A round table on the “Women Rise for All” platform was organised by the United Nations Partnership Office at the Creator Hub, and underscored women’s leadership in scaling up sustainable solutions for the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The UN Deputy Secretary-General herself, Amina Mohammed, speaking by video, reiterated the point: “Women are on the front line of the climate battle. As scientists, legislators, indigenous leaders and youth activists, they are fighting to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal alive.”
The women speakers pledged to follow the outcomes of Cop28 closely, particularly on the thorny issue of funding for a just energy transition, from the phasing out of fossil fuels to the introduction and development of clean energy.
But to do this, women need to “count” at the decision-making tables. Once again, in short, it is a question of rights.
This was stressed by the Executive Director of UN Women, Sima Bahous: “Women’s and girls’ rights must be at the heart of climate action, here at COP28 too. We must ensure that women have a seat at the decision-making table.
We must strengthen inclusive decision-making so that the voices of feminists, young people, indigenous peoples and other grassroots movements can be heard loud and clear, from the local to the global level.”
A concrete example of the importance of women’s role in the ecological transition was provided by Ignacia de la Rosa, a community leader from San Antero in the Cispatá region of Colombia. Ignacia described her demanding and far from easy work on a “blue carbon” project aimed at conserving and restoring the coastal mangrove forests in the Sinú River basin in Colombia.
Speaking to UN News, Ms De la Rosa recalled how heavy the offensive against the mangroves, driven by agriculture, cattle farming and the building materials industry, has been in Colombia.
“A key challenge,” she said, “is to manage the forest sustainably so that the community can continue to receive the benefits it offers, keep people connected to their forests and make sure they live there and keep their livelihoods.”
Ignacia has put all this into practice. And with a mix of sustainable mangrove-use practices, she has not only protected a natural resource, but that resource now also provides lucrative tourism income from the birdwatchers and conservationists who visit the area.
