UN Sustainable Development Goal #13: Climate Action
FAWCO supports UN Sustainable Development Goal #13
At the FAWCO International Conference in Mumbai in April 2017, the delegates unanimously adopted a Resolution stating:
Having actively supported efforts to protect the environment for over thirty years and encouraging its members to be environmentally responsible citizens, FAWCO reconfirms its commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to all individual and collective measures to curb climate change.
UN Reps Team and Environment
In late 2016, FAWCO was granted Observer Status to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This accreditation enables FAWCO to send representatives to UN Climate Change Conferences and report on the latest news to our members. Since 2017, FAWCO UN Reps Stacey Kimmig and Ayuska Motha from AIWC Cologne attend meetings of the Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany. FAWCO joined the Women and Gender Constituency of Observer NGOs at the UNFCCC and will continue our coverage of and involvement with the climate conference process. To learn more, read FAWCO's UN Climate Change Conference blog posts. To find out more about the issues, read the Pocket Guide to Gender Equality under the UNFCCC.
Climate Advocacy
Leading up to COP25, FAWCO joined other climate change activists and members of the Women and Gender Constituency in signing an International Climate Justice response to COP25 relocation.
Climate Change Impacts Global Migration
Climate Induced Displacement is an informative brochure developed by the NGO Committee on Migration, where FAWCO is an active member with UN Rep Jane Politi on the executive committee.
In September 2019, FAWCO UN Rep Jane Politi attended side events related to climate-induced migration and the impacts on children at the global Climate Summit in New York, and wrote a blog recounting her impressions.
In 2018, FAWCO signed on to a Declaration on Climate-Induced Displacement initiated by CIVICUS, a global network of civil society and other stakeholders to engage constructively in finding common solutions to global challenges.
United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
The United Nations' environmental programs are based on a heritage of service to the environment by numerous non-governmental organizations and individuals. FAWCO is committed to supporting the UN and its agencies in actions to safeguard the environment. There is no doubt that on a whole range of environmental issues, the advocacy of NGOs, both in public and private, has helped change public attitudes and influence government policy.
In 1972, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was established to provide leadership and encourage partnerships in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and people to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
FAWCO supports the UN's development agenda and encourages our members to take part in activities to benefit the planet and to have fun while doing it. As David R. Brower, author of CPR for Planet Earth once said, “People want to be part of something fun. It’s exciting to change the world. If you’re in it simply out of worry or guilt, you won’t last and normal people won’t join you. Learning to read the Earth and saving it is fascinating stuff. Put fun in the movement to conserve, preserve, and restore, and celebrate it, and people will run to sign up.”
Environment Team
FAWCO's Environment Team publishes regular articles with environmental news updates, promotes action through campaigns, and informs members about global environmental issues including air, soil and water pollution, species extinction, energy efficiency, conservation, waste reduction, and climate change.
In December 2015, the Environment Team and UN Reps Team collaborated to take part virtually—with a low carbon footprint—in the historic Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21), and blogged about the events.
Target Program: Environment
From 2010 – 2013, FAWCO's Target Program: Environment focused on improving access to clean water and supplied water wells for a rural development project in Cambodia. FAWCO's Target Water Program raised $165,000 and provided clean water for drinking and agriculture to over 1,500 families.