The Government of Chile, in its capacity as chair of COP25, will hold the Regional Conference on Climate Change and Gender Equality in September 2021, through its ministries of the Environment, Foreign Affairs and Women and Gender Equality. The event is supported by the European Union, through its EUROsociAL+ and EUROCLIMA+ programmes, with the technical support of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) as key strategic partners in climate action and to fill in the spaces between the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. The encounter also has the collaboration of the United Nations System of Chile and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
The event, which will be 100% virtual, will be carried out through various sessions that will take place during September 2021. The sessions will show experiences, good practices, challenges and opportunities to integrate gender equality in climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean and in the implementation roadmap of the Paris Agreement. The meeting is aimed at decision makers at a national, regional and global level, academia, the media and civil society.
“Understanding the differentiated impacts of climate change on men and women, whose disparities continue to reproduce and increase with the effects of climate change, is key to orient, with a gender equality approach, the design and implementation of policies, plans and actions aimed at facing this great global challenge more effectively in our region”, said Carolina Schmidt, Chile’s Minister of the Environment and Chairwoman of COP25.
The 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, chaired by Chile and held in Madrid in December 2019, had as one of its main achievements the renewal and strengthening of the “Lima Work Programme on Gender” (PTLG), adopted at COP20 in Lima, and its“ Gender Action Plan” (PAG), adopted at COP23 in Bonn-Fiji, which require continued implementation.
This encounter seeks to strengthen the capacities of Latin America and the Caribbean countries to manage the links between gender and climate change, in order to implement the Lima Work Programme and its reinforced Gender Action Plan (2020-2024) from a perspective of inter-sectoral regional and intraregional cooperation.
“The inclusion of the gender perspective is fundamental for the design and implementation of adaptation and mitigation strategies vis-à-vis climate change. We hope that this encounter will facilitate the exchange of experiences so that together, Latin America and Europe can undertake specific action to tackle the climate crisis with an inclusive perspective and that allows the empowerment of women”, said Ewout Sandker, head of cooperation of the Union European in Chile.
Alicia Bárcena, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, said that “this event occurs at a time that may be the most complex that the Latin American and Caribbean region has experienced in the last century, which has led to significant setbacks for gender equality and the autonomy of women in the region. This encounter is a unique opportunity to discuss the efforts that are being carried out in the construction of roads towards a transformative recovery that, through structural changes based on strategic investments in dynamic sectors, reduce CO2 emissions and improve the lives of women.”
Among its aims, the activity seeks to promote the creation and strengthening of a Network for Gender Equality and Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean, which works on a roadmap to promote the incorporation of the gender equality and climate action approach in governments.
The encounter will begin on 2 September with a high-level panel comprising the Minister of the Environment of Chile, Carolina Schmidt; the director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the General Directorate of International Associations (DG INTA), Jolita Butkeviciene; the executive secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena; and the director for the Americas and Caribbean Region of UN Women, María–Noel Vaeza.
Throughout September, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, panels will be held relating experiences in Latin American and Caribbean countries and regional initiatives developed by specialised organisations of the European Union, United Nations and civil society.
The event will be broadcast on YouTube by the Chilean Ministry of the Environment and EUROCLIMA+.
More information and registration here
Source: COP25 Chile
