FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Emily Arasim
Communications Coordinator
Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network
+1 (505) 920-0153
emily@wecaninternational.org
Women for Climate Justice Prepare to Speak out During COP21 Climate Negotiations
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., November 23, 2015 – Next week, as world governments enter into UNFCCC
COP21 climate negotiations, global women leaders will unite in Paris to push for their voices for climate
justice, women’s leadership, and systemic change to be brought to the forefront.
On Monday December 7th, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN International) will
convene ‘Women Leading Solutions on the Frontlines of Climate Change – Paris’ an extraordinary
gathering of worldwide women leaders joined in solidarity to share stories, struggles, and solutions for a
healthy and equitable world.
Over the course of the event, women will speak out boldly on issues of social and environmental
destruction, expose false solutions to the climate crisis, and demonstrate why women are so critical to
effective action on climate change and how they are already forging the way ahead.
‘Women Leading Solutions’ will feature an outstanding line-up of global figures, frontline and Indigenous
women, and movement leaders including Dr. Vandana Shiva (World renowned activist, Founder of
Navdanya Institute, India); Hon. Mary Robinson (President, Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice &
former President of Ireland); Patricia Gualinga (Indigenous Kichwa leader from Sarayaku, Ecuador);
Josefina Skerk (Vice President of the Sami Parliament, Sweden); Gloria Ushigua (President of the
Association of Sapara Women, Ecuador); Neema Namadamu (Director of SAFECO & WECAN DR Congo
Coordinator, Democratic Republic of Congo); Geneviève Azam (Scientific Council, Attac France, France);
Aleta Baun (Conservationist & anti-mining activist of West Timor, Indonesia); Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca
Nation elder & representative of the Indigenous Environmental Network, USA); Thilmeeza Hussain
(Founder of Voice of Women, Maldives); Osprey Orielle Lake (co-Founder and Executive Director,
Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network, USA) and many more.
In light of recent waves of global violence, space will be held for vital discussions concerning women, war,
peace, and conflict and climate impacts. The event will open with a traditional welcome by a Sami leader
of the far North of Sweden, and end with an important message from Indigenous women of North and
South America concerning their historic 2015 treaty.
“Women comprise roughly 80 percent of global climate refugees. When forests are cleared, when
contaminated water leaks from fossil fuel extraction sites—women are the most critically impacted.
However this is just half the story,” explained Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of WECAN
International, “Women stand on the frontlines of global efforts to revision and heal our world - their
experiences and leadership must be recognized and engaged as central to climate justice and forward
momentum towards a livable future. This is exactly what we are working to bring to light at our December
7th event, and through our advocacy work at COP21 and beyond, please join us.”
‘Women Leading Solutions on the Frontlines of Climate Change-Paris’ is free and open to the public. The
event will be held from 13:00 – 18:30 at the Paris Marriott Opera Ambassador Hotel, 16 Boulevard
Haussmann 75009 Paris. Details, full speaker information and registration at:
wecaninternational.org/pages/wecan-cop21
-# # #About The Women's Earth & Climate Action Network (WECAN International)
www.wecaninternational.org
@WECAN_INTL
The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN International) is a solutions-based, multi-faceted
effort established to engage women worldwide as powerful stakeholders in climate change, climate justice,
and sustainability solutions. Recent work includes the International Women’s Earth and Climate
Summit, Women’s Climate Declaration, and WECAN Women’s Climate Action Agenda. International climate
advocacy is complemented with on-the-ground programs such as the Women’s for Forests and Fossil
Fuel/Mining/Mega Dam Resistance, US Women’s Climate Justice Initiative, and Regional Climate Solutions
Trainings in the Middle East North Africa region, Latin America, and Democratic Republic of Congo. WECAN
International was founded in 2013 as a project of the 501(c)3Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus (WECC)
organization and its partner eraGlobal Alliance.