Dear Community,

As we step into 2025, we find ourselves standing at the ongoing crossroads of both crisis and possibility. Across the globe, extreme climate disasters from fires, storms, droughts, and rising seas remind us of the urgent and ever-deepening climate emergency we are facing. These are reminders of Nature working to balance ecosystems in response to detrimental human activity. Yet, even as these challenges loom, WECAN enters this year with even more determination, dedication, and an unstoppable love for our communities and Earth. We are doubling down in our efforts to hold governments, fossil fuel companies, and complicit financial institutions accountable. At the same time we are creating space to generate and nurture the world we know is possible—reforesting the land and our hearts and minds.

We remain steadfast in the solutions and advocacy that WECAN and our partners are moving forward to create a world grounded in justice and care. Like a resilient tree weathering a storm, our roots are deep in the rich soil of solidarity, and our branches reach ever upward toward the light of a just and thriving future. The strength we draw from each other, our community, and our shared vision is not just a survival mechanism— it is the foundation of a vibrant and flourishing world. Each action we take, every policy we push for, and every voice we raise is a testament to our collective power and our belief in the beauty of a healed and thriving planet.

We carry with us the strength of our breakthrough work from 2024, which included: 

• Launching new women-led forest protection and reforestation programs in Brazil and Ecuador, led by Indigenous WECAN Coordinators, to protect the Amazon Rainforest and restore deforested areas.
• Engaging directly with over 30 of the world’s largest financial institutions advocating to stop the financing of fossil fuels, deforestation, and false solutions and instead to invest in Just Transition and community-led climate solutions.
• Facilitating the engagement of 26 Indigenous, Black, and Brown global women leaders in high-level international forums to advocate for climate justice, forest protection, fossil fuel phaseout, a Just Transition, and more.
• Protecting over 1.6 Million acres of forest in the Congo Basin, the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, through the WECAN Women for Forests Program in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Planting nearly 1 million trees through the WECAN Women for Forests Program in the Democratic Republic of Congo, since the programs inception. This has been an ongoing project that has led to the recovery of damaged lands and regeneration of healthy biomes in the drought-stricken region. 
• Coordinating strategy sessions and actions in Washington D.C., Wisconsin, and Canada with the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance, facilitated by WECAN, to stop and permanently shut down the Line 5 pipeline.
• Collaborating to secure women's rights and gender justice at COP29, through the advancement of the Lima Work Program on Gender, housed within the UNFCCC. 
• Organizing 24 events and actions in-person and virtually to present immediate climate solutions and actions, deepen political analysis, learn from and uplift frontline women's leadership, exchange movement information, and address the climate crisis through a feminist lens.
• Producing 11 transformative reports, policy briefs, and toolkits that were delivered to governments and financial institutions and shared with partners and frontline leaders globally.
• Co-organizing a Rights of Nature Tribunal in New York city to end the era of fossil fuels.

A heartfelt thank you to our incredible community for your unwavering support in this vital work—our successes are shared victories with our coordinators, partners, collaborators, and the entire climate justice movement!

In 2025, we are ready to take action for our communities, ecosystems, and climate! Please read on for more updates from the new year. 

Please join us June 23-28 for the WECAN Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice: Path to COP30 and Beyond! The global convening will address solutions for the protection and defense of human rights and nature at this critical time. This event is a free, virtual, public forum!

RSVP down below and check our newsletters and website for more information, collaborating partners, and Assembly announcements coming soon!

​During the Global Women’s Assembly, grassroots Indigenous, Black, Brown, and frontline women and gender diverse leaders, global advocates, government leaders, and policy-makers will join together in solidarity to speak out against environmental and social injustice, draw attention to root causes of multiple interlocking crises, and present the diverse array of visions, projects, policy frameworks and strategies with which they are working to shape a healthy and equitable world.

The virtual Assembly also serves as a convening to support collective calls to action in the lead-up to COP30 and beyond, and is designed to generate ongoing networks of action regionally and by campaign focus for the years to come. We will tie these networks into existing women's and feminist formations as our collective movement for women’s climate leadership is growing. The Assembly is an inclusive space across identities and the gender spectrum.

Since January 7, raging fires have been burning across Los Angeles and the Southern California area devastating communities.

At least 25 people have been killed due to the fires, and more than 12,000 structures have burned. The fires continue to blaze through the region, devastating local communities and ecosystems. 

Ongoing drought, record-breaking Santa Ana wind gusts, and a phenomenon described as “hydroclimate whiplash,” have created the brutal conditions for the historic fires we are witnessing in southern California. 

The climate crisis is here, and communities are paying the price. 

Let’s be clear about what is at the root of these massive fires: endless fossil fuel expansion, leading to more severe weather conditions and longer fire seasons worldwide. While this region has historically had a wildfire season, recent fires have become more extreme due to the impacts and conditions created by the climate crisis. Researchers are finding that collectively these fires are among the worst fires in California ranked by deaths and structure destruction.

