Over the last several months historic, climate-fueled temperature rises and disasters continue to proliferate, impacting global communities from extreme flooding in Rwanda to record-breaking heat across Asia. Right now, our hearts are with communities and all those facing the brutal impacts of climate chaos, including in Maui, Hawaii where raging wildfires have killed at least 96 people and displaced thousands. Please do be encouraged to support mutual aid efforts for communities impacted by the fires here.

We know that as governments and financial institutions delay significant action on the climate crisis, more and more people will bear the brunt of these deadly weather disasters. We need climate justice, and we need it now! This is why we will continue to take action and advocate for community solutions led by women in all their diversity, frontline communities, and those most impacted by climate disruptions.

Please see our action-packed newsletter for examples of how communities are taking action to protect people and planet, and opportunities to join us for upcoming events and actions for climate justice!

As the world prepares for COP28 during the UN Climate Ambition Summit, UN General Assembly and Climate Week in September, global climate justice movements are demanding governments and financial institutions take urgent climate action. To address deepening interlocking crises and accelerate a path forward, women and feminists in all of their diversity are collectively upholding and working to advance just and resilient community-led solutions.

WECAN will be on the ground in New York City during Climate Week 2023 from September 15-23 advocating and organizing with women leaders globally for public events, actions, and advocacy opportunities as well as strategy sessions with movement partners. Please be welcome to join us in-person and online! See the following public events hosted by WECAN, and find further details and events in collaboration with partners on our website.

During Climate Week, please join us for the WECAN Climate Justice Forum for virtual and in-person events highlighting advocacy, analysis and solutions to end the era of fossil fuels, and build a healthy and just future. See below for event details and how to register.

VIRTUAL — Transforming Global Economies for

People, Planet, and a Just Transition

Tuesday, September 19

Time to be announced soon!

Virtual via Zoom

Rooted in neo-liberal capitalism, the current economic system is set to continue rapidly extracting resources from the Earth and drive climate chaos and further exploitation of people and the planet. 

To truly address the climate crisis, we must address our global economic system. As we continue to see disaster capitalism play out in real time, it is imperative to transform the system and call for a regenerative, rights-based economy that prioritizes communities and nature. This includes efforts to expose and dismantle the roots of the extractivist economy that are inextricably intertwined with patriarchal and colonial systems that exploit women, Indigenous Peoples, BIPOC communities, and the Earth. We are calling for a Just Transition.

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During this event, global women leaders will spotlight 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 include land rematriation and Land Back, 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. 

Confirmed speakers to date include: Monique Verdin (Houma Nation), WECAN Food Sovereignty Program Coordinator in the Gulf South, Turtle Island/USA; Nati 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; Moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, WECAN.

IN PERSON — Women Ending the Era of Fossil Fuels

and Leading a Just Transition

Wednesday, September 20, 

4:45 - 8:00pm Eastern Time NYC

777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 

We are in a climate emergency, and now more than ever we need to end the era of fossil fuels and advance solutions to ensure a healthy and just planet for current and future generations! 

As global leaders gather in New York for the UN Climate Ambition Summit and General Assembly, we are calling 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. We only have a limited amount of years left to address and mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

For years, global climate movements have been calling for governments to phase out fossil fuels and stop expansion. We continue to pressure governments, corporations, and financial institutions to adhere to the demands of science and communities, and implement an immediate equitable phaseout 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 this event, we will host two panels, please see below for descriptions. Doors open at 4:30 for light refreshments and networking. The program will start promptly at 4:45. Please arrive early due to heavy traffic in this part of the city. 

“Women Ending the Era of Fossil Fuels”

During this panel discussion, global women leaders will share expertise and frameworks for transitioning away from extraction and share ongoing policy advocacy and campaigns that seek to phase out fossil fuels and other harmful extractive practices.

Confirmed speakers to date include: Sharon Lavigne, Founder and President of RISE St. James, Turtle Island/USA; Tzeporah Berman, Chair, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, Canada; Farhana Yamin, Associate Fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme Chatham House, United Kingdom; Thilmeeza Hussain, Permanent Representative to the United Nations & Ambassador to the United States from the Maldives, the Maldives; Moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, WECAN.

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“Women-led Climate Solutions Are Central to a Just Transition and Thriving Future”

In the second panel we will hear from global women leaders and policy experts on how to implement and support solutions that are advancing a Just Transition. Speakers will share demonstrated successes of women’s leadership in implementing community-led climate solutions. 

Confirmed speakers to date include: 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 Annishnaabe), Climate Justice Alliance Co-Executive Director, Turtle Island/USA; Moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, WECAN.

