The Women's Earth and Climate Action Network delegation is on the ground in Paris, France standing for climate justice and systemic change during United Nations COP21 climate negotiations.
Government emission reduction commitments to date are not nearly sufficient given the urgency of the crisis we face. Currently, we are involved in urgent work to keep civil society observers in the room and halt attempts to remove a key paragraph regarding respecting human and labour rights, Indigenous rights, gender equality, and the integrity of ecosystems from the binding section of the agreement.
While we remain engaged within the formal UN process in order to push for just, gender responsive policies and advocate against false climate solutions - our hopes lie with the people's climate justice movements organizing in magnificent diversity and strength in Paris and across the world in parallel to COP21 negotiations.
Last week, more than 600,000 people in 175 countries took to the streets as part of the Global Climate March. Here in Paris, WECAN joined a human chain action that stretched across the city, and paid our respects at the Bataclan theater, site of one of the tragic attacks in Paris earlier this month. In light of this wave of global violence, we are using this moment to uplift critical intersectional narratives around war, violence, extractivism, dangerous economic frameworks and women as peace-makers and solution bearers.
We are working ceaselessly to bring the voices of grassroots and Indigenous women to the forefront of events inside and outside of COP21, and uniting with allies including the Indigenous Environmental Network, Amazon Watch and the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature to send a powerful intersectional message around Rights of Nature, Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Rights of Women and Rights of Future Generations.