leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo shared how global efforts to address the climate crisis are interconnected. These exchanges provided critical frameworks to guide women-led climate solutions outside of a colonial-extractivist mindset. Indigenous women-led, community-centered approaches offer successful solutions for climate justice and forest protection.

Workshop focus areas included:

• The impact of the climate crisis on women and women’s leadership in climate justice
• Women-led forest protection and reforestation
• Decolonial approaches to forest protection and non-market based solutions

Neema Namadamu, WECAN Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and leader of our first Women for Forests project, shared the importance of coming together across countries: “It is a very critical time and we are a global community and everyone is affected. My dear friends and leaders from South America, and everywhere: We need to, again, come back together to fight this giant [the climate crisis]. We cannot do it alone, but together we will win.”

The WECAN Women for Forests Program includes strategic reforestation and supports long-term forest protection through advocacy for women land defenders' rights, forest monitoring, training sessions and workshops, uplifting women’s leadership, campaigns to stop deforestation by governments and corporations, and highlighting decolonial forest solution narratives. WECAN forest projects do not participate in any market-based mechanisms, including carbon offsets, carbon credits, biodiversity offsets, biodiversity credits or REDD+ schemes.

We will continue to offer program trainings and workshops throughout the year. To learn more about WECAN's Women for Forests Programs, please see our website here.

WECAN Documentary of Indigenous Women Forest Protectors and Reforesters Wins Best Documentary Short

WECAN is celebrating that our documentary, “Indigenous Women of Sarayaku Nurturing and Restoring the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest” has been awarded Best Documentary Short in the London Independent Film Awards! The video highlights the work of the Indigenous Women of the Ecuadorian Amazon Reforestation and Forest Protection project, which is part of the WECAN Women for Forests Program. The project is working to restore and protect over 135,000 hectares of Sarayaku territory to ensure vital ecological integrity of the forest against significant threats of deforestation, climate impacts, and extractive industries. 

Thank you to the members of the Sarayaku Women’s Association and WECAN staff for compiling the footage and photographs, and supporting the production and editing of the video. Watch the film by clicking the image below!

This year, the Amazonian Women Defenders of the Jungle (Mujeres Amazónicas Defensoras de la Selva) is organizing for International Women's Day to celebrate the leadership and knowledge of women in the Amazon region.

This year’s event series, taking place in Ecuador from March 2-11, is mobilizing over 200 Indigenous women leaders to participate in communication workshops, forums on health, press conferences and interviews, city marches, exhibition fairs, and knowledge exchanges. 

Activities are focusing on strengthening women’s collective leadership, showcasing Indigenous women as defenders and guardians of Ancestral Knowledge, and fighting against existing gender violence. WECAN is honored to partner and support this essential gathering. To learn more about the events, please follow Mujeres Amazonicas on Instagram and Facebook.

Every March, the United Nations hosts the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the predominant global intergovernmental entity dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and rights. Despite significant progress on gender equality, women in all their diversity face unprecedented threats, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asserting that women’s rights are “under siege” by patriarchal governments and institutions.

Ensuring gender justice and women’s rights globally is a necessary strategy for addressing the climate crisis. This year, Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director, will participate in the 70th session of CSW to strategize and connect with women leaders on the frontlines of climate justice, women's rights, and democratic governance. Women leaders in all their diversity are engaging in the CSW to call for more visibility, momentum, and passion for protecting women's rights and climate justice amidst the geopolitical challenges we face.

Ahead of CSW, WECAN joined 1,200+ feminist civil society organisations and allies from over 120 countries to call for UN Member States to defend multilateralism, democracy, and human rights.

The UN is at risk of financial collapse as a result of unpaid dues, with the United States owing more than 95% of the funding to the UN’s regular budget. Member states withholding or delaying assessed contributions undermines the functioning of the multilateral system, threatens democracy at the core of the body, and jeopardizes the rights and safety of people around the world. A financial collapse would disrupt core UN operations within months, and threaten already fragile hard-won gender equality and human rights reforms.

The joint statement is calling for UN member States to pay up and act urgently to prevent the collapse of the United Nations. Assessed financial contributions are legal obligations, not political bargaining chips. Read the full statement, led by the Women’s Major Group, here.

Please stay connected with us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook to follow WECAN's Advocacy at CSW. If you will be attending, be welcome to reach out and share your efforts!

Indigenous women are leading the way to stop extraction and build a healthy and just future! Please join WECAN for an impactful event, where Indigenous women leaders will come together to highlight the urgent challenges facing communities and territories, while offering vital paths forward founded in Indigenous rights, women’s leadership, and collective action. 

Speakers will share updates on current campaigns defending Indigenous territories from extraction, discuss the impacts of colonization, fossil fuels, mining, and climate disruption, showcase powerful community projects for Just Transition and climate resilience, and offer strategies based on rights, traditional knowledge, and sovereignty.

This event is part of the 25th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), and will emphasize the critical need to recognize and uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is essential to protecting their lands, cultures, and our planet. Indigenous leadership and knowledge systems are essential to cultivating long-standing egalitarian governance frameworks for current and future generations!

