COP-15

On Monday 14 December 2009 at the Bella Center I was able to sit in on a gender side event of Climate Justice. The event had four panelists and one panelist represented CARE internationalist. This organization aims at empowering women and fighting global poverty. The overall mission of CARE is to work towards hope, justice, tolerance, dignity and security.

CARE, along with the organization Practical Action, believe that true change in issues of global poverty and women’s justice issues is through not only monetary needs but through empowerment. The definition CARE gives empowerment is, “the sum total of changes needed for a woman to realize her full human rights, the combined effect of changes in her own aspirations and capabilities, the environment that influences her…” In order for a woman to fulfill aspirations as an individual she must be able to have access to new knowledge and collective groups. The idea is to sustain oneself and create personal strength. The other edge of empowerment is through changing the environment that is toxic to her. This is through deconstructing the societal norms that hold her back. For instance, the lack of the women’s voice being represented can be connected to the fact that many traditions do not allow women to own land. If a person is not allowed to own land they are stunted in power because land is a way to access credit and tools for adaptation during climate change.

CARE has many ways to include women in society by way of empowerment. The way to engage and empower women in climate change is through strengthening the livelihood of women in the context of climate change and building resilience to climate conditions but also capacity to adapt in the future. The way for women to build agency is through gaining knowledge of climate trends and having ability to analyze risks. It is necessary to build access to climate information such as seasonal forecasts and services that can facilitate adaptation such as financial services and agricultural extensions.

The most interesting thing I learned at the Women for Climate Justice side event was that gender justice issues in climate change is important because most of the time when things get tough women are disproportionately adversely effected because they are not in government or local power structures to gain access and power to lift themselves out of desperation or share their voice in the struggle. The global deal on Climate Change, even if it is not reached at COP-15, must take note of the experience of the woman especially in cases in developing nations. Organizations like CARE are working towards a true unalienable framework of change and human dignity. Gender across the board needs to feel empowered in order to depart difficult situations, and the female population faces more difficult situations in many areas around the world, so it is important that a global deal works to protect every human’s rights. Global Climate Justice needs to be happen through a strong Global deal and continued efforts such as CARE international’s framework approach.