MORE ABOUT OUR FOUNDING HISTORY
Prior to the transformation from the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus (WECC) to the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International – WECC carried out initiatives including:
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WECC organized over forty forums and events highlighting women’s leadership in climate change action, including one that was live-streamed to millions of viewers worldwide in conjunction with the 2010 Week of UN Peace Day.
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In 2011, WECC organized and hosted a forum on women’s leadership and climate change during the United Nations 19th Commission on Sustainable Development.
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At the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June 2012, WECC organized and hosted a UN Side Event, entitled “Women Leading the Way: Mobilizing for an Equitable, Resilient and Thriving Future”. The event highlighted women worldwide as innovators and change-agents necessary to mitigating and adapting to climate change and environmental degradation, while also demonstrating a path forward through cross-sector and cross-cultural solutions built from the grassroots up.
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WECC served on the Women’s Major Group for advocacy at the Rio+20 Earth Summit
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WECC partnered with leaders from the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature to host two major events at Rio+20 Summit and contributed to a Rio+20 report about Rights of Nature.
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In February 2013, WECC organized a delegation of women leaders to advocate opposition to and alternatives to the XL Keystone Pipeline in Washington D.C. These women leaders included First Nations women from Alberta, Canada along with women farmers from Texas. A meeting was also organized with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) so the women leaders could present their cases against the pipeline to the EPA and advocate for swift action. Due to this effort, in addition to advocacy work by many other environmental groups, the EPA issued a strong critique of the U.S. State Department’s evaluation and defense of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
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2011-2013 WECC conducted trainings in bioregional knowledge, skills and resilient community development as well as Rights of Nature, water conservation and renewable energy trainings.