Statement by the Women and Gender Constituency for the AWG - KP Closing Plenary, Copenhagen 15th December 2009

Or you can read the text:

Mr Chairman, my name is Jo Tenner, I come from Australia which is among the world’s highest per capita emitter of greenhouse gas. I speak today on behalf of GenderCC, the Gender and Women’s Constituency and the Women’s Caucus.

Gender is about all of us, men and women, it is critical to understanding the social and economic context in which policies, programs and legislation are constructed. This is no less true in the case of a global climate change agreement.

The UN Climate Change Conference has opened with an unprecedented sense of urgency to act on climate change. World leaders seeking a political framework agreement should use this momentum to find a way to balance diverse histories, perspectives and priorities in order to move forward. By anchoring the issues of adaptation and mitigation within the right to development, such an agreement could provide a framework for implementation, enhancing the capacity of countries to adapt to existing climate change challenges, and supplying the needed technology and resources to do so.

MEN have been outed as Australia's climate change laggards while women are taking the lead.

A survey conducted for the Australia Institute found women are doing more to tackle climate change, and plan to do more in the future, than men.

The most popular climate-friendly actions are installing energy-efficient light globes, spending less time in the shower and turning off appliances at the switch.

The online poll of 1000 people, who the left-leaning institute said were representative of the general population, found about 80 per cent believed climate change was occurring and Australia needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

But people weren't keen to pay the price themselves.

Most thought business and industry should carry most of the cost burden for action on climate change, while just six per cent thought individuals and households should bear the heaviest load.

Women suffer the most from consequences of climate change. Gender issues must be considered as we react to climate changes. Today UNDP Administrator Helen Clark made a commitment to focus on gender and climate change as she received a MDG3 Torch from Danish Minister of Development Cooperation Ulla Toernaes.

Adopted at the 44th session of CEDAW 20 July to 7 August, New York 2009

"The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) expresses its concern about the absence of a gender perspective in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other global and national policies and initiatives on climate change. From CEDAW’s examination of State Parties reports, it is apparent that climate change does not affect women and men in the same way and has a gender-differentiated impact..."

Ruth Bond
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 23 August 2009

When it comes to climate change talks, women are an endangered species. But our input is crucial

I am always amazed when I walk into meetings with the prime minister and groups campaigning on climate change to find that I suddenly appear to be an endangered species. As a woman involved in climate change campaigning on a national and international level, I am often left stunned to think that over half the world's population is being represented in meetings across the world by a tiny number of female voices.