At the last round of climate negotiations in Dubai, Parties to the UNFCCC decided that the “global stocktake” should serve as a basis for increasing the ambition of national climate targets, inter alia to ensure that climate policies are aligned with the new biodiversity targets. Therefore, we and our partner organisation ENDA-Colombia organised and participated in several events during the COP16 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali, to give concrete examples of feminist climate and biodiversity actions, and present the results achieved so far in the project.  

Our partner, ENDA-Colombia organised the panel discussion “Integrating women’s perspectives in biodiversity conservation and the NDCs”. This event took place in the ‘Green Zone’, described by the Colombian COP Presidency as the ‘COP of the people’, and was attended by more than 40 people. The panel discussed the need to strengthen women’s participation in the formulation and implementation of environmental plans and public policies, such as the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).  

The main panel was attended by women leaders and defenders of water and territory from Colombia and Peru, and a representative of the Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Jessica Pinilla Orozco. The participants in the panel talked about their work to protect the environment and to create spaces for women’s advocacy and participation in community and political processes. They also highlighted progress on gender mainstreaming in national policies, plans and strategies often remain on paper, or do not consider different local contexts, thereby making women’s local actions invisible.  

In the second part of the event, two participants presented a set of recommendations from a women’s perspective for the update of Colombia’s NDCs. These recommendations are being developed in the course “Women in action: learning and acting on climate change” and will be officially submitted to the Ministry by the end of November.  The course, coordinated by ENDA Colombia and supported by the project, brings together 38 women from local organizations from across the country to strengthen their knowledge and awareness of climate action concepts, instruments, and policies to increase their influence in decision-making spaces on climate action. 

In a more informal setting, we held exchanges with the course participants and ENDA Colombia’s team to learn more about the great work they do in their regions. Their local initiatives include recycling in urban centres, the implementation of edible and productive forests, the conservation of ecosystems and species, programmes for biodiversity conservation and social appropriation of knowledge and the defense of territory and the rights of ethnic communities. 

Furthermore, WECF Executive Director, Sascha Gabizon, spoke in different panels, where she advocated for gender transformative financing for biodiversity protection and climate action. 

One of these events was the panel ‘Defending the women who defend the planet’, organized by UN Women. The side event was opened by the UN Women Regional Director for Americas and the Caribbean, Maria Noel Vaeza, Colombian Vice-minister of Women, Tamara Ospina, and the European Union Ambassador in Colombia, Gilles Bertrand. After their opening statements, a roundtable with international leaders, including Sascha, took place. In her intervention, Sascha called for divestment from sectors that pollute and damage the environment and indigenous peoples’ livelihoods, and instead strengthening capacities and investing in women and their local communities. The event was closed with the statements of the Minister Counsellor and Deputy Ambassador of the German Embassy in Colombia, Simon Herchen, and the UN Women representative in Colombia, Bibiana Aido.