Environment

Women: trailblazers of the fight against climate change

By Cristina Bazán Salcedo

Madrid, Nov 9 (EFE).- From activist Greta Thunberg to Christiana Figueres, the mind behind the landmark Paris Agreement, women have been at the forefront of the battle to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.

“Many leaders are trying to propose solutions to one of the great challenges that humanity will face in the coming years,” Andrea Quesada-Aguilar, Gender, Environment and Sustainable Development Specialist at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Latin America says.

“But let us remember many women have been on these issues comprehensively for 30 years now,” the expert added.

Gro Brundtland, former prime minister for Norway, coined the term “sustainable development” in 1987, Quesada-Aguilar continues.

Kenyan Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to win a Nobel peace prize in 2004 for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.”

Indigenous leader and human rights defender Berta Cáceres was murdered in 2016 in Honduras over her involvement in environmental activism.

“Many of the new leaders are the branches of the trees that these trailblazing women planted, and what is most interesting is that the diversity of voices continues,” Quesada-Aguilar says.

POWERFUL INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS

Nemonte Nenquimo, a Waorani indigenous activist, says her love for nature and her pledge to keep her territory “safe” began at a very young age.

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