REPORT on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries

7.4.2021 - (2020/2042(INI))

Committee on Development
Rapporteur: Mónica Silvana González

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries

(2020/2042(INI))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Articles 11, 208 and 209 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

– having regard to the European Consensus for Development, the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular Goals 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, 16 and 17,

– having regard to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement of 2015, the Copenhagen Accord of 2009, the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM) of 2013 and the recommendations by its Task Force on Displacement welcomed by the 24th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 24), the UN Global Compact on Migration of 2018, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction of 2015,

– having regard to the report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of 11 September 2018 entitled ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018: Building climate resilience for food security and nutrition’,

– having regard to resolution 41/21 of the UN Human Rights Council of 12 July 2019 on human rights and climate change,

– having regard to the report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) of 22 March 2018 on the slow onset effects of climate change and human rights protection for cross-border migrants,

– having regard to the report by the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights of 17 July 2019 on climate change and poverty,

– having regard to the Nansen Initiative Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change, endorsed in Geneva in 2015, and the work of the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD),

– having regard to the section on climate change and development in its resolution of 28 November 2019 on the UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid (COP 25)[1], in particular paragraphs 50 and 106-115 thereof,

– having regard to the EU Adaptation Strategy of 2013, the evaluation of 2018 thereof, and the blueprint for a new, more ambitious EU strategy on adaptation to climate change,

– having regard to the report by Oxfam of 21 September 2020 entitled ‘Confronting carbon inequality’, prepared on the basis of research in collaboration with the Stockholm Environment Institute,

– having regard to the in-depth analysis of its Policy Department for External Relations of 5 June 2020 on trade and biodiversity,

– having regard to International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of 1989,

– having regard to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) of 2007,

– having regard to the EU Gender Action Plan for 2016-2020 and the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan of 2019,

– having regard to the special reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on climate change and land, on the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate, on managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation, and on global warming of 1.5 ºC,–  having regard to the global assessment report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) of May 2019 on biodiversity and ecosystem services,

– having regard to resolution 71/312 of the UN General Assembly of 14 July 2017 entitled ‘Our Ocean, our future: call for action’, in particular paragraph 3 thereof,

– having regard to the report by the Secretary-General of the UN Economic and Social Council of 7 May 2018 entitled ‘From global to local: supporting sustainable and resilient societies in urban and rural communities’,

– having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the opinions of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Development (A9-0115/2021),

A. whereas the impacts of climate change include increased frequency and gravity of storms, hurricanes, floods, landslides, extreme heat waves, droughts, water scarcity, forest fires and other disasters, as well as slow-onset processes such as rising sea levels, coastal erosion, salinisation, gradual changes in rainfall patterns, permafrost thawing, and the decline and displacement of animal and plant populations; whereas these phenomena directly or indirectly also threaten the full enjoyment of human rights, including the rights to life, water and sanitation, food, health and housing; whereas the impacts of climate change undermine countries’ development prospects, act as a risk multiplier for drought, famine and hence conflict and forced displacement, and deepen existing vulnerabilities, inequalities and gender discrimination;

B. whereas developing countries, which bear the least responsibility for global warming, are more exposed and whereas the poorest and already most vulnerable populations in these countries, including women, who make up 70 % of the world’s poorest people, are even worse affected, because their dwellings tend to be located in areas more prone to flooding, landslides, drought, etc., because they lack the means to increase their resilience and because they tend to live from agriculture, fishing and other activities based on natural resources, the presence of which may decrease or even cease; whereas the impacts of climate change will lead to an increase in the already high number of people in need of humanitarian assistance;

C. whereas according to a recent study by Oxfam on confronting carbon inequality, between 1990 and 2015 the wealthiest 1 % of the world’s population were responsible for the emission of more than twice as much carbon dioxide as the world’s poorer half, while the richest 10 % of the global population were responsible for about 52 % of global emissions;

D. whereas equity is a guiding principle of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement;

E. whereas poverty and inequality are both a cause and an effect of vulnerability and related displacement; whereas reducing poverty and inequality is therefore intrinsically linked with climate action and must more clearly guide the EU’s development policy, with support from other EU policies affecting developing countries, as stipulated by Article 208 of the TFEU;

F. whereas vulnerability to the impacts of climate change is both a cause and an effect of conflicts, as people with increasingly precarious access to vital resources such as water, land and food, in some cases as a consequence of water and/or land-grabbing, pollution and ecosystem degradation, get caught up in competition and conflicts that can be destructive to both the contested resources and people’s ability to cope, leaving them even more vulnerable; whereas addressing vulnerability is hugely important for conflict prevention, and vice versa;

G. whereas the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations can exacerbate migratory flows to the Member States; whereas people who are forced to flee their countries due to the effects of climate change are currently not entitled to apply for asylum, subsidiary protection or temporary protection;

H. whereas the basic principles of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development include leaving no one behind and addressing the needs of those furthest behind first; whereas a comprehensive strategy is needed for implementing this in the EU’s climate-related policies;

I. whereas poverty and inequality should be understood in a broad sense that includes deprivation of access to vital resources of all kinds, including education, as well as discrimination and social and cultural bias, which reduce possible life choices and adaptation capabilities; whereas women, children, elderly people, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and religious minorities are often subject to discrimination;

J.  whereas forests are essential for carbon storage; whereas protecting the rights and livelihoods of indigenous and local communities that live in forests goes hand in hand with forest preservation; whereas indigenous peoples and local communities play a vital role in the sustainable management of natural resources and conservation of biodiversity; whereas a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples[2] indicates that the cultivation of biofuel feedstock such as palm oil and the construction of large hydropower dams risk going against the protection of their rights and livelihoods and ending the continuous, efficient carbon storage carried out by biodiverse forests; whereas the IPCC expects climate change to reduce the maximum catch potential of fisheries by more than 20 % by the end of this century, posing a grave threat to local fishing communities and to the provision of protein to undernourished populations; whereas in a business-as-usual scenario, climate change is expected to reduce fish biomass by between 30 and 40 % in some tropical regions by 2100; whereas countries in these areas are highly dependent on fisheries, but lack the social and financial resources to be able to adapt and prepare for the future;

K. whereas indigenous peoples remain among the poorest of the poor and are disproportionately vulnerable to climate change, as they are strongly dependent on land, natural resources and ecosystems for their basic needs and livelihoods; whereas at the same time, a growing body of research suggests that indigenous peoples have an established record of adapting to climate variability by drawing on their traditional knowledge, which enhances their resilience;

L. whereas the lack of recognition for the customary land rights of indigenous peoples and communities leaves them vulnerable to land-grabbing, thereby jeopardising their livelihoods and ability to respond to climate change or biodiversity loss;

M. whereas in its special report on climate change and land from 2019, the IPCC recognises the importance of securing community land for climate change;

N. whereas the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples has identified the extractive industries as the main source of conflict and violence on the territories of indigenous peoples;

O. whereas the destruction of wildlife habitats such as forests facilitates the spread of viruses; whereas the FAO has confirmed that the increase in emerging infectious diseases coincides with the accelerated growth of tropical deforestation, linked in particular to the cultivation of oil palm or soybean;

P. whereas climate change is having an increasing impact on fish populations in developing countries with medium and short-term repercussions for the livelihoods of coastal communities, who lack the social and financial resources to be able to adapt and prepare for the future;

Q. whereas the IPCC special report on the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate provides evidence of the benefits of combining scientific with local and indigenous knowledge to enforce resilience;

R. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic drastically increases vulnerabilities in developing countries, both in terms of its direct impact on public health and by aggravating and deepening many macro and micro-economic and social repercussions, which increase poverty and place a strain on the resources needed for resilience; whereas both the pandemic and climate change are eroding public finances while at the same time increasing financing needs, including for social protection and services; whereas according to the World Health Organization (WHO) climate change is expected to contribute to approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year by 2030, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress; whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the close link between the destruction of our ecosystems and the outbreak of health crises; whereas owing to climate change and biodiversity loss, health crises could multiply in the decades to come;

S. whereas the governments of developing countries must spearhead efforts to reduce vulnerabilities, increase resilience and strengthen support capacities; whereas the countries primarily responsible for the increase in global greenhouse gas emissions, the EU, its Member States and other developed and emerging countries must radically scale up their actions, given that their emissions remain dominant and they have made important commitments in this respect; whereas for all these reasons, the EU, its Member States and other developed and emerging countries have a moral obligation to do much more, in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities; whereas partnerships to address the impacts of climate change must be encouraged between all spheres of government at local, national and international levels,  including civil society organisations, the private sector and academia; whereas least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), fragile countries and small island developing states (SIDS) are being disproportionately affected by climate change owing to structural constraints and geographical disadvantages and should therefore be prioritised;

T. whereas developing countries’ payments on their debts drain their capacities to deal with the climate and other crises and to support their most vulnerable populations; whereas international efforts to prevent debt distress and enable orderly debt workout must therefore be intensified;

U. whereas international financing of climate action in developing countries remains extremely insufficient and focused on emissions reduction, despite the particularly urgent need for adaptation action; whereas, however, the main mitigation efforts must take place in developed countries, where emissions are up to more than a hundred times higher per capita;

V. whereas knowledge and technology transfers should serve to facilitate the transition of developing countries to a green economy by taking account of the economic and social impacts of such changes and preserving the competitiveness of developing economies on the global stage;

W. whereas the Commission is seeking to attain climate neutrality for the EU by 2050; whereas in its efforts to achieve this, the EU is a leading global role model for climate neutrality;

X. whereas adaptation action should focus mainly on the most vulnerable and should include increasing the resilience of their dwellings, and the infrastructure they depend on, to extreme weather events, improving their food and water security, increasing their access to climate-responsive social protection and services, supporting farmers and fishers in the adaptation of their agricultural and fishing methods to changes in temperature, rainfall and other patterns and conditions and enabling them to cope, as far as possible, with the consequences of the irreversible deterioration of terrestrial and marine ecosystems for their food and economic security, ensuring that they have decent life conditions, and providing assistance for people in need to establish work to contribute to their local re-settlement; whereas the growing number of crop failures and the reduction in drinking water sources add to the burdens borne by women, who carry out agricultural tasks and tend to be responsible for the preparation of food and provisioning of drinking water; whereas the adverse effects of climate change reverse development progress, in particular when they lead to disasters and crises, and related displacement becomes protracted;

Y. whereas due to the impact of climate change on agriculture, the EU must promote sustainable and productive dryland agro-ecosystems by forming model farms, implementing landscape approaches, supporting exchanges of farmers’ experiences and farmers’ field schools, and providing training through EU development cooperation, notably in the Sahel region and other areas affected by desertification;

Z. whereas the adverse effects of climate change are significant drivers of displacement within countries and across borders, as they are both closely connected with and exacerbate factors such as poverty, marginalisation, weak governance, and the lack of effective measures to reduce disaster risks and adapt to climate change; whereas according to the World Bank, by 2050 more than 143 million people in Latin America, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are likely to migrate within their own countries to escape the slow-onset impacts of climate change unless effective measures are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce disaster risks, adapt to climate change, strengthen resilience and reduce the vulnerability of people and communities at risk of displacement; whereas durable solutions must be found for people who are displaced;

AA. whereas there have been about 288 million people newly internally displaced due to disasters taking place between 2008 and 2019, with floods causing half of the disaster-related displacement; whereas according to a report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, in 2018 alone 17.2 million people were displaced as a result of disasters related to the climate, 9.3 million of whom were in the region the most affected, the Asia-Pacific region; whereas the most affected countries are the Philippines, China and India;

AB. whereas climate change and consequential natural disasters have become common drivers of migration, which will be further exacerbated as the impact of climate change on the environment worsens; whereas climate change and consequential natural disasters have a negative impact on the enjoyment of fundamental rights; whereas the majority of climate-induced migrants are likely to come from rural areas, as their livelihoods often depend on climate-sensitive sectors such as farming and fishing; whereas there are other environmental factors that are not directly linked to climate change, but are linked to human-made environmental changes such as land degradation or marine and coastal ecosystem degradation, land and water-grabbing, and environmental disasters and pollution caused by wars, which also act as risk-multipliers and migration drivers, notably in vulnerable populations that are highly dependent on agriculture and natural local resources;

AC. whereas climate-induced displacements are expected to increase as extreme weather events become more frequent and intense, sea levels rise, and many countries start to reach the limits of their adaptation and disaster risk reduction measures, which will necessitate much greater cooperation at international level and sustainable and realistic solutions tailored to the needs of the populations affected; whereas it is increasingly recognised that addressing and resolving climate change-related displacement and migration is primarily a development challenge; whereas local and regional governments in some developing countries have started to consolidate the management of displacement risks and the search for durable solutions for communities affected by displacement in disaster risk reduction plans, climate action plans and adaptation strategies, while cooperating with their peers in initiatives such as the Covenant of Mayors;

