Voice & Visibility Regional Convening on Indigenous Women, Gender, and Climate Change

2 November 2023

As part of our activity in the Voice & Visibility consortium, together with IWRAW AP, Klima Action Malaysia co-organised a Regional Convening focused on Indigenous women, gender, and climate change in Asia Pacific. The Regional Convening took place as a 3-hour online session on November 2, 2023 over the ZOOM video conferencing platform. Attendees ranging from grassroots organisations from Malaysia, Philippines and Nepal, funders like Women Fund Asia as well as UN bodies such as OHCHR Asia.

The Voice & Visibility Regional Convening was aimed to facilitate a platform for discussion and strategy development among various stakeholders, including community groups, experts, and coalitions, with a specific focus on Indigenous women and girls, including those living with disabilities.

The primary objectives of the Regional Convening :

• Strengthen environmental and climate justice advocacy in Asia through feminist intersectional movement.
• Center the voices of Indigenous women, girls and women with disabilities and marginalised communities to combat oppression and the impacts of climate change.
• Address and challenge oppressive systems that magnify the struggles and impacts faced by Indigenous women, girls, women with disabilities marginalised communities.

Aroe Ajoeni from Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY) introduced Voice & Visibility (V&V) consortium consists of four organisations:

• KAMY (Klima Action Malaysia, Malaysia)
• LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights, Philippines)
• NIDWAN (National Indigenous Disabled Women Association Nepal)
• IWRAW AP (International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific).

The Voice and Visbility consortium aims to highlight how climate change uniquely impacts Global South Indigenous women communities, the urgency to seek meaningful solutions to climate change and to make a meaningful impact in decision-making processes in Asia.

Voice & Visibility first engaged with the experiences of Indigenous women and communities at CSW66 (Commission on the Status of Women). They have also organised capacity building sessions and attended COP27 (27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in support of young Indigenous women in November 2022

Aroe Ajoeni concluded the introduction by emphasising the importance of representation of Indigenous people and Asian communities at multilateral levels, and to address the vulnerability of environmental human rights defenders from the Global South. One step to achieving this is to ensure organisations bring in a Global South feminist and intersectional lens in the upcoming COP28.

Presentation : Malaysia Challenges, Issues and Opportunities for Advocacy

Anise Kaz from Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY) discussed advocacy challenges, issues, and opportunities in Malaysia, providing insights into local contexts and strategies. She started her presentation by introducing KAMY as a climate justice and feminist organisation in Malaysia. The organisation focuses on 5 key work areas: Indigenous people, women empowerment, climate communication, just energy transition and business and human rights.

Context, Challenges and Issues faced in Malaysia

In regards to climate policies, Malaysia is currently working towards a National Adaptation Plan (NAP), a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) Roadmap and a Climate Change Bill. Existing climate policies in the country includes:

1. The National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) which outlines 50 initiatives under the six energy transition levers and five enablers, in addition to the 10 flagship projects and initiatives to meet Net-Zero GHG emissions target.
2. The Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), where a revision was submitted in 2021 implying that Malaysia intends to lower carbon intensity relative to GDP by 45% by the year 2030, as compared to baseline of 2005.
3. A National Climate Change Policy and a National Policy on Women and the Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women. Both policies were released in 2010.

Anise Kaz went on to describe the variety of climate disasters and environmental issues Malaysia faces, including floods, haze, drought, landslides and heatwaves. Their research indicated that women are disproportionately impacted and vulnerable to the climate crisis. KAMY highlighted the thematic challenges that women in Malaysia face:

