COP 19

The nineteenth session of the Conference of Parties (COP 19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held from 11 to 22 November 2013 in Warsaw, Poland. At COP 19, Parties agreed on a firm timetable to secure the adoption of a new global climate change agreement in 2015, to come into force in 2020.

UN Women worked with Parties and stakeholders to ensure that the gender dimensions of climate change impacts and response feature prominently in the new agreement. The organization supported capacity-building efforts targeting women delegates to the UNFCCC, including through networking activities to encourage mentorship. UN Women also supported the participation of nine women government officials from least-developed countries and small-island developing States in online courses on climate change diplomacy and climate finance to deepen their understanding of the global climate change discussions, so as to enhance their contributions as part of their delegations and lead on this issue at the national level.

In addition, UN Women worked to profile gender equality and women’s empowerment in relevant processes and events including the in-session workshop on gender balance, gender-sensitive climate policy and capacity-building, where UN Women presented key findings of a research report on how gender balance has been advanced in various multilateral and intergovernmental processes.

UN Women co-organized and participated in a number of events in Warsaw, including the high-level panel on “Gender and Climate Change: Vision 50/50”, which was a celebration of the increasing attention to gender equality and women’s voice in the UNFCCC process.