The event is sponsored by the European Union’s EUROCLIMA+ and EUROsociAL+ programs, with technical support from the ECLAC.

August 23, 2021, Santiago, Chile. While Latin America and the Caribbean accounts for less than 10% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the region is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. These are exacerbated by social and gender inequality, which increases fragility and decreases resilience.

In September 2021, the Government of Chile, as COP25 President and through the ministries of Environment, Foreign Relations and Women and Gender Equality, will hold the Regional Meeting on Climate Change and Gender Equality. The event is sponsored by the European Union’s EUROCLIMA+ and EUROsociAL+ programs, with technical support from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), as key strategic partners in climate action and alignment between Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Also, this event has the collaboration of United Nations System in Chile, with financial support from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. 

The meeting will consist of several virtual sessions throughout September 2021. The sessions will show experiences, good practices, challenges and opportunities for integrating gender equality in climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and in the roadmap for implementation of the Paris Agreement.  The event is aimed at national, regional and global decision makers, academia, the media and civil society.  

“Understanding the differentiated impacts of climate change on men and women, whose disparities continue to be reproduced and heightened with the effects of climate change, is key to orienting, with the approach of gender equality, the design and implementation of policies, plans and actions to most effectively address this great global challenge in our region,” indicated Carolina Schmidt, Chile’s Minister of Environment. 

One of the main achievements of the Twenty-fifth Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25), presided by Chile and held in Madrid in December 2019, was the renewal and enhancement of the “Lima Work Programme on Gender” (LWPG), adopted at Lima COP20, and its “Gender Action Plan” (GAP), adopted at COP23 in Bonn-Fiji, which must continue to be implemented. 

The meeting will consequently aim to strengthen LAC capacities to manage the linkages between gender and climate change, for implementation of the Enhanced Lima Work Programme and Gender Action Plan (2020-2024) from an intersectoral stance of regional and intraregional cooperation. 

“Including a gender perspective is key for the design and implementation of adaptation and mitigation climate change strategies. We hope this meeting can facilitate the interchange of experiences in order that together, Latin America and Europe, take concrete actions to face the climate crisis with an inclusive perspective, having an impact on the empowerment of women”, said Ewout Sandker, Head of Cooperation EU-Delegation Chile.

According to Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), “this event is taking place in a moment that could be the more complex for Latin America and the Caribbean in a century, with an important regression in gender equity and women autonomy in the region. This meeting is a unique opportunity to talk about the efforts that are taking place in the road of a transformative recovery, with the potential to reduce CO2 emissions and improve women´s lives through structural changes based on strategic investments in dynamic sectors.”  

Another objective is to drive the creation and strengthening of a LAC Gender Equality and Climate Change network working on a roadmap for encouraging governments to incorporate gender equality in climate action. 

The meeting will start on the 2nd of September with a high-level panel with the presence of Carolina Schmidt, Minister of Environment of Chile; Jolita Butckevicie, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG INTA); Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC; and Maria-Noel Vaeza, UN-Women Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean.

All Tuesdays and Thrusdays of September, there will be panels showcasing experiences from Latin America and the Caribbean and also regional initiatives coming from civil society and European Union and United Nations specialized organizations.

Streaming on Euroclima+ YouTube channel

More information and registration here