As winter arrives in the northern hemisphere, WECAN is recently returning from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) 25 in Madrid, Spain and taking time to reflect upon diverse impressions— from the exasperation and indignation experienced because governments are refusing to act with urgency concerning the climate crisis, to the incredible inspiration and impact of climate movement leaders and climate justice efforts worldwide.
Please read on for some highlights of our COP25 analysis and activities, and please be invited to click on the button below for our full in-depth blog that delves further into the climate talks and expands on each of the actions, events, and press conferences we held in Madrid.
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WECAN International Analysis and Reflection on COP25 Madrid Climate Talks
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The outcome of this year’s United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) 25 in Madrid, Spain, produced a great deal of frustration and outrage with the ongoing stagnancy and lack of ambition by many nations to curb emissions and cut pollution at a scale commensurate with the science and the climate crisis well underway. Countries that have contributed most to global warming were busy creating loopholes to avoid desperately needed commitments to deep cuts in their carbon emissions, and were (and are) actively rejecting the demands of those on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the climate talks continue to reflect unjust systems that are central to the root causes of the climate crisis, such as neoliberal economic models that drive the destructive commodification of nature and the implementation of market-based mechanisms that often harm people and planet. Furthermore, the climate negotiations are also influenced by patriarchal ideologies that suppress the critical relationship between gender equity, women’s leadership and climate solutions, and by colonial systems that continue to silence and ignore Indigenous peoples, their rights, sovereignty, and acutely needed Indigenous knowledge and solutions.
Yet, in the face of these oppressive forces, peoples movements at COP25 were not deterred as 500,000 people, led by Indigenous peoples from around the world and inspired by youth from Fridays for Future, marched through the streets of Madrid demanding urgent climate action and a just and healthy future.
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500,000 demonstrators march through Madrid to demand governments act with urgency and declare a Climate Emergency. Photo via WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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Since the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, governments have been working to define a Rulebook for the articles of the Paris Climate Agreement that will provide global guidelines to inform Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which embody efforts by each country to reduce its carbon emissions. Adopted in 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement replaced the Kyoto Protocol with the global vision of keeping warming well below 2°Celsius. However,
most countries aren’t cutting carbon emissions nearly fast enough, and pledges from countries to reduce carbon emissions for the next 10 years fall dangerously too short of what is needed to stay below 1.5°Celsius temperature rise. Additionally, the stark reality is that we need to stay below the stated 1.5° guardrail as we are already seeing severe ecological stresses with the current temperature rise, such as extreme fires from the Amazon to Australia to Sub-saharan Africa and many regions in between. Our world is on fire!
At this time of urgency, we need real solutions operationalized quickly, not false solutions like carbon trading schemes that are being promoted by too many governments and fossil fuel corporations that have an overwhelming presence at the COP. Article 6 of the Paris Climate Agreement was a central focus of the COP25 climate talks, which concentrates on developing rules around the implementation of market-based mechanisms like carbon markets. These mechanisms are not new,
and studies repeatedly have shown that these mechanisms fail to reduce emissions while also often violating human and Indigenous rights and causing further harm to biodiverse ecosystems. WECAN, along with many civil society organizations, are advocating to stop any “solutions” that commodify nature and do not contain safeguards for human and Indigenous rights, gender justice, and ecological integrity.
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In the era of Climate Emergency, we must be unwavering in our honesty and our fierce dedication to call for justice and action to halt a trajectory toward irreparable climate chaos. At COP25, WECAN International felt the immense power of our global social movements working toward just climate solutions. Everyday, we spoke out, held events, and took action voicing our demands and calls for climate justice. As an organization with an international focus and network, but a United States base location, we stood with many U.S. allies to send an urgent message to the world that, even in the face of a climate-denying and reckless U.S. administration, many people across the country can, and will, stand up for climate justice.
While governments failed to take ambitious action again this year, youth leadership and peoples’ movements rose-up, heeding the call for action by centering frontline leadership and advocating for community-led solutions, forest protections, keeping fossil fuels in the ground, and demanding that polluters pay. We saw a vision of what a just climate future could be. We made it clear to governments and corporations that all our struggles are interwoven, and that the only way we can succeed in addressing the climate crisis is with the leadership of Indigenous peoples, women, people of color, youth, and frontline communities.