IN PERSON —  How Worldviews and Climate Justice

Can Remake a World in Crisis

Friday, September 22

5:00 - 8:00pm Eastern Time NYC

Scandinavia House

58 Park Ave, New York, NY 10016

We are at a choice point for humanity. As social and ecological crises escalate globally, it is clear that the dominant cultural worldview, informed by colonization, patriarchy, capitalism, and racism is displaying a relationship with Nature and each other that is devastatingly unjust and out of balance.

To live in a healthy and equitable world, we must fundamentally change how we respect and interact with the Earth and one another. To change the present and future, it is imperative to change the narrative and amplify worldviews and stories of climate justice solutions that transform the dominant worldview from an extractivist, colonial paradigm of “exploit and extract” to a sustainable, globally-conscious one of “respect and restore.”

At this event, movement leaders and change-makers will weave together stories, worldviews, and experiences of restoration and justice that demonstrate the healthy and equitable world we know is possible and needed. We knew in our bones this time was coming, and now we must act in solidarity more than ever, continuing to build a powerful movement founded on principles of justice, love, and a fierce dedication to our planet and our communities.

Confirmed Speakers include: 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, Ecuadorian Amazon; Jacqui Patterson, Founder and Executive Director of The Chisholm Legacy Project, Turtle Island/ USA; Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) Turtle Island/ USA; Moderation by Nina Lakhani, Senior Climate Justice Reporter, The Guardian, Turtle Island/USA.

This event is also the pre-launch of the forthcoming book by Osprey Orielle Lake, "The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis," to be released in January 2024. Abundant hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served.

Feminists for Climate Justice Bloc

at The March to End Fossil Fuels

Sunday, September 17

1:00pm Eastern Time NYC

New York City

On September 17, 2023, tens of thousands of people will march in New York City calling for an end fossil fuels. Please be welcome to join the Feminist Climate Justice bloc to come together with other women and feminists who are calling for an end to fossil fuels and for gender-just climate solutions!

Register above to stay up to date on the meet-up location for our group, which will be announced soon. Learn more about the New York mobilization here.

This action is a part of a global mobilization ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit and COP28. If you will not be in New York City, please find an action in your region here.

All organizations, feminists, and gender justice advocates are welcome to join the bloc as we march, sing and raise our voices in community! WECAN is honored to help facilitate this bloc alongside our colleagues at WEDO and other partners in the Feminist Green New Deal coalition.

Water Protectors and allies take action to shut down Line 5 in Superior, Wisconsin.

Photo credit: Sophia Lovato / WECAN International

On August 6, WECAN co-organized and was on the ground in Superior, Wisconsin along with Tribal leaders, frontline communities, and allies to defend the sacred and call for the shut down of the Line 5 pipeline. At the event, organizers held a march, flotilla action, and community water festival on the Nemadji River to bring attention to the importance of Indigenous sovereignty and rights, water protection, the climate crisis, the history of Enbridge and Line 5, and ongoing efforts to shut down the pipeline permanently. This weekend’s actions are the latest in a series amplifying the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and allies’ call for an emergency closure of the pipeline due to extreme ongoing erosion at the Mashkiiziibii (Bad River) meander, just 16 miles upstream of Gichigami (Lake Superior).

Sophia Lovato (Osage), WECAN Forests and Food Sovereignty Program Associate, was at the action standing in solidarity and connecting with our friends and colleagues.

Left: Rene Ann Goodrich, Bad River Tribal Elder, Organizer with Native Lives Matter Coalition, and member of the Indigenous Women's Treaty Alliance speaking out at the rally on the dangers of Line 5 and the epidemic of Missing Murdered and Indigenous Women (MMIW). Photo Credit: Sophia Lovato / WECAN International

Right: Sophia Lovato (Osage), WECAN Forests and Food Sovereignty Program Associate at the action to shut down Line 5. Photo Credit: WECAN International.

The Line 5 pipeline was originally built in 1953, and continues to operate 20 years past its engineered lifespan, transporting crude oil each day through the heart of the Great Lakes, in northern Wisconsin and Michigan. Ongoing severe erosion has further heightened the threat of a pipeline rupture which could destroy local waters, harm wildlife, and create a public health crisis in the area.

A rupture would mean contamination throughout the Great Lakes, which holds one-fifth of the world’s surface freshwater and provides drinking water to over 40 million people. The pipeline is violating Indigenous rights and sovereignty as it continues operation illegally on the territories of the Bad River Band. Line 5’s upstream and downstream greenhouse gas emissions amount to about 87 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually.

