Dear Friends and Allies,
Thank you for celebrating and honoring Earth Day with us from your homelands around our beautiful planet.
On every continent, women land and community defenders are rising in response to rampant destruction of the Earth and intensifying economic, political and social injustice, putting their bodies and lives on the line to protect Mother Earth, our communities and all we hold dear.
On this Earth Day 2016, the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network is calling out to honor, defend and support global women land defenders, and working to bring light to the struggles and solutions of these courageous women leaders.
In solidarity with #BreakFree actions happening across the globe this May, and the Women's Global Call for Climate Justice, we are raising our voices loud and clear; it is time to break free from fossil fuels - its is time to break free from structures of patriarchy and domination of women and the Earth - it is time to break free from economic injustice - it is time to break free from violence against defenders of the land.
Working in collaboration, we can bring to fruition the healthy, just world we envision.
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 Honoring Women Land Defenders from Earth Day to Mothers Day and Beyond - Submit Your Story!
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Women of seven nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon stand against oil extraction on International Women's Day 2016 - Photo by Emily Arasim
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Beginning on Earth Day, April 22, 2016, the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network will be launching a campaign to collect vital stories, profiles and case-studies of women land defenders from across the globe as part of our larger 'Women Speak' program.
Stories collected between Earth Day and Mother's Day, May 8, 2016, will be shared widely on social media and via a special Mother's Day Newsletter. Later this year the voices, actions, on the ground solutions, and campaigns of these leaders will be compiled and delivered to government representatives and diverse institutions during international forums , and made publicly available via an online platform.
Allies across our international network are invited to send in documentation of personal work as a woman land defender, or submit articles, photos and other links about women land defenders.
Please email all entries and contributions to - [email protected] - and b
e sure to connect with WECAN on
Facebook
and
Twitter
to stay updated and explore outstanding stories from around the globe.
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'Women Speak: Stories, Case Studies and Solutions from the Frontlines of Climate Change' Project Launch
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Women of WECAN/SAFECO Democratic Republic of Congo lead work to reforest and heal the Itombwe Rainforest
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This web-based initiative is designed to collect and carefully categorize stories of climate women leading struggles and solutions concerning food sovereignty, water protection, reforestation, resistance to fossil fuel extraction, just transition to renewable energy, new economic structures and other vital topics, creating a comprehensive and accessible source of information for all those seeking to understand and show just why women are so central to just action on climate change.
We are calling for system change, not climate change, and this platform will serve as a tool for building the change we seek.
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U.S. Women's Climate Justice Initiative
2016 Online Training Schedule
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Thank you to everyone who joined us for the recent online Education and Advocacy trainings, 'Health and Climate Change: What Is At Stake, What Can Be Done?' and 'Direct Action and Non-Violent Civil Disobedience: Tools for Your Advocacy Work'. Blog recaps are available here.
Join us for two more dynamic upcoming sessions:
- April 27, 2016 - Rights of Nature: Protecting and Defending the Places We Live (with a focus on keeping fossil fuels in the ground) - featuring Shannon Biggs (Movement Rights) and Osprey Orielle Lake (WECAN International)
- May 4, 2016 - Women for 100% Renewable Energy: From Installation to Advocacy - featuring Wahleah Johns (Black Mesa Water Coalition), Diane Moss (Renewables 100 Policy Institute), Lynn Benander (Co-Op Power)
While these trainings will primarily feature U.S speakers and strategies, international allies are more than welcome to participate.
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Standing with Allies
in New York City During the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
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Casey Camp Horinek speaks out for Indigenous rights and climate justice during the UN COP21 in Paris
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On May 1
2th
, we invite you to join us for a public event
'Indigenous Women of the Americas Protecting Mother Earth: Struggles and Climate Change Solutions'
,
aimed at ensuring that diverse Indigenous
women's v
oices are heard by the public, media and governmental representatives during the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
This dynamic event, to be held at the United Nations Church Center in New York City
from
1:00 to 3:00 pm
, will cover a variety of themes including Indigenous women land defenders, fossil fuel extraction, and Indigenous worldviews and climate solutions.
WECAN International is honored to co-host this event with allies from Amazon Watch, Land Is Life and the Indigenous Environmental Network.
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WECAN Middle East/North Africa Training Recap
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Thank you to everyone who joined this month's three part, online Regional Climate Solutions Training for the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region!
During the training, MENA region women leaders of diverse ages, professions and passions united to launch strategic climate action groups
and engage in in-depth analysis, while working to further grow the regional climat
e justice movement in the lead up to the UN COP22, to be held in Morocco in 2016.
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No Extraction
in the Amazon -
Ecuador Update |
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Patricia Gualinga, Director of International Relations for the Kichwa People of Sarayaku testifies during the UN COP21 in Paris
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On
May 3rd
, our allies from the Kichwa Pueblo of Sarayaku, Ecuador will stand again to defend their rights, the Amazon Rainforest, their cosmovision and the Earth herself at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica.
Please click here to donate and directly support the Sarayaku delegation
in testifying at the ICHR this May. Please inform us if your donation is specifically for this cause.
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to support WECAN's work for climate justice and women's leadership in climate solutions in 2016 and beyond.
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