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WECAN organized opportunities for global women leaders to speak for themselves and demonstrate their calls to action and just solutions rising up from frontline communities. Women from around the world presented successful solutions, from agro-ecology, local clean energy, justice-centered policy platforms to feminist economies. Movement leaders shared their in-depth political analysis, plans for systemic change, and held actions throughout the two weeks of the COP — including actions critiquing Article 6 and others that honored murdered Indigenous forest defenders in Brazil, demanding accountability and justice from the Bolsonaro administration.
Women are at the forefront of our movements and on-the-ground solutions, and WECAN was at COP25 to ensure our voices and solutions were centered within the negotiations through our advocacy efforts, side events, press conferences, and direct actions.
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Two Key Outcomes From the Negotiations
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In the midst of much stagnation in the negotiations, there was a shining light — a victory for the Gender Action Plan. The dedication of ceaseless work by the Women and Gender Constituency, feminists advocating at the Party level, and frontline constituencies proved powerful as the Gender Action Plan (GAP) was formally adopted by the Parties, with the inclusion of rights-based language.
You can read the full Gender Action Plan here.
The GAP, which is part of the Enhanced Lima Work Program on Gender, though separate from the Paris Climate Agreement, sets a historic precedent for the inclusion of rights-based language within the policies and practices adopted by countries and will guide gender-responsive climate policy and action for the next five years.
As a key demand of the Women and Gender Constituency, and our organization, WECAN delegates, Daiara Tukano, Osprey Orielle Lake, and Katherine Quaid were glad to be in attendance when the Secretariat announced the approval of the GAP language before it was formally adopted by all Parties in the closing plenary.
We have deep gratitude for all the gender equity advocates and the Women and Gender Constituency who have worked tirelessly to ensure gender justice within the COP. After years of negotiations, the Gender Action Plan is an important success that will offer some sorely needed leverage for human rights in the Paris Climate Agreement.
WECAN commends this outcome, recognizing the necessity for a rights-based approach to be included at all levels of climate action policy. We will be monitoring the GAP because for it to truly be effective when implemented, it must coincide with progressive climate financing, support Indigenous and human rights and biodiversity, and bolster worldwide women’s movements at the grassroots, local, and national level.
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Article 6 of the Paris Climate Agreement
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Casey Camp-Horinek speaks at an Article 6 action organized by Indigenous and frontline communities during COP25 demanding an end to carbon markets. Photo via WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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Article 6 of the Paris Climate Agreement focuses on creating and establishing market-based mechanisms for reducing climate emissions, including carbon markets, REDD+, and cap-and-trade programs.
Market-based mechanisms are a false solution to curb catastrophic climate change and deforestation. As an example, these mechanisms allow big polluters to continue to poison communities at sites of extraction and at points of distribution and processing by buying up pollution permits from forests around the world and simultaneously continuing dirty pollution practices in a different country. We reject any solutions that do not safeguard the dignity and flourishing of all people and the planet, and do not stop pollution at the source. Additionally, false solutions, such as dangerous nuclear power plants; increased natural gas extraction; mega-dams; geo-engineering; bioenergy; carbon trading schemes; and carbon capture and storage have no place in the Just Transition.
Throughout the week, Indigenous and frontline communities and civil society organizations led and organized several Article 6 demonstrations, you can watch the videos of the actions
here and
here.
Ultimately negotiators were unable to agree upon an outcome for Article 6, and thus it remains in limbo. In this instance, no deal is better than any deal as we do not want any Articles that enable counterproductive carbon markets and do not ensure safeguards for Indigenous rights, human rights, gender justice, and ecological integrity.
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WECAN in Action at the COP:
Confronting Climate Apathy with Spirit,
Community-led Solutions, and Women’s Leadership
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WECAN International was very honored to facilitate the presence of an incredible delegation of frontline women leaders at COP25, who advocated for climate justice and led and participated in powerful actions and events over the duration of their time in Madrid.
