Apart from the tough negotiations going into its final stages, one of the Pacific negotiators is not only relishing the experience and lessons learnt from the tough environment in the negotiating room, she is already thinking of what she can take away from COP27.
Ms Rothina Ilo Noka is the Director of Women’s affairs in Vanuatu. She’s excited about her learnings at the climate change talks in Sharm El Sheikh and is ready to go back and share that knowledge with her peers in Port Vila.
“I guess for me it’s going back home and building the capacity of the department of women’s affairs first because gender is our mandate. It’s also important that my team understand what’s available from the gender financing mechanism so we can access them for our women’s groups and incorporate that into our national programmes.
“For me its marrying gender mainstreaming and climate change and also budgeting and planning.
“We also need to ensure that our grassroots women are able to access funding. I’ll also find out if our local women are accessing these funds that are available. Or is it our is the structure and bureaucracy that prevents women from accessing funding support, asked Ms Noka.
The head of the Vanuatu women’s affairs is one of the technical negotiators on gender and climate change for PSIDS.
“I’m glad that Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) through G77 and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) support our call for simplified climate financing mechanism available for women, local and indigenous communities.”
“Unfortunately we have three options in paragraph 12. I’m hoping that when its taken up to the COP Presidency, he can decide on what option will be in the text. For us it’s the ‘simplified’ success.
Currently, the three options on the table that are bracketed are “enhanced/simplified and just access to climate finance.
“I guess our “simplified’ text is what we are asking for because it addresses some of the issues that our women are facing – and that is accessing finance.
Ms Noka said the trip to COP27 also enhanced her understanding of the UN region and its unique challenges and opportunities. - By Makereta Komai, PACNEWS Editor in Sharm El Sheikh
The 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP27) is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 6 to 18 November 2022.
It is being attended by Pacific leaders and their delegations, who are advocating for their survival. The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is lead of the One CROP, working together to provide support to Pacific Islands.
Attendance of Ms Makereta Komi at COP27 is supported by SPREP and Irish Aid
