DAWN Members Advocate for Women in Climate Change Negotiations, Andean Countries
DAWN Alumna Speaks
Although the countries of the Andean Community - Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia - emit very low levels of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in relation to developed countries, these countries are the ones predicted to suffer more severe climate change impacts[1]. Characterized as a megadiverse region, not only for the high biodiversity levels found in its wide territory, but also because of their ethnic and cultural diversity, the area is currently threatened by the impacts that have already been recorded due to climate change.
Almost 10% of freshwater reserves in the world are within the Andean region[2]; it is the second reservoir of freshwater on the planet. Much of this fresh water is in the form of glaciers crowning the mountain tops. A 1º C increase in global temperature has already led to the loss of permafrost in several summits. This was the case of the Chacaltaya glacier located at 5,200 meters above sea level that in 2009 became the first tropical glacier monitored to disappear, despite calculations that the glaciers will exist until 2015[3]. This alarming fact has alerted the people who depend on water from snow-ice melting for domestic supply, productive activities and in many cases power supply.
A large number of urban centers in the region including capital cities and big towns like the cities of La Paz, El Alto and Quito are threatened, unless urgent action is taken that would preserve and make available the resource.
Climate Change Impacts and Women's Role in the Andean Community
Despite efforts to raise joint global and regional strategies to protect water sources, it is a fact that if the global temperature increases at the current pace, the loss of fresh water may become irreversible in a short time. When this happens, the poorest populations that are vulnerable to extreme events will be most affected. Moreover, the big impact will be felt by the poor women in the region. Andean women, often victims of illiteracy, low income and lack of access to resources, already face a complex of challenges in performing their household and community function of water provisioning in their differentiated geographical contexts.
In the Andean highlands, agriculture is the most important productive system and irrigation one of the main activities. Nevertheless, the participation of women is low mainly due to the fact that harnessing irrigation waters from melting glaciers is both tedious and harsh. Water usually reach very low temperatures, often just above freezing point.[4] In the tropical lowlands where the Amazon is found, the wet seasons bring extreme levels of rainfall, producing floods in some of the main cities. When this happens, it becomes very hard to access drinking water as all kinds of waste mix with water sources.[5] Whereas, during the dry season, water sources may dry up and water access points may get clogged with forest wastes.
The driest ecosystem found within the Andean Community is the Chaco region, southwest of Bolivia. Chaco is the territory of the Guarani People. The Guarani People's Assembly (GPA), comprised of senior officials, is one of the most important decision-making spaces in the area. Early on in its 4th meeting, women have succeeded in gaining increased participation as delegates to the GPA's Council of Captains. Despite this, women's leadership in irrigation systems projects that require technical knowhow remains insignificant.[6] Today a number of water projects are being implemented in the Andean region where water-filled canals are built around the field ridges. These climate adaptation projects are utilizing women, showing good results in water use and reducing the amount of crops lost to floods.[7] As shown in the graph, women's participation in micro-irrigation system depended on the complexity of the design. The participation of women is high in more simple irrigation projects but dramatically drops in more complex project systems.
Women in the WPCCC
In April 2010, the World People's Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth's Rights took place in Tiquipaya City of Cochabamba, Bolivia. People from all corners of the planet gathered around to participate in the 18 working controversy tables that were set up to find solutions to the emerging problems brought by climate change. Despite the fact that women were one of the main social groups affected by any environmental change[8], the conclusions of the WPCCC absolutely glossed over this fact. In this regard, the conclusions of the Conference were weak because these did not capture the real problems that poor women faced due to global warming. While it is important to create and open new spaces where women could participate, especially in decision-making, it is equally important to address capacity issues in relation to building new strategies to confront the climate change challenge, as well as, to engage in participatory approaches toward water management strategies.
