Day 3 Discourse at Nature, Climate, and Gender Symposium: Constructing Movements and Outlining Future Paths
The Nature, Climate, and Gender Symposium brought together participants from various backgrounds to discuss the urgent need for transformative change in addressing the climate crisis. The event, which saw Juan Carlos Ramos of EcoAgriculture in attendance, emphasised the importance of inclusivity, collaboration, and movement-building.
Inclusion was not just about hitting numerical targets, but understanding local contexts, shifting power, and ensuring meaningful engagement. The final thematic session, "From Projects to Movements", focused on building climate justice movements that endure, with a recurring theme being that true movements emerge from the lived experience of communities confronting climate threats firsthand.
The symposium aimed to move beyond isolated pilot projects towards systemic change. Traditional and Indigenous knowledge was recognised as a vital force in climate action, with national climate initiatives in Ghana being enriched by recognising traditional leaders and knowledge holders as equal contributors.
Women are leading the charge in climate action, with their expertise central to environmental monitoring and ecosystem restoration. However, they continue to face barriers in accessing resources, platforms, and influence. There is a need to invest directly in women-led efforts and support community-driven solutions at scale.
The fifth session, "Financing Gender Climate Action - Shifting Power and Resources", explored structural barriers and opportunities in climate finance. Speakers underlined the ongoing exclusion of Indigenous Peoples, women, and local communities from direct access to climate finance. A systemic approach to finance was recommended, with landscape-level strategies being suggested.
Key recommendations included adopting rights-based approaches, simplifying financial processes, safeguarding environmental defenders, and recognising the full value of traditional knowledge and lived experience. The session closed with clear imperatives for the path ahead: fund communities directly, respect and integrate traditional knowledge, adopt intersectional approaches, and scale movements rather than simply multiplying projects.
Successful initiatives need to manage the inherent tensions between differing timelines of communities, donors, and the private sector. Legal frameworks were highlighted as mechanisms to secure access to information, public participation, and protection for environmental defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Long-term, large-scale investments are essential to match the urgency and complexity of the climate crisis. A key point discussed was the complexity of aligning diverse priorities in climate finance, including those of donors, private investors, governments, and communities.
The symposium concluded with a resounding call for governments to ratify and implement agreements ensuring that frontline voices are included in climate decision-making. The path ahead is clear: it requires direct funding of communities, respect for traditional knowledge, intersectional approaches, and scaling movements rather than simply multiplying projects. The time for action is now.
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