By Aira Kalela
Finland, together with the other Nordic countries and some other partners, has taken the lead in the ongoing negotiations aimed at drawing the attention of the delegations to the positive role women can play in the climate change. Our aim has been to encourage more women to participate in the negotiations and to include gender provisions in the new agreement on climate change.
In order to achieve these targets Finland has 1) established a supplementary travel fund for female participants in the negotiations; 2) planned and implemented a programme of awareness raising, cooperating with forums of political decision makers; 3) supported the organisation of training activities for delegates on gender and climate change, and 4) networked with interested governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental partners.
Travel fund for female delegates
Finland has established a fund of 500,000 euros to support wider participation of women in the negotiations on the new climate agreement. This amount will cover the travel and DSA costs for more than 100 travels. Funds are available for female delegates from the developing countries. Finland would welcome other Nordic countries to join this initiative.
The major event for raising the awareness of the decision makers on climate and gender was the Women Leaders Colloquium in Monrovia, Liberia on 7–8 March 2009. The convenors of this meeting were the Presidents of Liberia and Finland. One of the main themes of the colloquium was climate change and gender. The colloquium adopted a Call to Action on Climate Change and Gender. This initiative calls upon the governments and other partners in the negotiations to do their utmost to include more female delegates in the negotiations and incorporate gender considerations into the new agreement and its implementation by planning for information sharing, training, and other forms of capacity building, as well as making the necessary resources available for these activities.
Finland has also cooperated with the Female Environment Ministers Meeting on this issue. More than 40 Environment Ministers are female and they are meeting two or three times a year in connection with major environment meetings. The ministers have discussed the role of women in climate change during their two meetings last year. UNEP also organised a forum for the female ministers in connection with the Governing Council this February.
Side events
Side events during the latest Conference of the Parties in Poznan in December 2008 and the negotiations held in April 2009 in Bonn attracted a wide interest among the participants and some two hundred of these received updated information on climate change and gender. These events were organised in cooperation with the Global Gender and Climate Change Alliance. Finland has given financial support to the activities of this powerful alliance, which was established some two years ago by UNEP, UNDP, IUCN and WEDO (Women on Environment and Development) and now represents more than 30 UN and other organisations.
Finland’s financial support will make extensive awareness raising and training activities possible. In connection with the
negotiation process two training courses for the delegates have been organised.
Regional training courses will now be organised. More than 800 experts have applied for this training, which will strengthen
the capacities of the climate experts to understand the role of women and act for enabling the active participation of women
in climate change decision-making and the implementation of the new agreement.
Special web pages of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs will also serve as a source of information and awareness raising. Please see: www.formin.finland.fi>International cooperation>Cooperation on Climate Change>Climate Change and Gender.
Finland is looking forward to continuing to cooperate with interested parties and stake holders for strengthening the participation
of women in all climate activities, which will make these activities more effective.
Aira Kalela is Special Representative for Gender and Climate Change at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland
This article has been published in NIKK magasin 2 2009 © NIKK
