"Strengthening Voices: Search for Solutions ”Women’s Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice"

 FTF/CIVICUS event at the CIVICUS World Assembly

Voices That Are Not Heard: 
Marginalized Communities and the Impact of Climate Change 

- Sept. 5, 2012 14:30 - 16:00 Montreal Convention Center

Format: Engagement workshop

Summary: Climate change is a global issue, but increasingly it doesn’t impact all regions, countries, communities or individuals to the same degree. Worldwide it has become starkly evident that those most affected by the effects and impact of climate change are minority groups, already side lined from mainstream society. The direct evidence of climate change and the negative effects of changing weather patterns are exponentially worst for those already marginalised and failing to meet their basic needs. Groups living off the land, or faced with minimal resources to seek out an existence are increasingly facing mounting hardships, as their battle to survive is worsened by droughts, freak storms, and reduced food sources. Women, First Nation or indigenous groups, and subsistence farmers, are among those groups fighting an ever-increasing battle against nature and modern day society.

As these groups are already marginalised, and often side lined voices in our societies, how can they make their voices heard on climate change and its impacts on them? What is the reality they face, and where is the climate justice fight to empower them? What alternatives and change can we all help to establish and fight for in the future? Panellists are members and leaders of various communities from around the world, and come together to find solutions and answers to these questions. Discussions will focus on finding common solutions, as well as context based answers, to this international problem. This can be silenced no more.

Panel:
Mey Eltayeb Ahmed, Climate Change Focal Point, United Nations Environment Programme, Sudan
Caroline Usikpedo-Omoniye, National President, Niger Delta Women’s Movement for Peace and Development, Nigeria
Nicolas Mainville, Directeur - Responsible Campagne forêt, Greenpeace Québec, Canada
Rosa Lizarde, Global Coordinator, FTF and GCAP Foundation Board Member, United States of America/Mexico
Marta Benavides, Founder, SigloXXIII, El Salvador

Feminist Task Force Delegation:

"RIO +20 Earth Summit 2012 and UN Sustainability Conference"

On Thursday June 21st the Feminist Task Force and partner organizations presented the side event Organizing for Change, Women's Tribunals as Civil Society Advocacy at the monumental UN conference RIO +20 in Brazil.

The Feminist Task Force co-sponsored the book launch of "Women Reclaiming Sustainable Livelihoods: Spaces Lost, Spaces Gained" on June 19th at the UN RIO+20 sustainability conference. Global Coordinator of the FTF, Rosa Lizarde, co-authored a chapter in the book focusing on the "Women's Tribunals on Gender and Climate Change" and discussed the tribunals at the launch. 

Feminist Task Force: 

Women's Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice 

Chicago Women's Tribunal on Climate Justice

The Feminist Task Force, together with Eco-Justice Collaborative, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (P.E.R.R.O.), Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (CARE) and our partners at the UN, the Loretto Community at the United Nations, organized the second gender and climate justice tribunal taking place in the United States, the Chicago Women's Tribunal on Climate Justice.The tribunal took place in the Chicago neighborhood of Joliet, and featured the testimony of women from Chicago neighborhoods of Romeoville, Lockport, Little Village and Pilsen. During the Tribunal it was reported that Fisk and Crawford, the local coal plant was attributed in 41 deaths 550 ER visits 2800 asthma attacks.

Women from the Joliet and Lockport areas have been working for 20 years to stop the pollution from two area coal plans and quarry waste disposal site. They have been breathing harmful emissions from two polluting coal fired power plants from Romeoville and Joliet. Women from Pilsen and Little Village, a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood, have been breathing air from two of the oldest and dirtiest coal plants in the nation.

Organizers and Participants of the Chicago Tribunal
Please Check out more picture here

These Chicago women from different backgrounds and neighborhoods, have all been witnesses to the harmful impacts of coal on their lives, their communities and their neighborhood. The Chicago Women's Tribunal on Climate Justice will ensure the voices of urban grassroots women will reach the corridors of power at the local, national and global levels.