Notably, Indigenous communities in California have used the practice of cultural or prescribed burns in low fire season to enhance wildlife habitat, protect communities, and cultivate healthy and resilient ecosystems. However, colonial policies outlawed these practices, prohibiting Indigenous communities from implementing these vital practices for the last several decades, leading to ecosystems more prone to fires. By supporting Indigenous land practices and Indigenous sovereignty, the risk of wildfires decreases, mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis. 

These fires are yet another urgent call to action. We must hold governments and fossil fuel companies accountable for driving the climate crisis, advocate for bold climate policies that prioritize people, not polluters, and stand in solidarity with frontline communities and Indigenous leaders who are leading the fight for climate justice!

Sadly, this is one of many devastating climate disasters taking place across the world. As the impacts of the climate crisis worsen, we know that it is imperative to support communities across the globe in disaster recovery and mutual aid. Please find a full list of distribution hubs, evacuation shelters, and mutual aid resources to support at @mutualaidLA on Instagram.

A critical part of WECAN's mission is to create and communicate narratives that challenge current systems of harm and instead promote stories, projects, and solutions that demonstrate a healthy and flourishing way forward for people and planet. Please see our recent awards:

Documentaries Without Borders 2024 International Film Festival

"Indigenous Women Rising to Stop Line 5 and Protect Water, Communities & Our Climate"

Winner - Exceptional Merit

Activists Without Borders 2024 Film Festival

"Indigenous Women Rising to Stop Line 5 and Protect Water, Communities & Our Climate"

Winner - Honorary Award for Effort in Social Filmmaking

My Hero International Film Festival

"Growing Indigenous Food Sovereignty: Okla Hina Ikhish Holo Network in Bvlbancha & the Gulf South"

Winner - Community Heroes, Third Place

You can watch these powerful videos at the links below!

Indigenous Women Rising to Stop Line 5 and Protect Water, Communities & Our Climate

Growing Indigenous Food Sovereignty: Okla Hina Ikhish Holo Network in Bvlbancha & the Gulf South

On the heels of the hottest year on record, and only weeks into 2025, we are witnessing some of the world’s largest banks backsliding on their climate commitments. At the beginning of January, six major U.S. banks– Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo–pulled out of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a UN-convened group committed to aligning lending practices with the Paris Climate Agreement. This exodus came not long after the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) announced it would drop its requirement for members to have net zero commitments. U.S. Banks continue to lead in fossil fuel financing, and reports demonstrate that they are consistently lagging on emissions targets and net zero commitments. Both of these regressions underscore resistance to climate action and climate justice. Though the NZBA and GFANZ networks are voluntary initiatives, and banks could potentially meet their existing net zero pledges, this collective backsliding sets a dangerous precedent in a critical time for our planet and communities. Already, banks in Canada are also signaling an exit from the NZBA.

In the face of these disappointing announcements, WECAN’s pursuit of advocating for financial institutions to adopt and implement transformative policies that prioritize climate justice and human and Indigenous rights will not waver. The stakes could not be higher, especially as we mourn the devastating loss caused by ongoing fires in Southern California and climate disasters globally over the past year. Our collective survival demands bold climate action, and we cannot afford financial institutions to turn their backs on climate commitments.

Now is the time to hold financial institutions accountable, demanding an end to fossil fuel expansion and redirecting funds to advance a Just Transition. 

Please see WECAN’s recent report, “The Need for Real Zero Not Net Zero” where we address concerns about net zero frameworks and the need to better define net zero. The report explores and defines Real Zero initiatives that demonstrate alternative practices and pathways forward for a healthy and equitable approach to the climate crisis within Just Transition principles: https://www.wecaninternational.org/net-zero-real-zero

To start the new year, we would like to share a special 2025 note from WECAN Executive Director, Osprey Orielle Lake:



Welcome to the new year, 2025, that arrives not as a polished key to unlock a golden door, but rather as a wild, flash-flooded river surging through uncharted terrain. It rushes forward with a roar, carving perils or possibilities into our collective future.

2025 calls for clarity, but not the shallow clarity of tidy resolutions. It asks for the clarity of vision sharpened by the storm—the ability to see the threads of opportunity tangled in the web of challenges. It is a year that calls for building a path forward out of what appears impossible.

The challenges are vast—deadly inequity and injustice deepen, and the climate’s fury grows louder—but so are the opportunities. As the wisdom of the ages reminds us, every crisis carries its counterpoint: the possibility of repair, reckoning, resurgence, restoration, and renewal.

Standing at the river's edge, we are both architects and inheritors, holding blueprints in one hand and the weight of the current, oppressive system in the other. The future is not given to us—it must be shaped out of the chaos, its form determined by what we are brave enough to imagine and persistent enough to create.

So, how do we stand in this moment? We stand with hearts that refuse to harden and hands ready to labor. We stand as witnesses to both what must end and what must begin, learning from the roots of ancient wisdom while planting seeds for the times to come.

As the river of 2025 rushes onward, we can choose to navigate it with courage, creativity, compassion, and collectivity. We can embrace being the bridge-builders, the forgers of paths, the dreamers who refuse to let the dream wither or be crushed. WECAN stands in solidarity with our community and partners with love and fortitude at the headwaters of 2025.

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.