SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, Calif., September 28, 2016 – One month from now, global women and girls will organize together for the ‘Women Act for Climate Justice: Ten Days of Global Mobilization‘, raising their voices and taking action to resist environmental and social degradation; highlight the climate impacts their communities are facing; demand change from unjust social, economic and development systems; and demonstrate the many effective, just and safe climate solutions, strategies and political calls that are being implemented by women and girls around the world on a daily basis.
Local, national, regional and global environmental, social justice, women’s human rights and Indigenous collectives, civil society organizations and social movements are committed to action across the world, and will share photos, videos, statements and action stories on an open online gallery for 10 days from October 28th to November 6th, 2016. This is a decentralized mobilization that demonstrates women-led, women human rights defender, feminist and climate activism everywhere and encourages strong, diverse local action.
The 2016 ‘Women Act for Climate Justice: Ten Days of Global Mobilization’ campaign is happening just before the November 2016 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – COP22 Conference in Marrakech, Morocco, where women leaders are committed to working together to ensure a sustained civil society and social movement presence and pressure to demand that all government road maps ahead originate in a climate justice framework, and with respect to human, Indigenous and women’s rights – and gender, social, economic and ecological justice. The ‘Women Act for Climate Justice’ mobilization will show the collective actions and voices of global women and girls in the lead up to COP22, but also far beyond the UNFCCC.
Participants in the mobilization will share photos and statements about the dire climate impacts their communities are facing, local and national resistance and strategies for change, and their messages to each other, world governments and the UN system in advance of the Morocco climate talks. Many will also organize vital town-hall or village meetings, vigils and demonstrations, rallies, sit-ins, marches, educational events, art projects, and other actions and statements to showcase local struggles and solutions by women leaders and their communities.
“Let us be clear. Our planet and all species are in serious danger, humans caused this – and our response must be substantive, urgent, and everywhere. Women, girls and local communities around the world live with daily loss and damage to societies, economies and ecological systems. We are furious and demand change. We are targeted when we defend our territories. We are seen as side events, or as victims. But we know different. Women are working to fix greedy ecocidal behaviour wherever we find it in states, corporations and IFIs among others; building local community-led strategies, and working through ever-widening resistance movements. We challenge unfair economic systems, corporatised governance, aid, trade and debt systems, bad food and water systems, false energy and technology solutions, and work to adapt to changes already upon us – including in Pacific small island states. Our work is ongoing and after the 10 Days of global amplification, let no-one say they cannot hear. WOMEN, FEMINISTS, EVERYONE – JOIN US FOR 10 DAYS AND BEYOND. This is our collective resistance and survival struggle. Don’t give in. Rise up.” explained Noelene Nabulivou, DIVA for Equality, and Pacific Partnerships on Gender, Climate Change and Sustainable Development (PPGCCSD), Fiji.
“Women and girls around the world are facing disproportionate climate change everyday, and are standing up to call for and implement just solutions and immediate action commensurate with the level of crisis we face. During ‘Women Act for Climate Justice: Ten Days of Global Mobilization’, we take action together to say ‘enough is enough’, we are here to protect and defend the web of life. Women are issuing a wake up call to the world that the time has come for bold action to address the roots of the climate crisis and socio-ecological injustices. We know that violence against the Earth and violence against women are inseparable, and we stand in solidarity with women worldwide to dismantle these violent systems of oppression and destruction, and call for climate justice. We know that often it is Indigenous and frontline women who are the ones rising to actively resist, revision and create the just world we seek , and we need to highlight their voices and act in solidarity. As the seas rise, so do the women of the world.” explained Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International.
“The Women’s Global Call for Climate Justice is about reclaiming power. We are here to say that we want to reclaim power through our voices, in the streets, in our communities, in our democracies and governments. We want to show that women, in particular women whose voices are on the frontlines of crisis and the frontlines of change but who have been left out of the frontlines of decision-making, speak truth about what we need to do to raise ambition and why the rights of women and girls, indigenous people, and human rights overall are central to all climate action to ensure climate justice. ‘Women Act for Climate Justice: Ten Days of Global Mobilization’ will amplify these demands and inspire collective action across the world for a just and healthy planet that we refuse to give up on!” stated Bridget Burns (Co-Director) & Juliana Velez (Projects Associate), Women’s Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), International.
“The climate crisis is fundamentally an issue of inequality; wealth inequality, as climate change is caused by the historical exploitation of the world’s resources and carbon by the wealthiest nations and individuals; and gender inequality, as patriarchal practices and gender discrimination are exacerbated by climate change. As a result, women, particularly marginalised women living in the most vulnerable countries of the Global South, are paying the highest price of a development model they haven’t benefited from. To challenge this status quo and bring about climate justice, women-led local climate justice movements need to be supported and strengthened. The ‘Women Act for Climate Justice: Ten Days of Global Mobilization’ will help this objective by amplifying those local women’s movements critical to address the threats and responses to climate change,” explained Titi Soentoro, Focal Point of the Climate Justice Organising Committee of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Indonesia
A diverse group of ‘Women Act for Climate Justice: Ten Days of Global Mobilization’ spokes-women are ready to engage with press at any time.
Full details, submission portal and global action gallery available at: wecaninternational.org/womenactforclimatejustice