Please join WECAN in celebrating Earth Month this April with upcoming events and advocacy centering the expertise, knowledge, and solutions of global women leaders from Nepal to Ecuador! 

The most recent IPCC report has made it clear once again, which we all knew to be true, that the window for significant action to avert the worst of climate chaos is rapidly closing. Yet, we still have the opportunity to make a difference right now, to stop the worst impacts of the climate crisis, which so many people are experiencing first hand worldwide. Within our network, we have seen the breadth and depth of solutions and advocacy led by global women leaders in all of their diversity. 

While WECAN works year round to advance the solutions and leadership of women for climate justice, this Earth month we are specifically highlighting the many ways women around the world are protecting biodiversity by resisting fossil fuel extraction and deforestation, advancing food sovereignty and alternative economies, and bringing forth an urgent call for the just and healthy planet our communities deserve.

Please explore our newsletter for more details on how you can participate in, support, and amplify events and actions for people and planet!

From April 17 - 22 the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) will be in New York City to advocate at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) twenty-second session and organize events and actions concurrent with the forum. The theme for this year explores how Indigenous communities and rights intersect with human health, planetary and territorial health, and climate change. 

We are honored to be organizing with Indigenous women leaders and close allies participating in the UNPFII.

Globally, over 80% of remaining biodiversity is stewarded by Indigenous peoples, however Indigenous communities continue to experience rampant violations of rights and sovereignty, and threats of extraction and destruction to their territories. Within this context Indigenous women specifically are facing rising threats of violence as they take action.

The UNPFII is a vital international forum for Indigenous women facing various violations; threats to their very survival; the destruction of their territories; and the effects these egregious actions have on communities, water, forests, and the global climate. The forum and parallel events are a key opportunity to have their voices, responses, calls to action, and solutions heard by the public, media, and government representatives. 

WECAN is as dedicated as ever to supporting frontline women at critical international events and advocacy opportunities, like the UNPFII, because we know that the leadership of Indigenous women is more essential now than ever as we face the need for rapid transformative action and urgent implementation of policies and programs that support a healthy and equitable future. 

Please join us virtually and in-person for events highlighting the rights and solutions of Indigenous women as part of WECAN’s advocacy at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) held in New York City.

Find registration details and information about our virtual and in-person events below! 

IN PERSON - Indigenous Women Upholding Indigenous Rights and Knowledge, and Leading Climate Solutions

Wednesday, April 19, 5:00 - 8:00pm ET

Church Center of the United Nations

777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017

REGISTER HERE!

Please join us for this important event, held parallel to the UNPFII, to hear from global Indigenous women leaders on the impacts of fossil fuels, deforestation, and the climate crisis in their communities and how they are implementing solutions, practicing traditional knowledge systems, upholding Indigenous rights, and advancing policies and practices of care and climate justice.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Xiye Bastida (Otomi-Toltec)| Co-founder and Board, Re-earth Initiative, USA 
• Yasso Kanti Bhattachan (Thakali) | Founding Member and the Vice Chair of the National Indigenous Women’s Forum (NIWF), Nepal
• President Whitney Gravelle (Bay Mills Indian Community)| President and Executive Council Bay Mills Indian Community, Chair of the Department of Interior’s Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee and Commissioner on the Michigan Advisory Council on Environmental Justice, Turtle Island/USA  
• Majo Andrade Cerda (Kichwa) | Young leader of the Kichwa People of Napo, Land is Life’s Latin America Program Assistant, Ecuador
• Michelle Woodhouse (Métis) | Water Program Manager, Environmental Defence, Canada
• Moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director
• And more to be announced!!

Please help share this event with your communities and networks using the links below!

• Reshare on Twitter
• Reshare on Instagram
• Reshare on Facebook
• Share the Facebook Event Page

VIRTUAL - Uplifting Women Human Rights Defenders

and Advancing the Escazu Agreement

Thursday, April 20, 11:30 - 1:00 p.m. New York City Time

REGISTER HERE!

Latin America is one of the deadliest regions for environmental land defenders. In 2021, Global Witness reported that 200 land and environmental defenders were killed for their activism – with over two-thirds of killings taking place in Latin America. Combined with entrenched colonial and patriarchal policies, individuals threatened are oftentimes Indigenous peoples and women environmental and human rights defenders (WEHRDs) fighting for the protection of their communities and territories.

During this virtual event, women environmental and human rights defenders, policy makers, and feminist advocates will highlight the challenges women in all of their diversity face in securing human and Indigenous rights, gaining access to information, public participation, access to justice and protecting land, territories and communities in the context of implications and opportunities women have as part of the Escazú Agreement.

Grassroots, regional and international organizations will share their calls to action for ensuring women and human rights, and the protection of biodiverse regions in Latin America and the Caribbean, while also advocating for the implementation of the Escazú Agreement for women. This event is a formal side event of the Escazú COP2, taking place separately but concurrently with the UNPFII. In both instances, we are committed to ensuring the voices of Indigenous women leaders are at the forefront of these important international forums and discussions.

Since 2018, WECAN has been advocating for the ratification and implementation of the Escazú Agreement.  Learn more about our advocacy efforts here.

VIRTUAL - Indigenous Women from North America Defending Biodiversity, Human Rights, and our Global Climate

Thursday, April 20 - 1:00 - 2:30pm ET

REGISTER HERE!