1. Data gap: Malaysia faces a lack of data on the climate crisis, especially gender-disaggregated data. Available data is often not transparent, accessible or centralised. There is also a lack of acknowledgement and value of Indigenous knowledge.
2. Challenges in policy and legal framework: Malaysia’s climate policies have a variety of limitations. NDC revisions are unclear and not transparent, while NETR lacks financial backing. Both lack adaptation-centric policies and projects. Progress on gender mainstreaming and the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) is slow, and Malaysia has yet to elect a UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) National Gender and Climate Focal Point (NGCFP)
3. Intimidation of Indigenous Communities and HRDs (Human Rights Defenders): A rise in SLAPP cases (strategic lawsuits against public participation, also known as intimidation lawsuits) has been observed in Malaysia. The impact of these lawsuits against Indigenous communities is exacerbated by inaccessible legal aid and inadequate compensation.
4. Finance: Financial initiatives against climate change are often mitigation-centric, not holistic (often solely energy-focused), not gender responsive, not data driven and insufficient for community-level adaptation and mitigation. Women face additional challenges accessing aid, such as being required to present divorce or marriage certificates, resulting in them generally not receiving or receiving less aid.
5. Healthcare: Women experience a deterioration in physical and mental health during climate disasters, as well as threats to their safety. It also results in food insecurity, especially in rural communities. Collapse and limited access to healthcare (e.g. sexual and reproductive healthcare) often occur in times of disaster, which disproportionately affects disabled, sick and elderly women.
6. Care work: Unequal division of labour often results in women disproportionately taking on the majority of care workload. Combined with the lack of recognition for the care economy and added burden of recovering from climate disasters, this inhibits women’s employment and economic opportunities.
7. Education: Climate disasters disrupt the education of young women and girls. There is also a lack of climate awareness among the public, a lack of awareness of the gendered impact of climate change and an intergenerational knowledge gap at the community level. The general public, especially women, face a lack of opportunities to participate in climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.
8. Participation: Women face a lack of opportunities and inaccessibility to participate in policy-making, especially youth and Indigenous women. Consultations with marginalised community members are often selective, and inaccessible and their presence is often tokenised and unmeaningful.
9. Workplace and just transition: Workplaces offer little flexibility in times of disasters, e.g., lack of compassionate leave for survivors to recover. This limits women’s workplace participation, mobility, stability and income, especially those working in the gig economy. This is exacerbated by structural inequality in the workforce, where there is an overall lack of consideration and upskilling opportunities for women and people from vulnerable communities.

Actions, Recommendations and Opportunities from Malaysia

• Declare the climate emergency;
• Recognise the intersection between women/gender and climate change;
• Appoint a UNFCCC gender and climate focal point;
• Integrate gender-responsive budgeting;
• Mainstream gender into climate policies;
• Lobby for a Climate Change Act; and
• Develop a National Adaptation Plan.

World Café and Sharing Session

Participants were broken up into three breakout rooms representing each country; Malaysia, Phillipnes, and Nepal. Discussions in the breakout rooms occurred simultaneously. In each group, participants highlighted gaps, challenges and opportunities.

Gaps

1. Selective and a lack of meaningful consultations, collaborations and inclusion of marginalised groups across all levels of policy-making and advocacy, such as with Indigenous people, women’s organisations and community members.
2. Limited awareness, knowledge, skills and resources on climate change issues among women and Indigenous communities. This could be attributed to a lack of accessibility of information, especially on climate change and its impact.
3. Lack of data and research in three areas: Disaggregated data, e.g., on gender; Community-level data, Data on the intersections of gender, climate change and disabilities.
4. Lack of accountability from parties who are not in compliance with climate justice and policies.
5. Lack of free prior and informed consent (FPIC) of Indigenous people, where it is not respected or promoted by multi-stakeholders.
6. Lack of gender and disability inclusive policies and actions on climate change, e.g., in disaster risk reduction.
7. Lack of comprehensive understanding of intersectionality among policy-makers, as gender and climate change are considered as standalone issues. This is compounded by how climate change and disaster risks are often framed in isolation of each other, and are not gender sensitive.
8. Weak and a lack of budget for climate policy implementations.
9. Lack of community climate change adaptation models to use as strong evidence for advocacy purposes. (Malaysia)
10. Lack of Discrimination and Harassment, Equity and Inclusive Committees (EIC) on climate change. (the Philippines)
11. Lack of urgency from State Governments in combating the climate crisis.
12. Lack of synergy between global, regional and national policies, e.g., on Biodiversity and Climate with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

Challenges

1. Lack of political will to pursue issues faced by Indigenous people.
2. Lack of recognition of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), self-determination and FPIC.
3. Limited resources to assist comprehension of issues related to climate change at a community level, as most resources use technical language and are in English. This limits community members’ ability to negotiate and engage in discussions.
4. WEHRD face compounded risk of persecution due to the intersectionality of issues.
5. Lack of relevant and dedicated funding for Indigenous People and Local Communities (IPLCs), especially Indigenous women and youth.
6. Lack of space and support to engage with private sectors on supporting climate commitments and biodiversity.
7. Lack of global political commitments, e.g., Commitment on Protected Areas.
8. Lack of civil society organisations (CSOs) engagement on climate change. Most Persons with Disabilities (PWD) organisations do not engage on the topic. (Nepal)
9. Difficulties building triangular relationships with government, right holders, and multi-stakeholders. (Nepal)

