COP21 Side Event: From Global Commitments to Local Action: National Approaches to Mitigating Climate Change and Advancing Gender Equality

Hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency of the Government of Liberia in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Governments of Finland and Peru, ENERGIA, and WOCAN

Event Date:
8 December 2015 – 4:45pm to 6:15pm
Location: Paris, France

A high-level UNFCCC COP21 side event on the occasion of Gender Day:

to discuss strategies, results, outcomes and challenges of country-, context- and sector-specific examples;
to provide opportunity for governments and stakeholders to discuss the continued implementation of gender-responsive mandates for action on climate change at the UNFCCC and at all levels;
to spotlight government action to implement gender-responsive climate change mitigation, motivating others to follow suit.

The 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP21) will be momentous for countless reasons—not least because it will culminate years of negotiations toward the post-2015 climate agreement and, as is anticipated, celebrate its launch. But COP21 will also mark an important milestone in ensuring a enderresponsive approach to climate change: with more than 50 decisions mandating action on gender concerns, implementation is now underway of the first-ever comprehensive two-year work programme on gender, as agreed under the Lima Work Programme on Gender. To continue to guide implementation of this and related mandates, COP21 will be an important opportunity to bring together the latest information and strategies on gender and climate concerns, in particular by exploring some of the most effective approaches employed by governments and the international community toward gender-responsive policies, plans and action.

Together with long-time partner International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Government of Liberia, through its Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), hosts this highlevel Gender Day event to showcase the concrete ways in which countries have implemented international commitments in local contexts. In collaboration with leading governments (Finland, Mozambique and Peru) and nongovernmental organizations (IUCN, ETC/ENERGIA and WOCAN), partners and allies will present the strategies proven most effective in turning ‘words to action’, particularly in ensuring that women’s rights, roles and perspectives influence effective climate change policies and initiatives – in line with commitments for gender equality – and enhance the pursuit and achievement of co-benefits.

Agenda

Welcome – H.E. Julia Duncan Cassell, Liberia (or, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, tbc)
Keynote Introduction – Tarja Halonen, former President of Finland, 2000-2012
Armchair Discussion – Moderated by Lorena Aguilar, IUCN
- H.E. Taher El Shakhsheir, Minister of Environment, Jordan
- H.E. Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Minister of Environment, Peru
- Mr. Raju Laudari, Assistant Director, Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Nepal
- Mr. BounEua Khamphilavanh, Senior Official, Department of Disaster Management and Climate Change, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Lao P.D.R.
- Ms. Jeannette Gurung, PhD, Executive Director, WOCAN
- H.E. Julie Bishop, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government of Australia
Questions and answers, (moderated by Lorena)
Closing remarks – Mr. Eric Postel, Associate Administrator, USAID
An invitation has been extended to the French delegation to join the discussion, schedule allowing