COP 20
The twentieth session of the Conference of Parties (COP 20) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held from 1 to 12 December 2014, in Lima, Peru, where Parties adopted the Lima Work Programme on Gender.
At COP 20, UN Women, working closely with civil society partners—in particular those representing the Women and Gender Constituency at the UNFCCC, and government champions (among Parties to the UNFCCC)—made positive inroads in incorporating explicit references to gender and women in the draft text for the new climate agreement for the first time. At COP 20, an increasing number of Parties referred to the importance of gender equality in the climate agreement. UN Women provided substantive support, which was complemented by its outreach to Parties and advocacy by various gender equality advocates.
Building on past gains and as a follow-up to the implementation of UNFCCC Decision 23/CP.18 on “Promoting gender balance and improving the participation of women in UNFCCC”, UN Women closely monitored the negotiations and worked with Parties and other stakeholders towards the adoption of the Lima Work Programme on Gender. The two-year programme aims to promote gender balance and achieve gender-responsive climate policy, through:
- training and awareness-raising among delegates on issues related to gender balance and climate change;
- building the skills and capacity of female delegates to effectively participate in UNFCCC meetings;
- and clarifying the meaning of the term “gender-responsive climate policy” from an implementation perspective.
The Work Programme also mandated that Parties and other stakeholders to the UNFCCC Secretariat submit their views on gender-responsive climate policy with a focus on mitigation and technology development and transfer, as well as on adaptation, capacity-building, and training and the holding of in-session workshops on these topics.
Gender equality issues were also given visibility at COP 20 on “Gender Day,” where UN Women was represented by Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri on a high-level panel which also served as a Beijing+20 commemoration event. Read a column by Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.