Justice and Sustainability

Press Release: COP28 – An Urgent Call for Gender Just Climate Finance

The climate crisis continues to escalate, and the urgency for meaningful solutions has never been more palpable. As world leaders gather for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP28), it's crucial that grassroots voices  are not just heard but leading on the solutions we craft.

By FCAM | November 16, 2023

For Immediate Release

The climate crisis continues to escalate, and the urgency for meaningful solutions has never been more palpable. As world leaders gather for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP28), it’s crucial that grassroots voices  are not just heard but leading on the solutions we craft. We must recognise the climate leadership of the self-led groups of women, girls, trans and intersex within the Indigenous, Afrodescendant and rural communities that have been structurally excluded and silenced as the world grapples with climate change. In order to make that a reality, climate finance needs to be shifted away from false climate solutions and dangerous distractions, such as large scale dams and monoculture plantations. Climate financing must shift away from “scalable”-projects that have historically been linked to rising human rights violations and destruction of ecosystems, towards gender just climate solutions. 

The Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) will be present at the UNFCCC Conference with a strong and diverse delegation of partners from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

At GAGGA, we recognize the escalating climate crisis and its disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups. Our presence at COP28 is driven by the urgency to ensure that these voices are not just heard but are leading the solutions they craft. We stand firm in our commitment to champion gender just climate solutions and to call out the false climate solutions that lead to human rights violations and the destruction of ecosystems.

As a means of supporting and amplifying these voices, GAGGA has engaged in in-depth discussions with various partners, yielding insightful conversations that spotlight the unique challenges and solutions these communities offer, including a conversation around the need for and importance of alternative spaces like African People’s Counter COP against inaccessible spaces like COP28. Journalists and media personnel interested in connecting with these partners for interviews can reach out for firsthand narratives on climate justice from diverse perspectives. Highlighted articles include:

Continuing this momentum of impactful dialogue, GAGGA will also host a Side Event at COP28. This event will further explore the themes and discussions raised by our partners, emphasizing the crucial role of gender just climate policy and finance. Scheduled for Sunday, 3rd December, the side event will spotlight the vital role of women-led community-based organizations in driving impactful climate solutions and discuss the challenges they face in accessing climate finance.

We invite journalists and media personnel to engage with our partners for richer, in-depth stories and interviews. For inquiries or collaborations, please contact:

About GAGGA

The Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action is led by the Costa Rica-based Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (FCAM) in collaboration with consortium partners Both ENDS, a global environmental justice NGO, and Mama Cash, a women’s fund working internationally, both based in the Netherlands. Since 2016, GAGGA has built a unique network that strengthens the capacities of mainly women-led community-based organizations (CBOs) from the Global South to lobby and advocate for women’s rights to water, food security and a clean, healthy and safe environment. In strategic partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), GAGGA has supported the expansion of women’s leadership in local environmental justice and women’s rights movements, which has led to successful collaborative direct lobby and advocacy (L&A) with impressive results. Building on this momentum, since 2021, GAGGA has set out to play a decisive role in climate mitigation and adaptation processes by incorporating the voices and leadership of women from the Global South. The urgent focus on climate change comes directly from women on the frontlines of resistance within the most marginalized and climate-impacted communities of GAGGA’s network in OECD-DAC countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and Europe.