WUNRN
Statement of African Women’s Groups at Fourth Conference on Climate Change & Development in Africa
Marrakech, Morocco - 8-10 October 2014
AFRICA CAN FEED AFRICA
Preamble
We, the African Women Groups who gathered in
the Marrakech, the city of Morocco for the fourth conference on climate change
and development in Africa with the theme “Africa Can Feed Africa Now”
translating climate knowledge into actions that took place from 9th
to 10th October 2014, express our gratitude to the organizers of the
conference for the opportunity to work together for the development of our
continent with development partners, leaders and committed people from all over
the world.
We applaud the decision of the meeting of the Committee of African Heads of State and
Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) resolution Assembly/AU/Dec538
(xx111) to specifically initiate a programme that focuses on addressing the
challenges of climate change that impacts on Women in Africa.
We are witnessing greater commitment of our
leaders to addressing the challenges and impact of climate change, which is
threatening our eco-systems, and the concerns of our continent for the
survival. We further applaud the emphasis put by our leaders on women’s, youth
and civil society participation and inclusion on all climate change
initiatives.
While we appreciate and welcome the laudable
initiatives of our heads of states and governments to ensuring that Africa Can
Feed Africa,
We Call
on Our Governments;
§ To ensure the
provision and means for the full realisation and implementation of these worthy
initiatives and resolutions.
§ Development partners and other relevant stakeholders to
support gender research and full documentation of impact of climate change on
gender; build the capacity of women to participate in key decision making
processes;
§ We appreciate
the gradual but slow advancement and transformation of African women’s access to formal education and
technology and call upon African governments, to tap into these changes and
increase women’s access to productive resources such as land, transfer
of and enhancement of indigenous technology, credit, fertilizers etc.
§ Integrate gender into climate change policies and
agreement, which takes into consideration the different needs of men and women.
§
African
Can Feed Africa but this cannot be realistically achieved without women’s
involvement. We call for the transformation of the gender roles, inequalities
between men and women in terms of access, control and ownership of reproductive
resources.
§
We fully
support the focus on renewable energy
and energy efficiency, especially being aware about the devastating
consequences of women vulnerability to energy poverty. We call upon the
governments to take cognizance of the negative impacts of renewable energy such
as big hydropower plants or mono crop plantations for biofuels, which
exacerbate the suffering of women farmers.
§ We call upon our
governments to ensure stakeholders engagement and especially public participation, including women
participation - is crucial in the design and implementation of affordable,
available and accessible sustainable renewable and energy efficiency
solutions.
§ We route for the
strengthening of the African Working Group on Gender and Climate Change, a body
that is crucial in the mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage of climate
change actions in the continent.
In conclusion, we, African women affirm our commitment to
ensuring that Africa feeds Africa through pragramatic gender responsive
interventions to Climate Change.
Priscilla
M Achakpa
On behalf of the African Working Group on
Gender and Climate Change (AWGGCC)