Instead of shutting down Line 5, Enbridge is proposing to expand and reroute the pipeline, despite strong opposition. Enbridge's proposed new route will cut through hundreds of waterways that flow into the Bad River Reservation, their extensive fisheries, the navigable waters of Lake Superior, and the Straits of Mackinac. 

This is at a time when the climate crisis is more severe than ever, impacting communities worldwide, from heatwaves to extreme flooding — we don’t need more fossil fuels, what we need is for governments to listen to Indigenous and frontline communities, respect Indigenous sovereignty and end the era of fossil fuels!

Please take action with us and one of our close partners, Earthjustice and urge the Biden Administration to shut down the Line 5 pipeline immediately: https://earthjustice.org/action/urge-the-biden-administration-to-shut-down-the-line-5-pipeline

Water protectors and allies hold a powerful banner that demonstrates the Indigenous leadership that is resisting fossil fuel extraction, including the Line 5 pipeline. Photo credit: Sophia Lovato / WECAN International

In July, WECAN joined allied organizations in Washington D.C. outside the U.S. Forest Service office to deliver over 500,000 comments in support of protecting old-growth and mature forests and trees!

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Interior (DOI) have taken strides towards permanent protections of federal mature and old-growth forests, in line with an Executive Order from President Biden to conserve mature and old growth forests as a climate solution. This summer there was an open comment period to guide the rule-making process for this vital protection. 

We will continue to advocate so that the Forest Service will take a step in the right direction toward a rule-making to protect old-growth and mature forests. To combat climate chaos we must keep forests standing!

Old-growth and mature forests are essential for mitigating the climate crisis, yet they remain under threat of devastating logging and deforestation for mining and roads. Through WECAN's Women for Forest Program we have been working with global women leaders since our founding to protect forests, and prevent and shut down extractive industries threatening the Earth’s critical living systems and our global communities. Please see more about our Women for Forests Program here.

On August 20th, Ecuadorians have the power to push out Big Oil from one of the world’s most biodiverse places, the Yasuni forest in the Amazon.

Yasuni is the ancestral territory of the Waorani people, and the house of the Tagaeri and Taromenane communities, the last two Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation in Ecuador. Yasuni is also the most biodiverse part of the Amazon, an area indispensable for the stability of our planet’s climate. 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity is stewarded by Indigenous peoples who are the best guardians of vital ecosystems that are essential for mitigating the worst impacts of climate change. Therefore we must stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples in the Amazon and beyond who are calling for protection of their territories. 

For decades, corporations have extracted oil from the Amazon, leaving an ongoing legacy of destruction and pollution for local communities. Now fossil fuel companies want to expand their business in Yasuni, extracting even the last drops of oil. Showing solidarity with Indigenous activists in Ecuador is solidarity with the planet! Together, we can protect the Amazon, Indigenous rights, and the planet we share.

We need to raise international awareness that this watershed moment is happening and show the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon and Ecuadorian people we are standing in solidarity! Please click here to learn more about this historic moment and how you can take action today.

WECAN is currently supporting our Indigenous partners in Ecuador in their awareness campaign for the protection of Yasuni.

At the end of July judges from the Rights of Nature Tribunal declared the Mexican State guilty of violations to the Rights of Nature and the social and collective rights of the Mayan Peoples due to the construction of the Mayan Train megaproject.

During the hearing of the International Rights of Nature Tribunal, held in the city of Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico, from March 9 to 12, 2023, the implementation of the controversial rail transportation project known as "Tren Maya" (Mayan Train) was evaluated. This mega-project proposes a territorial reordering plan in the Yucatan Peninsula, which threatens the destruction and ecological degradation of local ecosystems, as well as the well-being of the Mayan peoples and the sustainability of their cultures and ancestral territories.

This verdict has been signed by a list of judges from previous Tribunals and prominent honorary judges, such as Mexican actor and activist Gael García Bernal, Mexican economist Enrique Leff, Nigerian author and environmental activist Nnimmo Bassey, Mexican jurist José Ramon Cossio, Ecuadorian economist Alberto Acosta, Mexican lawyer and professor Ana Laura Magaloni, among others including WECAN Executive Director, Osprey Orielle Lake.

The verdict of the Tribunal will be delivered to civil society and will be signed and physically delivered to Mexican authorities such as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Be welcome to watch the webinar of the verdict launch here on the GARN website.

Communities fighting the Mountain Valley Pipeline just entered their 10th year of resistance and they need all our energy and support to stop MVP once and for all.

