Dear Community,

Right now, we are seeing worldwide women rising for Mother Earth and global communities. Women leaders in all their diversity are in action to stop fossil fuel extraction; to end the killing in Gaza, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo; and to protect sacred lands, waters, ecosystems, communities, and our global climate. They are implementing brilliant and successful climate solutions from reforestation projects to food sovereignty programs, from gender-responsive climate policy to Land Back campaigns. These trailblazers are not only challenging the status quo but also offering visionary solutions for ending the era of fossil fuels and advancing a peaceful and Just Transition.

We also honor the many women, trans, and gender diverse leaders rising and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights worldwide this month and every month. Feminist leaders understand that the fight for environmental justice is intrinsically linked to social equity, and their efforts are ensuring that the voices of those most impacted by the climate crisis and systemic oppression are heard and respected. Climate justice is social justice.

Please read through our newsletter to see how you can join women climate justice leaders in action and learn more about some of WECAN's advocacy and programs this season. WECAN is also hiring and you can find the job description and further details at the bottom of this newsletter. 

Bad River Tribal members speak out during a coalition press conference ahead of the USACE public hearing on the Line 5 expansion project.

On May 2, 2024, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced the opening of a written public comment period regarding the newly released draft Environmental Assessment (EA) of Enbridge’s Line 5 Wisconsin Segment Relocation project. This project poses a grave danger to communities and ecosystems in the Great Lakes region, which is home to one-fifth of the world’s surface freshwater.

In addition to the comment period, the USACE held a public hearing on June 4 in Ashland, Wisconsin regarding the project. The Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance, facilitated by WECAN, participated in the hearing to demand the Line 5 expansion be denied, and for the pipeline to be permanently shutdown to protect Tribal territories, water, and our global climate! Find more photos and coverage of the public hearing here.

Join us in calling for the Army Corps to reject any requested permits for a Line 5 expansion project now or in the future. The USACE should respect and reinforce the legal decision to decommission the pipeline no later than June 2026 and to permanently shutdown this pipeline once and for all. Submit your comment at the button below!

Left: Representatives from USACE listen to testimony at the hearing on Line 5 in Wisconsin.

Right: Deb Topping, member of the IWTA, gives testimony at the USACE hearing on Line 5 in Wisconsin.

Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline was originally built in 1953, and continues to operate nearly 20 years past its engineered lifespan, transporting 22 million gallons of crude oil each day through northern Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and under the Straits of Mackinac. Already this pipeline has spilled over a million gallons of oil. This poses a grave danger to the Great Lakes region. Enbridge’s planned expansion and operation not only diverts us from our climate targets and objectives, but also significantly worsens the escalating impacts of the global climate crisis.

Enbridge’s proposal to expand Line 5 comes despite the strong opposition of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and other Tribes. The new Line 5 pipeline expansion and re-route threatens local aquifers and waterways, Treaty Rights, and the climate. Additionally, historical evidence demonstrates that as a result of extractive projects in and around Indigenous communities, the influx of pipeline workers and "man-camps" exacerbates the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Two-Spirit people.

Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance advocates present at the hearing included:

• Aurora Conley, Bad River Ojibwe, Anishinaabe Environmental Protection Alliance
• Rene Ann Goodrich, Bad River Ojibwe, Native Lives Matter Coalition and Wisconsin Department of Justice MMIW Task Force Member,
• Gaagigeyaashiik - Dawn Goodwin, Gaawaabaabiganigaag, White Earth-Ojibwe, Co-founder of R.I.S.E. Coalition, Representative of Indigenous Environmental Network
• Nookomis Debra Topping, Nagajiiwanong, 1854 Treaty Fond du Lac, Co-founder of R.I.S.E. Coalition
• Alexus Koski, Bad River Ojibwe Youth Leader, Water Protector, Stop Line 5 Advocate

Please join us in solidarity with the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance to submit public comments on the Line 5 pipeline! Click the button above for more information on submitting your comment and additional resources.

Please join youth, grassroots and Tribal leadership from Cheyenne River and Standing Rock in D.C. for a rally on June 11 to shutdown the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)!

📅 Tuesday June 11, 12-1pm ET

📌 Meet in front of the White House (1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, D.C.)

🌎 Learn more & RSVP here!

The Dakota Access pipeline has been operating illegally for several years – violating Treaty Rights, threatening people and ecosystems, and fueling the climate emergency. The Biden administration’s Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) now has the opportunity to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline once and for all.

Together, we can take action to protect water, Indigenous rights, communities, and our global climate for current and future generations. Let's raise our voices together and urge President Biden and the ACOE to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline once and for all. WECAN has been engaged with the Indigenous-led DAPL resistance effort since 2016, and we will be on the ground in DC and posting on social media! 

The Bonn Intersessional is a critical mid-year meeting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that convenes annually every June in Bonn, Germany. The Intersessional advances the goals and outcomes of the international climate negotiations determined at the COPs. This year Bonn is taking place from June 3 - 13.

WECAN is engaging in Bonn virtually this year, following dialogues and negotiations on climate finance, Just Transition, the Gender Action Plan (GAP), and country's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are due in early 2025.

