Not Without Us! – Pathways to a Gender Just Transition

Green Zone Event: Not Without Us! – Pathways to a Gender Just Transition

UNRISD is proud to be again contributing its ideas to the UN's most important forum for follow-up on the historic 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. This year it takes the shape of an innovative Green Zone event co-hosted with the Rosa-Luxembourg-Stiftung and featuring short film clips of local stories from different regions to complement and enhance the analysis of case studies from Latin and Northern America, Africa and Asia.

Speakers

• Ndivile Mokoena, Gender CC Southern Africa
• Dunja Krause, UNRISD
• Melissa Moreano, Critical Geography Collective, Ecuador (facilitator)
• Representative from South Asia

This event debates the interlinkages between gender justice and just transition. How do lived experiences differ for women when it comes to the impacts of the climate crises and how do they deal with it? How can the coping mechanism developed by women in different sectors influence the just transition debates? Are current just transition debates taking into account care work and gender segregation in the labour market? And what would a gender just transition look like?

Just Transition is not only about the transfer of the energy sector to a fossil-free power production, it’s a just transition to a new form of society. Based on examples from Latin and Northern America, Africa and Asia, we will delve into a debate about what kinds of just transitions hold the potential to achieve a social-ecological transformation and why changing the value of different kinds of work and sectors might be necessary in order to achieve low-carbon sustainable development. The examples will be illustrated by short film clips of local stories from different regions.

This session advances the understanding of the potential of a gender just transition and how it could lead to a higher level policy change and climate justice.

Official Side Event: Uncovering justice gaps in Just Transitions – why technological solutions won’t solve the crises

UNRISD Research Officer Dunja Krause is speaking at this event, officially hosted by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung and LIFE e.V.

Many countries' plans to transition to a low-carbon world feature strong commitments to technological solutions, which may seem to be a silver bullet to mitigate climate change. However these solutions often have significant drawbacks. Not only do they sometimes get political backing before they are approved or fully developed, they frequently disregard the social justice implications. Geoengineering projects, for example, can appropriate excessive resources and often involve resettling communities, disrupting their livelihoods and transport options which can especially impact women.

At this side event, experts discuss where the justice gaps are and what well planned alternatives could look like. How to use the resources that exist to make transitions more sustainable and just? And how to mobilize for a progressive just transition on all levels?

Speakers

• Ndivile Mokoena (Gender CC / South Africa)
• Dunja Krause (UNRISD),
• Representative of ETC Group
• Representative of Life e.V.
• Moderation: Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

Partners

Photo: Jassir Jonis (public domain via Unsplash); UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021 (c)