AD.  whereas the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration highlights climate change as one of the drivers that forces people to leave their country of origin, and commits countries to enhancing the availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration, including for displaced people who cannot return to or suitably adapt in the countries of origin affected by the adverse effects of climate change; whereas the UN Global Compact on Refugees acknowledges that external forced displacement may result from sudden-onset disasters and gradual environmental degradation, and recognises the need for guidance and support for measures assisting those displaced by disasters;

AE. whereas the ruling by the UN Human Rights Committee in the case of Teitiota v. New Zealand acknowledges that people whose lives are in imminent danger as a result of the adverse effects of climate change must not be deported back to their countries of origin and calls for the consideration of solutions to protect vulnerable populations from territories that will become uninhabitable in the short or long term owing to the impacts of climate change; whereas the 1951 International Convention relating to the Status of Refugees does not cover the scope of protection of people displaced on environmental grounds; whereas there is currently no international legal instrument that explicitly addresses the rights of people forced to flee as a result of the impacts of climate change, although regional initiatives in Africa and Latin America and national measures in Italy, Sweden and Finland have been developed;

AF. whereas the strategy of the EU and its Member States to support developing countries should be designed to anticipate the effects of climate change; whereas this support should address both the short-term effects of climate change, such as natural disasters, and the long-term effects, such as the loss of territories due to rising sea levels or drought;

AG. whereas between 200 and 500 million people practise pastoralism around the world and whereas pastoralism is central to livelihood strategies in the drylands and mountainous regions of East Africa;

AH. whereas agriculture is highly susceptible to climate change, in particular small-scale family farming, which is the predominant form of agriculture worldwide;

AI. whereas the geographical situations of developing countries tend to leave them bearing the brunt of the impacts of climate change, notably developing countries around the tropical belt, which regularly suffer from extreme weather events such as El Niño or La Niña;

AJ. whereas on 20 December 2017 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 2019-2028 the UN Decade of Family Farming[3];

AK. whereas vulnerable populations directly depend on biological diversity for their food, health and economic security; whereas they sometimes lack the resources to address climate change effectively on their own;

AL. whereas according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), South-South migration, whether voluntary or forced, involves 82 million people and accounts for 36 % of international migration; whereas international and EU development strategies should take account of this macro-regional perspective to better support the resilience of vulnerable populations and enable the territories affected by the impacts of climate change to adapt;

AM. whereas climate change is a main driver of environmental degradation, having a negative impact on food and water security, access to natural resources, human health and migration; whereas these phenomena directly or indirectly also threaten the full enjoyment of human rights, including the rights to life, water and sanitation, food, health and housing; whereas the ability of people to adapt to climate change is inextricably linked to their access to basic human rights and to the health of the ecosystems they depend on for their livelihoods and wellbeing; whereas climate change could reverse human development through reduced agricultural productivity, increased food and water insecurity, increased exposure to extreme natural disasters, collapsed ecosystems and increased health risks; whereas the Union has committed to implement the SDGs in both its internal and its external policies;

AN. whereas according to the IPCC, climate change poses disproportionate and asymmetric risks to human and natural systems due to differences in vulnerability and exposure; whereas climate change exacerbates existing social inequalities, causing vulnerable groups to suffer disproportionately from its adverse effects, resulting in a vicious circle of greater subsequent inequalities; whereas the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights states that climate change will exacerbate existing poverty and inequality, having the most severe impact in poor countries and regions, and the places where poor people live and work and developing countries will bear an estimated 75-80 % of the costs of climate change;

AO. whereas according to the OECD, LDCs’ socio-economic progress is heavily dependent on climate-sensitive sectors; whereas ecosystem-based adaptation increases resilience and reduces the vulnerability of people and the environment to climate change; whereas the territories of the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples cover 24 % of land worldwide and contain 80 % of the world’s biodiversity;

 

AP. whereas climate change erodes human freedoms and limits choice; whereas the Paris Agreement acknowledges that gender equality and the empowerment of women should be promoted by all parties, and establishes that gender-responsive climate action must be integrated into all aspects of the implementation of the agreement;

AQ. whereas women suffer disproportionately from the impacts of climate change, owing not least to the agricultural tasks they carry out but also to the discrimination they suffer in terms of access to land and services, access to education and vocational training, access to sexual and reproductive health services, participation in decision-making and respect when embarking on activities traditionally dominated by men; whereas 80 % of those displaced as a result of climate change are women and children, who are more exposed to the negative effects of climate change and face greater difficulties as a result, including a much higher risk of dying in natural disasters; whereas the situation of displaced people is worst for those in vulnerable situations, including women, who are often exposed to violations of their basic rights as victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation and to being placed in unsafe, overcrowded shelters;

AR. whereas in its resolution of 16 January 2018 on women, gender equality and climate justice[4], Parliament acknowledged that women are particularly vulnerable to climate change and experience its effects disproportionately because of their social roles;

AS. whereas the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcomes of its review conferences outline three strategic objectives to improve women’s environmental decision-making, to integrate the gender perspective in policies and programmes for sustainable development, and to strengthen or establish mechanisms at national, regional and international levels to assess the impact of development and environmental policies on women;

AT. whereas climate change is a complex environmental and social issue, affecting a world that is characterised by, and based on, deep-rooted unequal gender relations; whereas this is in addition to the fact that women generally have less power and are, therefore, less able to mitigate and cope with the impacts of climate change; whereas unequal gender dynamics affect the ways that households, communities, countries and the global community are affected by, and respond to, climate change;

AU. whereas according to Greenpeace women account for 51 % of the world’s population and 43 % of the agricultural workforce in developing countries; whereas agricultural production is one of the sectors most affected by climate change; whereas according to the World Economic Forum, 60 % of people suffering from malnutrition are women and children; whereas the scarcity of resources especially affects women, who dedicate more time to obtaining them, to the detriment of other activities such as education; whereas according to UNESCO one in four young women in developing countries have not completed primary school;

AV. whereas climate change is closely linked to energy policy; whereas energy poverty is linked to low incomes and, for example, rising energy prices; whereas women have lower incomes and are at greater risk of suffering from energy poverty, which especially affects single parents and the elderly, the poorest of whom are women; whereas in 2016 there were 1.1 billion people in the world without access to energy and, of those, between 50 % and 70 % were women and children;

AW. whereas climate change, environmental degradation, scarcity of resources and natural disasters may increase tensions and reinforce gender inequalities, which result in more frequent acts of violence, including domestic and economic violence, sexual assault, forced prostitution, forced or involuntary marriage and other acts of gender-based abuse;

AX. whereas women, especially indigenous women, are particularly vulnerable to violence related to the environment; whereas in 2017, almost half of environmental defenders murdered were women;

AY. whereas according to data from the European Institute for Gender Equality, in 2018 more than 80 % of positions of responsibility for climate change were held by men; whereas in the scientific field where reports are made for discussions in international forums, 95 % of board members and 86 % of senior managers are men; whereas in the electricity sector worldwide only 8 % of positions of power are occupied by women, who also represent only 32 % of the total number of workers in this sector;

AZ. whereas climate change has a severe impact on fresh water resources and the availability thereof, especially in developing countries located in hot and dry climate areas, influencing the availability of household water; whereas scarcity of water resources may affect women the most;

 

Climate responsibility

 

1.  Recalls that the world is badly off track to reach the agreed objective of limiting global heating to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C; is alarmed by the adverse impacts of this on developing countries; regrets the lack of ambition and urges world leaders to take the appropriate and necessary action; believes that the EU has a historic responsibility to be the most ambitious signatory of the Paris Agreement, both through its own commitments and through its assistance to others;

2.  Calls for the EU to show climate and biodiversity leadership and to make its European Green Deal an example of such necessary action and insists that it must contain a stronger external dimension to support partner countries in their efforts to adapt to climate change, taking full account of the particular needs of the most vulnerable populations and groups suffering from discrimination; notes that it is our common responsibility to introduce measures to respond to climate change through ensuring the climate-proofing of investments, climate adaptation and mitigation, and decentralised access to renewable energy;

3. Takes note of the ongoing negotiation of the Commission’s ambitious plans to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 % by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, in the European Climate Law;

4. Recalls that the consequences of climate change, including droughts, floods, plummeting biodiversity and the loss of human lives, are deeply undermining low-income and fragile African countries’ development prospects;

5. Stresses that climate change has a considerable impact on human health, for example through floods, drought, heatwaves and fires; recalls that developing countries are the most vulnerable and often the least equipped to mitigate this impact on health; points out accordingly the importance of health in climate-related development assistance in these countries; calls on the Commission and the Member States to protect children affected by the consequences of climate change;

Climate finance

 

6. Notes that the EU, its Member States and the European Investment Bank together are the biggest contributor of  climate finance to developing countries; notes that only a few Member States provide climate finance on top of their official development assistance (ODA) commitments; recalls that adaptation to climate change is a particularly pressing issue for developing countries, which face significant challenges to fund their adaptation activities; reiterates, on this ground, its call for a commitment by the EU and its Member States to set their ODA contributions at 0.7 % of gross national income (GNI) by 2020 in order to significantly increase their support for adaptation, disaster risk reduction, preparedness and resilience, prioritising grants-based finance, in particular for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS); believes that climate finance should strictly respond to the principle of country ownership to ensure that funded activities respond to the needs and priorities of developing countries, and are additional to existing aid and finance commitments; stresses, in particular, the need to ensure access to finance for regional and local authorities in order to ensure that it reaches the most vulnerable, including women and particularly indigenous women;

 

7.  Reiterates its call for additional support towards delivering the EU’s fair share of the pledged new and additional climate finance from developed countries to developing countries, which should have reached USD 100 billion per year by 2020;

8.  Calls for the EU to lead global discussions on enhancing support concerning the loss and damage associated with climate change in developing countries, including through the use of innovative and alternative climate finance means from both the public and private sector; calls on the Commission to ensure that blending projects help limit adverse impacts of climate change on vulnerable people and that funds and investments are based on a needs-based approach and on priorities defined in partnership with vulnerable communities;

9.  Reaffirms its commitment to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and stresses the need for a new EU action plan after 2021 to strengthen community-level investments on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation and restoration of biodiversity, and to step up its technical assistance and sharing of best practices with developing countries, in line with the 2030 Agenda;

10.  Highlights that LDCs and SIDS are particularly affected by climate change, including sea level rises and tropical cyclones, and often rely on international and EU aid for their risk and crisis management capacity, and that their needs must be prioritised; urges the Commission and the Member States to work in close cooperation with partner countries, the private sector, grassroots organisations, local communities and indigenous peoples to promote policies that enhance climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, including through clean energy strategies, thereby strengthening the resilience of affected people and communities against climate shocks and reducing pressure on them to leave their homes;

11. Welcomes the Member States’ pledges to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the establishment of the international platform on sustainable finance to scale up the mobilisation of private capital towards environmentally sustainable investments; stresses in particular the importance of the GCF in catalysing public and private financial flows into low-emission and climate-resilient development to the benefit of developing countries; calls on the GCF to simplify the procedures for accessing funding under the programme so that countries that are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, notably LDCs and SIDS, can swiftly move on with the preparation of their national adaptation plans; welcomes the work carried out in this context by the Green Climate Fund Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme;

12. Calls for the post-2025 target for climate finance to ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable countries are met, in particular by increasing resources for dedicated and quantitative sub-goals, including a sub-goal for adaptation finance, in line with Article 9.4 of the Paris Agreement, a sub-goal for mitigation finance, including ecosystem-based measures, a sub-goal for loss and damage finance and grants-based finance, and qualitative goals, such as meaningful, inclusive and participatory adaptation planning and implementation, and removal of barriers to accessing available finance; believes that future finance goals should take account of the needs of developing countries, as well as the Paris Agreement’s equity principle, in determining EU contributions; recognises the importance of scaling up the mobilisation of resources to support efforts to avert, minimise and address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change in particularly vulnerable countries;

13. Recalls that the WIM Review 2019 acknowledges the importance of the implementation of the WIM, for vulnerable populations in particular; strongly encourages the EU to support the calls of LDCs for a specific financing facility for loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change under the UNFCCC; calls for new and additional sources of loss and damage finance; considers that Member States could further use targeted debt suspension, relief or cancellation on a case-by-case basis for the most vulnerable LDCs and SIDS, with the specific purpose of contributing to the fight against climate change and as part of a wider international framework;

14. Believes that international carbon market mechanisms should be designed to avoid negative impacts on local communities; calls on the EU and the Member States to advocate robust rights-based social and environmental safeguards, including free prior and informed consent, and a ‘do no harm’ principle, as well as grievance mechanisms governed by an independent body and supervisory bodies free from conflict of interest for all international carbon market mechanisms, and to ensure in particular that all Article 6 mechanisms under the Paris Agreement fully respect and protect the rights of local communities; reiterates its support for the establishment of a share of proceeds to provide financial support to those populations most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change;

