For the first time in Peru, rural women affected by climate change will make their voices heard by society and the public, creating awareness of the impact on their personal and family life, and in their communities, and how this phenomenon increases poverty and gender inequalities.
Women will testify on how climate change impacts on their lives
They come from Cusco, Piura, Cajamarca, Junin, Puno and Arequipa
The public hearing will be held on Thursday 10 November from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm in the city of Cusco, in the auditorium of the regional government. The event is promoted by the Centro Flora Tristanas part of a global mobilization of Women Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice taking place in 15 countries.
Rural women demand climate justice.
“Our country has a varied climate and geography, but for several years weather events are presented as exaggerated or out of season altering the agricultural cycle, and generating not only the loss of crops and the consequent increase in poverty families and communities, but also introducing a terrible insecurity that prevents them from being able to plan with the least certainty of a positive outcome,“ said Blanca Fernandez, the Rural Development Program Manager with the Peruvian Center for Women Flora Tristan.
Women in Cusco, Piura, Cajamarca, Junin, Puno and Arequipa have been seriously harmed their economic, social and cultural testimony about how the frost, the overflowing of rivers, drought and high temperatures have caused them financial losses, collapse of their families, worry and sadness, thus affecting their physical and mental health.
This situation is prevalent in countries vulnerable to climate change, as is the case of Peru, and hits people living in poverty, particularly women, because they have fewer tools to adapt to the phenomenon of gender discrimination which puts them in a subordinate position in society.
“It is therefore important that the general public hear their voices, their demands and proposals, because they shall not continue to be invisible,” Blanca said.
The public hearing will allow this reality to become visible in the eyes of the community, the authorities, media and the general population. The organizers believe it will help the state policies take notice and thus, take action, especially after the commitments made by the Peruvian Prime Minister before the Congress to incorporate an approach to climate change and sustainable development in all development policies.
For more information, in Peru contact: Blanca Fernandez or for media inquiries, contact: Mariela Jara
The Cusco Tribunal is part of a series of 15 women’s tribunals on gender and climate justice organized by the Feminist Task Force and GCAP, in partnership with Greenpeace and Inter Press Service.
For more information on the Women’s Tribunal series, click on the link below or contact Feminist Task Force Global Coordinator, Rosa Lizarde.
Feminist Task Force 