Women Leading Efforts to Uphold Indigenous Rights, Sovereignty, and Due Diligence with Financial Institutions and Corporations

From the frontlines of extractive projects, the

Women Leading Efforts to Uphold Indigenous Rights, Sovereignty, and Due Diligence with Financial Institutions and Corporations

From the frontlines of extractive projects, the boardrooms of financial institutions, to the halls of governments, Indigenous women are leading efforts to uphold Indigenous rights and sovereignty, including the right of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).

During the event, Indigenous women leaders and global advocates discussed how financial institutions and corporations perpetuate human and Indigenous rights violations in relation to extractive and other industries and the necessary steps these institutions must take to stop these egregious activities— and instead, implement FPIC, Indigenous rights and due diligence, while also investing in solutions within a climate justice framework centering Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

Additionally, given the severity of the climate crisis and existential threat to all of humanity, it is important to highlight that 80% of biodiversity remaining on Earth is in Indigenous lands and territories. Respecting Indigenous knowledge, ways of life, and FPIC, and the right to say “no” to continued extraction, is thus paramount to the discussion.

This was a formal side-event of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2022.

Speakers included:
-- Michelle Cook (Dine’/Navajo), Human rights lawyer and founder of Divest Invest Protect and Indigenous Human Rights Defenders and Corporate Accountability Program

-- Summer Blaze Aubrey (Citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a Descendant of the Blackfeet Nation), Law Fellow, Indigenous Human Rights Defenders & Corporate Accountability Program and Staff Attorney for the International Indian Treaty Council

-- Leila Salazar-Lopez, Executive Director of Amazon Watch

-- Sônia Guajajara (Guajajara), Executive Coordinator for Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB)

-- Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation), Ponca Environmental Ambassador and WECAN Board Member

-- Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)

-- Special Guest: Maria Violet Medina Quiscue (Nasa), Autoridades Indigenas en Bakata, Colombia with Xiomara Chingate

82 views  Sep 12, 2024

 On September 12, WECAN held a virtual launch event for the report, "The Gendered and Racial Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry in North America and

82 views  Sep 12, 2024

 On September 12, WECAN held a virtual launch event for the report, "The Gendered and Racial Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry in North America and Complicit Financial Institutions (Fourth Edition).” 

From rising cancer rates to escalating violence, the report details the numerous disproportionate health and safety risks and impacts women in all their diversity are experiencing due to fossil fuel extraction, which is also perpetuating Indigenous and human rights violations. The report highlights regional case studies from Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities in North America, as well as the corresponding financial institutions that are contributing to these egregious harms. The report outlines recommendations for the banks to move toward accountability and a just transition. 

During the online event, we heard from frontline women leaders, health experts, and advocates who are demanding accountability from financial institutions to take action for the health of our communities, ecosystems, and the climate. Speakers included: 

✴� Roishetta Sibley Ozane M.S., Founder of Vessel Project of Louisiana and Gulf Fossil Finance Coordinator, Louisiana

✴� Rene Ann Goodrich (Bad River Ojibwe), Native Lives Matter Coalition and Wisconsin Department of Justice Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Task Force Member, Wisconsin

✴� Sharon Lavigne, Founder of RISE St. James, and 2021 Goldman Prize Winner, Louisiana

✴� Patricia Garcia-Nelson (Oraricha Tribes of Mexico and the Chichimeca), Colorado Fossil Fuel Just Transition Advocate for Green Latinos, Northern Colorado

✴� Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation), Environmental Ambassador for the Ponca Nation, and Board Member and Project Coordinator for WECAN, Oklahoma

✴� Antonia Juhasz, Investigative Journalist, author, lecturer, Washington, DC

✴� Dr. Nneoma Nwachuku Ojiaku, MD, MPH Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Climate Health Now

✴� Osprey Orielle Lake, Report Co-author, and Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)

Many thanks to the amazing speakers!

Press Conference – Accelerating Feminist Solutions to the Climate Crisis, Saturday, December 2, 2023, 3:30 - 4:00 PM

During COP28, WECAN hosted a series of events highlighting

Press Conference – Accelerating Feminist Solutions to the Climate Crisis, Saturday, December 2, 2023, 3:30 - 4:00 PM

During COP28, WECAN hosted a series of events highlighting the powerful voices of women leaders in all of their diversity from around the world! This event was co-hosted by the Feminist Green New Deal (FemGND) Coalition, of which WECAN is a founding member.

​During this press conference, women and feminist leaders spoke to the root causes of the climate crisis as it is imperative to ensure the inclusion of feminist principles in a Just Transition. Speakers discussed feminist policies and frameworks that are necessary for advancing just climate policies, focused in the United States with global implications. Speakers included organizational representatives from the FemGND Coalition

💥 Tzeporah Berman, Chair, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, Canada 💥 Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Convenor and International Spokesperson for Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP), Philippines 💥 Eriel Tchekwie Deranger (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation), Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action, Canada 💥 Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), USA

Lake Superior Whitefish shares the story of the Petersons, a commercial fishing family in Hancock, MI. This video is part of The Ways, an ongoing series of stories on culture and

Lake Superior Whitefish shares the story of the Petersons, a commercial fishing family in Hancock, MI. This video is part of The Ways, an ongoing series of stories on culture and language from Native communities around the central Great Lakes.

INTERNET LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION

Global Women are Leading for Water Protection! During this event "Women for Climate Justice Leading Protection of Water," we heard from grassroots women

INTERNET LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION

Global Women are Leading for Water Protection! During this event "Women for Climate Justice Leading Protection of Water," we heard from grassroots women leaders, water protectors, and international policy experts, who addressed the impacts of climate change and destructive projects on global water, and shared ongoing solutions and strategies for the protection of oceans, freshwater, rivers, and aquatic ecosystems based in a climate justice framework.

This is a formal side event of the UN Water Conference happening right now in New York City. In addition to the event, WECAN is submitting a commitment and releasing a Call to Action urging governments to increase and improve their ambition to protect global water sources by enacting a rights-based approach and ensuring women’s leadership in decision- making spaces. Read and share the call to action here: https://bit.ly/3LJNZgE

Speakers include:
Great-Grandmother Mary Lyons | Band of Ojibwe, Ojibwe Elder, Women of Wellbriety, International, United Nations Observer on Women/Indigenous Issues, Turtle Island/USA
Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner | Poet, Director for Marshallese youth nonprofit Jo-Jikum, and Climate Envoy, Marshall Islands
c (Cofán) | Indigenous rights & Land Defender, Goldman Prize Winner, Ecuador
Maude Barlow | Founding Member of the Council of Canadians, Co-Founder, the Blue Planet Project, Canada
Aurora Conley | Bad River Ojibwe, Anishinaabe Environmental Protection Alliance, Turtle Island/USA
Vasser Seydel | President at The Oxygen Project, USA
Moderation and Comments by Osprey Orielle Lake | Executive Director, Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)

Links and resources from the event are available here: https://bit.ly/3JFnTZJ

During Climate Week in New York City, WECAN held a virtual public event on September 26, 2024, “Transforming Global Economies: From Extraction to Regeneration in a Just Transition.”