Women’s voices are rising with clarity and urgency, urging negotiators to ensure the conference leaves a lasting mark on the link between gender and climate policy.
At the heart of the discussions is Belém Gender Action Plan – a proposed plan that recognizes that climate change hits women harder and sets out measures for funding, training and leadership roles.
“Climate justice only exists when gender equality also exists,” says Ana Carolina Querino, Acting Representative of UN Women in Brazil, echoing a feeling heard in the rooms and on site since the opening of the summit last Monday, November 10.
If adopted, the plan would extend from 2026 to 2034, integrating gender-responsive approaches to just transitions, adaptation and mitigation strategies, as well as loss and damage mechanisms.
Nanci Darcolete is a self-employed waste picker from São Paulo and advocacy advisor for the Movimento de Pimpadores.
Waste pickers on the front line in reducing emissions
On the streets of São Paulo, Nanci Darcolete has been a waste picker since 1999.
Today, she runs Pimp My Carroça, an organization that fights for the rights of workers who turn discarded materials into resources, preventing mountains of waste from being thrown away or burned.
Waste pickers, she said, played a historic role at COP30 in showing how their work was reducing emissions and easing pressure on natural resources.
“We now understand how important it is for waste pickers to also work on composting organic waste,” she explains. “This will save municipalities money, provide income for harvesters and capture tons and tons of gas. [and] provide major mitigation by removing heavy pollutants from the environment.
Women at the head of the recycling chain
In Brazil, women make up most waste pickers and run most cooperatives. Yet they still face racism and gender-based violence on the streets, often while juggling caring for their homes and families.
For Nanci, climate change is making their work more difficult. Rising heat and flooding have hit low-income neighborhoods harder, adding strain to already difficult conditions. She wants the COP30 adaptation program to recognize waste pickers as “agents of transformation”, with better urban logistics, hydration points and paid contracts.
Litigation as a weapon for climate justice
Across the Atlantic, Portuguese lawyer Mariana Gomes, 24, uses law as what she calls “the most important tool” to fight the climate crisis. She founded Último Recurso, the group behind Portugal’s first climate litigation – which now leads more than 170 cases.
Mariana believes that litigation can turn promises into binding actions, especially after the International Court of Justice(ICJ) recent notice oblige States to act to keep global warming below 1.5°C.
“I think in the future we will see a lot of lawsuits against states, especially those that need to raise their ambitions, pass climate laws and align their goals with the targets set. Paris Agreement. Because now more than ever, we carry the weight of the International Court of Justice on our shoulders,” she told us.
Portuguese lawyer Mariana Gomes is a social entrepreneur and climate activist.
The right to a clean and healthy environment
Mariana argues that citizens can demand that their governments guarantee the right to a clean and healthy environment and a stable climate. In Portugal, she advocates for municipal climate action plans to help local authorities prepare for droughts, wildfires, floods and other disasters.
For her, adaptation and mitigation must recognize that climate disasters hit women harder, increasing the risks of gender-based violence, displacement and care burdens. Litigation, she says, can do more than reduce emissions or stop extractive projects, it can unlock funding and compensation for affected communities, protecting women’s rights.
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Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
