Before the Green Climate Fund (GCF) considers the role of the private sector in meeting the climate finance needs of developing countries, it should first ask: what are the needs of the people living in those countries as they confront the climate crisis, especially the poorest and most vulnerable? Second, can private finance and support for the private sector help to equitably and effectively meet those needs, in accordance with the GCF Governing Instrument and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change?
This report attempts to respond to these questions by de-constructing ideological notions of "leveraging" and "crowding in" private finance and examining the track record of the private sector, private financiers and development finance institutions (DFIs) in developing countries. The report concludes that the GCF should approach private companies and financiers slowly and with a high degree of caution, and only engage them to the extent that they can guarantee compliance with high standards on environmental, social and development effectiveness; implement robust processes designed to address financial, social and environmental risks; and produce effective mitigation and adaptation outcomes.
Resources for the GEF Trust Fund are replenished every four years when countries that wish to contribute to the GEF Trust Fund (referred to as "replenishment participants") pledge resources through a process called the 'GEF Replenishment.'
During the negotiating sessions which constitute the replenishment process, replenishment participants discuss and come to agreement on a set of policy reforms to be undertaken, a document to guide the programming of resources (the programming document), and a level of resources that the GEF will aim to provide to recipient countries during the replenishment period. As part of the replenishment process, replenishment participants review "Overall Performance Studies" of the GEF, which are independent evaluations of the operations of the GEF during the previous replenishment period.
The first Replenishment Meeting for GEF-6 will take place on April 3-4, 2013, in Paris, France.
WE WILL NOT BE MAINSTREAMED INTO A POLLUTED STREAM: FEMINIST VISIONS OF STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS FOR ACHIEVING WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY IN THE 2015 DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
21 March 2013, Bonn
We caution against developing another set of reductive goals, targets and indicators that ignore the transformational changes required to address the failure of the current development model rooted in unsustainable production and consumption patterns exacerbating gender, race and class inequities.
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From Zimbabwe to El Salvador, women in poor countries suffer the brunt of climate change, but also learn to recover from disasters, to adapt and even to find opportunities in the new weather conditions.
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Women are often in the frontline in respect to the impacts of a changing climate. Globally the world is seeing increasingly frequent droughts and floods which are having economic but also profound social consequences. The women and people of Asia are currently at greatest risk with over 100 million people affected in this region annually.
The omission of key areas of women’s rights calls into question not only the legitimacy of the outcome document but the validity of the term ‘sustainable development’. At the first Earth summit, gender equality was explicitly highlighted, and the role of empowered women was central to development and the environment.
Dubbed ‘Gender Day,’ women’s role in climate change agreements was in the spotlight on this second day of the 18th Conference of Parties (COP-18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Meeting in Doha, Qatar from 26 November to 7 December, governments are gathered to reach agreement on the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol and decide on outstanding issues under the Convention.
The 18th Conference of the Parties (COP-18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Doha, Qatar, concluded on 8 December 2012 with a celebrated decision on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the context of climate change. The decision on “Promoting gender balance and improving the participation of women in UNFCCC negotiations and in the representation of Parties in bodies established pursuant to the Convention or the Kyoto Protocol,” takes a significant step in advancing gender-sensitive climate policy by ensuring that women’s voices are heard.
The global climate is changing and the effects are real. Several research studies have confirmed it and in reality we have all experienced or witnessed effects such as the acute droughts in the Horn of Africa, heavy floods, uncertain rainfall and the resulting consecutive crop failure and other more frequent and extreme weather patterns.
By Sherpard Zvigadza and Joseph Madzvamuse, Zimbabwe Regional Environmental Organization (ZERO)
As world nations warm up to the COP17 International Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, NGOs from six Southern African countries joined the tempo by gathering recently in Johannesburg from 29-30 August, to spruce up their networks and partnerships so as join the jamboree with one common voice that will bolster their options and positions for the crucial negotiations.