Peoples and countries with low incomes and long histories of oppression are the ones facing the worst impacts of climate change, despite having contributed the least to causing it. With two new projects, launched during COP 28, Hivos will work together with two specific groups that are disproportionally affected by the climate crisis: girls and Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon.
With Global Girls Creating Change we will support girl-led entrepreneurship and climate action in four countries. The second project harnesses the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous Peoples to reduce the negative impacts of climate change on health.
Global Girls Creating Change
Girls, in all their diversity, are on the frontlines of the climate change. The climate crisis deepens existing social and economic inequalities, making it more likely that girls have to leave school to support their families and increasing their risk of facing gender-based violence. At the same time, women and girls are rarely included in decision-making and have less access to finance, land, assets and economic opportunities.
Despite these barriers, women and girls can be powerful change agents for climate action and economic security. Youth and girl-led movements have already transformed the climate arena. And when women and girls are economically empowered, they re-invest in their families and communities.
The new Global Girls Creating Change (G2C2) program supports girl-led climate action in Brazil, Indonesia, Nepal and Uganda. The program is implemented by Hivos (lead), Restless Development, and Humanis and funded by U.S. Department of State – Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues.
Health and climate change
Climate change is one of the greatest health challenges of our time. It is destabilizing health systems, deepening inequities, undermining the social, environmental, and economic foundations of good health, and, ultimately, threatens the lives, health, and wellbeing of communities around the world.
For the first time, a COP meeting has acknowledged the important intersection of health and climate change. This presents a groundbreaking opportunity to amplify the voices of Indigenous Peoples and harness their ancestral knowledge to reduce the negative impacts of climate change on health. We are therefore excited to be launching a new initiative together with Amazon Conservation Team, Centro de Trabalho Indigenista and the Rockefeller Foundation which will focus on just that.
