10h30 - 14h30
South Africa’s nationwide annual commemoration of the Women's Day is on the 9th of August, on this day we honour women who marched to the Union Building in Pretoria on 09 August 1956 in protest against the extension of apartheid laws which also appreciated gender inequalities. From this context, the nation realised that women and young girls must be recognised as equals in the society as everyone else, and that they are more impacted by social inequalities. In 2024, we should be aware that the impacts of climate change are also shaped by gender inequalities. It is imperative to achieve climate justice by addressing issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights as a vital part of climate and gender justice, including the full participation of women and girls in climate action plans. The South African Youth Climate Change Coalition (SAYCCC) will be hosting an awareness workshop with the aim of strengthening capacity by knowledge and upskilling youth and students and interested stakeholders in dealing with disproportional effects of climate change on youth and young girls. SAYCCC recognises that the climate crisis affects women, youth, young girls and children in unique ways, given their dynamic biological, psychosocial and cognitive development. For instance, young people who have attended well-recourse schools with temperatures carefully controlled for optimal concentration are competing for jobs or places at university alongside those who wrote school examinations in temperatures above 40°C, and were drowsy and probably poorly hydrated. This workshop will consist of different speakers from more than one province in South Africa, who will share their lived experiences and prepare the audience for outcomes which will inform our collaborative climate action plan for the future
Climate Justice:
Climate justice refers to global warming or climate change as an ethical and political issue. It links climate policies and actions to human rights, vulnerabilities of natural and human systems, and sustainable development, safeguarding the rights of the most vulnerable people and sharing the burdens and benefits of the environment equally and fairly. This Network is established to bring students together for learning, empowerment and capacity building, in order to transform the climate justice agenda which ensures that there are adequate mitigation and adaptation plans, and that in the climate activities there is integrated and meaningful participation of youth and women.
We are fighting for climate justice, as a matter of intergenerational justice. Intergenerational justice refers to the full, equal and meaningful participation of youth in all activities, processes and platforms for climate action. It is an integrated approach, concerning the well being and equity of current and future generations, who most likely will face difficult living conditions in a changing climate, but who are not responsible for causing them. And it is a human rights-based approach that addresses adverse impacts of climate change that threaten the human rights of climate vulnerable people.