15. Stresses the need to make the financing of both adaptation to climate change and mitigation of its effects gender-responsive; calls for the EU to increase financial support for gender-just climate actions for adaptation and addressing loss and damage in developing countries, including those undertaken by women’s grassroots organisations, given their central role in local responses to the climate crisis;

A comprehensive strategy

 

16.  Calls on the Commission to prepare a comprehensive strategy for a substantively reinforced EU contribution to limiting the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries through:

 

- the pursuit of rapid, radical curbing and reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions, through cuts to the EU’s own emissions and ambitious objectives in all sectors of the economy, in terms of both internal and external policies of the EU, in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and prioritising climate change adaptation within partner countries;

 

- the reduction of general vulnerability through eradicating poverty, fighting inequality, and supporting the development of resilient and universal social protection systems, common goods and tenure security, as well as addressing specific vulnerabilities to impacts of climate change resulting, for example, from the locations of dwellings, the bases of livelihoods and the nature of responsibilities and status within families, communities and societies;

 

- working with local populations and communities to promote agro-ecological and innovative practices, particularly local initiatives building on sustainable and resilient agriculture and food systems;

 

- increasing support for developing countries’ capacities to limit the impact of climate change on vulnerable people, through adequate funding for mitigation and adaptation, including for averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage, with resources mobilised by developing countries and the help of international climate financing, and through provision of technical assistance to national and sub-national authorities, particularly regarding climate change adaptation, planning capacity, human and material response capacities (including at decentralised and community levels) and early warning systems, together enabling effective disaster prevention, disaster risk reduction, preparedness and resilience;

 

- affirming and seeking wide and international legal recognition that displacements and internal and external migration are becoming ever more inevitable as part of the response to the impacts of climate change; proposing international arrangements and cooperation for anticipating and managing climate-induced migration by bridging protection gaps via recognising climate-induced migration as a legal base for granting asylum and by providing safe and legal migration pathways or humanitarian corridors for people forced to flee by a sudden or slow onset disaster, as well as by identifying communities at particular risk of being forced to flee their homes in order to anticipate and prepare planned relocation, as a measure of last resort;

 

- increasing financial support to developing countries’ disaster risk reduction and preparedness and increasing capacities to rapidly respond to growing and new humanitarian needs, since climate change impacts and current and future crises will inevitably keep increasing such needs and will pose challenges to humanitarian aid in terms of capacity, scale and geographical coverage of response;

 

- implementing a ‘nexus’ approach that bridges emergency response and mid- and long-term objectives to address the impact of climate change, to reduce people’s vulnerabilities and to identify and implement sustainable solutions, in pursuit of full achievement of human rights and climate justice;

 

- the pursuit of multilateral cooperation with the countries where massive deforestation occurs in order to protect forests and improve their management and conservation;

- recognising the decision-making power of vulnerable populations in relation to the adoption of adaptation and mitigation measures;

- introducing a circular economy and an effective waste management system to prevent the exporting of plastic rubbish and hazardous waste to developing countries and environmental degradation outside the EU;

17. Recalls that according to the IPCC Climate Change and Land report, the biggest potential for reducing emissions from the land sector lies in curbing deforestation and forest degradation; stresses that voluntary measures and certification schemes have largely failed to achieve significant results at global level; calls on the private sector to be proactive in the fight against deforestation and human rights violations embodied in their supply chains and investments, to fulfil without delay their zero deforestation commitments, and to ensure full transparency regarding compliance with their commitments;

18. Recalls that the EU’s increasing demand for wood as a material, a source of energy and  a product of the bioeconomy exceeds the limits of EU supply, which therefore increases the risk of import-embodied deforestation, land grabbing, forced displacement and violation of indigenous peoples’ rights; reiterates that EU bioenergy policy should respond to strict environmental and social criteria, in compliance with ILO Convention No 169 and the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on the Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, as well as its Committee on World Food Security’s Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems;

19. Calls on the EU to integrate forest diplomacy into its climate policy, with the aim of encouraging countries which process and/or import significant quantities of tropical timber to adopt effective legislation banning imports of illegally harvested timber and requiring operators to conduct due diligence (similar to the EU Timber Regulation);

20. Stresses that several scientific studies show the link between biodiversity loss and the rise of pandemics, notably zoonotic diseases linked to climate change, deforestation, and damage to the livelihoods of forest dwellers;

21. Recalls that the transition to a green and digital economy has huge implications for the mining sector, which continues to grow in response to rising demand for minerals and metals and a proliferation in their use; recalls that there are growing concerns that mining will spread into sensitive forest landscapes, contributing to deforestation and forest degradation, thereby jeopardising the objective of protecting and restoring forests as a key source of leverage for mitigating global climate change; urges, against this background, the EU and its Member States to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy; calls, in addition, on the EU and its Member States to step up their efforts to foster responsible and sustainable mining practices, notably through the provision of financial, technical and capacity-building support to developing countries and by enabling stakeholders, including local and indigenous communities and women, to play an active role in mineral, metal and mining exploitation throughout the life cycles of these activities;

22. Stresses that adaptation strategies should also encourage environmentally friendly and nature-based solutions and enhance self-sufficiency in order to ensure better living conditions, including sustainable and local agriculture, sustainable management of water, renewable energies, etc., in line with the SDGs; considers that, in this context, specific attention should be paid to islands, where the population is most vulnerable to climate change, in order to foster their resilience and the protection of their ecosystems; also underlines the need to better understand the potential cost of inaction and the effectiveness and suitability of adaptation measures, in particular where there are vulnerable groups, communities and ecosystems; stresses that there is no one globally applicable monitoring and evaluation system for climate change adaptation, including its effectiveness; calls, therefore, on the Commission and the Member States to step up efforts to support developing countries in establishing appropriate national monitoring and evaluation systems making it possible to measure adaptation progress on a continuous basis;

23. Expresses its deep concern about the massive loss of biodiversity and its impact on resilience levels; reiterates its call for a legally binding international agreement for a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, and insists that it should particularly involve and benefit vulnerable populations; endorses the position expressed in the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) that exports of crops, deforestation, and other transfers of resources from developing countries have contributed to the deterioration of nature, while importing developed countries and rapidly growing developing countries often decrease nature degradation nationally; calls on the EU to pay specific attention, in the context of the external dimension of the Biodiversity Strategy, to developing countries and their populations, as they are territories with high biodiversity; calls on the Commission and the Member States to step up action and synergies in the climate and biodiversity agendas, in line with the European Green Deal;

24. Recalls that the collection of sex-disaggregated data is a preliminary step towards conducting proper gender analyses of climate change in order to establish gender sensitive indicators and benchmarks, and to develop practical tools for a more efficient integration of the gender perspective throughout the whole cycle of policies, programmes and projects; calls on the Commission to upgrade capacity building in developing countries’ national statistical systems, for the purposes of collecting gender statistics on the environment in order to improve the evaluation of the different consequences of climate change, and find solutions to them;

Funding actions to limit and manage the impacts of climate change

 

25.  Calls for funds to be earmarked within the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) for specific actions to limit and manage the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries and for proactive use of the NDICI’s rapid response pillar for prevention and management of climate-related crises and climate-induced displacement; recalls its position that 45 % of NDICI expenditure should contribute to climate and environmental protection and disaster risk management objectives and its call for an increase of the allocation to the thematic programmes, in particular to support initiatives which build resilience, mitigation and adaptation capacity, while prioritising nature-based solutions and improving coherence between climate and migration programmes, and calls for an increase of the allocation to disaster prevention, disaster risk reduction and preparedness in the humanitarian aid instrument;

26.  Calls for support to civil society organisations, governments and local and sub-national authorities in low and middle-income countries in using earmarked funding and through policy dialogues to establish climate change adaptation mechanisms, with a view to strengthening their resilience, including the resilience of the health, education and social protection systems; calls for promotion of their participation in the elaboration and implementation of the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and national adaptation plans (NAPs) under the Paris Agreement and of national agricultural investment plans;

27. Highlights the role of the EIB in helping developing countries to tackle the global climate crisis; recalls that the EIB must prioritise sustainable investments, which entails excluding the financing of high-carbon activities in the transport, energy and heavy industry sectors, as well as significantly increasing financial grants to developing countries;

28. Acknowledges that the humanitarian-development nexus approach offers a unique opportunity to develop prevention measures, enhance response capacity, support early recovery, build self-reliance and reduce risks at community level, to leave no-one behind;

29. Calls for at least 25 % of humanitarian funding to be directed to local organisations, with a particular focus on women-led and women’s rights organisations;

Reducing vulnerability

 

30.  Emphasises that the strategy must include efforts to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and strengthen good governance and human rights in general as a means to reduce vulnerability to risks and harm caused by climate change;

 

31.  Calls on the Commission to address the health consequences of climate change, work to mitigate health risks related to disasters, improve access to basic healthcare services and enhance cooperation between health authorities and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen capacities for disaster risk management and the building of resilient health systems;

32.  Draws attention to the facts that 40 % of the global population lacks sufficient access to clean water and that impacts of climate change include deterioration of water quality and availability; underlines the need to address this problem at all levels, including through development cooperation and water diplomacy, and to achieve progress in the work conducted in the framework of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts;

33.  Underlines that the combined impacts of the health pandemic and the global recession will seriously undermine the capacity of developing countries to achieve the SDGs; considers it necessary to increase the capacity of developing countries to invest in human development and climate adaptation and is alarmed that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pressure on public finances in the Global South caused by low tax revenues and record debt levels and has further reduced the financial scope for urgently needed climate action; calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote, as a first step, full implementation of the G20 debt servicing suspension initiative and consideration of compensation for climate change-related loss and damage in the G20’s new common framework on debt treatments; urges the EU and its Member States to press for a higher level of ambition in the international forums to address the rapidly worsening debt situations of developing countries, notably LDCs and reiterates its call for an international debt workout mechanism; calls, furthermore, on the Commission and the Member States to promote new, more effective measures to combat tax avoidance and thereby support the creation of more fiscal space for climate-resilient policies; stresses, accordingly, the need to link debt relief measures with additional mobilisation of ODA; urges donors to rapidly scale up ODA to achieve levels long since committed to, but never delivered;

34. Calls for action to address the structural economic vulnerabilities of developing countries that exacerbate their vulnerabilities to climate change, in a manner that it inclusive of local small and medium-sized enterprises;

35. Stresses the need to develop mitigation and adaptation in agricultural practises that are tailored to the needs of developing countries; recalls that most of the efforts in low- and lower-middle-income countries should target adaptation strategies;

36. Recalls that the unique capacity of agro-ecology to reconcile the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability has been recognised in landmark reports by the IPCC and IPBES, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, the World Bank and the FAO-led global agricultural assessment (IAASTD); takes the view that agro-ecology and family farming must be placed at the heart of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies in both EU and ACP countries;

37. Underlines that the disruptions triggered by COVID-19 have shone a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of the global food system, highlighting the big potential of short supply chains and of local initiatives that increase local food self-sufficiency to reduce vulnerability to disruptions on international markets and to mitigate climate change; stresses that short supply chains are a key component of agro-ecological systems; emphasises, therefore, the importance of rural transformation and strengthening local and regional value chains in order to create sustainable jobs, while mitigating climate change;

38. Recalls the critical role of small-scale fisheries in food security and nutrition, especially for those living in poverty; recalls that fish stock sustainability is a global matter; urges the EU and partner countries to adopt science-based, maximum sustainable yield-based targets for the management of all stocks; to enforce effective monitoring, control and surveillance; to ensure that their supply chains are fully traceable and free from illegal fishing; and to prioritise an ecosystem-based approach to ocean governance;

39. Stresses that the resilience of coastal communities depending on fisheries relies on sustainable management of fish stocks and improved livelihoods;

40. Urges the EU to develop a human rights-based approach towards ocean governance that aims to support local economic development, and to secure food sovereignty and dignity for small-scale fishers and fishing communities; urges the EU, to this end, to provide financial and technical support, notably for SIDS and LDCs, for development throughout the value chain in small-scale fisheries, including funding schemes for training, organisational capacity-building and infrastructure;

Policy coherence for development

 

41.  Reaffirms its commitment to the reduction and eradication of poverty as the fundamental objective of the EU’s development policy and to the implementation of policy coherence for development, especially in industrial, agricultural, fisheries, trade, investment and migration policies; intends to strengthen its own contribution to this implementation, with a view, in particular, to helping to build an adequate EU response to the evolving climate crisis; insists on a coherent approach to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in both internal and external policies;

42.  Calls for measures and adaptation initiatives that address the gender-specific impacts of climate change in areas related to food security, water management, agriculture, energy, health and disaster risk management; stresses that the agricultural sector is among the sectors hardest hit by the consequences of climate change in developing countries; recalls that women in rural areas are particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food security; calls on the EU and its Member States to strengthen their cooperation with partner countries on gender mainstreaming in agricultural and rural development policies; highlights the importance of women in the seafood industry; calls on the Commission to promote and protect women in fisheries activities and fish-related industries, notably by promoting greater participation of women in decision-making;

