By Fab\u00edola Ortiz<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MARRAKECH (IDN) \u2013 Establishing a clear path forward and including women and girls in global efforts on climate change were some of the biggest challenges the delegations and non-state actors faced at the latest United Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Formally known as the Twenty-Second Conference of Parties (COP22<\/a>), the conference had a special day (November 14) for discussing exclusively gender issues within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStudy after study has shown that women are the most vulnerable to climate change and that\u2019s why there is a need for strong leadership on this issue,\u201d said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need to prioritise women\u2019s demands and offer the proper responses to climate change,\u201d Mariam Diallo-Dram\u00e9, President of the Association of Women Leaders and Sustainable Development (AFLED<\/a>) told IDN. AFLED is based in Bamako, Mali, and works to empower girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diallo-Dram\u00e9 explained that because adaptation to climate change is inextricably related to access to education, climate adaptation must therefore also envision a holistic solution of educating women and sending girls to school. \u201cWe work to empower girls\u2019 citizenship and to involve them in decision-making, we encourage them to be part of political scenario in Mali,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women in the Sahel region are responsible for the well-being of the family, often having to walk long distances to fetch water and food on unsafe roads, she noted, adding that \u201cresources are rare in the Sahara region, and most of the time men leave women to farm. They have their own traditional methods for adaptation, but it is not enough, they need help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an African voice advocating for gender issues to be included in the climate talks in Marrakech, Diallo-Dram\u00e9 regretted that this issue was not being properly addressed in the negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have the feeling that in those high-level meetings we, African women from the Sahel, are going to stay behind because we are not there at the table. We are not able to address the gender issue in our countries, governments don\u2019t understand, all legislation regarding gender and human rights is just on paper and is not being implemented. When you talk about climate justice it is going to be for the West and not for us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the last two weeks at COP22 (November 7-18, 2016), country delegations negotiated implementation of the new global agreement to tackle climate change adopted in Paris in 2015. The Paris Agreement embraces a language sensitive to gender equality and recognises Parties\u2019 responsibility to respect and promote human rights obligations through climate change action calling for \u201cgender-responsive adaptation measures and capacity-building activities\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Marrakech, Parties were expected to carry on with the Lima Work Programme on Gender<\/a> \u2013 which is a two-year work programme on gender launched at COP20 in 2014. Civil society groups had strongly advocated a clear plan of action on gender within the UNFCCC and financial support for the activities under the Lima Work Programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe start from the point that we are not victims, we are advancing now on the discourse of empowerment,\u201d Mait\u00e9 Rodr\u00edguez Bland\u00f3n, coordinator for the Guatemala Foundation<\/a> in the Central American country, told IDN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cClimate resilience will come from empowering women in their communities. Women are very well organised at the local level and they know their role. We focus on changing the perception from being a victim to becoming a key actor and protagonist for change.\u201d Bland\u00f3n leads the Women and Peace Network in Central America with grassroots women\u2019s organisations from Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras. Her work has focused on grassroots women\u2019s movements struggling for land rights, women\u2019s rights and safer cities for women over the past decade.She said that there was too much dialogue and not enough action at COP22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have seen an increasing participation of indigenous and women\u2019s groups that used to be unthinkable in the past. The Lima Work Programme on Gender was very short and you don\u2019t see the mention of women empowerment in the text. It has evolved with no doubt, we have achieved higher levels of conscious, but we don\u2019t want to be at the periphery. We need to see more concrete actions\u201d, she stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n