A delegation from Georgetown University attended the 26th edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), aimed at raising stories of women’s climate activism around the world.

Representatives of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) traveling to the conference, which was held in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31 to November 12. at COP26.

The GIWPS team attended the conference with the aim of focusing the voices of women and girls in international discussions on climate change, according to Jeni Klugman, CEO of GIWPS.

“The main message is about the importance of involving women and girls in the conversation and bringing their expertise and perspective on advancing and implementing solutions,” Klugman said at a telephone interview with The Hoya.

Understanding the link between gender, climate and security is an essential component of GIWPS research, according to Keller and Smith.

“COP26 was a huge success for our team and an important moment to catalyze gender-sensitive climate action,” wrote Keller and Smith. “These are issues that are often discussed separately, but their intersections are essential for our understanding of the gender impacts of climate change and for identifying effective solutions.”

Women tend to be under-represented at all levels of climate decision-making, according to UN Women. The status of women in a country is often correlated with the ability of that same country to act on climate solutions, according to Keller and Smith.

“We know from our Women, Peace and Security Index that where women are better, countries are more stable and peaceful,” Keller and Smith wrote. “Recent analysis also found that countries that perform better on our WPS index are also better placed to tackle climate change. “

GIWPS recently released its third edition of the Women, Peace and Security Index (WPS Index) on October 19, which reports on the state of women’s inclusion, justice and security by providing scores and national index rankings for 170 countries.

The WPS 2021 index highlighted that the global advance in the status of women has slowed and the gap in the range of scores has widened. The index also highlighted how women’s contributions to climate solutions in Colombia, Sudan and Nepal have been shown to be effective in mitigating the risks of climate conflict.

At COP26, the GIWPS team spent their time listening to local activists, indigenous women and young leaders on the front lines of climate change, according to Keller and Smith. The team also met with delegates from the UNFCCC gender team, foreign ministers, United Nations Under-Secretaries General and private sector leaders at the conference.

The organizers of COP26 also selected GIWPS to host an official panel on November 8 entitled “Sustainability, equality, peace: integrating climate change and women, peace and security programs”, which brought together political decision-makers, civil society leaders and climate activists for a discussion on the intersection of climate change and gender.

As the world seeks to address the climate crisis, stakeholders must ensure that women are focused in interventions, that climate policy is gender sensitive, and that women have full and equal access to these opportunities. , according to Keller and Smith.

“We are seeing growing momentum from governments, including the United States and international institutions, such as the United Nations Security Council and NATO, to address climate security and the GIWPS is working to ensure that policies, investments and interventions leverage the contributions of women on the frontlines, ”Keller and Smith wrote.

COP26 was originally scheduled to take place in November 2020, but the parties concerned have collectively decided to postpone the conference until 2021 due to the security risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. COP26 was a long-awaited conference for GIWPS, Klugman said.

“I think this conference is in many ways historic. This unprecedented attention – I can’t remember a previous conference to which so much mainstream media attention was directed, ”Klugman said. “This is a high profile opportunity to show how we can work collaboratively with others. ”

The conference provided a forum where GIWPS representatives were able to highlight women’s work on climate change in an international forum, according to Keller and Smith.

“GIWPS is delighted to attend the COP as a member of the Georgetown delegation. This has been an important opportunity for us to continue our climate work and deepen our relationships with others committed to focusing women on climate action, ”wrote Keller and Smith.