This position paper, prepared by the GenderCC Network for the 2007 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) 13 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, brings together ideas from women’s organisations and gender experts from around the world for the effective mainstreaming of gender dimensions into climate change adaptation and mitigation processes. It calls upon governments, international agencies and stakeholders to take wide-ranging measures to ensure that gender issues are considered in all aspects of research and development, from planning through to evaluation. The paper’s position is clear: since climate change affects men and women differently, there will be no climate justice until gender issues are resolved.Ensuring that women are included in decision-making processes, that research is gender-disaggregated (wherever possible) and agreeing measurable targets that help integrate gender equality into climate protection are just three of the 11 identified key steps that organisations should take to ensure gender and climate justice. The resource stresses that it is vital for the international community to recognise that men and women are affected differently by climate change, that they have different skills and needs, and that traditional gender roles leave women most vulnerable to the changing climate. It also calls for increased participation by women in climate change decision-making, as well as increased access to information and capacity-building opportunities.The paper concludes with five overarching principles, stating that all climate change responses should:
uphold sustainable development (using the Principles of the Rio Declaration as a framework);
attain gender justice;
attain climate justice for those most threatened by and least responsible for climate change;
mitigate market-based approaches by ensuring equal access for women and strengthening public regulation; and
focus on those women who constitute the majority of the world’s poor and most vulnerable.