The 14th point of the declaration of the World People´s Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth's Rights says: "14. We urge States and international organizations making decisions about climate change, particularly the UNFCCC, establish formal structures and mechanisms that include the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, local communities and vulnerable groups including women, without discrimination as the key to obtain a fair and equitable outcome of the negotiations on climate change." (WPCCC declaration, April, 2010)
*Carmen Capriles is a graduate of the 2007 DAWN Training Institute and is currently involved with Reaccion Climatico. This article is also available in DAWN Informs June 2010 Issue
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[1]Secretaria General de la Comunidad Andina (2009) ESTRATEGIA ANDINA PARA LA GESTIÓN INTEGRADA DE LOS RECURSOS HÍDRICOS EA-GIRH
[2]Becerra, M.T. (2009) CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO EN LA REGIÓN ANDINA: EFECTOS Y ACCIONES EN EL MARCO DE LA AGENDA AMBIENTAL ANDINA, Área de Medio Ambiente CAN
[3]Ramirez, E. (2008) en Cambio Climático, Adaptación y Retroceso de los Glaciares (2008) Vol. 2(3) Revista Virtual REDESMA/CEBEM
[4]Gose, P. (2001) "Aguas Mortíferas y Cerros Hambrientos; Ritos Agrarios y Formación de Clases en un Pueblo Andino" Ed. Mamahuaco, Perú p. 112-137
[5]C.Capriles, CIPCA (2009) Diagnostico de Percepciones sobre Cambio Climático en cuatro macro eco regiones de Bolivia, La Paz (not published)
[6]van Dixhoon, N (1996) Manejo de agua en el Chaco Guaraní, CIPCA-Chaco, Bolivia
[7]OXFAM (2009) Bolivia Cambio Climático, Pobreza y Adaptación, La Paz
[8]WEDO (2007) Changing the Climate: Why Women's Perspectives Matter
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Reflections About Feminist Activist Strategy in a Fierce New World: Are We Playing Their Game? by Nicole Bidegain
Common Understanding
At the DAWN Development Debates, the majority of us agreed that we are living in a period of multiple crises; that those crises are interlinked and are a consequence of an unsustainable economic model which produces and reproduces inequality and exclusion. We also shared the analysis that we are moving to a multi-polar world, with new players such as some middle-income countries that claim their space in the global governance complex. Furthermore, the decline of nation state power and the United Nation's role at the global governance was also noticed. In this sense, a hidden governance composed by the OECD, World Bank and IMF was identified. These institutions have, of course, enormous power as well as very little legitimacy, and they are complemented with the leadership of a club of countries called Group of 20 (G20) that is willing to replace G192 (UN country members). This analysis makes me ask some questions. What is the role of feminists in this context? Which are the global advocacy spaces we need to prioritize? Are we contributing to social transformation or are we playing their game?
Naming the Contradictions
Since I started to engage with global UN advocacy for women´s rights, I began to realize that civil society activists and specially feminists, professionalize themselves in some issues and jump from one UN site or Conference to another bringing the agenda on the floor. In most of the cases this is a reactive advocacy strategy that depends on what issues are being reviewed or the commitments that are not being accomplished by governments in the agreed deadlines. In my view, it is most important to realize that we, as civil society organizations and movements, interact with the same players in different arenas and we should make them aware about the contradictions in their engagements and actions. For instance, while the EU is promoting human rights and women's empowerment and pushing commitments on Official Development Assistance (ODA) at the UN, it also advocates for free trade agreements, criminalizes migration and refuses to cut farm subsidies that affect the global south. In addition to that, according to Global Financial Integrity, for every dollar sent by Western countries to Africa in ODA, 10 dollars are coming back as illicit capital flows to Western countries.[1] I firmly believe that it is our role to challenge double discourses and name these contradictions when we advocate in different global spaces.
Focusing our Energies
At the DDD I asked a participant, "Why do we continue to advocate in the United Nations?" She responded: "Because we have a voice there". I was astonished because I expected a different answer. In my view, we should continue to work at the UN level because we believe it is the most legitimate space where global decisions on economics should be taken, or because we want to strengthen UN to recover its power but not because civil society have an expertise there and a recognized voice. We should refocus and question ourselves: Where are the real political decisions taking place at the global level and how can we influence those decisions? To conclude, in a world where Federacion Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has more members than the United Nations and transnational corporations have more power than many countries, I strongly believe that the feminist movement should extend the global advocacy from the UN to other spaces such as the Bretton Wood Institutions, World Trade Organizations and regional bodies where decisions that affect women's lives are being taken without accountability mechanisms.
*Nicole Bidegain is a graduate of the 2007 DAWN Training Institute. She currently works as Program Officer of the International Council on Adult Education (ICAE) and she is part of the Latin American chapter of the International Gender and Trade Network. This article is also available in DAWN Informs June 2010 Issue.
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[1] "Every year the developing world loses as much as $1 trillion to secrecy jurisdictions via government corruption, criminal activity, and commercial tax evasion", Global Financial Integrity (GFI): www.gfip.org.
More information can be found at http://www.dawnnet.org/training-institutes-inaction.php?id=18