Additionally, WECAN is co-hosting an event on June 12 in Bonn with partners in the Gender and Environment Data Alliance (GEDA) to underscore the critical role of gender and environment data in informing and enhancing gender-responsive national climate policies, emphasizing the interconnection between the Gender Action Plan and climate action at regional, national, and local levels. Please see further details here.

Thank you to the many amazing leaders of the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) who are pushing for gender justice, climate justice, and progressive climate policies. WECAN is honored to be a formal member of the WGC.

We also join calls from civil society to kick big polluters out of the negotiations! An investigation by Global Witness, released at Bonn this week, found that the UAE state-run oil company, ADNOC made nearly $100 BILLION in oil and gas deals during 2023 (5 times the amount compared to 2022), using their position as the COP28 Presidency to advance their interests. The investigation posits that the COP29 Presidency could be looking to do the same.

We need fossil fuel industry leaders out of the climate talks, and instead we need governments to listen to the agenda and solutions of frontline leaders and civil society, particularly those most impacted by the climate crisis and from the Global South. WECAN is in preparation for COP29 in Azerbaijan later this year, and the outcomes at Bonn are vital to our collective advocacy efforts. We are not giving up on our communities or this beautiful planet we call home!

On June 10, the Summer of Heat campaign is being launched ― a campaign of sustained, disruptive, nonviolent civil disobedience against the banks, investors, and insurance companies bankrolling the climate crisis. WECAN is honored to participate in this campaign, and encourage our network to join us in getting involved this summer! 

The urgency of the climate crisis demands that we take action now to end financing for fossil fuels. Without financing from big banks like Citi, Chase, Wells Fargo, and more ― fossil fuel companies cannot afford to build their new coal mines, oil pipelines, and gas terminals. And we know that throughout history, nonviolent civil disobedience has played a critical role in successful social movements.

Join the Summer of Heat on Wall Street Campaign and get involved in the largest climate civil disobedience campaign happening in the US, this year. While the Summer of Heat is centered in New York, wherever you are, there are ways for you to plug in and support the campaign.

On June 1st, 7 Directions of Service, with the support of Movement Rights, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, and the Rights of Nature Tribunal hosted the "The Yesah Tribunal: Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Rights of Rivers”.

The Yesah Tribunal was the 12th local tribunal recognized by the International Rights of Nature Tribunal Assembly, and the first Indigenous-led tribunal of its kind in global history.

During the tribunal, Indigenous leaders called for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) polluters to be held accountable for their violations of human and nature’s rights, destruction and desecration of sacred sites, mountains, and rivers, and provide clean-up costs for all impacted residents and ecosystems of West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Photo via 7 Directions of Service

The day-long proceedings concluded with a powerful guilty verdict delivered by President of the Yesah Tribunal Casey Camp-Horinek: “The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a violation of the rights of Nature and should be stopped, and the MVP Southgate should not be approved. Section 324 of the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act, which fast-tracked MVP, must be repealed."

Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation) is the Environmental Ambassador for the Ponca Nation,  Chair of the Indigenous Council for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, and a WECAN Board Member and Project Coordinator. Learn more about what you can do to support this ongoing work to stop MVP here.

Recognizing that Nature has the right to exist, evolve and carry on its vital cycles free from destructive projects like pipelines places legal and enforceable obligations on humans to live within the boundaries of the natural world. WECAN is honored to have helped sponsor the Yesah Tribunal, alongside other movement partners. For a full report back on the Yesah Tribunal, please visit our colleagues at 7 Directions of Service.

Along with 65 Human Rights Defenders representing 40 countries, Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director, had the opportunity to present at the 13th Human Rights Defenders Forum at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Human Rights Defenders Policy Forum began in November 2003 with their first event "Human Rights Defenders on the Frontlines of Freedom: Protecting Human Rights in the Context of the War on Terror," which brought together human rights activists from 41 countries to discuss their work and how US and other foreign policies were affecting their efforts.

At this critical juncture, themes at this year’s conference included tackling increased authoritarianism and resulting conflict, the struggle for democracy, shrinking civic space, normalization of violence, and the climate crisis. 

Thank you to all the leaders who organized this vital event and especially to all the incredibly courageous and inspiring Human Rights Defenders who shared their testimonies, analysis, strategies and huge hearts. People who have been imprisoned, tortured, exiled from their home countries, oppressed for decades, and yet, fight on for liberation. Gaza, Nicaragua, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indigenous rights, systemic change, white supremacy, authoritarianism, dehumanization, intergenerational trauma, the climate crisis and more were all on the agenda.

The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) is seeking a full time Policy Coordinator to join our dynamic team working for climate justice, systemic change, and women’s and feminist leadership in global climate solutions. 

The Policy Coordinator will work remotely, with the support of WECAN’s Executive Director, to coordinate ongoing policy campaigns and advocacy efforts. This will include conducting research, analyzing policy strategies, writing reports, briefs, and educational materials, and supporting WECAN campaigns and coalition building to push forward progressive policies within a climate justice framework. Read the full job description and apply here!

Please consider supporting WECAN as we continue to uplift the leadership and solutions of women worldwide fighting for climate justice and the defense of the planet for current and future generations.