By UN Liaison Laurie Richardson, AWA Vienna
During COP26 in November 2021, and leading up to CSW66 in March 2022, FAWCO is joining in advocacy initiatives to promote the importance of including women in efforts to combat the climate crisis, and to insist that the differential impacts of climate change on women and girls be examined and taken into consideration in policies and programs. The Government of Scotland and UN Women disseminated "Gender equality and climate change: Glasgow Women's Leadership Statement" which FAWCO endorsed.
"We believe that the fight against climate change must be closely connected to the fight against gender inequality,
and agree that ensuring women’s and girls’ leadership is vital if global efforts to tackle climate change are to succeed."
The priority theme of CSW66 is "Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes." Working with FAWCO UN Rep Erica Higbie, co-chair of the NGO CSW NY Advocacy Research Group for CSW66, we have developed this preliminary set of priority issues:
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Women’s participation in decision-making and leadership in environmental governance at all levels;
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Funding and support for women’s civil society organizations, especially environmental defenders and gender-just climate solutions;
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Building resilience of women and girls to respond to climate impacts and disaster risks;
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Assessing and addressing the differential impacts of the climate crisis and natural disasters on women and girls:
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Recognizing and responding to the interlinkages between climate, conflict and migration, and in particular to women and girls’ needs in disaster relief and recovery, in conflict and in migration; and
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Adopting a human rights-based approach: take action to respect, protect and fulfill the human right to a clean, safe, healthy and sustainable environment for all people everywhere.
“Pursuing environmental and development goals in accordance with human rights norms not only promotes human dignity, equality and freedom, the benefits of fulfilling all human rights. It also helps to inform and strengthen policymaking. Ensuring that those most affected can obtain information, freely express their views and participate in the decision-making process, for example, makes policies more legitimate, coherent, robust and sustainable. Most important, a human rights perspective helps to ensure that environmental and development policies improve the lives of the human beings who depend on a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment — which is to say, all human beings.”
From Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment (2018), John Knox, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment