Gender Equality

Creo que la conferencia es posible analizarla distinguiendo dos dimensiones, una de carácter político, a través de la cual el gobierno de Bolivia en particular y gobiernos muy cercanos como el de Venezuela quisieron demostrar su liderazgo en la capacidad de iniciativa para responder al cambio climático; y una segunda dimensión referida al debate y análisis de propuestas teóricas y de acción en relación no sólo con el cambio climático sino con el modelo de producción y consumo visto como el principal responsable y por lo tanto con un debate serio y calificado sobre “otras formas” de hacer las cosas que sean respetuosas de la naturaleza y ofrezcan una alternativa real distinta de las propuestas basadas en el mercado y la tecnología que caracterizan los debates de los gobiernos a nivel mundial (léase mercados de carbono, agroquímicos y agrocombustibles, transgénicos, desarrollo –entendido siempre como crecimiento- resiliente al medio ambiente, geoingeniería, etc.). En cierto modo el eje fundamental de la conferencia en lo que respecta a esta dimensión fue la puesta en común y el intento de proponer como alternativa viable para el conjunto de la humanidad lo que varios pueblos indígenas llaman el Buen Vivir o el Vivir Bien. Durante la conferencia hubo varios paneles y actividades autogestionadas que debatieron este tema que está en el centro de las propuestas en defensa de la Madre Tierra. Según varias presentaciones y documentos que circularon en Cochabamba el Buen Vivir es una tarea en construcción de una forma de vida plena, equilibrada, sana, armónica y modesta, en la cual el ser humano es un elemento más de la naturaleza. La búsqueda del equilibrio evita la explotación del otro, la apropiación material y el dominio de la naturaleza de la que se es parte. El sujeto económico del Buen Vivir es un sujeto colectivo que se guía por el interés de la comunidad (entendida en un sentido amplio y en oposición al mercado y a los intereses individuales), con predominancia de valores como la reciprocidad y la complementariedad; que se orienta a romper la dicotomía entre lo público y lo privado dando paso a lo común y replanteando la oposición entre economía y sociedad.

Estas propuestas del Buen Vivir quedaron reflejadas en el documento final de la conferencia y que será el que se lleve a la COP 16 en México cuando se volverán a reunir los 192 gobiernos de Naciones Unidas tratando de retomar las negociaciones que muchos ven como fracasadas luego de Copenhague. El gobierno de Bolivia ya ha hecho entrega de este documento.

El documento final surgió como síntesis de los 17 grupos de trabajo que se ocuparon de los siguientes temas: causas estructurales del cambio climático, armonía con la naturaleza, derechos de la madre tierra, posibilidad de convocar a un referéndum, tribunal sobre justicia climática, migrantes climáticos, pueblos indígenas, deuda climática, visión compartida, Protocolo de Kyoto, adaptación, financiamiento, desarrollo y transferencia de tecnología, bosques, peligros de los mercados de carbono, estrategias de acción y agricultura y soberanía alimentaria. (Existió un grupo 18 que operó fuera de la conferencia dado que el gobierno no lo autorizó pues se ocupó de temas ambientales en Bolivia. Este grupo elaboró su propio documento de conclusiones).

El documento destaca, por ejemplo, que para “garantizar los derechos humanos y restablecer la armonía con la naturaleza es necesario reconocer y aplicar efectivamente los derechos de la Madre Tierra”. Teniendo como guía estos derechos, el documento exige de parte de los países desarrollados en base al principio de responsabilidades históricas comunes pero diferenciadas, que se comprometan con metas cuantificadas de reducción de emisiones para limitar el incremento de la temperatura media global a un nivel máximo de 1°C. A su vez se les pide que honren su deuda climática respondiendo a una serie de demandas que incluyen:

• Restablecer a los países en desarrollo el espacio atmosférico que está ocupado por sus emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. Esto implica la descolonización de la atmósfera mediante la reducción y absorción de sus emisiones.
• Asumir los costos y las necesidades de transferencia de tecnología de los países en desarrollo por la pérdida de oportunidades de desarrollo por vivir en un espacio atmosférico restringido.
• Responsabilizarse por los cientos de millones de personas que tendrán que migrar por el cambio climático y que eliminen sus políticas restrictivas de migración y ofrezcan a los migrantes una vida digna y con todos los derechos en sus países.
• Asumir la deuda de adaptación relacionada a los impactos del cambio climático en los países en desarrollo proveyendo los medios para prevenir, minimizar y atender los daños que surgen de sus excesivas emisiones.
• Honrar estas deudas como parte de una deuda mayor con la Madre Tierra adoptando y aplicando la Declaración Universal de los Derechos de la Madre Tierra en las Naciones Unidas. Se pide además que la próxima Conferencia sobre Cambio Climático en México apruebe la enmienda al Protocolo de Kyoto para el segundo período de compromisos a iniciarse en 2013 hasta el 2017; que se constituya un Fondo de Adaptación para enfrentar el cambio climático como parte de un mecanismo financiero manejado de manera soberana, transparente y equitativa por los Estados, entre otras demandas y recomendaciones.

