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Oct 7, 2009
The National Coalition's Black Women's Roundtable Goes Global!
BANGKOK, THAILAND – A member of Black Women’s Roundtable hailed the granting of provisional constituency status for Women and Gender NGOs at a press conference held this week during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Bangkok Climate Change talks in Thailand. (Click here for Webcast)
“GenderCC will serve as the UN Focal Point for Women and Gender NGOs,” said Felicia Davis, a Georgia resident and US Focal Point for GenderCC, a global network of women and gender activists and experts working for gender and climate justice. “Provisional constituency status is a significant accomplishment for women,” Davis adds.
Davis, a member of The National Coalition’s Black Women’s Roundtable, thanked UNFCCC executive secretary, Yvo de Boer, for “awarding the status that will help the groups to advance gender perspectives in the climate negotiations.”
"A major task on GenderCC’s agenda is the inclusion of language referencing women in the UNFCCC’s Shared Vision," adds Titi Soentoro, South East Asia Focal Point for GenderCC. Soentoro introduced language designed to remedy the current fragmented references to women and gender throughout the draft negotiation text.
Soentoro noted that, “there are whole sections that lack any reference to women including important financing and technology transfer sections.” Soentoro referred to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who has clearly articulated the important role of women in addressing climate change when he told the UN General Assembly last month that, “Any outcome of the AWG LCA that does not clearly reference women and gender would be very weak and critically flawed.”
The press conference culminated with the sharing of the Asian Women´s Declaration adopted during a training on women and climate justice co-sponsored by GenderCC, on October 28 and 29. Esperanza Santos underscored the need to include grassroots and indigenous women in the negotiation process. Santos stressed the fact that “women are half of the world´s population, are responsible for a large share of agricultural productivity, and are most vulnerable to climate disasters.”
Gotelind Alber of Germany, international secretariat for GenderCC, was on hand along with GenderCC Steering Group Chair Anna Pinto, India, to answer questions from the audience during the press conference. Rosemary Enie, of Libera of Liberia served as moderator.
GenderCC – Women for Climate Justice is the internationally operating NGO-network aiming to integrate gender justice in climate change policy at local, national and international levels. Since COP9 in Milan (2003), women have been collectively addressing the issue of climate change at the UNFCCC under the umbrella of GenderCC. To view the webcast go to http://tiny.cc/ekwhp. For more information on GenderCC visit http://www.gendercc.net.
