Both ENDS
Globally, the area that is suffering desertification and land degradation is ever expanding. Unsustainable and often large-scale agricultural practices, including the copious use of pesticides and fertilisers, are a major driver of land degradation, aprocess that is further exacerbated by climate change, causing more erratic rainfall patterns, longer periods of drought and unpredictable growing seasons. This is very problematic not only for the hundreds of millions of people who directly depend on land and water for their livelihoods, but also for life on earth as a whole. It is clear that this process must be stopped and reversed, better sooner than later. But how to go about it?
Both ENDS' Niels Hazekamp and Daan Robben are joining the Climate CoP in Bonn to actively follow the negotiations, with a special focus on certain topics such as subsidies and support for fossil fuels, climate finance, climate adaptation, and gender. Both ENDS also co-organises a side event together with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
The Green Climate Fund aims to support transformational pathways to climate-resilient development, intends to reach those most vulnerable, and commits to a gender-sensitive approach. This session presents an important way of putting these commitments into practice: by engaging small grants funds. These funds can provide the much needed channel between large international institutions and local communities adapting to climate change, and assure financing reaches women and men to contribute to transformative climate action. But how to make this shift in how financing is delivered? The audience will be actively engaged in the discussion to come to concrete suggestions to strengthen local access and gender responsiveness of climate finance.
We are delighted that the Dutch Postcode Lottery has approved our proposal to support an extra project to the tune of 1,380,000 euros! The proposal, for an Autonomy and Resilience Fund (ARF), was submitted by the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA), which comprises the Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (FCAM), Mama Cash and Both ENDS. With the ARF, GAGGA works with Small Grants Funds to help local women's groups become resilient in a changing world in which it is increasingly difficult for them to hold their heads above water. The award of this large sum of money means an enormous boost for many women's organisations, and this is badly needed at a time when economic, climate and health crises are constantly putting the resilience of women, their communities and their living environments around the world to the test!
