COP 17

The seventeenth session of the Conference of Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held from 28 November to 9 December 2011 in Durban, South Africa.

At COP 17, negotiations advanced implementation of the Convention, along with the related Kyoto Protocol and Cancun Agreements, and resulted in the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. Parties agreed to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change as soon as possible, and no later than 2015; extend the Kyoto Protocol into a second commitment period (2012–2017); and form the Green Climate Fund.

Among the key gains of the 11 gender-specific references secured at COP 17 was the inclusion of “gender-sensitivity” as among the six principles of the governing instrument with respect to the establishment of the Green Climate Fund. It stipulates a gender-sensitive approach as part of the Fund’s objectives and guiding principles and calls for due consideration to be given to gender balance on the Fund’s board and secretariat.