Las propuestas que surgieron de estos grupos fueron debatidas en lo que se llamó “diálogo entre pueblos y gobiernos” a pesar de que la participación en este diálogo fue selectiva y no hubo claridad respecto al criterio de selección.

La lectura del documento final y de los documentos finales de cada uno de los 17 grupos de trabajo ofrece una perspectiva un poco diferenciada en cuanto a los aspectos de educación y de género. El documento final no hace ninguna referencia a los impactos diferenciados por género como consecuencia del cambio climático ni a la necesidad de dar respuestas específicas, más allá que hubo –si bien pocas- actividades que se ocuparon del tema. Tampoco destaca la importancia de la educación, y de la educación a lo largo de la vida en particular (educación para sociedades sustentables) como mecanismo fundamental no sólo para contrarrestar los efectos del cambio climático sino para construir sociedades en línea con los planteos del buen Vivir, es decir, sociedades sustentables y de responsabilidad global. Cuando uno en cambio lee las conclusiones de cada uno de los grupos de trabajo se encuentra con un lenguaje sensible al género, que reconoce las responsabilidades de la sociedad patriarcal, y que promueve la educación como una herramienta fundamental. En ese sentido me parece recomendable leer las conclusiones de cada grupo y el documento final en el sitio oficial de la conferencia: http://cmpcc.org.

Como mencioné en mi mensaje anterior presentamos un taller sobre las conclusiones de los tribunales sobre género y cambio climático, actividad que fue positivamente evaluada por los participantes al introducir un tema relevante y de baja presencia en la conferencia. Hablamos también del rol de la educación en la generación de cambios en las pautas de producción y consumo. Los documentos que se presentaron en esta actividad fueron solicitados por los organizadores para la memoria de la conferencia, aun cuando no sabemos en qué medida quedaron reflejados.

En síntesis creo que ha sido importante participar afianzando nuestro trabajo en el tema cambio climático y que junto con la participación en las instancias de Bonn y Copenhague de la COP 15 nos aportan elementos para fortalecer nuestra perspectiva de trabajo orientada fundamentalmente a destacar el rol de la educación para sociedades sustentables y la necesidad de tener en cuenta los efectos diferenciados del cambio climático, sobre todo desde una perspectiva de género.

Ana Agostino
29 de abril de 2010

We queued for almost two hours although we had already registered on line. The fact is that the number of participants is much higher than expected. They are talking about 20.000 participants from all over the world, though of course the majority of participants are from Bolivia and Latin America. We arrived at the stadium just on time for the speech of Evo Morales during the opening ceremony, in a stadium completely full and very colourful.

The self organized activities and the panel started in the afternoon. There are many activities and all of them with lots of participants. Besides that, there is the work of the 17 working groups that started working on line several weeks ago and met face to face these days. Today the conclusions of all these groups will be presented. There is an 18th group, outside the programme, formed to look at the environmental problems in Bolivia. There have been some difficulties with this group as it has not been allowed to operate as one of the groups of the conference. Let me tell you now about our activity, which went very well and was also very well attended.

We presented two activities together yesterday, from 16:30 to 20:30, as GCAP. First was our activity as FTF called Women’s tribunals on climate change. The activity from GCAP was called “Launching of the coalition of communities affected by climate change”. I also attach pictures from both activities where you can see the good and diverse participation.

We started our activity with the video prepared by Rosa which summarizes the 7 tribunals, and I put together a power point with the main problems identified at these 7 tribunals, why they affect women in a differentiated way, and which were the solutions suggested. After that Anita Nayar from DAWN made an overall presentation of the structural causes of climate change from a feminist perspective. Gabriela Segura Cárdenas, from GCAP Mexico, made the last presentation, talking about the experience of the tribunal in Mexico with special emphasis on the situation of women. Fionuala Cregan, from the GCAP Secretariat, was the facilitator.

A very interesting debate followed. Participants shared several testimonies, which reinforce our view in relation with the link between gender and climate change, and they also highlighted the importance of our event as the issue of gender is almost absent in the conference.