During this virtual event held in parallel to the UNPFII, Indigenous women leaders will address a variety of topics, highlighting how Indigenous women are leading efforts to uphold Indigenous rights and sovereignty, including the right of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) with the aim of advocating to global governments and financial institutions that respecting Indigenous knowledge, ways of life, and FPIC, and the right to say “no” to continued extraction, is paramount to addressing the global climate and environmental crises. Speakers will also present solutions grounded in Indigenous knowledge and expertise for protecting and defending communities and Mother Earth.

Speakers include:

• Eriel Tchekwie Deranger (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation) | Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action, Canada
• Tara Houska (Couchiching First Nation) | Tribal Attorney and Founder of Giniw Collective, Line 3 pipeline Resistance Leader, Turtle Island, USA
• Dr. Crystal A Cavalier, Ed.D, MPA (Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation) | Co-Founder, 7 Directions of Service, Turtle Island, USA
• Monique Verdin (Houma Nation) | Director of The Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange, Organizer with Another Gulf is Possible, Turtle Island, USA
• Jannan J. Cornstalk (Citizen of Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians) | Director Water is Life Festival, Turtle Island, USA
• Moderation and Comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director

Please see below several actions you can take to support frontline communities across North America to stop extractive projects that seek to further harm communities and accelerate the climate crisis.

Call to Action to Stop the Line 5 Pipeline

Please join us in sharing and signing this letter to the US and Canada urging them to stop invoking Article Six of the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty, and finally stop the Line 5 project!

Learn more and sign the letter by April 24: http://bit.ly/3nrVpLm

Canada has formally invoked Article Six of the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty twice to keep the 70 year old Line 5 operating. First on October 4, 2021 in response to Michigan Governor Whitmer’s order to shut the pipeline down after a ship’s anchor strike causing significant risk to the Straits of Mackinac. They did so a second time on August 29, 2022 when the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa discovered serious erosion beneath the pipeline leaving it unsupported, and at significant risk of failure with the next severe weather event.

Please join us in calling for the Canadian government to stop impeding the efforts to uphold the inherent rights of the Indigenous Nations of the Great Lakes while honoring all of the treaties with Indigenous Nations north and south of the border that predate and supersede the 1977 pipeline treaty.

Since 2022, WECAN has been very honored to facilitate the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance, a group of Indigenous women leaders from the Great Lakes region, to resist the advancement of the Line 5 pipeline. Please learn more and stay connected here!

Court Vacates Permit to Halt the Mountain Valley Pipeline

Although this fight is not over, we are celebrating this win! At the beginning of April, Judges of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Clean Water Act § 401 certification for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), noting that the department failed to consider adequately the pipeline developer's past water quality violations in its certification process among additional issues with the permitting process.

The 401 certification is a critical permit for construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline through rivers and wetlands in West Virginia, and this decision will further delay this dangerous pipeline.

The MVP is years behind schedule, billions of dollars over budget, and missing multiple federal authorizations. The pipeline has already brought destruction to the Blue Ridge Mountains, and communities impacted by the proposed pipeline are continuing to unite and call for solidarity and support.

We offer huge gratitude to the POHWR Coalition, Appalachian Voices, 7 Directions of Service, and the many groups on the frontlines who are leading this fight. Together, we can stop MVP!

Call to Action to Stop Formosa Plastics in Louisiana

The fight to stop Formosa Plastics from building a mega-polluting petrochemical plant in St. James Parish, Louisiana is moving to the White House. After a lot of hard work — through the leadership of RISE St. James, the power of the people, and robust legal opposition — construction has been delayed.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has suspended the project's federal permit and is now reevaluating it. Any meaningful analysis will make it clear that the permit should be revoked entirely. The plant would pollute a predominantly Black community, disturb unmarked burial sites of formerly enslaved people, degrade wetlands, and deepen the plastic pollution crisis. As the President of the United States and the Commander in Chief, President Biden can direct the Army Corps to revoke the federal permits.

Urge President Biden to stay true to his commitment to environmental justice and revoke Formosa Plastics' permits today. Sign the petition here!

California to Vote on Resolution Endorsing

a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

Currently, the State of California is considering a resolution to formally endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty proposal and call on President Biden to support Pacific nations moving ahead with seeking a negotiating mandate.

Introduced by Senate Majority Whip Senator Lena A Gonzalez, and co-sponsored by the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and Stand.earth, the resolution supports a global plan to create the missing framework for managing fossil fuel production, first by stopping expansion and then carefully phasing out coal, oil, and gas in a way that is fair and fast. It also looks to protect the most impacted workers and local government services through this transition to abundant and clean renewable energy. The resolution will take its first major step through the California legislature with a Senate hearing on April 19th.

As the largest subnational economy on Earth, California endorsing the Fossil Fuel Treaty would add significant momentum to the proposal on a global level — and add further pressure on calls for an end to oil and gas permits and a wind down of existing production within California. 

To support local efforts, please be welcome to sign and share the Stand.earth petition here in support of the resolution!

WECAN is honored to be a part of the Steering Committee of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and continuing our work to end the era of fossil fuels!

Policy Coordinator (full time)

Staff Position

Rolling Acceptance, Open until Filled

The Policy Coordinator will work remotely, with the guidance of WECAN’s Executive Director, to coordinate ongoing policy campaigns. This will include conducting research, analyzing policy strategies, writing reports and educational materials, and supporting WECAN campaigns and coalition building to push forward progressive policies within a climate justice framework.

This role will include work within WECAN’s fossil fuel resistance and divestment campaigns,

advocating for governments and financial institutions to stop fossil fuel expansion and deforestation. This work will also include advocating for policies that implement human rights and Indigenous rights, and supporting ongoing policy work through various coalitions uplifting feminist climate policies. Learn how to apply and read the full description here.