The tribunal follows a long line of women's tribunals spearheaded by the Feminist Task Force and organized around the world since 2007. The Tribunals have been used to create a public space for women to draw attention to critical issues at the local, national and global levels.

They provide an opportunity for women directly affected by poverty, climate change and gender inequality to raise their voices and present testimony, bring awareness and advocate for fundamental human rights.
Chicago Women's Tribunal on Climate Justice Featured on AlterNet News

On May 10, 2012 the Feminist Task Force, Loretto at the UN and OVEC organized the first Gender and Climate Justice Tribunal in US. The tribunal took place in West Virginia and examined the impacts of coal mining in Central Appalachia.

Please check out the

 Central Appalachian Climate Justice Tribunal

Hobet Mountain Top Removal Site
West Virginia (OVEC)

The West Virginia tribunal and our upcoming Chicago Tribunal are part of the series "Strengthening Voices:  Search for Solutions Women’s Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice", a series of 17 tribunals and hearings in Africa, Asia, North America and Latin America. The tribunals are organized by the Feminist Task Force and the Global Call to Action against Poverty, in partnership with Greenpeace International and Inter Press Service introduce  The Women's Tribunals involved a collection of authentic, specific and exemplary testimonies of grassroots and rural women who have experienced climate change related problems in their lives and communities, and their search for innovative and successful solutions to them.

Wangari Maathai Planting Trees

with Children in Kenya

The Women's Tribunals initially took place in October and November 2011 and dedicated to the memory of Wangari Maathai (1940-2011), a true champion for rural women, environmental justice, peace and development.

Map of Gender and Climate Justice Tribunals - Fall 2011

The Women's Tribunals coincided with the launch of The World We Want report and a wide range of national actions to mark International Day of Rural Women (Oct. 15th), World Food Day (Oct. 16th) and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (Oct. 17th).

Our media partner, Inter Press Service (IPS) will ensure that the voices of disenfranchised women are raised in the media. Greenpeace will develop a science based study on climate impacts in Africa. The Women's Tribunals are part of an integrated agenda of the FTF "Road to Rio Roadmap", which includes advocacy and campaigning on the COP17, G20 Summit, UN CSW, Rio + 20 and MDGs' Post-2015 Processes .

GCAP: Women's Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice
Partners and Tribunal Organizers:

African Women’s Economic and Political Network (AWEPON)

Centro de Mujeres Peruana Flora Tristan

Cidadao Global, O Instituto Baobab, Bordadeiras da Coroa,FEMNegrasRJ, Criola, Avaaz

Coalición Nacional Mexicana del Llamado Mundial a la Acción Contra la Pobreza-Mexicanos Contra la Desigualdad

Comunidad en Movimiento

G50 (Grupo Sin Cuenta)

Jagaran Nepal

Siglo XVIII  Paz Sustentable

Humanitarian Organization for Poverty Eradication & Environment-Pakistan (HOPE-PK)

In partnership:


Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) is a growing alliance that brings together civil society groups and call for action from world leaders in the global North and South to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality. GCAP's main aim is to achieve policy and practice changes that will improve the lives of people living in poverty. http://www.whiteband.org/

IPS is an international communication institution with a global news agency at its core, raising the voices of the South and  civil society on issues of development, globalization, human rights and the environment. http://ipsnews.net/

Greenpeace is the leading independent campaign organization that uses non- violent creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. http://www.greenpeace.org

For more information, contact Rosa Lizarde, Global Coordinator, Feminist Task Force at <rosaencasa@aol.com>

The Feminist Task Force was established under the umbrella of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in March, 2005, emphasizing gender equality as central to poverty eradication.

