UN Climate Change News, 20 July 2020 - A series of regional workshops is set to zoom in on how best to integrate gender into national climate policies, actions and plans. The regional workshops, the first of which will be held on 22 July for the Asia and Pacific region, will enable the sharing of relevant case studies, examples and lessons learned on the results, impacts and main challenges that governments face in the integration of gender into national climate policies, plans, strategies and action.  

The timing of the series, which will see a workshop held for each region around the globe, is crucial given that countries will be submitting new or updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs) this year.  

NDCs are at the heart of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Each NDC reflects the country’s ambition, taking into account its domestic circumstances and capabilities and is updated every five years, starting in 2020.  

At the UN Climate Change Conference COP 25, held in Madrid, Spain in December 2019, countries agreed the five-year work programme and gender action plan which forms the overarching international policy framework and agenda on gender and climate change, and highlights Parties’ key priorities and needs. 

As part of this, countries acknowledged the need and committed to mainstreaming gender “through all relevant targets and goals in activities under the UN Climate Change Convention as an important contribution to increasing their effectiveness, fairness and sustainability”.  

Submitting a new or updated NDC provides countries with the opportunity to mainstream gender, as well as to increase ambition by ensuring that the NDC does take social factors into account and provides a frame for just and effective climate action. The series of regional workshops aim to move this important work forward.  

There is a growing number of countries that aim to integrate gender into their climate planning. Of the updated or new NDCs that have already been submitted in 2020, seven include references to gender. Additionally, of 15 of the countries that participated in a survey on NDCs in Latin America, 80% indicated that they are planning to include gender in their enhanced NDC. 

At the Asia and Pacific workshop participants will for instance hear from frontrunner countries like the Philippines whose initial climate action plan (INDC) was developed through a gender inclusive and participatory processes. The country is also working to integrate gender not only into their NDC but has also done a lot of work to reform its institutional set-up to enable sustainable and inclusive policy and action. 

Originally planned as in-session workshops under the GAP, these regional workshops are now taking place as virtual workshops due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. UN Climate Change is organising virtual workshops from July to October 2020 and will conclude with an in-person session in 2021. 

Advance information on the regional workshops:  

All regional workshops will include presentations on case/country examples and take place at the followig times:

• Asia & the Pacific, 22 July, 7 am CEST -- 12 pm UTC+7;  
• Europe & Central Asia 2 September 1 pm CEST -- 2 pm UTC+3;  
• Americas and the Caribbean 16 September 5 pm CEST --10 am UTC-5;  
• Sub-Saharan Africa, 30 September 2 pm CEST -- 2 pm UTC+2;  
• MENA 14 October 2 pm CEST -- 2 pm UTC +2)  

There will be an opportunity for participants to engage in discussion and exchange experiences in working groups and through interactive tools.  

All workshops are open for anyone to attend, but prior registration is necessary. 

Interpretation will be available for the LAAC (Spanish), Sub-saharan Africa (French) and MENA (Arabic) workshops. 

See here for more information.

Please note: The secretariat is also organizing workshops on the role of National Gender and Climate Change Focal Points, including workshops on skills for communicating, advocating and engaging on gender and climate change that are open to everyone. Next workshops are on 28 and 30 July.