A Bolivian TV station interviewed me (Ana Agostino) as they were very interested in the topic, precisely because it did not have much coverage in the conference. The whole event was videotaped so I trust that I will be able to send to all of you the material. For the time being I sent to you the link to the video and the power point I presented.

The launch of the climatic communities was also well attended and there were testimonies from Chile, Peru and Bolivia.

Read a full report on the event (PDF)

Piga Debe campaign has been launched across African countries including Uganda, Liberia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Ghana in the aim to draw the attention of African governments to the scandalous fact that thousands of women continue to die needlessly during childbirth.

Under the theme “End women dying while giving life”, the campaign will focus on more efforts by the government of Rwanda towards achieving the MDGs goal 5 (Improve Maternal Health) and it is expected to bring together citizens from Civil Society Organization especially women organizations, youth groups, religious groups, academics, professionals, ordinary and excluded groups, development partners, government ministries (especially the Ministry of Gender and the Ministry of Health), local authorities, parliamentarians and government agencies.

The launch of Piga Debe campaign will be held on 08 March 2010 coinciding with the International Women Day. The campaign is expected to be done in two main sessions namely morning session with a conference during which participants will discuss the current status of maternal health in Rwanda and in evening there will be a well attended concert which will be hosted by renowned Rwandan female artists.  

At 1 in 16, Rwanda has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world and higher than the average in sub-Saharan Africa (1 in 13) The maternal health rate is 750 per 100,000 live births with 52% of assisted deliveries in 2008.

by Rosa Lizarde

We heard the usual dignitaries at the opening session with the chair of the CSW, with the Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose and others reporting that much has been achieved since Beijing, yet as Gertrude Mongella said at the NGO Forum, at times it feels like Beijing (-) minus 15. Still, proclamations included the time for "strategic opportunities for progress" and there is excitement on the part of NGOs and others around the gender equality architecture reform efforts and as Asha Rosa put it, "here at the United Nations, the decision by Member States to consolidate our existing four gender entities into one dynamic body is an historic opportunity. The new gender entity will champion a stronger role and voice for women in global governance and policy-making." The GEAR Campaign, of which FTF-GCAP is a member, is gearing up for activism throughout the two-week meeting.

Yesterday's opening session was overshadowed by the yearly (yet unavoidable and unpleasant) registration process. For many who could not do it over the weekend, the first day was spent in the long lines waiting to register. With thousands pre-registered for the official event, the UN security was prepared for the large numbers, but as always, the pass office has not perfected the quick registrations process. Rehana reported standing in line for about 5 hours. Guards mentioned to her that over 2000 had been registered yesterday.

Of particular interest was the afternoon High-Level round table with economist Caren Grown, Economist-in-Residence at American University. She encouraged all gender advocates to engage in the financial sector reform and that it be a time to develop new economic frameworks that are relevant to the life we now live and those which address changed economic priorities. She proposed convening high level commission that puts gender equality at short term recover and long-term economic prosperity. (See webcast at www.un.org/webcast/2010.html). Click here for opening statements and to view the proceedings (including live viewing) see the UN webcast channel and archives.

The NGO Global Forum kept some of us quite busy and unfortunately the heavy schedule has prevented us from reporting more on the weekend activities. Some of our FTF members were active with chairing of caucuses, facilitating sessions and organizing. The Open Mic session, which was a bit of a challenge for me to moderate yet enriching and interesting, was the opportunity for women to speak out and be heard. Women's full diversity was on full display at this session with comments about having a "voice and choice," women's subjugation from the "womb to the tomb" and how that has to change, inspirational remarks from young, old, radical, mainstream---all types from all regions.  For all the events of the two-day event and more information, go to the www.ngocsw.org/en/main or the newer site at www.beijing15.org .

FTF Core Team members in attendance at the CSW:
Africa:  Caroline Usikpedo (Nigeria) and Mpho Laing (Botswana) and GCAP co-chair, Adelaide Sosseh
Asia:    Rehana Khilji (Pakistan) and Sharmial Karki (Nepal)
Americas:  Marta Benavides (El Salvador) and myself -Rosa Lizarde and Viviana Bernal (intern) (United States); Europe:   GCAP co-chair, Sylvia Borren (Netherlands) with other members having come on their own and participating in events.

Our main event is tomorrow.  Stay tuned for other entries by FTF core team members throughout the CSW.

The highlight of today’s update is the massive march on the streets of Copenhagen on the Global Day of Action (12 December).

