“The opportunity to prevent the worst impacts of climate change will be lost forever unless the global community changes course immediately. We must act now, and we have the tools and vision with which to do so. Women in impacted territories and communities are hit the hardest by global warming, yet at the same time they are key drivers in solutions. We need to listen to them and understand that spread across the world, women are demonstrating elegant solutions, remarkable leadership and tireless resilience.”
~Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN International Executive Director
Photo by Lori Waselchuk.
The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network is honored to announce the participation of several WECAN International leaders and allies in the ‘Leaders’ Forum on Women Leading the Way: Raising Ambition for Climate Action’, event presented by by UN Women and the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice.
The event, to be held September 22, 2014, will feature Michelle Bachelet, current President of Chile, five former women presidents and prime ministers, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Graça Machel, and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, alongside women leaders from civil society organizations, frontline and Indigenous communities, and youth groups.
A WECAN International delegation will attend the Forum and participate in roundtable discussions and panels. This group of outstanding women includes Patricia Gualinga, Kichwa leader of Sarayaku Ecuador; Crystal Lameman of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Treaty 6 Canada, and Sierra Club Canada; Esperanza Martinez of Acción Ecologica, Ecuador; Thilmeeza Hussien of Voice of Women Maldives, Carmen Capriles of Reacción Climática in Bolivia, and WECAN International Co-Founder and Executive Director, Osprey Orielle Lake.
The Forum takes place one day before the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Leadership Summit, making it a crucial mobilization platform for highlighting the connection between gender equality, women’s leadership, and climate justice and solutions.
More information about the event can be found via the links below:
climateweeknyc.org/events/leaders-forum-on-women-leading-the-way-raising-ambition-for-climate-action/ unwomen.org/en