43.  Recalls that the private sector has a fundamental role to play in reducing the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries; calls on the Commission and the Member States to cooperate in further development and enforcement of due diligence obligations; calls on European companies to strengthen their application of corporate social responsibility and the respect of their due diligence obligations;

44.  Recalls the ‘do no harm’ principle under the European Green Deal, and urges the Commission to rapidly ensure the full consistency of existing and future trade and investment agreements and other global regulations with international environmental and climate goals, in particular the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; also reiterates its call on the Commission to present a proposal for a European legal framework based on due diligence to ensure sustainable and deforestation-free supply chains for products placed on the EU market; reiterates its support for the end of EU exports of waste resources, an enhanced circular economy worldwide and the introduction of a global ban on single-use plastics; stresses, furthermore, that meeting our climate objectives should never happen at the expense of biodiversity; believes that bioenergy policy requires strict environmental and social criteria in order to prevent land-grabbing and deforestation; calls on the Union and the Member States to support, at the next UN General Assembly, the global recognition of the right to a healthy environment;

Gender-based climate action

 

45.  Calls for climate-related EU gender funding to be scaled up and for gender mainstreaming in the design, implementation and evaluation of preparedness, resilience-building, adaptation and mitigation policies and programmes; calls for support for women’s leadership and decision-making in all aspects of climate change; recognises that gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment are a catalyst for sustainable development and a prerequisite for the management of climate challenges; calls on the EU and its Member States to include gender analysis and budgeting in development cooperation, humanitarian policies and all instruments in order to mainstream gender equality and climate justice; calls for the new Gender Action Plan for External Relations (GAP III) to pay special attention to gender equality and climate change;

46. Recalls that women and girls face a much higher risk of dying in natural disasters and of forced displacement; underlines that women and girls in developing countries are also particularly vulnerable to school drop-out, sexual violence and exploitation during and following crises; calls for the EU to strengthen the gender dimension in its humanitarian action and guarantee access to sexual and reproductive health services;

47. Calls on the Member States to create a formal Council configuration on gender equality in order to give ministers and secretaries of state responsible for gender equality a dedicated forum for discussion, and to facilitate gender mainstreaming across all EU policies, including environment and development policy;

48. Recalls that the negative consequences of climate change undermine a country’s development prospects, compounding already existing inequalities such as gender disparities; underlines that the impact of climate change is worse for more vulnerable people such as women and girls, and that 80 % of people displaced by climate change are women; welcomes the commitments made by Vice-President Timmermans to redress gender inequalities that are exacerbated by climate change; urges the Commission to mainstream gender equality and climate justice in the elaboration and implementation of all policies that have an impact on the situation of women and girls, and to promote the participation of indigenous women, women’s rights defenders and all marginalised gender communities within the UNFCCC framework; calls on all parties to the Paris Agreement to fully implement the five-year enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender and the Gender Action Plan; notes with concern the high female mortality rate in disaster situations; underlines the need to promote measures improving the position and meaningful participation of women in combating climate change at societal and governmental (decision-making) level;

49. Stresses the need for the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) to support gender-sensitive approaches in its processes and operations, including the need for dedicated climate projects and programmes which specifically address gender concerns;

50. Affirms that it is necessary to demand and promote the active participation of women, and to propose new climate and development policies that contribute to transforming social, productive, economic and institutional structures in ways that promote equal opportunities and sustainable development;

51. Stresses that climate finance should be accessible to both men and women, and designed to generate mutual benefits rather than exacerbate existing patterns of inequality;

52. Recalls that gender gaps in energy-related education are due to gender-based prejudices and stereotypes that exclude women from areas of the green economy such as transport and energy, causing a waste of human resources, and preventing the EU from achieving its full competitive potential; stresses the need to increase the number of women with relevant qualifications in scientific and technological fields, as well as the number of women participating in relevant scientific bodies at the highest level; urges national governments to encourage and oblige companies and the academic world to include women at all levels of decision-making in industrial sectors such as energy, transport and oil;

53. Demands that women have equitable access to the knowledge, resources and technology necessary to cope effectively with the adverse effects of global warming; affirms that political measures should not only be aimed at mitigating the damage caused by natural disasters, but also that efforts need to be focused on reducing their impact on the population by means of equality actions that provide the opportunity to cooperate in search of sustainable solutions to women as well;

54. Calls on the Commission to study the impact of gender in existing trade agreements and, in advance, in any new agreements that may be signed; calls for the incorporation into new and current agreements of effective clauses and sanctioning mechanisms to achieve gender equality and guarantee women’s rights and empowerment; calls on the Commission and the Council to promote and support the inclusion of a specific gender chapter in EU trade and association agreements, and to ensure that they specifically incorporate binding commitments to respect and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment;

55. Calls on the Commission to design a concrete action plan to deliver on the commitments of the renewed Gender Action Plan agreed at the 25th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 25) and to create a permanent EU gender and climate change focal point, with sufficient budgetary resources, to implement and monitor gender-responsible climate action in the EU and globally; call on the EU and its Member States to ensure gender-just national climate action plans by more strongly integrating gender equality into their revised NDCs, and the meaningful involvement of women’s groups in their design and implementation; recalls that countries have committed to revise their NDCs in 2020, and that this commitment is not dependent on when the COP takes place;

56. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the renewed ACP-EU Partnership and the Comprehensive Strategy with Africa are founded on the principles of climate, environmental action to achieve Agenda 2030, and gender equality, and achieve a human rights-based approach which puts communities and women at the heart of environmental and development efforts;

57. Stress that in order to achieve a fair, equitable, and sustainable and just transition which leaves no one behind, all climate action must include a gender and an intersectional perspective, which also includes the diverse experiences of the most marginalised people and communities;

58. Calls for the SDGs to be put at the heart of all decision-making and policy formulation within the EU and its Member States, as well as of the foreign and development policy of the EU; calls for the mainstreaming of the gender perspective in sustainable development and climate change plans and interventions; recalls that women’s empowerment is central to the achievement of the SDGs, and recalls that climate change disasters tend to exacerbate gender disparities and to foster further inequalities all over the world, and in particular in the Global South;

59. Calls for more actions to increase women’s participation in high-level climate-related decision-making positions at national, regional and local levels; recognises that empowering women, their full and equal participation and exercise of leadership functions on international level, as well as their management of national, regional and local climate action initiatives, are crucial for ensuring the success and efficiency of climate change action; calls, in this context, for women to be involved more in the process of finding solutions to adapt to climate change, and developing adaptation strategies and national adaptation plans;

60. Points out that actions to achieve higher levels of women’s enrolment in science and technology-related fields of education are of utmost importance to effectively combat gender-specific climate change consequences; calls for greater uptake of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects by girls and women, who should be the scientists and engineers of the future in the fields of renewable energy and combating the negative effects of climate change;

61. Points out that climate change may trigger increases in violence against women and girls, either systemic or culturally-embedded, including domestic violence; calls for actions aiming at strengthening capacities among national authorities and social partners to understand and address the intersections of gender violence and climate change consequences; stresses the importance of providing assistance in developing capacities to address gender violence risk factors through various community engagement and leadership efforts;

Awareness-raising and use of indigenous, local and traditional knowledge

 

62. Recalls the importance of the involvement of all countries in the UNFCCC decision-making processes; stresses that the current decision-making process under the UNFCCC does not fully allow for the participation of LDCs and needs to be improved in order to better involve poor and vulnerable country delegates; calls on the COP 26 presidency and future presidencies to explore ways to ensure that delegates from LDCs and SIDS, who have fewer resources for participating on an equal footing to developed country delegates, are not structurally disadvantaged; calls on the EU delegation to the COPs to enhance engagement with vulnerable countries’ delegates; recalls the valuable contribution of young people in developing countries to raising global awareness on climate change, and, in this vein, stresses the importance of strengthening their influence, especially by ensuring that their contribution is treated and represented on an equal basis;

 

63. Reaffirms its support to children and young people and welcomes their contribution to the raising of global awareness of climate change and draws attention to the need to empower younger generations; underlines the importance of intercultural dialogue with migrants, refugees and people from developing countries in order to raise global awareness of climate change and also to combat all racist and discriminatory practices against migrants, ethnic and religious minorities, women and girls, the elderly and persons with disabilities; recalls the role of education in resilience building and low-carbon approaches;

 

64. Recalls that according to the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC, indigenous, local, and traditional forms of knowledge are a major resource for adapting to climate change; calls for active use of this resource, including for sustainable forest management, and for effective protection of the rights and livelihoods of indigenous peoples; emphasises that the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate gives evidence of the benefits of combining scientific with local and indigenous knowledge to implement measures to improve resilience;

65. Recommends that EU Member States which have not yet done so ratify ILO Convention No 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples; urges, in particular, the EU and its partner countries to recognise and protect indigenous peoples’ rights to customary ownership and control of their lands and natural resources as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and in ILO Convention No 169, and to comply with the principle of free, prior and informed consent by enabling collective registration of land use and by putting in place policies aimed at ensuring more equitable access to land;

66. Regrets the serious shortcomings of the UN ‘Protect, Respect, Remedy’ framework and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights with regard to both indigenous peoples’ rights and land rights; calls once again on the EU to engage constructively in the work of the UN Human Rights Council on an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises, which should include specific standards for the protection of indigenous peoples;

67. Stresses the need to foster sustainable pastoralism in order to achieve the SDGs; encourages the EU and its Member States to support the African Governance Architecture (AGA), and in particular the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, in order to implement the African Union Policy Framework on Pastoralism in Africa and, more broadly, to recognise pastoralists’ and indigenous peoples’ rights related to communal ownership of ancestral land, their right to freely use their natural resources and their rights to culture and religion;

68. Recalls that indigenous peoples are active agents of environmental conservation; recalls that the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land recognises that indigenous peoples and local communities play a critical role in stewarding and safeguarding the world’s lands and forests and preventing climate change, and that strengthening their rights is a crucial solution in the context of the climate crisis; also recalls the statement in the IPBES Global Assessment Report that nature is generally declining less rapidly on indigenous peoples’ land than on other lands; emphasises the interdependence of climate, economy and society and, in particular, the direct effects that climate change has on indigenous communities and the acute existential threat that many of them face; calls for greater international support for indigenous peoples’ collective rights to land, territories and resources, which would contribute to limiting global warming and biodiversity loss since the territories of the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples cover 24 % of land worldwide and contain 80 % of the world’s biodiversity; believes this will also contribute to combating the degradation of ecosystems, ensuring indigenous livelihoods and contributing to greater equity in these efforts; recalls in this context the importance of inclusive social protection systems in the response to future climate shocks, and calls on the EU and its Member States to promote the creation of decent jobs as part of climate-related official development assistance, in order to help increase the resilience of all populations against climate change; urges all Member States to ratify without delay ILO Convention No 169;

69. Calls on the Commission to recognise the key political role climate activists play in combating climate change in developing countries, and requests that EU delegations ensure the prioritisation of their protection and funding, especially for women and people from marginalised communities;

70. Expresses its deep concern at the increasingly perilous situation of environmental rights defenders, especially in developing countries, and the culture of impunity, particularly in relation to crimes and threats against the most marginalised and most vulnerable; condemns any attempts to deregulate environmental and human rights protections in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises; also expresses its concern at the situation of environmental defenders and whistle-blowers throughout the world; recalls that everyone should be free to enjoy human rights, environmental protection and sustainable development, and that no one should be penalised, persecuted or harassed for protecting the environment; calls on the Commission to support environmental defenders across the world;

71. Stresses that climate change is severely affecting food production and food security in developing countries, with negative effects in particular in the most vulnerable countries; calls for support for sustainable land use practices in the agricultural sector, in order to cope with climate-related risks affecting food security as well as to provide improved protection for the environment; reiterates that the future common agricultural policy should be fully in line with the EU’s increased climate and biodiversity ambitions and should take into account the objective of reducing the Union’s global footprint, including reducing unsustainable land use and ending land- grabbing in third countries;

72. Insists on the importance of better communicating climate and disaster risks and adaptation options for vulnerable populations; recalls the important role of non-state actors and local authorities in building local resilience;

Climate-induced displacement

73. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise the specific needs and vulnerabilities of people who are compelled to move within and between countries in the context of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change, to enhance their protection and strengthen efforts to achieve solutions ending their displacement, and in this regard,

 

- promote the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in EU Member States and third states through bilateral and regional agreements, and the development of regional instruments in Europe and its neighbourhood to protect climate-displaced persons, drawing inspiration from the African Union Kampala Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa;

 

- calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase support to developing countries to achieve durable solutions for internally displaced persons, including pastoralists and other rural populations whose traditional livelihoods have been destroyed by adverse impacts of climate change, and to help find new livelihoods which are better adapted to a changing climate;

 

- calls on the Commission and the Member States to consider climate change-induced livelihood destruction as an eligibility criterion for humanitarian protection;

 

