Mekong Alumni from Thailand, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and Burma attended several workshops focusing on Women and Climate Change in Bangkok from September 27-October 8th. The workshops were planned to coincide with the UNFCC Inter-sessional Conference, International Climate and Strategy Conference and Regional Workshop on Power Alternatives. At the workshops, Mekong alumni took part in developing strategies for action and cooperation between women’s groups throughout Asia.
At the workshops, alumni discussed climate finance and the role of free trade, the existence of an “ecological debt” between Annex I and non-Annex I countries, and emphasized the importance of not including large hydro and nuclear power projects into the carbon trading market. Alumni joined the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) at the UN building, where they advocated for enhanced action on the development and transfer of technology, and joined a conference on Power and Water Alternatives organized by local civil society groups at the October 14 Foundation. Thai alumni Ms. Siriluk gave a presentation on energy issues, our Lao alumni presented on her experiences working on gender and environmental issues in Laos, and Thai alumni Phairin presented on the right to water in relation to climate justice.
The Alumni joined two mass mobilizations on Gender Justice and Climate Justice. The October 5th Climate Justice march brought together groups from many different sectors to demand a quick and fair solution to climate change. Over three thousand people walked through the streets of Bangkok and convened outside the UN Building to give speeches, play music, and join in solidarity against ineffective climate measures being discussed in the UN and other political forums.
Finally, a group of organizations sponsored the “International Court of Earth Justice: The Global Climate Tribunal”, a session in which a mock trial meant to force G8 countries to be accountable for the hardship that climate change has caused in many Asian countries.
The alumni left inspired to take further action on climate change. Our Lao alumni plans to incorporate climate change research and trainings into her current work with Lao youth, and our Vietnamese alumni hopes to apply for a small grant through our Alumni Program to conduct activities focusing on climate change and gender in Vietnam. The alumni wrote a the following press release highlighting women of the Mekong Region’s concerns regarding climate change, and distributed the press release widely through their e-mail groups:
“As women from the Mekong region, we demand that large hydropower and nuclear power be removed from CDM. Dams in tropical areas like the Mekong region produce large amounts of methane gas, which is a main contributor to global warming. Furthermore, radiation from nuclear power is harmful to the environment and research has shown that nuclear is not a sustainable power source. Many times, hydropower and nuclear power exploit the resources of indigenous communities for the benefit of the rich. These are neither clean nor green energy sources and so they must not be included in CDM.
Women in the Mekong region face huge burdens in their daily lives, and these are only increasing as climate change becomes a reality. Currently, women are excluded from many aspects of decision making related to climate change. We insist that women be provided full access to these processes, because there can be no climate justice without gender justice.
Women and their families from communities all over the Mekong region have told us many times that they can eat the Mekong River’s fish, but they cannot eat electricity. They ask only for their livelihoods and enough resources for their future generations. We speak for them when we say ‘stop damaging our environment and bring justice to our region’.”