Opportunities

1. Utilise regional mechanisms, such as the upcoming ASEAN Environmental Rights Framework, and build capacity among community members on these mechanisms and how they can be implemented on the local level.
2. Improve data collection and research to produce more evidence-based work.
3. Develop gender-sensitive indicators in research.
4. Increase cross-constituency collaboration on a global, regional and national level, such as linkages and engagements with National Human Rights Commissions (NHRCs), governments and agencies.
5. Improve policy coherence by strategising recent developments on Human Rights, Indigenous People and Gender, such as the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) resolution on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
6. Meaningfully recognise and consider Indigenous knowledge and practices as part of the solution to the climate crisis, including the use of traditional Indigenous seed varieties that could survive climate change.
7. Increase political engagement, participation and the collective voices of Indigenous women, youth and IPLCs with disabilities.
8. Strengthen collaborations between CSO networks and communities, and engage with them in dialogues pertaining to climate policies.
9. Strengthen, share case studies and identify actions in support of the CEDAW General Recommendation №39 on the rights of Indigenous women and Girls to inform climate policies.

Best Practices

1. Recognise the importance of capacity building with Indigenous women and youth on climate justice.
2. Increase documentation of on-the-ground situations with communities, including verbal outputs, written word or photos.
3. Assess on-the-ground understanding of climate change
4. Recognise and encourage intergenerational knowledge sharing.
5. Increase learning sessions, capacity building and discussions linking land rights to climate justice.
6. Increase initiatives to defend the defenders and to hold community spaces.

Presentation of COP Demands

1. Declare Climate Emergency;
2. Recognise the intersections of women, including their different identities and context, and climate change, e.g., Indigenous women with disabilities;
3. Recognize and support Women-Led Climate Solutions;
4. Integrate gender responsive budgeting across all levels, inclusive of DRRM (Disaster Risk Reduction Management), adaptation and mitigation;
5. Appoint a UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Gender and Climate Focal Point in each respective countries;
6. Mainstream gender into local climate policies;
7. Support measures to ensure the meaningful inclusion of persons with disabilities and their human rights under the UNFCCC framework;
8. Lobby for a Climate Change Act in each country;
9. Develop a National Adaptation Plan for climate change in each country;
10. Accelerate climate change and SRHR-related education, capacity building, training and participation through measures that encourage State adoption of inclusive climate crisis solutions and uptake of SRHR services;
11. Defend, protect and support the rights and safety of Indigenous Women Environmental Human Rights Defenders and Climate Activists.

Conclusion

The convening successfully brought together diverse voices and perspectives, setting a foundation for future collaboration and advocacy. The insights and strategies developed during this event are expected to significantly contribute to the broader goals of environmental and climate justice, particularly in the context of Indigenous women and girls in Asia. The progress made here sets a positive precedent for the upcoming COP28 and beyond.

Glossary

Anti-Terror Law (the Philippines): Framed as a counter-terrorism law meant to prevent, prohibit, and penalise acts of terrorism, the Anti-Terror Act of 2020 has been criticised by human rights groups as containing dangerous provisions that undermine human rights in the Philippines, with two portions of the Act declared as unconstitutional by The Supreme Court of the Philippines. (https://www.amnesty.org.ph/2021/12/anti-terror-act-remains-dangerous-and-fundamentally-flawed/).

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW): A principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, as part of a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). (https://www.unwomen.org/en/csw#:~:text=The%20Commission%20on%20the%20Status,II)%20of%2021%20June%201946.)

Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP): The supreme decision-making body of the UNFCCC responsible for reviewing the implementation of the Convention, via assessing national commissions and emission inventories submitted by Parties to the Convention, and their progress in achieving the objective of the Convention. (https://unfccc.int/process/bodies/supreme-bodies/conference-of-the-parties-cop)

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): A multilateral treaty with three main objectives: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of components of biological diversity, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. (https://www.cbd.int/intro)

Environmental Human Rights Defenders (EHRDs): Individuals and groups who, in their personal or professional capacity and in a peaceful manner, strive to protect and promote human rights relating to the environment, including water, air, land, flora and fauna. (https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/environmental-rights-and-governance/what-we-do/advancing-environmental-rights/who#:~:text=The%20UN%20defines%20environmental%20human,land%2C%20flora%20and%20fauna%E2%80%9D.)