The WECAN delegation included:
Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation, Turtle Island, USA), Ponca Nation councilwoman, long-time Native rights activist, environmentalist and actress;
Sônia Bone Guajajara (Brazilian Amazon) Executive Coordinator for the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB);
Daiara Tukano (Brazilian Amazon), Indigenous activist, artist, and coordinator of Radio Yandê;
Nina Gualinga (Ecuadorian Amazon), Indigenous woman leader and co-founder of HAKU Amazon Design;
Helena Gualinga (Ecuadorian Amazon), 17-year-old Indigenous social activist; along with
Osprey Orielle Lake (USA), Executive Director of WECAN International; and
Katherine Quaid (Confederated Tribes of Umatilla, Turtle Island, USA), Communications Coordinator for WECAN International.
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WECAN delegates after the press conference, "Indigenous Women From the Amazon: Calls to Action" during COP25. Photo via WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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500,000 People Take Climate Action During Mass Mobilization
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Indigenous and frontline communities prepare to lead 500,000 demonstrators during the mass mobilization on December 6, 2019. Photo via WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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WECAN took to the streets in Madrid joining 500,000 activists to demand governments of the world declare collectively that we are in a #ClimateEmergency and act now from a climate justice framework.
WECAN delegates marched in the frontline Indigenous delegation and the feminist bloc during the mobilization. At the closing rally, Sônia Guajajara, Executive Coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) spoke to over 500,000 people who attended the protest.
Links
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Powerful Women Leaders Speak at WECAN Side Event:
'Women for Climate Justice Leading Solutions
on the Frontlines of Climate Change'
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Women leaders share their struggles and solutions during WECAN’s formal UN side event, ‘‘Women for Climate Justice Leading Solutions on the Frontlines of Climate Change” on December 11, 2019.
Photo via WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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Women are on the frontlines of climate impacts and solutions - it is time for them to be recognized at the forefront of climate action plans and decision making!
WECAN held our formal UN Side Event, “Women for Climate Justice Leading Solutions on the Frontlines of Climate Change” on December 11 at the UNFCCC COP25 in Madrid, Spain. Grassroots, frontline and Indigenous women leaders, alongside representatives from international climate justice organizations, spoke out to address the need for solutions based in a climate justice framework, including forest and biodiversity protection, Indigenous rights, agro-ecology, fossil fuel resistance, and protection of women land defenders.
WECAN has such deep gratitude for the amazing women who spoke at the side event:
Sônia Guajajara
(Brazilian Amazon);
Daiara Tukano
(Brazilian Amazon);
Casey Camp-Horinek
(Ponca Nation, USA),
Ruth Nyambura
(Kenya);
Nina Gualinga
(Ecuadorian Amazon);
Jacqui Patterson
(USA), and
Osprey Orielle Lake
(USA).
Watch the full event:
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Participation in the People's Climate Summit
Cumbre Social por el Clima
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WECAN delegates and partners celebrate frontline women’s leadership and solutions at WECAN’s public event, “Frontline Women Protecting and Defending Rights, Land, Communities and Climate” held during the Cumbre Social por el Clima/People’s Climate Summit. Photo via WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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WECAN participated in two events at the Cumbre Social por el Clima, the People's Climate Summit, which coincided with the climate talks.
1) At WECAN’s public event, “Frontline Women Protecting and Defending Rights, Land, Communities and Climate”, Grassroots, frontline and Indigenous women leaders and representatives of climate justice organizations, spoke out against the environmentally and socially destructive activities and policies threatening their communities and homelands in South and North America and presented the visions and strategies with which they are working to shape a healthy and equitable future.
We thank all of the presenters for sharing their experiences and expertise,
Telma Taurepang
(Brazilian Amazon),
Casey Camp-Horinek
(Ponca Nation, USA),
Paty Gualinga
(Ecuadorian Amazon),
Nina Gualinga
(Ecuadorian Amazon),
Helena Gualinga
(Ecuadorian Amazon),
Eriel Tchekwie Deranger
(Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Canada),
Daiara Tukano
(Brazilian Amazon), and
Osprey Orielle Lake
(USA).
2) At the "Rights of Nature as a Powerful Tool for System Change" workshop organized with the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN), Casey Camp-Horinek, Ponca Nation Councilwoman and WECAN Executive Director, Osprey Orielle Lake, joined Margaret Steward, Center for Earth Jurisprudence Director, to co-facilitate a workshop on the Rights of Nature legal framework.