Central Appalachian Tribunal

Women's Tribunal:  Gender and Climate Justice:  Central Appalachian Women's Tribunal

Date:  May 10. 2012

Location:  Charleston, West Virginia USA

Organizers: Feminist Task Force (FTF) Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Civil Society Institute, Loretto at the UN, 

Contact:  Rosa Lizarde, Global Coordinator FTF - rosaencasa@aol.com

Tribunal Verdict is in - Coal companies: GUILTY!

Today we had the Central Appalachian women's tribunal on gender and climate change. It was an incredible event and experience. The stories and testimonies of the women of the Appalachian mountains being affected by coal mining and mountain top removal were extraordinary.  The persistence and dogged cruelty and crimes of the coal industry haven't deterred these women, their families, their activism, despite death threats --- these coming in different forms such as explosions near homes to remove coal from the mountain, coal dust making lung cancer very likely, poisoned water in wells, streams and pipes, or just blatant threats to the most outspoken activists.  

There is a real raping of Mother Earth in the Central Appalachian mountains. Mountain top removal (MTP), what has been done in this area for the past 15+ years. Basically, instead of digging deep into the mountain they are taking the coal from the top of the mountain which is much cheaper to do. They proceed to shave the top of the mountain, removing all of the trees, all of the vegetation, dead bodies (in the case of cemetaries) and breaking up the mountain slice by slice to remove the coal. The coal industry then fills another empty side of a mountain top with the useless mountain rock.

On the car drive from New York to Charleston (about 10+hours total) we drove through mountains for the last couple of hours. The mountains in this early Spring time were many shades of vibrant green. New leaves shown a brilliant green against a deeper, richer growth. The forests were teeming with a green! What mountain top removal does is leave a desert of lifeless dirt at the top of the mountain! All these beautiful trees are cut and removed. It is truly an amazing site to see (check out  Burning the Future: Coal in America, the 2007 doumentary. The devastation blows you away.

I haven't fully digested it all but felt compelled to write all you, in particular the organizers of the past tribunals and hearings---15 in 2011, 2 in 2010, 7 in 2009, 2 in 2008  and the 3 in 2007 which kick-started this for the FTF.  This first tribunal on gender and climate change in the United States was a splendid follow-up to all of those. It was well worth the effort. The women living on the mountains are amazing. What they've been through, how they are fighting and struggling is simply inspiring and astounding. Whatever small way we can help the cause and connect to a larger global struggle is well worth it. Bringing the message to Rio+20 will be key --- and by the way at the end of the tribunal I received a message from the official Rio+20 secretariat that our event request for the presentation of the tribunals at the Rio meeting had been accepted! The date is forthcoming but we will need to prepare further to present the findings of the past 15 tribunals along with the Central Appalachia and the upcoming Chicago tribunal. This good news added to the celebrating knowing how important it is to get the message of the crimes of the coal companies out in the world! Thank you to so many for separate comments congratulating us and expressing your support! Your messages are appreciated!

- Rosa Lizarde

Video of Testimonies From Tribunal

April 19, 2012 

        LAUNCH OF THE “FTF IN U.S.” SERIES: 

WOMEN’S TRIBUNALS ON 

GENDER AND CLIMATE JUSTICE

The Feminist Task Force launched the next series of the Women’s Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice 2012 today at the AWID Forum “Transforming Economic Power to Advance Women’s Rights and Justice” in Istanbul, Turkey. At the Forum session, “Ecological Health of our Planet: The Climate Change Challenge,” FTF Global Coordinator, Rosa Lizarde, launched the follow-up series to the “Strengthening Voices, Search for Solutions” Women’s Tribunal series on Gender and Climate Justice. 

“Today we launch the next gender and climate justice tribunals which will take place for the first time in the global North, in the United States,” said Rosa. “All the other gender and climate justice tribunals have taken place in the global South in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It’s time to work in the U.S, in the ‘belly of the beast.’ It’s time to show how climate change is affecting women around the world, in the north and in the south, in similar ways.”