- calls for the EU and the Member States to offer protection to persons forced to flee from a country that in part or in its entirety is becoming, or has become, uninhabitable due to climate change, notably through issuing humanitarian visas and granting temporary or long-term admission and measures to avoid statelessness;

 

- invites the Commission and the Member States to discuss such proposals in international forums, in parallel to other EU initiatives;

 

74. Draws attention to the ruling of the UN Human Rights Committee in the case of Teitiota v. New Zealand, recognising that people fleeing climate-related and natural disasters have a valid claim for international protection under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take stock of this ruling and

 

- contribute to the establishment of clear legal terminology on climate-induced migration and displacement at international as well as at European level;

 

- consider the risk of violations of the right to life due to climate change in their return decisions, notably triggering the non-refoulement obligation and;

 

- take all necessary measures to ensure the full protection of climate-displaced persons, providing asylum as well as creating channels for safe and regular migration;

 

75. Recalls that climate change acts as a risk multiplier for conflict, drought, famine and migration; calls on the Commission to address environmental drivers of migration and to fully implement the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) in the reform of the EU migration and asylum policy, with the aim of protecting people displaced by the consequences of climate change or disasters, and of addressing the root causes of forced displacement due to climate change; stresses that the GCM restates the need to tackle the causes of climate change and to support adaptation efforts in developing countries of origin through proper resource allocation, helping creating decent living and working conditions so that people are not forced to leave their homes due to climate-related harm; calls on the Commission to collect and analyse robust data and strengthen joint analysis and the sharing of information with relevant experts and international organisations such as the IPCC, the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD), the International Organization on Migration (IOM), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and others, to draft a communication on the issue of climate-induced displacement, including clear legal definitions;

 

76. Calls on the EU and its Member States to develop and adopt, as part of the reform of the Union’s migration and asylum policy, appropriate measures such as mobility schemes, skilling and reskilling, and access for third-country workers coming from countries particularly affected by the adverse impacts of climate change, including those working in the fossil fuels industries, extractive sectors and agriculture, as part of the European Green Deal, to enable them to contribute to the low-carbon transition across supply chains;

77. Stresses that climate change and environmental degradation increasingly interact with the drivers of refugee movements, since populations are being forcibly displaced from their homes by the effects of climate change and natural disasters; points out that, due to climate change and biodiversity loss, such crises might multiply in the decades to come; points out that major CO2 emitters such as the EU have a moral duty to help developing countries adapt to climate change, and should reduce their own emissions; stresses that insufficient adaptation capacities can lead to armed conflicts, food shortages, natural catastrophes and climate-induced displacement and forced migration; also recalls that it is the most vulnerable populations in developing countries who are the most likely to be forced to migrate; expresses its support for the WIM Task Force on Displacement, and calls on it to step up its activities and to ensure that it is more inclusive of LDCs and SIDS; urges the EU and the Member States to call for an IPCC special report on the issue of climate-induced displacement, and calls for a greater focus on climate-induced displacement in future COPs;

78. Calls on the Commission to enhance and better coordinate legal channels for third-country workers and their families, through, inter alia, mobility schemes and the provision of access for workers coming from a country, or part of it, that has been affected by climate change;

 

79. Calls on the Commission to invest in programmes that accelerate the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement with a view to eliminating the adverse drivers and structural factors that compel people to leave their country of origin, including through climate change mitigation and adaptation; calls for the development of adaptation and resilience strategies to natural disasters, to the adverse effects of climate change, including the protection and restoration of biodiversity, and to environmental degradation, such as desertification, land degradation, drought and sea-level rise, taking into account the potential implications on migration, while recognising that adaptation in the country of origin is a priority; calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase development aid to countries affected by natural disasters and climate change; reiterates that Union development policies should be aimed at reducing poverty; insists that access to education and sustainable development are the main tools for reducing poverty and enabling populations, including in countries of origin, to live in dignity in the short, medium and long-term alike; underlines that EU financial support (both internal and external) is being directed to support disaster risk reduction via various channels, including humanitarian aid and development instruments, climate change initiatives, support for endemic surveillance capacity and grants for research projects; insists that funds should be channelled through international organisations on the ground to make sure that aid reaches those in need;

80. Notes that the impacts of climate change in the Global South give rise to displacements of people that do not fit within the parameters of current international frameworks; calls on the EU to provide adequate responses to climate displacement, and to include the gender perspective in all migration polices, with a view to safeguarding climate justice;

°

° °

81. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

 

 

 

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY (9.7.2020 )

for the Committee on Development

on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries

(2020/2042(INI))

Rapporteur for opinion: Mick Wallace

 

 

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety calls on the Committee on Development, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

A. whereas equity is a guiding principle of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement;

B. whereas climate change is a main driver of environmental degradation, having a negative impact on food and water security, access to natural resources, human health and migration; whereas these phenomena directly or indirectly also threaten the full enjoyment of human rights, including the rights to life, water and sanitation, food, health and housing; whereas the ability of people to adapt to climate change is inextricably linked to their access to basic human rights and to the health of the ecosystems they depend on for their livelihoods and wellbeing; whereas climate change could reverse human development through reduced agricultural productivity, increased food and water insecurity, increased exposure to extreme natural disasters, collapsed ecosystems and increased health risks; whereas the Union has committed to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in both its internal and its external policies;

C. whereas according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change poses disproportionate and asymmetric risks to human and natural systems due to differences in vulnerability and exposure; whereas climate change exacerbates existing social inequalities, causing vulnerable groups to suffer disproportionately from its adverse effects, resulting in a vicious circle of greater subsequent inequalities; whereas the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on poverty and human rights states that climate change will exacerbate existing poverty and inequality, having the most severe impact in poor countries and regions, and the places where poor people live and work and developing countries will bear an estimated 75-80 % of the costs of climate change;

D. whereas least developed countries (LDCs), fragile countries and small island developing states (SIDS) are most affected by the effects of climate change and therefore need to be prioritised; whereas climate change has dramatic consequences for the long-term economic development of developing countries, and in particular LDCs; whereas according to the OECD, the LDCs are experiencing significant constraints in their fight against climate change because of their high levels of poverty, low levels of education, and limited human, institutional, economic, technical and financial capacity;

E. whereas, according to the OECD, LDCs’ socio-economic progress is heavily dependent on climate-sensitive sectors; whereas ecosystem-based adaptation increases resilience and reduces the vulnerability of people and the environment to climate change; whereas the territories of the world’s 370 million indigenous people cover 24 % of land worldwide and contain 80 % of the world’s biodiversity;

F. whereas according to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2030 climate change is expected to contribute to approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress; whereas according to UNICEF nearly 160 million children live in high drought-severity zones and more than 500 million live in extremely high flood occurrence zones; whereas there are scientifically proven interlinkages between health, environmental and climate crises, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown; whereas owing to climate change and biodiversity loss, such crises might multiply in the decades to come;

G. whereas in its resolution of 16 January 2018 on women, gender equality and climate justice,[5] Parliament acknowledges that women are particularly vulnerable to climate change and experience its effects disproportionately because of their social roles;

1. Believes that the EU has a historic responsibility to be the most ambitious signatory of the Paris Agreement, both through its own commitments and through its assistance to others, and should acknowledge and act on its climate and environmental responsibilities by setting a credible example; stresses that the best form of climate diplomacy is by showing global leadership, as committed to in the European Green Deal, with true commitment to the Paris Agreement goals and Paris-compliant policies and targets within the EU, and also leadership on biodiversity through the Convention on Biological Diversity; recalls the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’ which grants the Union and the Member States a particular responsibility as well as capacity to act;

2. Recalls that developing countries and their populations are particularly touched by the negative impacts of climate change, such as natural disasters and extreme weather disturbances, including cyclones, storms, flooding, droughts, erosion, rising water levels, heatwaves and fires; calls, therefore, on the EU to enhance its support, as part of its external action, for climate mitigation and adaptation and the protection and restoration of biodiversity, and to step up its technical assistance to and sharing of best practices with developing countries. recalls its position that at least 45 % of the funding from the proposed 2021-2027 Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) should support climate and environmental objectives and should do no harm; notes that more development funding should be dedicated to climate-related objectives and efforts to strengthen climate resilience in developing countries; reiterates the necessity of strengthening the incorporation of climate mitigation and adaptation approaches and of mainstreaming those approaches into wider official development assistance policies and programmes;

3. Stresses that climate change has a considerable impact on human health, for example through floods, drought, heatwaves and fires; recalls that developing countries are the most vulnerable and often the least equipped to mitigate this impact on health; points out accordingly the importance of health in climate-related development assistance in these countries; calls on the Commission and the Member States to protect children affected by the consequences of climate change;

4. Recalls the importance of the involvement of all countries in the UNFCCC decision-making processes; stresses that the current decision-making process under the UNFCCC does not fully allow for the participation of LDCs and needs to be improved in order to better involve poor and vulnerable country delegates; calls on the COP26 presidency and future presidencies to explore ways to ensure that delegates from the LDCs and SIDS, who have fewer resources for participating on an equal footing to the developed country delegates, are not structurally disadvantaged; calls on the EU delegation to the COPs to enhance engagement with vulnerable countries’ delegates; recalls the valuable contribution of youth in developing countries in raising global awareness on climate change, and in this vein stresses the importance of strengthening their influence, especially by ensuring that their contribution is treated and represented on an equal basis;

5. Notes that the EU, its Member States and the European Investment Bank are together the biggest contributor of public climate finance to developing countries, giving EUR 21.7 billion in 2018 alone; notes that only a few Member States provide climate finance on top of their official development assistance (ODA) commitments; reiterates that climate finance should be additional, as required under the UNFCCC; recalls the support given in its resolution of 25 October 2018 on the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland (COP24)[6], for the establishment of a dedicated and automatic EU public finance mechanism that provides additional and adequate support towards delivering the Union’s fair share of the objective of providing USD 100 billion in international climate financing by 2020 and until at least 2025, from a variety of sources in the context of meaningful mitigation action; urges all EU Member States to meet their climate finance commitments, to scale up climate finance, including through grants‑based finance, in particular for LDCs and SIDS, and to consider increased financial support during the period 2020-2025 as part of a wider international programme; stresses the importance of private investment for climate action, and believes that new and additional sources of finance should be mobilised to ensure effective implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs);

6. Welcomes the EU Member States’ pledges on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the establishment of the international platform on sustainable finance to scale up the mobilisation of private capital towards environmentally sustainable investments; stresses in particular the importance of the GCF in catalysing public and private financial flows into low-emission and climate-resilient development to the benefit of developing countries; calls on the GCF to simplify the procedures for accessing funding under the programme so that countries that are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, notably LDCs and SIDS, can swiftly move on with the preparation of their national adaptation plans; welcomes the work carried out in this context by the Green Climate Fund Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme;

7. Calls for the post-2025 target for climate finance to ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable countries are met, in particular by increasing resources for dedicated and quantitative sub-goals, including a sub-goal for adaptation finance, in line with Article 9.4 of the Paris Agreement, a sub-goal for mitigation finance, including ecosystem-based measures, a sub-goal for loss and damage finance and grants-based finance, and qualitative goals, such as meaningful, inclusive and participatory adaptation planning and implementation, and removal of barriers to accessing available finance; believes that future finance goals should take account of the needs of developing countries, as well as the Paris Agreement’s equity principle, in determining EU contributions; recognises the importance of scaling up the mobilisation of resources to support efforts to avert, minimise and address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change in particularly vulnerable countries;

8. Recalls that the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) Review 2019 acknowledges the importance of the implementation of the WIM, for vulnerable populations in particular; strongly encourages the EU to support the calls of LDCs for a specific financing facility for loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change under the UNFCCC; calls for new and additional sources of loss and damage finance; considers that Member States could further use targeted debt suspension, relief or cancellation on a case-by-case basis for the most vulnerable LDCs and SIDS, with the specific purpose of contributing to the fight against climate change and as part of a wider international framework;

9. Believes that international carbon market mechanisms should be designed to avoid negative impacts on local communities; calls on the EU and the Member States to advocate robust rights-based social and environmental safeguards, including Free Prior and Informed Consent, and a ‘do no harm’ principle, as well as grievance mechanisms governed by an independent body and supervisory bodies free from conflict of interest for all international carbon market mechanisms, and to ensure in particular that all Article 6 mechanisms fully respect and protect the rights of local communities; reiterates its support for the establishment of a share of proceeds to provide financial support to those populations most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change;

10. Recalls the ‘do no harm’ principle under the European Green Deal, and urges the Commission to rapidly ensure the full consistency of existing and future trade and investment agreements and other global regulations with the international environmental and climate goals, in particular the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; also reiterates its call on the Commission to present a proposal for a European legal framework based on due diligence to ensure sustainable and deforestation-free supply chains for products placed on the EU market; reiterates its support for the end of EU exports of waste resources, an enhanced circular economy worldwide and the introduction of a global ban on single-use plastics; also stresses that meeting our climate objectives should never happen at the expense of biodiversity; believes that bioenergy policy requires strict environmental and social criteria in order to prevent land-grabbing and deforestation; calls on the Union and the Member States to support, at the next UN General Assembly, the global recognition of the right to a healthy environment;