Kumi Naidoo, GCAP Co-chair and Greenpeace Executive Director, gave a powerful kick-off speech, sending 100,000 demonstrators to the streets. Climate witnesses from GCAP's worldwide Climate Justice Poverty Hearings and Women's Tribunals, among others, stood with Kumi on the grandstand as he addressed the crowd and cheered when he said, “Yes, we can! Yes, we must! Yes, we will! deliver an ambitions, fair and legally binding agreement in Copenhagen."

Among the witnesses was our colleague, Caroline Usikpedo Omoniye, from Nigeria who organized the Niger Delta women’s tribunals, as well as Julian Picuenca, a farmer and climate witness from Peru. The energy was infectious!

Watch coverage of the march:

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8409331.stm
  
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8409444.stm
  

Our colleague, Ben Margolis (formerly GCAP Mobilization Coordinator and now with the TckTckTck Campaign) has very eloquently captured the moment:

"Sometimes words fail. At certain times in history civil society must stand up and do something unprecedented, something that shifts the way we think, feel and act about an issue, something that will shape the days, years and centuries to come. Maybe, just maybe, today was one of those days.

Today our movement came together in a massive, powerful, peaceful day of action. The groundwork laid by the global wake-up call, the 350 day of action and the countless other events, meetings and activities expressed itself in a remarkable series of events in Copenhagen and in most countries around the world. Unionists and faith groups joined with celebrities and activists in a remarkably broad call for a real deal to be signed in Copenhagen next week. If there ever was a question about the public mandate for a deal, that myth has been shattered – the people have spoken, will the politicians listen?"

Check out the Tcktcktck video updates:  http://live.tcktcktck.org

Quotable quote from the Copenhagen Rally

“… we have come here with a lot of hope. We have a week to go and we are going to struggle and make sure they deliver what they need to, … we want to make sure that when history looks back on Copenhagen, it is seen as a HOPEnhagen, it should not be seen as a FLOPenhagen or a NOPEnhagen.”  -- Kumi Naidoo   12 December 2009

COP15 – day 6 roundup

Environmentalists and activists rallied worldwide Saturday in favor of a global climate agreement. In Copenhagen (photo above), host city of the ongoing UN negotiations, a six-kilometer march from the parliament building to the conference venue gathered an estimated 50,000 people. Read more

A new draft text!  First official draft on climate deal:  A key working group under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) came up with a six-page text Friday. The draft may form the core of a new global agreement to combat climate change beyond 2012, when the present framework, the Kyoto Protocol, expires. Read more

Written and compiled by Rosa G. Lizarde, ENLACE and Feminist Task Force-GCAP at the Copenhagen meeting.

Quixotic Hopenhagen – Arriving by bus at the Bella Centre after dark and seeing an aqua blue wind turbine turning in the distance was just one of the hazy experiences of the night. I thought that it was perhaps the jet-lag but upon entering the Bella Centre, I was hit by a lot of the kinetic energy that the wind turbine was unable to capture.  It all seemed very hectic and confusing, stimulation overdrive, information overload, organizational marketing on top of non-stop side events on top of open space computer centres with laptops for miles on top of delegates on the run, Avaaz martians, Buhddists, Bolivians, Blackberries, all this and more to get to (breath) the official sessions---where are those official sessions??? (I must have walked a mile and no UN Conference rooms).  Well, I didn’t make it to those official sessions last night. A wall of people coming my way indicated that they had just ended.  For an environmental conference, there sure is certain type of consumerism run-rampant.  Despite the Danish government’s effort to recycle paper, organic matter, bottles, and “other waste,” there is an abundance of “stuff,” overload of paper—brochures, pamphlets, booklets, reports, postcards, posters, signs, stickers, … you get the picture.  Many organizations have booths just beyond the entry area, and every booth has piles for you to read. Didn’t bring a laptop? No problem, one provided, it’s a sea of blue screened laptops in the Computer “Sea”entre. There is so much thrown at you the first day anyway, it takes some getting used to.  The second day will be a charm,…

Second day – The Vegetarians greet you upon exiting the metro. Free book! Free bag! Free us of carbon emissions and eat vegetarian. ActionAid’s sing-song climate change agents were looking pretty sharp in their red suits and glasses—“Rich Countries, Pay Your Climate Debt.”  Then it’s the half naked youngsters being interviewed- “Don’t leave us out in the cold!!!” Nice knickers.  All this before the 10 minute wait to pass through security,…

Women’s Caucus - Business starts with the Women’s Caucus, convened by WEDO and the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GCCA). It takes a bit to get in gear, but women are sharing information on the official process, potential allies, security issues (threat of NGO entry restrictions for next week), inputs into the document and working together with other constituency groups, e.g. indigenous peoples and youth.  WEDO is also posting news, video and regular updates over the next two weeks from the Copenhagen. “Get a women's perspective by visiting www.wedo.org.”