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Press Conference:
Indigenous Women From the Amazon: Calls to Action
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Daiara Tukano (left), Helena Gualinga (center) and Sonia Guajajara (right) calling for the protection of the Amazon during the WECAN Press conference, “Indigenous Women from the Amazon: Calls to Action” on December 9, 2019. Photo via WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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Indigenous women leaders of the Amazon united to advocate for Indigenous rights, protection of forests, water, communities, and the global climate, and to address the fires in the Amazon and the recent murders of Indigenous forest defenders in Brazil.
Organized by WECAN International, speakers included,
Sônia Bone Guajajara
(Brazilian Amazon);
Helena Gualinga
(Ecuadorian Amazon);
Daiara Tukano
(Brazilian Amazon); and (Moderator)
Osprey Orielle Lake
(USA).
Links
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Press Conference: Rights of Nature
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Casey Camp-Horinek, Ponca Nation Councilwomen and WECAN COP25 Delegate (left), Nnimmo Bassey, environmental activist and Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (center) and Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director (right) at the Rights of Nature press conference on December 9. Photo via WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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On December 9, we held a press conference to discuss how a Rights of Nature framework can build the foundations for systemic change in climate solutions. Co-hosted by the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and WECAN International with
Casey Camp-Horinek
, Ponca Nation Councilwomen;
Osprey Orielle Lake
, WECAN Executive Director; and
Nnimmo Bassey
, environmental activist and Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation.
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Press Conference: Toward a Feminist Green New Deal
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Bridget Burns (left), Dr. Frances B Roberts-Gregory (center left), Katherine Quaid (center), Jacqui Patterson (center right), and Osprey Orielle Lake (right) at the press conference “Toward a Feminist Green New Deal”. Photo via Jessica Olson
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During a COP25 press conference on December 10, a broad coalition of activists and academics presented key principles for a Feminist Agenda for the Green New Deal guided by justice and accountability, centered on frontline communities, and that reflects feminist values and upholds human rights.
Speakers included
Jacqui Patterson
, Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program;
Dr. Frances B Roberts-Gregory
, Ph.D. candidate at the University of California Berkeley;
Bridget Burns
, Director of WEDO;
Osprey Orielle Lake
, WECAN Executive Director; and
Katherine Quaid
, WECAN Communications Coordinator.
The Feminist Agenda for a Green New Deal was formally launched by a coalition of climate justice and women’s rights activists (including WECAN International) in September 2019. The 10 key principles call for advancing women’s rights and Indigenous rights, centering the voices and leadership of women of color, the creation of regenerative economies centered on feminist analysis and understanding of the care economy, a shift from exploitative and unsustainable production patterns and a rejection of false solutions to the climate crisis, and more.
Links
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Press Conference: Women for Climate Justice
on the Frontlines of Systemic Change
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Women for Climate Justice shared their experiences, struggles, and solutions from the frontlines of systemic change. From the tar sands of Canada to the frontlines of Nigeria, it is clear that women are essential for transforming the dominant social constructs that lie at the root of gender inequality, as well as the destruction of the Earth. We need to look at systemic change and challenge old paradigms of patriarchy, colonization, imperialism, and capitalism. Women see the connection and are willing and able to unite across borders to challenge systems of oppression and build a healthy and livable future.
WATCH the full press conference here.
We were very honored to have many amazing women speak including,
Eriel Tchekwie Deranger
(Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Canada);
Sônia Guajajara
(Brazilian Amazon);
Casey Camp-Horinek
(Ponca Nation, USA);
Rita Uwaka
(Nigeria); and
Osprey Orielle Lake
(USA).
Please also see the work of our allies at
Indigenous Climate Action (ICA)
where Eriel Tchekwie Deranger is the Executive Director. Prior to this press conference ICA, Indigenous Environmental Network, and It Takes Roots held an action outside the U.S. embassy in Madrid demanding justice for
Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG)
. The epidemic of MMIWG impacts Indigenous communities throughout the world and greatly increases when extractive industries come to their lands. Casey-Camp Horinek spoke at the action,
please see their video of the action here.
We must stand with our Indigenous sisters in this fight!
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Civil Society Holds Action Inside COP25
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Casey Camp-Horinek stands her ground during an action inside the COP25 venue. Photo via WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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On December 11, at the UNFCCC COP25 in Madrid, civil society held an action, interrupting high-level plenaries inside the COP25 venue. Led by Indigenous and frontline delegations, over 300 came together to vocalize their dissatisfaction with the inaction and blocking of progressive climate policy by big polluters, including the United States.
