Role of women in climate action recognised at UN climate conf

The Fiji Presidency has announced the Gender Action Plan, highlighting the role of women in climate action as the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 23), in Bonn, Germany, is entering its final week of negotiations.

“This recognises the role of women in climate action,” President of COP 23 and Prime Minister of Fiji Frank Bainimarama announced at a press conference saying the States Parties had finalised the plan.

Heads of State and Government, Ministers, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be attending the high-level segment of COP 23, on November15-16.

“It is about integration of gender into all the work around climate policy – both nationally and internationally,” Chief Negotiator for the COP 23 Presidency Nazhat Shameen Khan was quoted as saying in UN news.

Also Sunday, countries and corporations announced new initiatives to cut emissions from forest use and establish sustainable forestry management programmes.

“The forests have this incredible ability to store carbon and we have underinvested in that,” said Inger Andersen, Director-General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), at a press conference on Sunday.

“Protecting and restoring the forests is absolutely key to achieving the Paris Agreement [as well as] the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

The UN World Health Organisation (WHO), in collaboration with the UN Climate Change secretariat (UNFCCC) and in partnership with the Fijian Presidency launched an initiative to protect people living in small island developing States from the health impacts of climate change.

The vision is that, by 2030, all small islands developing States will have health systems that are resilient to climate change.

Source: unb