11. Stresses that climate change and environmental degradation increasingly interact with the drivers of refugee movements, since populations are being forcibly displaced from their homes by the effects of climate change and natural disasters; points out that, due to climate change and biodiversity loss, such crises might multiply in the decades to come; points out that major CO2 emitters like the EU have a moral duty to help developing countries adapt to climate change, and should reduce their own emissions; stresses that insufficient adaptation capacities can lead to armed conflicts, food shortages, natural catastrophes and climate-induced displacement and forced migration; also recalls that it is the most vulnerable populations in developing countries who are the most likely to be forced to migrate; expresses its support for the WIM Taskforce on Displacement, and calls on it to step up its activities and to ensure that it is more inclusive of LDCs and SIDS; urges the EU and the Member States to call for an IPCC Special Report on the issue of climate-induced displacement, and calls for a greater focus on climate-induced displacement in future COPs;

12. Stresses that adaptation strategies should also encourage environmentally friendly and nature-based solutions and enhance self-sufficiency in order to ensure better living conditions, including sustainable and local agriculture, sustainable management of water, renewable energies, etc, in line with the SDGs; considers that, in this context, specific attention should be paid to islands, where the population is the most vulnerable to climate change, in order to foster their resilience and the protection of their ecosystems; also underlines the need to better understand the potential cost of inaction and the effectiveness and suitability of adaptation measures, in particular where there are vulnerable groups, communities and ecosystems; stresses that there is no one globally applicable monitoring and evaluation system for climate change adaptation, including its effectiveness; calls, therefore, on the Commission and the Member States to step up efforts to support developing countries in establishing appropriate national monitoring and evaluation systems making it possible to measure adaptation progress on a continuous basis;

13. Welcomes the landmark decision of the UN Human Rights Committee in the case of Teitiota v. New Zealand recognising that that people fleeing climate-related and natural disasters have a valid claim for international protection under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; urges the Commission and the Member States to take stock of this ruling and take all the necessary measures to ensure full protection of environmentally displaced persons under EU law, and to provide appropriate asylum for climate refugees;

14. Expresses its deep concern about the massive loss of biodiversity and its impact on resilience levels; reiterates its call for a legally binding international agreement for a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, and insists that it should particularly involve and benefit vulnerable populations; endorses the position expressed in the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) that exports of crops, deforestation, and other transfers of resources from developing countries have contributed to the deterioration of nature, while importing developed countries and rapidly growing developing countries often decrease nature degradation nationally; calls on the EU to pay specific attention, in the context of the external dimension of the Biodiversity Strategy, to developing countries and their populations, as they are territories with high biodiversity; calls on the Commission and the Member States to step up action and synergies in the climate and biodiversity agendas, in line with the European Green Deal;

15. Recalls that the negative consequences of climate change undermine a country’s development prospects, compounding already existing inequalities such as gender disparities; underlines that the impact of climate change is worse for more vulnerable people such as women and girls, and that 80 % of people displaced by climate change are women; welcomes the commitments made by Vice-President Timmermans to redress gender inequalities that are exacerbated by climate change; urges the Commission to mainstream gender equality and climate justice in the elaboration and implementation of all policies that have an impact on the situation of women and girls, and to promote the participation of indigenous women, women’s rights defenders and all marginalised gender communities within the UNFCCC framework; calls on all parties to the Paris Agreement to fully implement the five-year enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender and the Gender Action Plan; notes with concern the high female mortality rate in disaster situations; underlines the need to promote measures improving the position and meaningful participation of women in combating climate change at societal and governmental (decision-making) level;

16. Recalls that indigenous peoples are active agents of environmental conservation; recalls that the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land recognises that indigenous peoples and local communities play a critical role in stewarding and safeguarding the world’s lands and forests and preventing climate change, and that strengthening their rights is a crucial solution in the context of the climate crisis; also recalls the statement in the IPBES Global Assessment Report that nature is generally declining less rapidly on indigenous peoples’ land than on other lands; emphasises the interdependence of climate, economy and society and, in particular, the direct effects that climate change has on indigenous communities and the acute existential threat that many of them face; calls for greater international support for indigenous peoples’ collective rights to land, territories and resources, which would contribute to limiting global warming and biodiversity loss since the territories of the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples cover 24 % of land worldwide and contain 80 % of the world’s biodiversity; believes this will also contribute to combating the degradation of ecosystems, ensuring indigenous livelihoods and contributing to greater equity in these efforts; recalls in this context the importance of inclusive social protection systems in the response to future climate shocks, and calls on the EU and its Member States to promote the creation of decent jobs as part of climate-related official development assistance, in order to help increase the resilience of all populations against climate change; urges all Member States to ratify without delay the ILO’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of 1989 (ILO Convention No 169);

17. Expresses its deep concern at the increasingly perilous situation of environmental rights defenders, especially in developing countries, and the culture of impunity, particularly in relation to crimes and threats against the most marginalised and most vulnerable; condemns any attempts to deregulate environmental and human rights protections in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises; also expresses its concern at the situation of environmental defenders and whistle-blowers throughout the world; recalls that everyone should have access to the enjoyment of human rights, environmental protection and sustainable development, and that no one should be penalised, persecuted or harassed for protecting the environment; calls on the Commission to support environmental defenders across the world;

18. Stresses that climate change is severely affecting food production and food security in developing countries, with a negative effect in particular in the most vulnerable countries; calls for the support of sustainable land use practices in the agricultural sector, in order to cope with climate-related risks affecting food security as well as providing improved protection to the environment; reiterates that the future Common Agricultural Policy should be fully in line with the EU’s increased climate and biodiversity ambitions, and should take into account the objective of reducing the Union’s global footprint, including reducing unsustainable land use and ending land- grabbing in third countries;

19. Insists on the importance of better communicating climate and disaster risks and adaptation options for vulnerable populations; recalls the important role of non-state actors and local authorities in building local resilience.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Date adopted	6.7.2020
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	62 7 8
Members present for the final vote	Nikos Androulakis, Bartosz Arłukowicz, Margrete Auken, Simona Baldassarre, Marek Paweł Balt, Traian Băsescu, Aurelia Beigneux, Monika Beňová, Sergio Berlato, Simona Bonafè, Delara Burkhardt, Pascal Canfin, Sara Cerdas, Mohammed Chahim, Tudor Ciuhodaru, Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé, Miriam Dalli, Esther de Lange, Christian Doleschal, Bas Eickhout, Eleonora Evi, Agnès Evren, Fredrick Federley, Pietro Fiocchi, Andreas Glück, Catherine Griset, Jytte Guteland, Teuvo Hakkarainen, Anja Hazekamp, Martin Hojsík, Pär Holmgren, Jan Huitema, Yannick Jadot, Petros Kokkalis, Ewa Kopacz, Ryszard Antoni Legutko, Peter Liese, Sylvia Limmer, Javi López, César Luena, Fulvio Martusciello, Liudas Mažylis, Joëlle Mélin, Tilly Metz, Silvia Modig, Dolors Montserrat, Alessandra Moretti, Dan-Ștefan Motreanu, Ville Niinistö, Grace O’Sullivan, Jutta Paulus, Stanislav Polčák, Jessica Polfjärd, Frédérique Ries, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Sándor Rónai, Rob Rooken, Silvia Sardone, Christine Schneider, Günther Sidl, Linea Søgaard-Lidell, Nicolae Ştefănuță, Nils Torvalds, Edina Tóth, Véronique Trillet-Lenoir, Petar Vitanov, Alexandr Vondra, Mick Wallace, Pernille Weiss, Michal Wiezik, Tiemo Wölken, Anna Zalewska
Substitutes present for the final vote	Catherine Chabaud, Margarita de la Pisa Carrión, Cindy Franssen, Maria Spyraki, Nikolaj Villumsen, Lucia Vuolo

 

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

62	+
EPP	Bartosz Arłukowicz, Traian Băsescu, Nathalie Colinoesterlé, Christian Doleschal, Cindy Franssen, Ewa Kopacz, Esther De Lange, Peter Liese, Fulvio Martusciello, Liudas Mažylis, Dolors Montserrat, Dan-Ștefan Motreanu, Stanislav Polčák, Jessica Polfjärd, Christine Schneider, Maria Spyraki, Edina Tóth, Pernille Weiss, Michal Wiezik
S&D	Nikos Androulakis, Marek Paweł Balt, Monika Beňová, Simona Bonafè, Delara Burkhardt, Sara Cerdas, Mohammed Chahim, Tudor Ciuhodaru, Miriam Dalli, Jytte Guteland, Javi López, César Luena, Alessandra Moretti, Sándor Rónai, Günther Sidl, Petar Vitanov, Tiemo Wölken
RENEW	Pascal Canfin, Catherine Chabaud, Fredrick Federley, Martin Hojsík, Jan Huitema, Frédérique Ries, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Nicolae Ştefănuță, Linea Søgaard-Lidell, Nils Torvalds, Véronique Trillet-Lenoir
ID	Lucia Vuolo
GREENS/EFA	Margrete Auken, Bas Eickhout, Pär Holmgren, Yannick Jadot, Tilly Metz, Ville Niinistö, Grace O’sullivan, Jutta Paulus
GUE/NGL	Anja Hazekamp, Petros Kokkalis, Silvia Modig, Nikolaj Villumsen, Mick Wallace
NI	Eleonora Evi

 

7	-
ID	Simona Baldassarre, Aurelia Beigneux, Catherine Griset, Teuvo Hakkarainen, Sylvia Limmer, Joëlle Mélin, Silvia Sardone

 

8	0
EPP	Agnès Evren
ECR	Sergio Berlato, Margarita De La Pisa Carrión, Pietro Fiocchi, Ryszard Antoni Legutko, Rob Rooken, Alexandr Vondra, Anna Zalewska

 

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention

 

 

 

 

 

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS (16.10.2020)

for the Committee on Development

on the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries

(2020/2042(INI))

Rapporteur for opinion: Saskia Bricmont

 

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs calls on the Committee on Development, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

A. whereas climate change and consequential natural disasters have become common drivers of migration, which will be further exacerbated as the impact of climate change on the environment worsens; whereas climate change and consequential natural disasters have a negative impact on the enjoyment of fundamental rights; whereas the majority of climate-induced migrants are likely to come from rural areas, as their livelihoods often depend on climate-sensitive sectors such as farming and fishing; whereas there are other environmental factors that are not directly linked to climate change, but are linked to human-made environmental changes such as land degradation or marine and coastal ecosystem degradation, land and water grabbing, and environmental disasters and pollution caused by wars, which also act as risk-multipliers and migration drivers, notably in vulnerable populations that are highly dependent on agriculture and natural local resources;

B. whereas climate-induced displacement and migration are strongly related to other factors, mainly poverty, competition for water, food and other resources leading to increased frequency and severity of disease outbreaks and deaths, since when a country lacks the appropriate resources to adapt to climate change, this can aggravate poverty and existing inequalities and constraints, and can force people to move; whereas according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the least developed countries experience significant constraints in their fight against climate change because of their high levels of poverty, low levels of education and limited human, institutional, economic, technical and financial capacity; whereas climate change is an important risk multiplier for conflict, drought, famine and migration, especially in the poorest countries; whereas vulnerable groups may be more severely affected by the effects of climate change;

C. whereas there have been about 288 million people newly internally displaced due to disasters taking place between 2008 and 2019, with floods causing half of the disaster-related displacement; whereas according to a report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, in 2018 alone 17.2 million people were displaced as a result of disasters related to the climate, 9.3 million of whom were in the region the most affected, the Asia-Pacific region; whereas the most affected countries are the Philippines, China and India;

D. whereas regional initiatives in Africa and Latin America have developed instruments to strengthen protection for those displaced in the context of climate change and disasters; whereas the UN non-binding Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement define internally displaced persons as ‘persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or leave their homes or places of habitual residences in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflicts, situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters’; whereas today there is no international legal instrument in place that would address cross-border migration as a consequence of climate change, natural or human-made disasters; whereas Italy, Sweden and Finland have developed national protection grounds for victims of climate change and natural disasters;

1. Stresses that the 1951 International Convention on the Status of Refugees does not cover the protection of people displaced for environmental reasons; stresses, however, that climate-induced displacement is a growing phenomenon affecting many parts of the world and therefore requires increased international cooperation and climate migration requires a normative framework to bridge existing protection gaps, via various and complementary methods;

2. Notes the definition of climate-induced displacement offered by the International Organization for Migration ‘as the movement of a person or groups of persons who, predominantly for reasons of sudden or progressive change in the environment due to climate change, are obliged to leave their habitual place of residence, or choose to do so, either temporarily or permanently, within a State or across an international border’; stresses the complex nature of the impact that climate change has on displacement and migration and highlights, therefore, the need to increase the collection and analysis of robust data in this area and the strengthening of joint analysis and sharing of information to better map, understand, predict and address migration movements;

