Pacific Women Triennial Conference 2024 – Gender Responsive Climate Justice
“We need to break and build, we need to make sure that we are brave about what we throw away.”
With a spirited call to action, Noelene Nabuvilou – Executive Director of Diverse Voices and Action (DIVA) for Equality, among other movement roles – stressed the fundamental shifts needed to realise gender-responsive climate justice.
Climate justice seeks action that not only responds, mitigates or adapts, but seeks to right the imbalances that have led to the conditions resulting in the climate crisis.
This includes unequal access to decision making spaces, a human-centric view of the environment (as opposed to a respect for the broad - direct and indirect - ecological impact our actions have on the environment). This also includes addressing loss and damage, with justice at the core and care for the living planet.
“This is about restitution, not charity,” added Nabulivou. “You cannot continue to be resilient when conditions are worsening every day. The level of crisis we are in needs a nexus approach.”
Such approach would embed an understanding that the priority is not gender equality or climate justice, it is both – acknowledging the various intersections and interconnections required to maintain advancements in both areas.
“We have a sacred obligation to work with and for our Pacific sisters,” said Dr. James Viernes of the Pacific Islands Development Program.
As moderator of the panel on Gender-Responsive Climate Justice that marked the beginning of the second day of the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women, he and speaker – Dr. George Carter, Senior Fellow and Deputy Head of Department of Pacific Affairs, Director ANU Pacific Institute – acknowledged their presence as two Pacific men on the main stage of the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women.
Their reflections echoed support and solidarity; while women have led the movement for an equal region, it requires all Pacific peoples to realise and sustain the efforts of gender equality.
The event concludes today, after the finalisation of the conference outcomes, expected to be endorsed during the Ministerial meeting tomorrow.
Useful links:
https://www.spc.int/15-Triennial-Conference-Pacific-Women
For more information, please contact:
Samantha Rina, Communications, Visibility and Engage Officer, Human Rights and Social Development Division, Pacific Community (SPC) | samanthar@spc.int
Background:
Every three years, leaders, representatives from civil society organisations, and development partners from the Pacific region gather to assess advancements in gender equality. Known as the Triennial Conference of Pacific Women, this gathering marks a crucial milestone in the region’s ongoing pursuit of gender parity.
Since its inception more than 40 years ago, and the adoption of the Pacific Platform for Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights 2018 – 2030 (PPA), the Triennial Conference of Pacific Women is today the primary mechanism for monitoring the progress outlined in the Pacific Platform for Action.
This year, the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women is being convened in Majuro, capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, with the theme ‘An Piliñliñ Koba Kōṃṃan Lọmeto – For A Resilient And Sustainable Pacific’.
Division
Human Rights and Social Development
Micronesia Regional Office
Countries
The piece is originally published by the Pacific Community.
Image: Courtesy of the Pacific Community.