03 March 2010

Gender & the Climate Change Agenda


Last night in the House of Commons Grand Committee Room, in an event chaired by WEN matron and Liberal party shadow health spokesperson, Sandra Gidley MP, WEN set out the case for ecological feminism. Our report, Gender and the Climate Change Agenda was launched giving a comphrensive overview of how the current economic and political model creates climate change and exacerbates and exploits poverty and lack of democracy in women.

The reports conclusions include a sobering fact, that women constitute up to 80% of climate refugees, thats 20 million women who have already lost their homes and livelihoods due to climate change related weather chaos. The IPCC say that extreme weather conditions are set to increase and become more frequent. The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction shows clearly that since 1970 the numbers of extreme weather events increased from around 25 per year for floods to 200 per year with incidences of droughts, wind storms and related disasters also increasing. As we discovered in Copenhagen, climate change is already causing chaos around the world and disproportionately claiming women's lives, safety and health.

Nicky Gavron, former Deputy Mayor of London, said at the launch "this is a firecracker of a report, comphrensive and will become a very, very important document." She spoke passionately about her meetings with Mayors from around the world and the Practical Cities project she was involved in targeting now 40 cities to lower their CO2 emissions. Her overriding message was that Collaboration not Competition is a recipie for success.

Peter Ainsworth is MP for East Surrey and Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Environment and Sustainable Aviation. He spoke highly of the report and its contents and urging us to remember that the recent scientific debate around the evidence of climate changes were irrelevant.

Natalie Bennett from the Green Party, Tamsin Omond from Climate Rush, Eugenie Harvey from the 10:10 movement, Betty Moxon from WI and Maria Adebowale from Capacity Global were also speakers at the inspirational launch event.

You can download the report free at www.wen.org.uk

No comments:

Post a Comment