In 2015, FAWCO's UN Reps Team and Environment Team collaborated to inform FAWCO members about the proceedings of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP21) held in Paris from November 30 to December 11, 2015. The UN Climate Conference in Paris was of historic importance. While no one from the UN Reps Team or Environment Team were able to attend the Conference, we reported on what was happening. In addition to general background information on UNFCCC (and definitions of the UN’s alphabet soup of abbreviations), we posted summaries of previous UN environment meetings.
In 2016, motivated by the interest of members of AIWC Cologne, FAWCO applied for Observer status at the UNFCCC so our UN Reps could participate in Climate Change Conference sessions in Bonn. We were granted Observer status and three members of FAWCO's UN Reps Team attended meetings in Bonn in May 2017. FAWCO joined the
Women and Gender Constituency of Observer NGOs at the UNFCCC and will continue our coverage of and involvement with the climate conference process.
By Sheila Doucet, AAWE Paris
Language matters, especially in official UN reports and texts that countries – or parties – negotiate and agree to uphold. The annual COP, the 28th of its kind and last held in December 2023 in Dubai, was no exception to this practice. As Civil Society Observers and members of the Women & Gender Constituency (WGC), we begin...
... and hear some of their impressions.
Compiled by Ayuska Motha, AIWC Cologne
COP28 (the 28th Conference Of the Parties to the Paris Agreement) was convened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 13, 2023. FAWCO was fortunate to be provided with three badges to attend the two-week UN climate summit as civil society observers. Two FAWCO...
In light of unmistakable signs of climate change – ranging from droughts and floods to rising temperatures – we find ourselves compelled to acknowledge its undeniable presence. Eight years ago, representatives from 195 nations committed to a binding treaty, commonly known as the Paris Agreement, aiming to restrict the global mean temperature increase to below 2 °C. Unfortunately, recent data...
By Ayuska Motha, UN Rep, AIWC Cologne
Someone recently asked me: “What is the difference between the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) and the UN Bonn Intersessional Meetings?”
Terms defined:
UN Climate Change Conferences
The 58th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SB58) of the United Nations Framework...
By Ayuska Motha, UN Rep, AIWC Cologne
Every year there is a COP (Conference of the Parties) in November or December as well an Intersessional Meeting that takes place in Bonn in May or June. This year the Intersessional Meeting (UN Climate Negotiations) was held from Monday, June 5 to Thursday, June 15, 2023 in Bonn. This year’s COP (COP28) will...
By Ayuska Motha, UN Rep, AIWC Cologne
For me, COPs have surprisingly started to represent HOPE, and COP27 in 2022 was the ultimate test. I had not attended a COP in person since 2019, and so much had happened in those few years – the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine invasion and related fossil fuel crisis, global inflation and my own personal...
