Women want COP27 to prioritise their voices

Women, communities and Indigenous Peoples, especially in Africa and Global South have issued a statement demanding their voices be prioritized at this 27^th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, currently taking place in Sharma El Sheikh, Egypt.

The statement demands that this COP be an open, inclusive, participatory, safe and accessible space, grounded in human rights standards and principles, and strong civic participation.  “We remind Parties – for the countless time now – to move forward from words to actions; in view of the urgency to enact the rapid, systemic, and structural transformation required today,” said the statement.

It called on parties to ensure climate justice and urged the global north stop the endless cycles of oppressive debt experienced by the Global South countries AND deliver on new, additional, and direct access climate finance, especially for loss and damage. “While working on the new collective quantified goal, please do not forget the failure to deliver on the 100 billion per year by 2020,” said the statement.

According to the women working group, there is need for a shift from political speak to implementation in the review progress on the Gender Action Plan. Parties need to exercise coherence and commit to meaningful action, support and leadership on advancing gender-responsive policy. It must be linked with the Global Stocktake dialogues – prioritized and not treated as an addition.

“We demand an immediate end to false and high-risk solutions packaged as green technologies and climate actions. We need to end the privileges of corporate interventions and encourage real solutions. The undue influence of polluters must end once and for all, starting by introducing a Conflict-of-Interest policy,” noted the statement. 

Significant progress must be made to operationalize the non-market approaches as well as ensure environmental and social safeguards, including grievance mechanism, for the market approaches, for Article 6.

With COP27 being held in the African continent, the women affirmed, uplift, and celebrate African women and girls who provide exceptional leadership to protect the natural environment and fight climate change.

They demand to be heard and affirmed that there can be no climate justice without human rights.