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On Monday, December 20, 2021, FAO’s Dryland Forestry team hosted the webinar “Climate action after COP26: Gender responsiveness from local to global” as part of the Forestry Technical Network (FTN) series. The FTN is a network aiming to ensure a high standard of technical expertise through the promotion of innovative practices in FAO’s work with forestry by providing a platform to sponsor the exchange of ideas and experiences.

In-line with the FTN mission statement, the webinar goal was to highlight the involvement of women in climate change negotiations. In 2014, the Lima Work Programme on Gender kicked off the era of integrating gender into climate change debates, which was fully supported by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).[1] However, this year’s COP26 reiterated the need to include both women and Indigenous groups into future climate change debates.[2] Women must be represented on an equal bases, and stakeholders, governmental leaders, and policy makers are encouraged to redefine their processes to ensure this inclusivity in an advanced Gender Action Plan.[3] The purpose of this event was to do just that – include women in the exchange.

With many thanks to FAO’s South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division as well as the FAO Forestry Division, this multistakeholder event took place with interpretation in 5 languages: Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, reaching as large of an audience as the WeCaN Community itself. The WeCaN Nurturing Community of Practice for women in dryland regions and agrosilvopastoral systems (WeCaN) is comprised of roughly 175 stakeholders from across 20 countries and is only 6 months old! WeCaN is both a network and platform where women from civil societies, community-based and grass-root organizations, governmental ministries, and more can come together to share knowledge, build capacities, strengthen synergies, and co-design common policy dialogue actions while overcoming common challenges. As COP26 has come to an end, and we are already more than one month in towards COP27, this FTN provided the space for the WeCaN members to discuss their opinions on COP26 and brainstorm ways to contribute to the Gender Action Plan. The four panelists who presented during the event allowed this multilevel community to understand what lies ahead on the road to COP27.

To kick off the event, Ye Anping, Director of the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division at FAO, urged for rural women to be integrated in both policy and decision-making roles. Mr. Anping asserted that gender inclusivity is fundamental to achieving equality, and no one can be left behind if we expect to tackle climate change. But, to understand how this topic became so popular, Lorena Aguilar, International Consultant at The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), provided a historical overview of the gender inclusivity successes to set the stage for this global discussion. Ms. Aguilar carefully demonstrated to the audience how gender-related considerations have been slowly integrated into recent climate negotiations. In fact, what started as a process of knowledge generation resulted in six turning point decisions and 87 mandates. Ms. Aguilar further highlighted that Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) increased from 40% to 78% since gender has been integrated into climate change negotiations. This achievement is a result of more countries developing their own Climate Change Gender Action Plans (ccGAPs) to enhance mitigation and resilience for women and men. With the expansive multistakeholder reach of the WeCaN community, it is inevitable that more women will join and continue this process of making gender an essential consideration for future climate debates.

While we have seen the progression of gender into these negotiations, its reach is still limited due to many underlying constraints, such as unequal rights to land and competition between men and women. Ilaria Sisto, Gender and Development Officer at the Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division at FAO, presented FAO’s work to support countries in integrating gender perspectives into their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), NDCs, and practices. Although 70% of rural women in South Asia and 60% of rural women in Africa are farmers, the gender gap is still around 25%.[4] If we expect gender responsiveness to be included in future negotiations, Ms. Sisto advised the audience that the first step in achieving gender equality is to close this gender gap, which can be done by ensuring equal access to resources and educating younger generations. If these small-scale steps are addressed properly, it will only benefit the position of women in the future.

Of course, women of all ages are part of this struggle, and the perspective of youth is essential to understanding the future of gender inclusivity, as youth will see future of this challenge. María Jimena Jurado Giraldo, Climate Change and Gender Specialist at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Global Youth Climate Network (GYCN) Climate Ambassador, and Member of the Official Youth Constituency of the UNFCCC (YOUNGO) showcased regional and national achievements in the Latin American and the Caribbean region following COP26. Referencing the Glasgow Women’s Leadership Statement on Gender and Climate, Ms. Jurado Giraldo demonstrated how while women and girls are creating innovative climate solutions, they remain disproportionately affected by climate change and face greater risks and burdens.[5] She also expressed that many civil societies were not satisfied with the results of COP26, as they feel they are not actually being heard in climate decisions.

Following the discussion about the youth response in Latin America, the next panellist showed a very similar situation going on in Africa. Kaossara Sani, Founder of AFRICA OPTIMISM and Executive director of the Act on Sahel movement, passionately provided her experience as a young woman activist in Togo, a country greatly suffering from climate change. Women in Africa, Ms. Sani explained, still struggle to have access to land as they are not aware of their rights. Despite being a young woman, Ms. Sani has taken steps to become a leader within her country, and acts as an example to her peers. She proposed governments to help women understand these rights and encourages men to not see women as their competitors. “The future remains in our hands as women; we cannot lose hope. We need to speak out our truths and work hard to ensure that those who are still struggling can find their freedom. Society should focus on women, not only giving us the table to talk, but empowering us and giving us the opportunity to act”.

The speakers not only illustrated the similar contexts women face across the globe, but also encouraged the audience to really come together and strengthen their stance. Fortunately, WeCaN provides the perfect space for these women to build a strong position and tackle the challenge of climate change for the years to come. Following the fantastic presentations from the panelists, the event concluded with an engaging dialogue.

Considering its global reach, WeCaN members posed their questions from the position of the country of which they represented. For instance, Ruth Simpson from International Alert, Lebanon, inquired about “the entry points for communities to concretely and constructively engage in climate action at local, national and global levels post COP26.” Fernanda Monteiro, professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, asked for more information on how to make governments understand the key role of women. Maha Mousa of WADI NGO in Jordan wanted to learn more about how COP27 will be different than COP26 in terms of gender representation, and if civil societies led specifically by women will be present. Pendo Daudi of Barefoot College in Tanzania focused on the topic of men viewing women as competitors and asked the panel how to ensure that women from rural and poor areas are represented in international events. In response, while Ms. Aguilar provided some context for COP27, Ms. Sisto insisted that we transform our social norms and promote gender transformative approaches. Ms. Sani expressed that the voice of women alone can lead to change, while Ms. Jurado Giraldo insisted on the strengthening of communication between stakeholders.

However, as we can see, no matter where these women geographically come from, their concerns are all related under one simple question: how can women get involved and make a difference? This is exactly the question that brought the WeCaN Community together. By creating a platform for women across the globe to share concerns, express opinions, and seek responses to common challenges, women, despite their societal status, occupation, or age can come together and make a difference. This open discussion clarified that both gender and climate change are inherently connected, and it requires a multifaceted global reach if any improvements are expected to be made.