Activists organized the unprecedented protest after 10 days of stalled negotiations and backroom deals. The violence with which security officers used to silence demonstrators was appalling and a poignant display of what governments will and are doing to those we are demanding the inclusion of basic human rights among our societies. Human Rights, Rights of Nature, Gender Justice, and Climate Justice are non-negotiable - governments must listen to the people.
Links
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Brazilians and Allies Hold Action in Honor of
Indigenous Amazon Forest Defenders
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Sônia Guajajara speaks out about the Indigenous forest defenders murdered in her community in Brazil during an action outside the COP25 venue. Photo by WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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Tragically, during COP25,
two more Indigenous forest defenders were murdered in Brazil
. Indigenous leaders from Brazil, including Sonia Guajajara and Daiara Tukano, spoke out an action directly in front of the COP25 venue to honor those killed, demand Not One More Drop of Indigenous Blood, and call for the protection of the Amazon Rainforest.
Brazil's Indigenous peoples are under increasing attack with President Bolsonaro and his regime's devastating assaults on social and environmental protections. As threats increase, women land defenders are harmed first and worse. This is a critical time to stand with courageous Indigenous women leaders in Brazil, who are fighting every day to protect human rights, forests, water, climate, communities, and future generations.
Watch more at our livestream of the event here.
Please see a vital report on the Brazilian Amazon by our allies at Amazon Watch:
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Indigenous Leaders From Minga Indigena Deliver a Letter Demanding Official Recognition at COP25
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Indigenous leaders from Minga Indígena deliver a letter demanding official recognition at COP25.
Photo via WECAN International
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On December 10, Indigenous leaders from Minga Indígena, representing communities across Latin America, held a ceremony inside COP25 and delivered the
Indigenous Climate Charter
to U.N. representatives demanding that Indigenous consultation become an official part of the climate negotiations.
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#FridaysForFuture Sit-Ins
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The Fridays for Future youth movement leads a final sit-in on December 13 inside the COP25 venue. The past year youth have ignited climate action across the world, and within COP25 they led many intergenerational actions with heart, passion, and a deep understanding of the urgency needed to address our current climate crisis.
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On December 13, #FridaysForFuture and Constituencies, representing Indigenous peoples, youth, women, and labor held a sit-in to protest the inaction of our government officials and to demand climate justice! WECAN delegates participated in the sit-in as well as joined Fridays For Future and Extinction Rebellion demonstrators holding a strike outside COP25 in solidarity.
Youth-led actions set the tone throughout the duration of COP25, demanding government accountability and action. Young activists worldwide have been leaving their classrooms every Friday to demand action on climate change. The future of today's youth and upcoming generations hang in the balance as the impact of the climate crisis is revealed with more alarming force every day.
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Conclusion: Peoples Movements Must Lead
the Climate Revolution
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Indigenous women sing the Women Warrior Song after demonstrators were kicked out of the COP25 venue during an action. Photo via WECAN International - Katherine Quaid
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Our continued participation in the U.N. climate talks stems from the knowledge that women are facing the impacts of climate change first and worst, but are simultaneously building and leading solutions in their communities, fighting to protect Indigenous rights and knowledge, preserving seeds and biodiversity, defending their territories from mining and fossil fuel extraction, and rejecting false solutions while advocating for a just transition to a renewable, regenerative energy future. We will continue to support women’s leadership and amplify the solutions of women and frontline communities, working together to fight for Mother Earth and the health of our communities.
As countries prepare to “take action” for COP26 in 2020, the year that the Paris Climate Agreement will go into effect, we severely question their urgency, intentions, and purpose. If those most responsible continue to profit off climate disaster, millions will die. Behind closed doors, a small but powerful few continue to use our lives and ecosystems as bargaining chips. Yet, global social movements are coming together, building upon years of coalition and constituency organizing, to beat on those closed doors and to express an ever-eternal echo of our love for our communities and the planet, a reminder that we the people will demand the best for our communities and hold those in power accountable for the damage they have done. We call for the protection of Mother Earth and we demand a healthy and just world for current and future generations. There is no other choice.
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For the Earth and All Generations,
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The 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
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