3. Highlights that migration in this context can be associated with greater vulnerability of affected people, particularly if it is forced and that migration can also be a form of adaptation to environmental stressors, which helps affected individuals and communities to become more resilient; highlights that women and minors are most vulnerable populations in the face of disasters and climate change;

4. Deplores the fact that, while climate migration is a reality that is set to intensify, and while some exceptions exist under national law in a limited number of Member States on matters relating to protection in cases of environmental disaster, people who move for climate change-related reasons have no effective access to protection in the EU; calls in this context on the Member States and the Commission, with the close involvement of Parliament, to consider utilising existing regular migration pathways and to facilitate migration strategies in response to challenges posed by climate change and environmental disasters and their link to international migratory movements, such as through the promotion of humanitarian visas, temporary protection, authorisations to stay, and regional and bilateral free movement agreements; calls on the Commission and the Member States to put forward such proposals in international forums, in parallel to other EU initiatives;

5. Recalls the adoption of the Global Compact on Refugees by the UN General Assembly of 17 December 2018; calls on the Member States and the Commission to promote its implementation, both at EU and global level, to ensure more effective protection, via complementary pathways and appropriate financing, for persons displaced by the consequences of climate change or natural disasters;

6. Highlights that the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) identifies climate change as one of the drivers of migration and urges countries to introduce channels and to plan for people who move due to natural disasters and climate change; stresses that the GCM also restates the need to tackle the causes of climate change and to support adaptation in developing countries through proper resource allocation, so that people are not forced to leave their homes;

7. Calls for the continuation of a constructive and comprehensive migration dialogue at global level among all countries concerned; calls on the international community to advance national and regional efforts to prevent and address root causes of environmental displacement and promote the development of durable solutions; highlights the importance of supporting and strengthening the resilience of host communities and communities of origin in developing countries; acknowledges that environmentally induced displacement linked to both sudden-onset and slow-onset environmental changes will inevitably continue and that measures will therefore be required in order to assist the displaced, including through the use of emergency-response mechanisms in cases of sudden-onset disasters, and in order to find durable solutions using humanitarian and civil protection aid and capacity-building measures;

8. Reminds the Member States that, although climate-induced displacement is currently mainly internal, as the global climate emergency worsens, more vulnerable people may cross borders seeking protection at international level; calls for effective long-term strategies and policies to ensure assistance and protection for migrants displaced by climate change;

9. Calls on the Commission to enhance and better coordinate legal channels for third-country workers and their families, through, inter alia, mobility schemes and the provision of access for workers coming from a country, or part of it, that has been affected by climate change;

10. Underlines the ruling of the UN Human Rights Committee of 20 January 2020, which states that countries may not deport individuals facing climate-change-induced conditions that violate the right to life; calls on the Member States to consider the risk of violations of the right to life due to climate change, natural or human-made disasters as part of their return decisions, notably triggering non-refoulement obligations;

11. Considers that, as part of the reform of the Union’s Migration and Asylum Policy, there is a need to reflect on climate-induced displacement in the EU in the future;

12. Urges the Commission to mainstream gender equality and climate justice in the elaboration and implementation of all policies that have impact on the situation of women and girls;

13. Calls on the Commission to invest in programmes that accelerate the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement with a view to eliminating the adverse drivers and structural factors that compel people to leave their country of origin, including through climate change mitigation and adaptation; calls for the development of adaptation and resilience strategies to natural disasters, to the adverse effects of climate change, including the protection and restoration of biodiversity, and to environmental degradation, such as desertification, land degradation, drought and sea-level rise, taking into account the potential implications on migration, while recognising that adaptation in the country of origin is a priority; calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase development aid to countries affected by natural disasters and climate change; reiterates that Union development policies should be aimed at reducing poverty; insists that access to education and sustainable development are the main tools to reducing poverty and enabling populations, including in countries of origin, to live in dignity in the short, medium and long-term alike; underlines that EU financial support (both internal and external) is being directed to support disaster risk reduction via various channels, including humanitarian aid and development instruments, climate change initiatives, support for endemic surveillance capacity and grants for research projects; insists that funds should be channelled through international organisations on the ground to make sure that aid reaches those in need.

 

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Date adopted	15.10.2020
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	47 17 1
Members present for the final vote	Magdalena Adamowicz, Konstantinos Arvanitis, Katarina Barley, Pernando Barrena Arza, Pietro Bartolo, Nicolas Bay, Vladimír Bilčík, Vasile Blaga, Ioan-Rareş Bogdan, Patrick Breyer, Saskia Bricmont, Joachim Stanisław Brudziński, Jorge Buxadé Villalba, Damien Carême, Caterina Chinnici, Marcel de Graaff, Anna Júlia Donáth, Lena Düpont, Cornelia Ernst, Laura Ferrara, Nicolaus Fest, Jean-Paul Garraud, Maria Grapini, Sylvie Guillaume, Andrzej Halicki, Balázs Hidvéghi, Evin Incir, Sophia in ‘t Veld, Lívia Járóka, Marina Kaljurand, Assita Kanko, Fabienne Keller, Peter Kofod, Łukasz Kohut, Moritz Körner, Jeroen Lenaers, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Lukas Mandl, Nuno Melo, Roberta Metsola, Nadine Morano, Javier Moreno Sánchez, Maite Pagazaurtundúa, Nicola Procaccini, Emil Radev, Paulo Rangel, Terry Reintke, Diana Riba i Giner, Ralf Seekatz, Michal Šimečka, Birgit Sippel, Martin Sonneborn, Tineke Strik, Ramona Strugariu, Annalisa Tardino, Dragoş Tudorache, Tom Vandendriessche, Bettina Vollath, Jadwiga Wiśniewska, Elena Yoncheva
Substitutes present for the final vote	Delara Burkhardt, Anne-Sophie Pelletier, Rob Rooken, Hilde Vautmans, Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez

 

 

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

47	+
EPP	Magdalena Adamowicz, Vladimír Bilčík, Vasile Blaga, Ioan-Rareş Bogdan, Lena Düpont, Andrzej Halicki, Nuno Melo, Roberta Metsola, Emil Radev, Paulo Rangel, Ralf Seekatz, Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez
S&D	Katarina Barley, Pietro Bartolo, Delara Burkhardt, Caterina Chinnici, Maria Grapini, Sylvie Guillaume, Evin Incir, Marina Kaljurand, Łukasz Kohut, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Javier Moreno Sánchez, Birgit Sippel, Bettina Vollath, Elena Yoncheva
RENEW	Anna Júlia Donáth, Sophia In ‘T Veld, Fabienne Keller, Moritz Körner, Maite Pagazaurtundúa, Michal Šimečka, Ramona Strugariu, Dragoş Tudorache, Hilde Vautmans
GREENS/EFA	Patrick Breyer, Saskia Bricmont, Damien Carême, Terry Reintke, Diana Riba I Giner, Tineke Strik
EUL/NGL	Konstantinos Arvanitis, Pernando Barrena Arza, Cornelia Ernst, Anne-Sophie Pelletier
NI	Laura Ferrara, Martin Sonneborn
17	-
EPP	Balázs Hidvéghi, Lívia Járóka, Lukas Mandl, Nadine Morano
ID	Nicolas Bay, Nicolaus Fest, Jean-Paul Garraud, Marcel De Graaff, Peter Kofod, Annalisa Tardino, Tom Vandendriessche
ECR	Joachim Stanisław Brudziński, Jorge Buxadé Villalba, Assita Kanko, Nicola Procaccini, Rob Rooken, Jadwiga Wiśniewska
1	0
EPP	Jeroen LENAERS

 

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention

 

 

 

 

 

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY (2.10.2020)

for the Committee on Development

on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries

(2020/2042(INI))

Rapporteur: Alice Kuhnke 

 

 

 

SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality calls on the Committee on Development, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

A. whereas climate change erodes human freedoms and limits choice; whereas the Paris Agreement acknowledges gender equality and empowerment of women should be promoted by all parties, and establishes that gender-responsive climate action must be integrated into all aspects of the implementation of the agreement;

B. whereas the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcomes of its review conferences outline three strategic objectives to improve women’s environmental decision-making, integrate the gender perspective in policies and programmes for sustainable development, and to strengthen or establish mechanisms at the national, regional and international levels to assess the impact of development and environmental policies on women;

C. whereas climate change is a complex environmental and social issue, affecting a world that is characterised by, and based on, deep-rooted unequal gender relations; whereas in addition to the fact that women generally have less power and are, therefore, less able to mitigate and cope with the impacts of climate change; whereas unequal gender dynamics affect the ways that households, communities, countries and the global community are affected by, and respond to, climate change;

D. whereas the current COVID-19 crisis shows the close link between the destruction of our ecosystems, the exploitation of wildlife and the outbreak of epidemics; whereas women’s role in the protection of biodiversity and the sustainable management of natural resources should be better recognised and further encouraged;

E. whereas climate change has a greater destructive impact on the countries least responsible for global warming; whereas those in the most vulnerable situations, particularly women, who make up 70 % of the world’s poorest people, and girls are more affected by climate change, face higher risks and bear greater burdens due to their unequal access to resources, education, political power, job opportunities, land rights and existing social and cultural norms such as their role as primary caregivers and providers of water, food and fuel, and their intersectional experiences of discrimination, reducing their ability to protect themselves and their dependants against the impacts of climate change; whereas at the same time women and girls are at the forefront of the defence of natural resources, and are often the first responders to the impacts of climate crisis in their communities; whereas women are key to managing the climate crisis, and should be supported as agents of change;

F. whereas climate change and gender inequality are interrelated; whereas according to the UN, climate change affects women more, and accentuates gender inequalities and discrimination, despite the fact that women contribute less to causing climate change; whereas climate change is undermining the enjoyment of human rights, especially of those living on the frontline of the climate crisis; whereas the negative consequences of climate change undermine the development prospects of countries, and deepen already existing gender disparities that result from numerous socio-economic, institutional, cultural and political determinants; whereas, however, public adaptation and mitigation policies do not sufficiently take gender into account;

G. whereas women - who constitute half the world’s population - bear severe gendered impacts of climate change, such as flooding, fires, droughts, deforestation or water scarcity, and are more prone to suffer from infectious diseases, such as water-, food-, and vector-borne ones, as well as health outcomes associated with poor air quality; whereas the consequences of climate change constitute an enormous risk to women, especially pregnant women, due to deteriorating sanitary and hygiene conditions and limited or insufficient access to proper medical care and treatment;

H. whereas the adverse effects of climate change cause an increase in migration as people are forced to leave their homes temporarily or permanently when the environment becomes unviable for them; whereas 80 % of those who are displaced as a result of climate change are women and children, who are more exposed to the negative effects of climate change and face greater difficulties related thereto, including a much higher risk of dying in natural disasters; whereas the situation of internally displaced people who move for environmental reasons is worst for those in vulnerable situations such as women, who are often exposed to violations of their basic rights as victims of human trafficking and sex exploitation; whereas women are usually at a higher risk of being placed in unsafe, overcrowded shelters due to their lack of assets and greater vulnerability to poverty;

I. whereas according to Greenpeace women account for 51 % of the world population and 43 % of the agricultural workforce in developing countries; whereas agricultural production is one of the sectors most affected by climate change; whereas according to the World Economic Forum, 60 % of people suffering from malnutrition are women and children; whereas the scarcity of resources especially affects women, who dedicate more time to obtaining them, to the detriment of other activities such as education; whereas according to UNESCO one in four young women in developing countries have not completed primary school;

J. whereas climate change is closely linked to energy policy; whereas energy poverty is linked to low incomes and, for example, rising energy prices; whereas women have lower incomes and are at greater risk of suffering from energy poverty, which especially affects single parents and the elderly, the poorest of whom are women; whereas in 2016 there were 1.1 billion people in the world without access to energy and, of those, between 50 % and 70 % were women and children;

K. whereas climate change, environmental degradation, scarcity of resources and natural disasters may increase tensions and reinforce gender inequalities, which result in more frequent acts of violence, including domestic and economic violence, sexual assault, forced prostitution, forced or involuntary marriage and other acts of gender-based abuse;

L. whereas climate change has serious ramifications for food security, availability, accessibility and utilisation; whereas women, especially in developing countries account for 40 - 80 % of the labour force involved in food production and harvesting, depending on the region; whereas increased crop failure and unprecedented natural resource depletion due to changing weather may result in excessive agricultural workloads and the inability to provide sufficient food for households;

M. whereas women, especially indigenous women, are particularly vulnerable to violence related to the environment; whereas in 2017, almost half of environmental defenders murdered were against women;

N. whereas, according to data from the European Institute for Gender Equality, in 2018 more than 80 % of positions of responsibility for climate change were held by men; whereas in the scientific field where reports are made for discussions in international forums, 95 % of board members and 86 % of senior managers are men; whereas in the electricity sector worldwide only 8 % of positions of power are occupied by women, and they represent only 32 % of the total number of workers in this sector;

