I received this in an email this morning and wanted to share the letter:
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Dear Colleagues,
The Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UN/ISDR) are pleased to invite you to the Third Global Congress of Women in Politics and Governance which will be held on October 19-22, 2008 at the Dusit Hotel, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines. The theme of the congress is “Gender in Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction.”
Women and environment experts have raised concern over the absence of women in the discourse and debate on climate change and disaster risk reduction, both of which are global mainstream issues that are currently impacting the entire world. The involvement of women in areas of environmental management and governance should not be perceived as an afterthought. Women’s roles are of considerable importance in the promotion of environmental ethics.
The current imperative is for women to understand the phenomenon of climate change and disaster risk reduction and their impacts and implications at the individual, household, community and national levels. Studies show that women have a definite information deficit on climate politics, climate protection, and preparedness through disaster risk reduction. Only with this information can women take their proper, significant and strategic role in the issues of climate change and disaster risk reduction.
Special attention will be given to defining how women and gender could be mainstreamed, and to define the roles women can play in addressing the impacts of climate change and disaster risk reduction programs and policies at the global, national and sub-national levels. In other words, the Congress should define how women can be given the social space to participate, influence, and benefit from global and local responses to climate change.
The Importance of the Congress
Today, on the average, one person out of nineteen in a developing country will be hit by a climate disaster, compared to 1 out of 1,500 in an OECD country. Climate change creates lifetime traps: in Niger, a child born during a drought is 72 percent more likely to be stunted than a child born during a normal season.
We truly hope that the environment organizations will find this forum a good opportunity to advocate gender and climate change policies and programs through gender responsive legislation to the women parliamentarians, decision makers, the youth leaders, media and the funding agencies/organizations. Let us join hands in promoting gender responsive governance through transformative leadership and citizenship. We are looking forward to your participation. Please download the full information sheet and registration form for this Third Global Congress of Women in Politics and Governance from our website,
http://www.capwip.org/3rdglobalcongress.htm
Very truly yours, Jung-sook KIM (Ed.D.)
President, Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP)
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(I have abbreviated the letter, but the main idea that women should be included in this discussion is at the center of the Congress.)
