Gender, Climate, Peace, and Development at the High-Level Meetings in New York City

Sep 22, 2023 | Marisa O. Ensor

World leaders are converging this week on New York City for the 78^th session of high-level discussions held at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). In partnership with UNGA 78, and in coordination with the UN and the City of New York, Climate Week NYC is also being held this week. Noting that this year marks the 75^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Women highlighted the importance of ensuring  that the needs, viewpoints, and voices of women and girls are prioritized at the high-level events and intergovernmental conversations held during UNGA 78. Issues of gender, climate, peace and security, and the Sustainable Development Goals are prominently featured among the topics being discussed.

UNGA 78

For the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic more than three years ago, Heads of State and Government from most of the UN’s 193 Member States are meeting in the General Assembly Hall for their annual week of debates (September 18-26, 2023). This year’s theme is “Rebuilding Trust and Reigniting Global Solidarity: Accelerating Action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals Towards Peace, Prosperity, Progress and Sustainability for All”.

A main highlight of UNGA 78 was the Sustainable Development Goals Summit. Marking the halfway point to the deadline set for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, world leaders adopted the Summit’s centerpiece Political Declaration. This declaration seeks to provide high-level guidance on “transformative and accelerated actions” for all countries delivering on the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. Renewed and intensified efforts are needed since, as the Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 warns, only fifteen percent of the Sustainable Development Goals’ targets are on track to be reached this critical decade. If current trends persist, over 575 million people are likely to still be living in extreme poverty, and 84 million children will not be going to school in 2030. Progress on peace, justice, and inclusion is dangerously off track. Similarly, while there has been positive developments over the last decades, the world is centuries away from achieving gender equality.

Another significant event associated with UNGA 78 was the Climate Ambition Summit, held on September 20 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. A Special Meeting on Loss and Damage, as mandated by the latest Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was held during the Climate Ambition Summit. This Summit represents a critical political milestone for demonstrating that there is collective global will to accelerate the pace and scale of a just transition to a more equitable renewable-energy based, climate-resilient global economy. It’s broad focus on climate justice included attention to gender justice.

Climate Week NYC

First celebrated in 2009, Climate Week NYC is the largest annual climate event of its kind, bringing together some 400 events and activities across the City of New York – in person, hybrid and online. It is hosted by The Climate Group, an international non-profit whose purpose is to drive climate action, fast. The summit takes place alongside the UN General Assembly and brings together international leaders from business, government and civil society to showcase global climate action. Climate Week NYC 2023 is organized into a series of broad even themes: (1) Built Environment; (2) Energy; (3) Environmental Justice; (4) Finance; (5) Nature; (6) Policy; (7) Sustainable Living; (8) Transport; (9) Food; (10) Industry; and (11) Resilience.

The Climate Week NYC Opening Ceremony – the most high-profile moment of the week – took place on Sunday, September 17^th and addressed three key issues:

• Climate action is not moving fast enough across the globe and those in positions of power have a responsibility to act without delay. Where must investment be channeled, and what vested interests need to be held accountable?    
• We have made huge strides evidenced by the billions committed by the US, China and the EU boost green technology and energy security. We know we have the solutions to the climate crisis. But how do we ensure they are implemented?    
• Where have we picked up our biggest wins so far and how can we use the collective will of the climate community to remain inspired, stay the course and continue to drive climate action, fast? 

The urgency with which we must find solutions to these concerns is highlighted by the latest scientific assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The damage caused by the climate crisis, the report notes, is already extensive, and global greenhouse gas emissions remain at record levels. A diversity of women and feminist groups attending the various events and meeting currently taking place in NYC have joined forced to advance just and resilient community-led solutions to address deepening interlocking crises and accelerate a path forward. Among them, the Women’s Earth and Climate and Climate Action Network International (WECAN) organized a number of public events, actions, and advocacy opportunities as well as strategy sessions with global women leaders and movement partners.

The Way Forward

In July of this year, UN leadership proposed a series of “high impact initiatives” focused on issues like energy, food, education, biodiversity, social protection, and digital public infrastructure, with violence against women and girls as a crosscutting issue. These initiatives are intended to (a) demonstrate that transformative SDG progress is possible; and (b) mobilize further leadership, investment and support for impact at scale.

UN summits and related events like those currently taking place in NYC can be important drivers of public attention and debate. The bigger test of their significance is, nevertheless, not attendance but their ability to drive follow-on action. Diplomatic negotiations have been fraught in the lead-up to the current SDG summit. The Political Declaration that was just adopted will not likely play a decisive role on its own unless concrete actions on the ground are taken.

Addressing the growing spread of global polarization within and across countries will be crucial for ramping up global momentum on the SDGs and interrelated challenges of gender inequality and climate change. For the SDG Summit to succeed, the world leaders convening in New York must demonstrate renewed political will – combined with concrete actions and backed up by financial resources and other support infrastructure – in the fight to reverse negative trends. Political and business leaders, local decision makers, and representatives of women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, and civil society groups can leverage this week as a rallying call for the meaningful contributions still needed to advance the SDGs, halve carbon emissions by 2030, and to be on a path to net-zero by 2050.

Dr. Marisa O. Ensor is an applied environmental and legal anthropologist currently based at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) where she leads the portfolio on climate security.  She is also the current Chair of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association’s Gender Interest Group (“EnPAx-GIG”).