Please join WECAN on March 24th for our upcoming event, and learn about our Frontline Women’s Delegation who will be meeting with major banks globally regarding fossil fuel extraction and deforestation.

At this moment of colliding crises, it is vital to build a foundation of deep systemic change. We are at a turning point, and it is now more than ever that we must strengthen our commitment to the vision and world we seek — together.

During this event Indigenous, Black, Brown, and frontline women leaders and global advocates will address multiple interlocking crises, and present a diverse array of visions, projects, policy frameworks and strategies based in a climate justice framework, including forest and biodiversity protection, Indigenous rights, food sovereignty, protection of women land defenders, and community-led solutions. The voices, analysis and leadership of global women, feminist and gender diverse leaders are critical to the years ahead, as we work collectively and urgently to build the resilient and just future we know is possible.

This is a formal side event hosted as part of the sixty-sixth session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66). WECAN staff are participating in the CSW66 advocating within a climate justice framework.

Neema Namadamu Founder, Synergy of Congolese Women’s Associations (SAFECO), and WECAN Democratic Republic of Congo Coordinator

Director, The Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange & WECAN Indigenous Food Sovereignty Program Coordinator

Melina Laboucan-Massimo (Lubicon Cree) Director of Healing Justice, Indigenous Climate Action, and Founder, Sacred Earth Solar

Founder and Executive Director, The Chisholm Legacy Project

Environmental and Indigenous Rights Defender, WECAN Young Women Project Lead

WECAN Executive Director

WECAN is collaborating with BankTrack and other partners to host a series of workshops this March for the Equator Principles Association (EPA), intended to provide educational dialogue on how financial institutions can align with the foundational elements of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the vital 1.5 degree guardrail.

The EPA is a consortium of 128 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.”

These workshops are designed to create open discussion to further progress useful knowledge exchange, enabling civil society organizations to articulate their expectations from financial institutions based on the Equator Principles.

As part of these workshops, WECAN is organizing a frontline women's delegation to center their voices in these workshops and share their knowledge, experiences, and paths forward from the frontlines of deforestation and fossil fuel extraction.

The Delegation includes:

The workshops will examine two primary topics. The first set of workshops will focus on climate impacts, fossil fuels and impacted communities. The second set of workshops will focus on deforestation, biodiversity protection, and impacted communities. All workshops will highlight the need to stop false solutions to the climate crisis, and the importance of human and Indigenous rights protections, particularly the role of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).

The workshops will also center the voices and experiences of frontline communities and Indigenous peoples who will provide perspectives concerning on-the-ground impacts of financing projects in their territories. We also appreciate the work and research on these issues conducted by many partners, including Divest Invest Protect and the Indigenous Human Rights Defenders and Corporate Accountability Program.

Workshop presenters include frontline women leaders, policy researchers, and global advocates.

These workshops are a continuation of ongoing workshops and dialogue with the EPA facilitated by WECAN and BankTrack. Learn more about our ongoing divestment work via the WECAN website.

In case you missed it, in honor of International Women’s Day and Month, WECAN released a new video: "Women Rising for Climate Justice and Future Generations" !

As the climate crisis escalates, and social inequities persist, women worldwide are rising for climate justice and future generations.

WECAN is delivering a call to action, demanding governments declare a climate emergency. We are challenging governments, financial institutions, and corporations to stop extractive and exploitative practices, and rapidly pivot towards a Just Transition. We will never stop fighting for our beautiful Mother Earth.

Please be welcome to share the video with your networks and community using this link.