GCAP / FTF / Greenpeace event at the Rescue Climate Center – The highlight of today was definitely the reporting of GCAP’s and the Feminist Task Forces (FTF’s) climate justice hearings and women’s tribunals. Kumi, the new Executive Director of Greenpeace, opened the event highlighting the hard work of all the “climate witnesses.”  The event was held in the Greenpeace orb at the Rescue Center.  GCAP and FTF colleagues presented findings from the tribunals and hearings organized in Peru, Ghana, Nigeria, Botswana, Uganda, Pakistan and Belem. Caroline Usikpedo Omoniye, National President of the Niger Delta Women’s Movement for Peace and Development, presented on the women’s tribunals held in the Nigerian states of Jesse and Delta. FTF members, Josephine Kamel (AWEPON board member) and Rehana Khiji, founding member of HOPE PK, provided information on the Uganda and Pakistan women’s tribunals, respectively, highlighting the recommendations by climate witnesses.  I provided a brief history of the women’s tribunals and highlighted the recent tribunal in Belem do Para, Brazil, which was held last week on Nov. 30th.  I also provided an overview of what Sharmila Karki of Jagaran Nepal and Aishia Gladsford of the FTF-Botswana presented in Belem about their tribunals in Nepal and Botswana, respectively. More photos and videos will be uploaded soon.

Rosa  G. Lizarde
GCAP Feminist Task Force
ENLACE-Education and Networking for Latina Cooperation and  Empowerment

by Rosa Lizarde

I write from Belem Brazil, where the Feminist Task Force held the Belem Women’s Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice on Monday, November 30th (see invite PDF),  highlighting the disproportionate impact of climate change on women around the world. We heard testimonies from women living in three different areas of Brazil, all telling stories about the challenging aspects of a changing climate system in their regions.  Djenane Da Rocha Rego gave an emotional account and showed photos of her father’s house, where she grew up, which is now under water due to increasingly rising waters and flooding.  Only the dilapidated roof top and frame remained.  We saw photos of flooded schools and kids swimming where classrooms used to exist.  We also learned how the Igarape da Costa community is adapting, even making “boat” planters to grow vegetable and herbs gardens despite the flooded area.

Another participant, Raimunda Gomes da Silva, of the National Council of Seringueiro, relayed some of her personal history and struggle as a “coquera,” a coconut harvester and cracker. She showed us a video of her and other women working the land despite diminishing resources and land to harvest, all while taking care of their children and caring for the community. Also highlighted were the advocacy efforts by Raimunda and others to have an area of land in Bico de Papagaio area be declared a national reserve in 1992, the year of the “Rio Conference,” the UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED).

The panel of jurists, consisting of Mara Gurjao, National Foundation for Health and also with the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual University in Recife, and Marcos Sorrentino, Coordinator of the National Executive Council for Environmental Education, provided insightful observations and recommendations, highlighting the gender aspects in the Brazilian context.

As part of this tribunal, we included the presentations of the results of two international women’s tribunals which took place recently. Aishia Glasford, a human rights lawyer who organized a tribunal with colleagues in Botswana, shared their results from a Nov. 28th tribunal. Sharmila Karki, executive director of the Jagaran Nepal for Women’s Rights, Peace and Governance, also shared the outcomes from their Nov. 19th tribunal.

Ana Agostino, who moderated the panel, commented on the importance of bringing these voices to Copenhagen next week for the COP15 meeting. I will be attending the Copenhagen meetings next week on behalf of the FTF to present the findings of the Belem tribunal, as well as the results of the other six women’s tribunals on climate justice.

Witnesses:

1. Maria Joelma Da Silva Pereira, Coordination of the Semi-Arid Brazilian (ASA)
2. Raimunda Gomes Da Silva, National Council of Seringueiros and Foundation Tocantins River
3. Djenane Da Rocha Rego, Community of Igarape da Costa, Santarem, State of Pará 

The latest videos are from the Climate Justice Hearings in Niger Delta and Ghana.

More videos will be coming in soon to the GCAP Whiteband YouTube Channel, so watch this space.

Read more about GCAP's Climate Justice mobilisation.