After Biden and Congress greenlit the Mountain Valley Pipeline, the company has been devouring Appalachian mountains, streams, and homes with its rabid construction. On July 25, a gas pipe exploded in the nearby Shenandoah Valley, causing community members increased worry for what could happen if the 42-inch diameter, corroding MVP pipes are implemented on the steep Appalachian slopes. Join the frontlines in Appalachia from August 26-27 for a weekend of trainings, art-making, music, and food!

Learn more about the weekend of action here.

Recently, the Equator Principles Association expanded its concept of risk as part of a May 2023 guidance paper on Climate Change Risk Assessment. The guidance, for the first time, recognizes the concept of ‘double materiality’ by defining climate risk in a way that includes risks posed by projects to the environment and society, and explaining that these risks can be material for banks. Previously, the Principles only called on banks’ clients to identify the risks climate change could pose to a project itself.

The Equator Principles Association (EPA) is a consortium of 138 financial institutions in 38 countries 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.”

For the past several years, The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) has been working with partners at BankTrack to coordinate workshops and engagements calling on the EPA to enact more robust policies around climate risk, Indigenous rights, and financing. While there is much still to do, we are glad to see this updated change to their guidance mechanisms.

For a full analysis of this change, please see this report back by BankTrack.

In August, WECAN joined more than 100 organizations and business to send a letter to President Biden and Secretary Haaland outlining the opportunities the administration has to take bold action for our global climate by protecting the Arctic.

The letter outlined action the administration can take that would ensure durable protections for the most ecologically and culturally important sites in the Arctic and would showcase a new approach for addressing fossil fuel extraction on federal public lands. Learn more here!

This year, the Global Coalition of Civil Society, Indigenous Peoples, Social Movements, and Local Communities for the Universal Recognition of the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment won the UN 2023 Human Rights Award! WECAN is honored to be a part of this advocacy effort and Coalition.

In an historic vote, on July 28, 2022, the highest body of the United Nations - the UN General Assembly - universally recognized the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Almost one year after the recognition, the Coalition is recognized for its critical role in advocating for the recognition of the right to a healthy environment by the UN General Assembly in 2022.

This is both an impressive recognition of the power of our collective work as well as a great political opportunity to amplify key messages. 

This Award is given every five years, and it is the first time ever, that is given to a Global Coalition. The prize will be bestowed in New York on December 10, which also marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, making this recognition even more special. 

In May, 62 organizations and networks, including WECAN, wrote an open letter to the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) highlighting that its final draft framework fails to address some of its worst flaws that will facilitate greenwashing. The letter was also signed by three winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize, and yet we are still waiting on a response from the TNFD.

the open letter was timed to align with the close of the TNFD’s feedback processes on its fourth draft before it releases its final framework for how businesses should report on their biodiversity risks expected in mid-September. 

While we await a response from the leadership, colleague Shona Hawkes has provided further analysis on the risks of the TNFD via a recent blog post on BankTrack. Read the blog analysis here!

On Saturday August 26, the Green Shoots Film Festival will take place in Ireland screening documentaries, feature films on climate change, renewable energy, eco-feminism and talks with filmmakers and activists.

As part of the festival an interview with Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director will be shared where she brings forward visions and solutions for a just and equitable transition to renewable energy and a caring economy for the future of the planet and for humanity.

Please be welcome to register and join the film festival virtually here!

Please join us in welcoming new WECAN Women Speak Researchers: Amanda Barreto Salgueiro, Aparna Packer, Amelia Staples, Mahati Shastry. They join our current researchers, Alyssa Orozco, Tatianna Sitounis, Maria Nembo, Ilinca Drondoe and Britt Wilson. Read everyone's bio's here!

As Researchers they will support the ongoing efforts of the WECAN Women Speak Database, documenting the many struggles and solutions of women worldwide for climate justice. Learn more about Women Speak here.

We also want to welcome Jasmine Jain, who will be joining us at the WECAN Social Media intern for the fall. Thank you to all the researchers, interns, and volunteers who make our work possible!

If you are interested in learning more about WECAN intern and volunteer opportunities, please see our website.

We would like to share this important report, "We All Deserve Safety and Peace: Amidst a Surge in Divisiveness, We, as Black Women Advancing Social Justice, Are Under Increased Threat."

This report shares how Black women on the frontlines of social justice movements face greater threats that other groups, and receive less support. The report also contains eight solutions on how we all can support Black women and improve safety, both on and offline, and contribute to building a more just, nurturing, and safe society. Learn more here: https://safetyandpeace.today/