WUNRN
Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network International
http://wecaninternational.org/declaration#.VfSESa3ovmJ
TO SIGN ON DECLARATION, SCROLL DOWN WEBSITE, SIGN &
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Women of the World Call for
Urgent Action on
Climate Change & Sustainability Solutions - Declaration
We are the mothers and the
grandmothers, sisters and daughters, nieces and aunts, who stand together to
care for all generations across our professions, affiliations and national
identities.
We are teachers and
scientists, farmers and fishers, healers and helpers, workers and business
peoples, writers and artists, decision-makers and activists, leaders and
thinkers. We work in the halls of power, the halls of faith and the halls of
our homes.
We are gathering to raise our voices to advocate for an Earth-respecting cultural narrative,
one of “restore, respect, replenish” and to replace the narrative of
“domination, depletion and destruction” of nature.
We are committed to a transition from a future of peril to a future of promise, to rally the
women around the world to join together in action at all levels until the
climate crisis is solved.
PREAMBLE
Climate change threatens life as we know it on our one and only home
planet. Our children, our grandchildren and all future generations are in
danger. Natural systems upon which all living things depend are in jeopardy.
The world’s governments have committed to avoiding a global temperature
rise of 2.0 C degrees. But emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GhGs) are setting us
on a course toward a likely 4.0 C (7.2 degrees F) temperature rise. Scientists
repeatedly warn this will cause unprecedented, large-scale disruptions of human
and natural systems, food and water insecurity, and untold loss of life.
We are experiencing more frequent, extreme weather events, droughts, floods
and displacement of millions around the world.
International commitments and national responses of governments have not
been equivalent to the escalating urgency and local communities are bearing the
brunt.
Humanity is in a crisis - a dangerous, carbon fueled, urgent climate
crisis. This crisis is not only a scientific reality, but also demands the
moral imperative to act. Future generations depend upon our capacity to solve
climate change before it is too late.
The time is now to usher in a sustainable future.
Among the most severely vulnerable to climate change are women, Indigenous
Peoples, and those who live in extreme poverty. Climate disruption, including
disasters and their enduring effects, is jeopardizing livelihoods and
well-being around the world.
Unsustainable consumption and production reverses development gains in the
global North and the global South: Women and men of industrialized nations have
a responsibility to educate themselves, examine their worldviews, commit to
action, and lead by example.
No one person, organization, community, province, region, or nation is
capable of solving the challenge of climate change alone. This is a time for
collaboration at a global level as never before required.
We are coming together to demand a just and necessary transition from
fossil fuels to renewable energy, to reduce consumption by our families and
communities and to actively embrace a high quality-low footprint lifestyle.
We are coming together to embrace a new way of living with each other and
the Earth.
We have a choice: between a path of continued peril and a path towards
climate justice and a safe and clean energy future. We can and must join
together as women to take action with common but differentiated
responsibilities for achieving sustainability.
We must act now for ourselves, for future generations, for all living
things on Mother Earth.
DECLARATION
We are gathering from diverse cultures and backgrounds.
We are gathering from diverse nationalities, faiths, families and professions.
We are gathering in defense of our children, grandchildren, and the generations beyond.
We are gathering in defense of the animals, plants and natural systems that are under siege.
We are gathering and uniting in solidarity to grow the global women’s movement for climate
action and sustainable solutions.
We are gathering to put the world on notice that women will take action at all levels to
avert the trajectory of a 4 degrees C (7.2 degrees F) rise in global
temperatures.
We are gathering to ensure that the sovereignty of communities to design and determine their
own destinies into a thriving future is respected.
We are gathering to take action and chart a new course.
The science is clear. There is no more debate. The time
for action is NOW.
We will answer humanity’s increased vulnerability with
our increased commitment.
We know that while women are among the most negatively
impacted by climate disruption, we are also key to creating climate solutions.
We stand together to accelerate a Global Women’s Climate
Action Movement.
We, the undersigned, call on ourselves, our communities,
and our governments to:
Cancel plans for future carbon developments and
deforestation and bring atmospheric CO2 concentrations back below 350 ppm;
Divest from dangerous and dirty fossil fuel developments
– coal fired power plants, oil shale fracking, deep-water oil drilling and Tar
Sands and rapidly phase out fossil fuel subsidies;
Put a price on carbon and implement carbon-fees and
Financial Transaction Taxes;
Call for urgent action prior to 2020, in order to
accelerate the phase-out of greenhouse gas pollution and to close the gap
between the science and national pledges; action is needed at all levels, from
the grassroots to the United Nations;
Negotiate and ratify a binding, international climate
treaty of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to
reduce carbon emissions;
Prioritize adaptation funding to build community
resilience for those most affected by climate change in existing climate funds
under the UNFCCC;
Increase available funding for adaptation and ensure that
community-based groups, including women’s groups, have direct access to those
adaptation funds;
Invest in an energy revolution with massive and swift
expansion of conservation, energy efficiency, and safe energy by
·
implementing
radically increased efficiency standards and
·
generating 100% of
all new electricity from renewables
·
incentivizing
conservation and reduction of consumption, especially in the Global North;
Recognize that the transition to renewable energy does
not justify or require a massive increase in mega hydro dams, biofuels and
major monoculture biomass plantations that cause displacement, food insecurity,
human rights abuses and deforestation;
Prioritize natural forest protection and increase funding
for natural reforestation;
Reject Greenhouse Gas emissions reductions schemes that
come from high-risk technologies which create irreversible damage to human and
planetary health including tar sands, shale gas, nuclear energy, and
geo-engineering;
Embrace and implement common but differentiated
responsibilities to solve the climate crisis between the global North and
global South;
Implement new economic indicators and structures that
encourage sustainability, Buen Vivir (living well), and abandon models for
limitless economic growth;
Recognize that the planet’s freshwater heritage is under
threat and that abuse, over-extraction and displacement of water is a major
cause of climate chaos. Essential to the recovery of climate stability is a
strong plan to conserve, protect and restore the world’s watersheds and rebuild
the health of aquatic ecosystems;
Take action to protect one of our essential life support
systems – the world’s wild oceans – as a start, protect 20% of the world’s
oceans by 2020 and 40% by 2040 in marine preserves and sanctuaries;
Fulfill existing international agreements on women’s
equality and climate change by
·
ensuring
implementation of gender-responsive climate change policy and programs
·
ensuring all climate
financial mechanisms embrace the internationally agreed principles on gender
equality, non-discrimination, human rights and women’s empowerment
·
recognizing that
gender-sensitive climate policy benefits men, women, children and the planet;
Respect and learn from the Traditional Ecological
Knowledge, wisdom and experience of the world’s Indigenous Peoples;
Respect and implement the Rights of Women, the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, the Rights of Nature and the Rights of Future Generations;
Take individual action on a daily basis to avert climate
chaos and to implement solutions at all levels.
This is the clarion call to the women and men of the
world.
Please join us by sharing this Declaration and by taking
urgent action for climate change and sustainability solutions.
This Declaration was ratified by
Delegates
to the International Women’s
Earth and Climate Summit
September 20-23, 2013, New York,
USA
The Women's Climate Declaration
and collected signatures will be delivered to world government's at United
Nations COP21 climate negotiations in Paris this December 2015, as part of a
collective signature campaign organized by GCCA.
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