O. whereas climate change has a severe impact on fresh water resources and the availability thereof, especially in developing countries located in hot and dry climate areas, influencing the availability of household water; whereas scarcity of water resources may affect women the most;

P. whereas in many developing countries, the access of girls and women to information and communication technology is constrained by varying factors, such as social and cultural bias, inadequate technological infrastructure, especially in rural areas, inadequate access to education, science or computer illiteracy, as well as women’s lack of disposable income to purchase technology services;

1. Recognises that gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment are a catalyst for sustainable development and a prerequisite for the management of climate challenges; calls for the EU and its Member States to include gender analysis and budgeting in development cooperation polices and all instruments to advance gender-just climate actions and to support climate change adaptation and resilience in developing countries;

2. Recalls that social and cultural norms influence women’s vulnerability to climate change, and that women and girls are more likely to be displaced, due to the gendered division of labour and mobility, as well as the lack of access to information, their role as caretakers, and lower participation in political and economic decision making; stresses that women and girls are also particularly exposed to sexual violence, exploitation and school drop-out during these crises and in their aftermath; calls on the EU to reinforce this aspect of the gender dimension in its humanitarian action, and to ensure access to sexual and reproductive health services;

3. Underlines that there is strong evidence that the impact on health of climate-sensitive conditions, such as malnutrition, and the incidence of infectious diseases, such as malaria, varies according to gender; notes with concern the high female mortality rate in disaster situations; recalls that climate change effects cause an increase in diseases affecting women, girls and their sexual health and reproductive rights; points out that a lack of clean water, as a consequence of climate change, negatively affects hygiene for pregnant women, maternal health and menstrual periods; urges the integration of the gender perspective in sustainable development policies and programmes to ensure that the rights of women and girls, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and necessary healthcare services, the promotion of gender equality and climate justice are mainstreamed through its strategy programmes;

4. Calls for the new Gender Action Plan for External Relations (GAP III) to pay special attention to gender equality and climate change within all four pivotal areas, to develop related indicators, and to guarantee sufficient resources to deliver on GAP’s objectives; believes that GAP III should support meaningful and effective political participation of women-led and women’s rights organisations in partner countries at all levels; calls for women’s organisations’ access to international climate funds and climate negotiations to be ensured, especially in light of the important leadership women often take in tackling the impacts of climate change in their countries and communities;

5. Stresses the need for the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) to support gender-sensitive approaches in its processes and operations, including the need for dedicated climate projects and programmes which specifically address gender concerns;

6. Stresses that women and girls are powerful agents of change, in particular for climate action, and calls for EU development programmes to promote the meaningful participation and empowerment of women and their organisations at all levels and at all stages of policy design, planning, financing, implementation monitoring and evaluation, as their inclusion is crucial for improving climate mitigation, resilience policy interventions, fair allocation of resources, tackling the obstacles that affect them disproportionately, and for ensuring long-term sustainable climate solutions; stresses, in this regard, the need to support capacity building and women’s role as educators and promoters of change, and ensure adequate financing for these organisations;

7. Calls on the Commission to recognise the important role women play in combating climate change in developing countries and their effective role as agents and promoters of adaptation and mitigation; calls for measures to improve the local adaptive capacity of women particularly in developing countries, and for more adaptation initiatives that would identify and address the gender-specific impacts of climate change, predominantly in areas related to food security, water management, agriculture, energy, health and disaster management; recognises that in this context the implementation of climate change policies offers possibilities for women to become more active in local politics, and thereby give local women a voice;

8. Affirms that it is necessary to demand and promote the active participation of women, and to propose new climate and development policies that contribute to transforming social, productive, economic and institutional structures in ways that promote equal opportunities and sustainable development;

9. Stresses that climate finance should be accessible to both men and women, and designed to generate mutual benefits rather than exacerbate existing patterns of inequality;

10. Recalls that gender gaps in energy-related education are due to gender-based prejudices and stereotypes that exclude women from areas of the green economy such as transport and energy, causing a waste of human resources, and preventing the EU from achieving its full competitive potential; stresses the need to increase the number of women with relevant qualifications in scientific and technological fields, as well as the number of women participating in relevant scientific bodies at the highest level; urges national governments to encourage and oblige companies and the academic world to include women at all levels of decision-making in industrial sectors such as energy, transport and oil;

11. Demands that women have equitable access to the knowledge, resources and technology necessary to cope effectively with the adverse effects of global warming; affirms that political measures should not only be aimed at mitigating the damage caused by natural disasters, but also that efforts need to be focused on reducing their impact on the population by means of equality actions that provide the opportunity to cooperate in search of sustainable solutions to women as well;

12. Calls on the Commission to study the impact of gender in existing trade agreements and, in advance, in any new agreements that may be signed; calls for the incorporation into new and current agreements of effective clauses and sanctioning mechanisms to achieve gender equality and guarantee women’s rights and empowerment; calls on the Commission and the Council to promote and support the inclusion of a specific gender chapter in EU trade and association agreements, and to ensure that they specifically incorporate binding commitments to respect and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment;

13. Calls on the Commission to design a concrete action plan to deliver on the commitments of the renewed Gender Action Plan agreed at the 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 25) and to create a permanent EU gender and climate change focal point, with sufficient budgetary resources, to implement and monitor gender-responsible climate action in the EU and globally; call on the EU and its Member States to ensure gender-just national climate action plans by more strongly integrating gender equality into their revised nationally determined contributions (NDCs), and the meaningful involvement of women’s groups in their design and implementation; recalls that countries have committed to revise their NDCs in 2020, and that this commitment is not dependent on when the COP takes place;

14. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the renewed ACP-EU Partnership and the Comprehensive Strategy with Africa are founded on the principles of climate, environmental action to achieve Agenda 2030, and gender equality, and achieves a human rights-based approach which puts communities and women at the heart of environmental and development efforts;

15. Calls on the Member States to create a formal Council body on gender equality to provide Ministers and Secretaries of State in charge of gender equality with a dedicated forum for discussion, and to better facilitate gender mainstreaming across all EU policies, including environmental and development policies;

16. Stress that in order to achieve a fair, equitable, and sustainable and just transition which leaves no one behind, all climate action must include a gender and an intersectional perspective, which also includes the diverse experiences of the most marginalised people and communities;

17. Stresses the need to make the financing of both adaptation to climate change and mitigation of its effects gender-responsive; calls for the EU to increase financial support for gender-just climate actions for adaptation and addressing loss and damage in developing countries, including those undertaken by women’s grassroots organisations, given their central role in local responses to the climate crisis;

18. Calls for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be put at the heart of all decision-making and policy formulation within the EU and its Member States, as well as of the foreign and development policy of the EU; calls for the mainstreaming of the gender perspective in sustainable development and climate change plans and interventions; recalls that women’s empowerment is central to the achievement of the SDGs, and recalls that climate change disasters tend to exacerbate gender disparities and to foster further inequalities all over the world, and in particular the Global South;

19. Calls for more actions to increasing women’s participation in high-level climate-related decision-making positions at national, regional and local levels; recognises that empowering women, their full and equal participation and exercise of leadership functions on international level, as well as their management of national, regional and local climate action initiatives, are crucial for ensuring the success and efficiency of climate change action; calls, in this context, for women to be involved more in the process of finding solutions to adapt to climate change, develop adaptation strategies and national adaptation plans;

20. Notes that the impacts of climate change in the Global South give rise to displacements of people that do not fit within the parameters of current international frameworks; calls on the EU to provide adequate responses to climate displacement, and to include the gender perspective in all migration polices, with a view to safeguarding climate justice;

21. Calls on the Commission to recognise the key political role climate activists play in combating climate change in developing countries, and requests EU delegations to ensure the prioritisation of their protection and funding, especially for women and people from marginalised communities;

22. Stresses that the agricultural sector is one of the hardest hit by the consequences of climate change in partner countries; recalls that rural women are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change on agricultural production and food security as they are often dependent on natural resources, perform much of the agricultural work, such as food production and collecting water and fuel, and as they are very often responsible for unpaid work in households and communities; calls on the EU and its Member States to strengthen cooperation with partner countries to include a strong gender dimension in all agricultural and rural development policies, and to boost support for women’s production capacity to allow them to cope with food insecurity resulting from climate change, while ensuring non-discriminatory access to resources and increased participation in decision-making processes on local and national levels;

23. Recalls that the collection of sex-disaggregated data is a preliminary step towards conducting proper gender analyses of climate change in order to establish gender sensitive indicators and benchmarks, and to develop practical tools for a more efficient integration of the gender perspective throughout the whole cycle of policies, programmes and projects; calls on the Commission to upgrade capacity building in developing countries’ national statistical systems, for the purposes of collecting gender statistics on the environment in order to improve the evaluation of the different consequences of climate change, and find solutions to them;

24. Points out that actions to achieve higher levels of women’s enrolment in science and technology-related fields of education are of utmost importance to effectively combat gender-specific climate change consequences; calls for greater uptake of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects by girls and women, who should be the scientists and engineers of the future in the fields of renewable energy and combating the negative effects of climate change;

25. Points out that climate change may trigger increases in violence against women and girls, either systemic or culturally-embedded, including domestic violence; calls for actions aiming at strengthening capacities among national authorities and social partners to understand and address the intersections of gender violence and climate change consequences; stresses the importance of providing assistance in developing capacities to address gender violence risk factors through various community engagement and leadership efforts.

 

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Date adopted	22.9.2020
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	26 5 0
Members present for the final vote	Christine Anderson, Simona Baldassarre, Robert Biedroń, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, Rosa Estaràs Ferragut, Frances Fitzgerald, Cindy Franssen, Heléne Fritzon, Lina Gálvez Muñoz, Lívia Járóka, Arba Kokalari, Alice Kuhnke, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska, Karen Melchior, Andżelika Anna Możdżanowska, Maria Noichl, Pina Picierno, Sirpa Pietikäinen, Samira Rafaela, Evelyn Regner, Diana Riba i Giner, Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Christine Schneider, Jessica Stegrud, Isabella Tovaglieri, Ernest Urtasun, Hilde Vautmans, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou

 

 

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

26	+
GUE/NGL	Eugenia Rodríguez Palop
PPE	Rosa Estaràs Ferragut, Frances Fitzgerald, Cindy Franssen, Lívia Járóka, Arba Kokalari, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska, Sirpa Pietikäinen, Andreas Schieder, Elissavet Vozemberg‑Vrionidi
Renew	Karen Melchior, Samira Rafaela, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Hilde Vautmans, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou
S&D	Robert Biedroń, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Heléne Fritzon, Lina Gálvez Muñoz, Maria Noichl, Pina Picierno, Evelyn Regner
Verts/ALE	Gwendoline Delbos‑Corfield, Alice Kuhnke, Diana Riba i Giner, Ernest Urtasun

 

5	-
ECR Group	Andżelika Anna Możdżanowska, Jessica Stegrud
ID	Christine Anderson, Simona Baldassarre, Isabella Tovaglieri

 

0	0

 

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention

 

 

 

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Date adopted	25.2.2021
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	15 9 1
Members present for the final vote	Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou, Hildegard Bentele, Dominique Bilde, Catherine Chabaud, Antoni Comín i Oliveres, Ryszard Czarnecki, Charles Goerens, Mónica Silvana González, Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, György Hölvényi, Rasa Juknevičienė, Beata Kempa, Pierfrancesco Majorino, Erik Marquardt, Norbert Neuser, Janina Ochojska, Jan-Christoph Oetjen, Michèle Rivasi, Christian Sagartz, Marc Tarabella, Tomas Tobé, Miguel Urbán Crespo, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Bernhard Zimniok
Substitutes present for the final vote	Evin Incir

 

 

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

15	+
NI	Antoni Comín i Oliveres
PPE	Janina Ochojska
Renew	Catherine Chabaud, Charles Goerens, Jan‑Christoph Oetjen, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou
S&D	Mónica Silvana González, Evin Incir, Pierfrancesco Majorino, Norbert Neuser, Marc Tarabella
The Left	Miguel Urbán Crespo
Verts/ALE	Pierrette Herzberger‑Fofana, Erik Marquardt, Michèle Rivasi

 

9	-
ECR	Ryszard Czarnecki, Beata Kempa
ID	Bernhard Zimniok
PPE	Anna‑Michelle Asimakopoulou, Hildegard Bentele, György Hölvényi, Rasa Juknevičienė, Christian Sagartz, Tomas Tobé

 

1	0
ID	Dominique Bilde

 

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention

 

 

 

• [1] Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0079.
• [2] Report A/HRC/36/46 of the Special Rapporteur of September 2017 on the rights of indigenous peoples.
• [3] UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/72/239 of 20 December 2017 on the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028).
• [4] OJ C 458, 19.12.2018, p. 34.
• [5] Texts adopted, P8_TA(2018)0005.
• [6] Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0079.