Equity and Inclusive Committees (EIC): Also known as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committees (DEIC), EICs are responsible for overseeing and ensuring organisational diversity on an organisational level. (https://unsceb.org/diversity-equity-and-inclusion)

Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC): A specific right granted to Indigenous Peoples recognised in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It allows Indigenous Peoples to provide or withhold/ withdraw consent, at any point, regarding projects impacting their territories. Consent must be freely and voluntarily given without coercion, intimidation, and manipulation. For more information, please refer to https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/our-pillars/fpic/en/

Indigenous People and Local Communities (IPLC): Ethnic groups who are descended from and identify with the original inhabitants of a given region, in contrast to groups that have settled, occupied or colonized the area more recently. Many have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. (https://www.ipbes.net/glossary-tag/indigenous-peoples-and-local-communities#:~:text=Indigenous%20peoples%20and%20local%20communities%20(IPLCs)%20are%2C%20typically%2C,colonized%20the%20area%20more%20recently.)

The National Adaptation Plan (NAP, Malaysia): A climate change adaptation plan that focuses on five priority areas in addressing climate change impacts: public health, agriculture and food security, forestry and biodiversity, water resources and security, as well as infrastructure and cities.

Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC): NDCs embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change within the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement requires each (state) Party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that it intends to achieve through the pursuit of domestic mitigation measures. (https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs)

National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR, Malaysia): A national-level roadmap from the Government of Malaysia to accelerate energy transition to improve the nation’s climate resilience. The roadmap outlines 50 initiatives under six energy transition levers and five enablers, in addition to the 10 flagship projects and initiatives to meet a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target. (https://www.ekonomi.gov.my/sites/default/files/2023-09/National%20Energy%20Transition%20Roadmap_0.pdf)

National Gender and Climate Focal Point (NGCFP): A national-level focal point appointed to provide support for including gendered perspectives in climate change negotiations, implementations and monitoring in the UNFCCC framework.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC): A country-level institute that plays a crucial role in promoting and monitoring the effective implementation of international human rights standards at the national level. (https://www.ohchr.org/en/countries/nhri)

Persons with Disabilities (PWDs): A term that is used to apply to all persons with disabilities, including those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments, which, in interaction with various attitudinal and environmental barriers, hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. (https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/faqs.htm#:~:text=The%20term%20persons%20with%20disabilities,in%20society%20on%20an%20equal)

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR): Also known as the Reproductive Justice movement, women’s SRHR is related to multiple human rights, including the right to life, the right to be free from torture, the right to health, the right to privacy, the right to education, and the prohibition of discrimination. (https://www.ohchr.org/en/women/sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-rights)

Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP): Often refers to lawsuits filed by a corporation against non-government individuals or organizations on a substantive issue of political interest or social significance. The main aim of SLAPPs is to shut down critical speech by intimidating critics into silence and draining their resources. (https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/FAssociation/InfoNoteSLAPPsFoAA.docx#:~:text=It%20generally%20refers%20to%20a,silence%20and%20draining%20their%20resources.)

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC): An international treaty ratified by 198 countries, with the ultimate aim of stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations “at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system”. (https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/what-is-the-united-nations-framework-convention-on-climate-change) It should be noted that the UNFCCC is gender-blind, i.e., perceives climate change and its impact as gender neutral.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP): The UNDRIP requires States to consult and cooperate in good faith with Indigenous peoples through their representative institutions to obtain FPIC before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them. The four principles outlined in the UNDRIP are the rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination, participation in decision-making, respect for and protection of the culture of Indigenous Peoples, and equality and non-discrimination. (https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): Contributes to peace and security by promoting international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication and information. UNESCO promotes knowledge sharing and the free flow of ideas to accelerate mutual understanding and a more perfect knowledge of each other’s lives. (https://www.unesco.org/en/brief)

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA): The main policy-making organ of the United Nations. Currently consisting of 193 Member States at the time of writing, the UNGA is a forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations. The UNGA also makes key decisions for the UN, including the appointment of the Secretary-General on the recommendation of the Security Council, approving UN budgets and electing non-permanent members of the Security Council. (https://www.un.org/en/ga/)

Women Environmental Human Rights Defenders (WEHRD): Individuals or groups of women who, in their personal or professional capacity and in a peaceful manner, strive to protect and promote human rights relating to the environment, including water, air, land, flora and fauna. WEHRDs face unique challenges as a result of their intersectional identities, including risks of gender-based violence (GBV). (https://www.iucn.nl/app/uploads/2021/03/iucn-srjs-briefs-wehrd-gbv-en_01.pdf)