The first women’s tribunal on climate justice in the US will take place in the Central Appalachia Mountains and in partnership with the US-based Loretto at the UN NGO and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) based in West Virginia, as well as OVEC partners. The Appalachia Mountains is a region that has experienced persistent poverty. The tribunal will highlight how women living in persistent poverty areas and impoverished communities are being affected by climate-related issues. The tribunal will feature the testimony of women throughout the Appalachian mountain region concerning the effects of mountaintop removal and other coal industry abuses on their lives, families, and communities. The tribunal will take place in Charleston, West Virginia on May 10, 2012.The second tribunal will take place in Chicago, Illinois in June 2012 through partnership with the Loretto at the UN, the Eco-Justice Collaborative and the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), a community group based in the city’s Mexican-American neighborhood, Little Village. The Tribunal will focus how women of color are being impacted by the City of Chicago’s Fisk and Crawford coal burning power plants, and other coal-related effects to the greater Chicago area. 

The Women’s Tribunals have been the flagship work of the FTF in calling attention to the centrality of gender equality to end poverty and making the links between the climate change and the feminization of poverty.  The FTF spear-headed the international women’s tribunals on poverty in 2007 and followed-up with tribunals on women and the MDGs (2008), social exclusion (2010), and the two series of women tribunals on gender and climate justice in 2009 and 2011.  The 2011 Tribunal series on Gender and Climate Justice was organized in collaboration with GCAP, Greenpeace International, and Inter Press Service, and took place in 15 African, Asian and Latin American countries in the fall of 2011. The Tribunals focused on the collection of authentic, specific and exemplary testimonies of grassroots and rural women who have experienced climate change related problems in their lives and communities, and their search for solutions.

For more information, contact Rosa Lizarde, Global Coordinator, Feminist Task Force at <rosaencasa@aol.com>

The Feminist Task Force was established under the umbrella of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in March, 2005, emphasizing gender equality as central to poverty eradication.

Chicago Metro Area - Jolliet

Women's Tribunal:  Gender and Climate Justice:  Chicago

Date:  June 10, 2012

Location:  Chicago Metro (Jolliet), Illinois, USA

Organizers:  Feminist Task Force, Loretto at the UN and Eco-Justice Collaborative 
Contact:  Rosa Lizarde -  rosaencasa@aol.com

The Feminist Task Force, together with Eco-Justice Collaborative, Pilsen Environmental Rights And Reform Organization (PERRO), Citizens against Ruining the Environment (CARE) and Loretto at the UN, organized the second gender and climate justice tribunal in the United States. The tribunal took place in the Chicago neighborhood of Joliet, and featured the testimony of women from Chicago neighborhoods of Romeoville, Lockport, Little Village and Pilsen.


Pictures from Women's Tribunal in Chicago:

Media Reports on Gender and Climate Justice Tribunals

Media reports documenting the 2011-2012 International Gender and Climate Change Tribunals.


South and Central America:
Women in Rural Argentina Speak Out On Climate Change
Women in Europe for the Common Future Reports on Mexico and Peru Tribunals
Mexican Women Demand Climate Justice - IPS

EL SALVADOR: Women Demand to Be Included in Climate Solutions

Asia:

CLIMATE CHANGE-PERU: Rural Women Share Their Trials and Wisdom

Bangladesh Demands Climate Justice


Africa:
Ghana: Women Want Voices Heard in Climate Change Decisions
Zimbabwe - Climate Change and Droughts


Various:


Nobel Women's Initiatives Reports on Climate Tribunals



Gender and Climate Justice Analysis by Ana Agostino and Rosa Lizarde
Ana Agostino and Rosa Lizarde explore the concept of climate justice as a rights approach to climate change. They propose that those in the South who are most affected by environmental changes need to receive justice from those in the North who are most responsible for climate change. They apply a gender lens to climate change, analyzing how women have been specifically hit by the phenomenon and how they are responding.