By Abdullahi Lukman
Over 125 women leaders from 50 countries gathered virtually on Monday, June 23, 2025, for the opening of the “Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice: Path to COP30 and Beyond,” hosted by the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN).
The event marks a major call for gender-focused climate solutions ahead of the COP30 negotiations in Brazil.
The Assembly brought together policymakers, government officials, and grassroots organizers to advocate for urgent and systemic climate action.
A key moment of the opening day was the release of a joint Call to Action, signed by over 160 groups and individuals including Amazon Watch, Rainforest Action Network, and international parliamentarians, demanding immediate policy shifts from governments, financial institutions, and corporations to confront accelerating climate and social crises.
WECAN Executive Director Osprey Orielle Lake opened the session by underscoring the role of women as innovators in climate leadership.
“Where women have greater agency, emissions are lower and policies are more effective,” she said, while calling out institutional patriarchy and authoritarian trends undermining environmental and social progress.
“Women must be architects of the future, not just participants.”
Speakers from around the world—South Africa, Norway, Fiji, Ecuador, Nigeria, and others—stressed the urgency of climate justice and accountability.
Zukiswa White, a social justice consultant speaking from Bonn, Germany, warned of declining political will amid worsening climate indicators.
“We must organize to make climate justice outcomes a political inevitability,” she stated.
The Assembly emphasized key priorities, including ending fossil fuel extraction and greenwashing, halting deforestation, and promoting gender equity in climate policy.
Nigerian climate advocate Adenike Titilope Oladosu highlighted the disproportionate climate burden on women, especially in water-scarce regions.
Her organization has helped 100,000 women access resources to offset these challenges.
“When women have platforms, they become custodians of the environment and agents of change,” she said.
The Assembly will continue to build momentum toward COP30, aiming to embed women’s leadership at the core of climate solutions.
