On October 18 2022, within the framework of the 6º Cumbre Iberoamericana de Agendas Locales de Género en Santa Coloma de Gramanet, the EU- LAC Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for Latin America and the Caribbean, through the EU-LAC Women’s International Network (EU- LAC WIN), successfully held the dialogue “Emerging issues in gender and climate change: just energy transition, electric mobility, nature-based solutions, climate resilience and gender-transformative risk management”. This dialogue represents the second in a series of interregional dialogues on gender and climate action in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, the European Union (EU) and its member countries. On this occasion, the aim was to generate a space for discussion on the challenges and opportunities in promoting gender equality and women's resilience in local climate actions in the EU and LAC. The hybrid event was attended by more than 150 attendees from both regions.
The event was opened by Marta Ares, from the EU-LAC WIN, and Marta Álvarez, Gender Programme Analyst at the UNDP Regional Center for LAC. Both highlighted the importance of grounding climate commitments and actions at the local level and building gender-transformative climate agendas, as well as the need to promote networking to achieve the commitment of multiple actors.
The welcoming remarks were followed by the presentation of good practices in promoting gender equality and the resilience of women in climate agendas in the EU and LAC. Anna Barrera, Senior Programme Manager of the EU-LAC Foundation, presented the EmpowerMed initiative, a project financed by the Horizon 2020 Programme, aimed at energy poverty alleviation and health improvement by empowering and developing the potential of the most affected people as change agents in the Mediterranean and developing their potential as change agents in six coastal areas of partner countries. Andrea Quesada, Gender, Sustainable Development and Environment Specialist at the UNDP Regional Centre for LAC, presented the sustainable and efficient urban mobility system in Uruguay, a collaborative transport system that adapts to the needs and expectations of women as users and that guarantees women’s access to jobs associated with electrification in public transport and in transport and distribution companies.
Sara Ramírez, Gender Specialist at UNDP Regional Centre for LAC, moderated the dialogue between the experts invited to discuss common challenges and opportunities related to the promotion of gender-transformative local climate actions. The guest speakers were Kata Tüttö, Deputy Mayor of Budapest, Rapporteur for the European Committee of the Regions Commission for Economic Policy (ECON), Commission for Environment, Climate Change and Energy from Hungary; Diana Rodríguez, Secretary for Women’s Affair at the Mayor’s Office of Bogota, Colombia; Ramona Reyes, Former mayor of Paillaco and Representative in the Constitutional Convention of Chile; and Antonio Bonilla, Vicar’s Major in the province of Almeria, Spain. The panelists agreed on the importance of integrating gender impact assessments into climate policies and actions at the regional, national and local levels to combat gender gaps in fair energy transition processes. They highlighted the importance of advancing in the construction of a more comprehensive concept of care to recognize care for people and care for the environment as a social and necessary function in the climate and gender agendas. At the same time, they identified the need to improve the rural livelihoods through different strategies adapted to the territory, guaranteeing the right to water, food security, and women’s access to land.
The panel with the experts was followed by an interactive dialogue with those attending the event moderated by Andrea Quesada, Gender, Sustainable Development and Environment Specialist at the UNDP Regional Centre for LAC. During the dialogue, an interactive tool was made available to gather the opinions and perspectives of many of the participants. The dialogue was focused on three guiding questions: concrete actions to ensure that emerging climate change issues, such as just energy transition, electric mobility, nature-based solutions and risk management, promote gender equality; the cooperation opportunities between LAC and the EU to advance jointly in the promotion of gender equality in local climate agendas, and the role of the EU-LAC WIN in generating the right conditions to promote gender equality in climate adaptation and risk management.
During the conclusion, Anna Barrera recalled the important role of the EU-LAC International Women’s Network as an innovative and useful instrument of transformation for exchange with decision makers and for generating alliances between women and people committed to gender equality in Europe and Latin America and Caribbean.