Please stay tuned to WECAN's upcoming newsletters for more details about our advocacy efforts at the UNPFII.

Historic Win for Indigenous Peoples and the Amazon 

After more than 30 days of powerful Indigenous mobilization, the Brazilian federal government under President Lula announced on February 23 the full revocation of Decree 12.600/25 — protecting the Amazon rivers and forests from destruction! This major breakthrough comes after a meeting in Brasília with Indigenous leaders from the Tapajós, Tocantins, and Madeira regions, Minister Guilherme Boulos, and Minister Sonia Guajajara. 

Decree 12.600/25 added key stretches of the Rio Tapajós, Rio Madeira, and Rio Tocantins to Brazil’s National Privatization Program (Programa Nacional de Desestatização – PND). This opened the door for private concessions of industrial waterways, large-scale dredging to deepen and widen the rivers for bigger cargo ships, and increased agribusiness transportation (including soy and mining products). Concerns of Decree 12.600/25 warned of devastation to river ecosystems (pollution, mercury from mining, biodiversity loss), disruptions to fishing and traditional livelihoods, and violations of Indigenous rights by bypassing Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).

We want to uplift the many Indigenous women leaders who led and organized the mobilization, including Goldman Prize Winner, Alessandra Korap Munduruku. Learn more via the Amazon Watch press release here. WECAN celebrates this vital victory and stands with the Indigenous leaders who took action to protect the rivers for all generations! 

The EPA rescinds Landmark Endangerment Finding

On February 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rescinded the Endangerment Finding, a critical cornerstone of environmental policy that protects communities from pollution and holds companies accountable. This egregious move sacrifices the health and well-being of communities nationwide for the interests of polluters and the wealthy elite.

The scientifically indisputable Endangerment Finding is a landmark declaration that rules carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as a threat to public health. Since 2007, it has underpinned emissions regulations for oil and gas industries, power plants, and vehicles. 

Repealing the Endangerment Finding does not change the reality of the climate crisis. Communities are already suffering from the severe health impacts of climate pollution driven by fossil fuels, and other high-polluting industries. The International Court of Justice has ruled that we all have a legal right to a healthy environment, and this is just another move by the current Administration to harm people and the planet. 

WECAN is firm in our conviction that we must work to end the root causes of the climate crisis and build a healthy and just future for communities and ecosystems around the world! Nature is not waiting for politics, and neither are we! 

Global Digital Activation for International Women’s Day

Join the UN's Global Digital Activation in observation of International Women’s Day. The activation is designed to uplift and promote shared ownership for the implementation of the Belém Gender Action Plan (GAP).

On March 8th, share your impacts as a video, photo, or written message and answer the prompt “how are you, your organization, or your community supporting gender equality and climate action?”

Everyone is welcome to participate, whether you are a government representative, a member of a constituted body, a colleague within the UN system, or a NGO representative!

For ways to participate and guidelines visit here.

This March 26–28 in Berkeley, California, Bioneers 2026 will reignite our shared energy, creativity, and commitment to change. Connect with visionary thinkers and doers — activists, scientists, artists, educators, Indigenous leaders, community organizers, and more — who are shaping solutions to address the most critical issues of our time.

At the 37th Annual Bioneers Conference, WECAN is participating in the “Global and Indigenous Women-Led Movements for Climate Justice” panel on March 27, from 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm Pacific Time. 

Although they receive less than 1% of climate funding, women-led climate justice grassroots projects around the world are generating cascading benefits, from greater gender and economic equity and less gender violence to improved biodiversity and ecosystems’ health. Simultaneously, the centrality to many Indigenous peoples’ cultures of traditional relationships to place and to honoring all of life as sacred are a tremendous resource in strengthening efforts to protect and renew biodiversity and water resources. Join an emergent conversation to explore what these two vastly under-resourced constituencies have to offer in the quest to co-create regenerative landscapes and futures. Hosted by Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN). With: Zainab Salbi, Co-Founder of Daughters for Earth, and Dilafruz Khonikboyeva, Executive Director of Home Planet Fund.

Click here to learn more about and register for the panel and the Bioneers Conference.

The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) seeks a long-term Policy and Communications Manager to join our dynamic team working for climate justice, systemic change, and women’s and feminist leadership in global climate solutions. 

The Policy and Communications Manager will lead the organization’s policy analysis, advocacy strategy, and external communications, with the support of the Executive Director. This role will shape WECAN’s public messaging, support policy engagement at the national and international level, and ensure alignment between policy goals and communications strategy. This role requires a creative and strategic thinker who can manage multiple communications platforms, create compelling content, and analyze complex climate and environmental policies and programs. Additional responsibilities include, partnership engagement, representing the organization and its work publicly, and communications staff management. 

The vision for this role is to have a deeply passionate, detail oriented, and grounded leader join the WECAN team to ensure that all WECAN programs, projects, campaigns, and internal efforts flow with clear, professional, critical, and engaging communications. Read the full description and apply by April 1! More details here.

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.