"Results of the Regional Meeting "Climate Change and Gender Equality: For gender-sensitive climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean", an event organised by Euroclima+ and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) held the high-level event.

15 November 2022., Sharm-El-Seikh, Egypt - The EUROCLIMA+ programme, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) held yesterday, 14 November, in the framework of the COP27 Gender Day, the event Results Regional Meeting "Climate Change and Gender Equality: For gender-responsive climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean".

The main objective of the event was to present the results of the “Regional Meeting on Climate Change and Gender Equality”, held in 7 sessions during September 2021, assumed by the Government of Chile in the framework of the presidency of the COP25 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as a task for the promotion of the implementation of the commitments emanating from the Lima Work Programme and its Gender Action Plan at the national and regional level.

The results of the meeting were highlighted with the launch of the publication:  Climate Action with Gender Equality: Towards a Transformative Recovery for Sustainability and Gender Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean, a collective effort of ECLAC and the EUROCLIMA programme together with EUROsociAL.

In addition, the event sought to share experiences, best practices and challenges in the region on the implementation of the UNFCCC's Enhanced Gender Action Plan (2020 -2024).

For this task, a high-level panel was formed by Teresa Ribera, Third Vice-President of the Spanish Government and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge of Spain, Maisa Rojas, Minister of the Environment of Chile, and Martha Delgado Peralta, Undersecretary of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of Mexico.

At the beginning of the event, Felice Zaccheo, Head of Unit Regional Programmes for Latin America and the Caribbean, International Partnerships of the European Union, gave welcoming remarks and highlighted the importance of the study for the work of the European Commission's Gender Action Plan III and as a tool for the promotion of women's rights in climate action both in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations and beyond.

Next, Santiago Lorenzo, head of ECLAC's Climate Change Unit, who moderated the event, gave way to the speakers.  He stated that "This study is the result of a work process with  a total of 64 government representatives from 19 Latin American and the Caribean countries, a process that is still alive and will continue to generate more work in the future"

Initially it was the turn of Ms. Teresa Ribera, Third Vice-President of Spain and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge of Spain, to comment that "in decision-making processes or the generation of opportunities, there is often a bias that inhibits the presence of women and favours the presence or over-participation of men. This requires a direct analysis". She also said that closing the gaps requires "the favourite combination of the Sustainable Development Goals and what has the most impact is educating and empowering girls. Enabling and ensuring that girls grow up with sufficient education and conviction that they have a lot to contribute and that they can do it," she said.

Maisa Rojas, Chile's Minister of the Environment, stressed that "we have built a world in which territories and communities have paid the costs of the development of an unequal world, with high levels of pollution and often with a woman's face. The transition must be socio-ecological and have a seal of justice". She added that "without gender equality there is no sustainable development. It is as simple and profound as that. An unequal world, with unequal societies, and in which women have unfortunately played a very small role. But we, who have not played a role in provoking the crisis, are going to have to play a very important role in solving it”.

Finally, Martha Delgado Peralta, Mexican Under-Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, explained that in the midst of these climate negotiations, a pandemic was underway, where women's inequality was exposed, as women were the ones who suffered the most from the care crisis, which also caused them to migrate. In the face of the climate crisis, "we cannot see women carrying the full burden of the crisis on their backs again, as happened with the covid crisis", she added. Undersecretary Delgado added that, "for this reason, Mexico has also designed a Gender and Environment Action Plan to align all agencies and secretariats, laws and government orders so that we all row in the same direction."

Finally, Kata Tutto, Deputy Mayor of Budapest (Hungary) who led an opinion on gender equality and climate change in 2021 with the aim of reinforcing the gender approach of the European Green Pact; shared a message from the Committee of the Regions (advisory body of the European Union).

The Regional Meeting was organised by the COP25 Presidency, through the Ministries of the Environment, Foreign Affairs and Women and Gender Equality of Chile, and was developed thanks to the support of the European Union, through its EUROCLIMA+ and EUROsociAL Programmes, with the technical support of ECLAC, as key strategic partners in climate action and to connect the dots between the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations System in Chile and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg also collaborated.

The Regional Meeting aimed to exchange best practices, challenges and opportunities in Latin American and Caribbean countries in terms of integrating a gender perspective in national strategies, plans and policies for mitigation and adaptation to climate change. It also contributed to strengthening the capacities of decision-makers to implement the Lima Work Programme and its enhanced Gender Action Plan (2020-2024). This meeting also sought to highlight, from a gender perspective, the synergies between the climate change agenda and other sustainable development agendas, promoting new approaches to address climate change policies, in light of the impacts and lessons learned from the pandemic caused by COVID-19.

The Meeting highlighted the need to continue promoting multilateral, bilateral and triangular cooperation on the gender-environment nexus: through spaces such as the Forum of Ministers of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, the future Conferences of the Parties to the Escazú Agreement and the implementation of its Work Plan, the Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean, the negotiation of the Gender Plan for the Post 2020 Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which should be approved at the next COP 15, the coalition "Feminist Action for Climate Action" of the Generation Equality Forum 2021, and at the next COP 27 on Climate Change, among other key spaces to promote women's participation and environmental decision-making.

The Regional Meeting on Climate Change and Gender Equality showed the coincidence in the needs and challenges that make up a common agenda in this area among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Likewise, although the objective of creating a network as such was not achieved, the bilateral exploratory meetings held with all the countries and the Government of Chile, with the technical support of ECLAC, together with the other instances that the Meeting promoted, can be considered a prelude to the creation of a Network for Gender Equality and Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean if the parties so consider.

 

You can download the document at the following link:

https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones/48413-accion-climatica-igualdad-genero-recuperacion-transformadora-la-sostenibilidad

 

About EUROCLIMA+ 

EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union and co-financed by the German federal government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as well as by the governments of France and Spain through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. 

The Programme's mission is to reduce the impact of climate change and its effects in 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting mitigation, adaptation, resilience and climate investment. It is implemented according to the "Spirit of Team Europe" under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the AFD Group: the French Development Agency (AFD)/ Expertise France (EF), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH, and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Contacts 

Marina Casas CEPAL

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