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Women's Climate Congress Charter for Change 2022

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We are excited to present out first draft of our WCC Charter for Change - calling for immediate action on climate change and long-term actions for ongoing human and planetary wellbeing.
 
Watch a video here to to see an overview of the Charter key themes and calls to action 

Read on for further background and details for each theme. 


Download the draft Charter document here: 
Draft Charter for Consultation (July 2022) (v2) 

Send comments and feedback here 

Join a conversation circle to add your voice to the Charter:
  • 17 August 12.30-2.00pm (online) hosted by Kirsten Anker. Register here 
  • 22 August 10.30am-12.00pm (in person in the ACT, Venue TBA) hosted by Lyn Stephens. Register here 
  • 23 August 5.30-7.00pm (online) hosted by Kirsten Anker. Register here
  • 26 August 12.30-2.00pm (online) hosted by Janet Salisbury. Register here

 Join with other women at the National Congress of Women to  bring the Charter to life. 
About this draft
This draft is released for comment prior to the National Congress of Women to be held in Canberra on 11–12 September.
This draft includes opening statements to set the charter in context. These are followed by a series of actions that form the heart of the charter and set out the immediate and longer-term changes that our members and other women are calling for to stabilize the climate and ensure human and planetary wellbeing.  Each of these actions start with a statement of our commitment (italic text, eg ‘We recognise ….’ We claim…’), followed by some draft actions (bullet points) that we offer as preliminary ideas for your further comment and development. 
All comments will be noted and a new draft will inform part of the considerations undertaken at the Congress. Following that, the Women’s Climate Congress will finalise the draft and launch the Charter as a public document. 
When finalised, the calls to action in the Charter will form the basis of the ongoing advocacy work of the WCC.
Please send your comments, ideas and suggestions in one of these formats:
  • [preferred] Fill in the feedback form here: https://forms.gle/T6uhzJDmBru8p7J26
  • Send your comments in an email to womensclimatecongress@gmail.com
  • If you have the software to do so, annotate the PDF file linked above. 
Opening statements 
Why do we need a Charter?
We women of the Women’s Climate Congress and others despair that Earth is hurtling towards catastrophic climate change that humanity is failing to mitigate and repair.

We grieve the inevitable catastrophic impacts on all current and future life unless immediate, united and effective action is taken.
We recognise that the climate crisis affects every aspect of life. To find the way forward, we need to engage minds and hearts across disciplines and different ways of knowing.

We know that we need to take action urgently and we need to take it together. Set in the framework of the Women’s Climate Congress vison and values, this charter aims to provide a framework that reflects the aspirations of women for that action.


The Charter as a call to action
This Charter is a call to action from the hearts of women to move forward from the historically adversarial grip on governance structures and policy agendas, and to enter an era of collaborative governance to urgently stabilise the climate, and to build ongoing human and planetary wellbeing.
The demands/claims in this Charter are aimed at government, business and the community. It is only by working together across diverse interests that we can have hope of surviving the challenges we face. 


Many of the ideas here are expressed in international frameworks such as the Earth Charter, UN Sustainable Development Goals and UN Commission on the Status of Women, as well as the national vision for Australia developed by Australia Remade.[1]
They are also drawn from many conversations hosted by the WCC on these issues with women from all over Australia. The ideas in this draft charter are presented here not as an endpoint but as the starting point for a wave of action that can be supported by women everywhere.
The action we seek relates to the immediate and urgent actions to stabilise the climate, and broader societal actions to ensure lasting human and planetary wellbeing.

Actions to stabilise the climate
  • Embrace gender-inclusive governance
  • Take responsibility
  • Create a unified national plan
Actions for human and planetary wellbeing
  • Commit to intergenerational equity and rights of all Earth life
  • Listen to and learn from First Nations knowledge
  • Adopt new economic paradigms
  • Encourage citizen representation in governance
  • Elevate compassion and kindness in government
  • Support imagination and creative thinking at the centre
  • Design education fit for purpose into the future

[1] See further details of these initiatives in the Resources section of the main document. 
Actions to stabilise the climate 
[These are core areas for the WCC relating to our vision for urgent nonpartisan collaboration and women's leadership to achieve climate balance by 2030]
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​​Current governance systems, based on a colonial and patriarchal past, reflect a predominantly male worldview and attitude to wellbeing. Women’s independent voice and agency are crucial to create balance in evaluations and priorities, and thereby planning for new governance structures and future sustenance of life.
We call for:
[DRAFT ideas for comment, consideration, expansion]
  • Quotas and other structural processes to allow women of diverse backgrounds to have equal access to and full participation in policy development and decision making.
  • Women to have shared and equal counsel in all national and international forum for developing action on climate change and to create lasting planetary wellbeing.
  • A multiparty women’s group (‘Women’s Caucus’) in all federal state and territory parliaments to allow women to work together on issues of common concern.
  • Other?

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As citizens of the developed world, we have benefited from the industrial revolution and the fossil fuel industries. Setting aside blame and accepting responsibility for the past, we can together turn to the climate science presented by the International Panel on Climate Change as the basis for actions to stabilise the climate.  
We call for:
[DRAFT ideas for comment, consideration, expansion]
  • Australian governments to lead international efforts to stabilise the climate, in line with scientific findings, analysis and advice.
  • Government, climate agencies, and industries (agriculture, mining, energy production, manufacturing etc) to cooperate in the higher interests of young people, future generations and survival of life on Earth.
  • Serious and respectful consultation with First Peoples about land and water understanding and management.
  • Other? 
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To reach a scientifically informed consensus, a process is needed to enable diverse stakeholders to consider the issues together respectfully. This would offer an opportunity for diverse interests to collaborate in finding just and sustainable ways to stabilise the climate and secure a safe future for all. [2]
We call for:
[DRAFT ideas for comment, consideration, expansion]
Multiparty commitment to develop a National Plan for action to address climate risks with:
  • an independent process for mediation of stakeholder issues (agriculture, mining, energy,         manufacturing, First Peoples, community, government etc)
  •  protocols to avoid conflicts of interest.
The National Plan to include actions to:
  • phase out fossil fuels in line with IPCC recommendations and international commitments
  • provide a clear transition pathway for affected communities
  • address risks from extreme weather and climate impacts already under way
  • a fully resourced civilian capacity to respond to the scale of emergency likely in coming years.
Other? 

​[2] See
Building a unified national agreement for Australia’s climate response: Proposal for an inclusive process to address climate risk, WCC 2020 
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Actions for human and planetary wellbeing
[These are themes that have emerged in our community conversations, monthly online events and other forums as central to achieving lasting change.] 
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​In 2016, Wales was the first international jurisdiction to appoint Future Generations Commissioner. The UN has called on other countries to follow suit and establish governance mechanisms that place future generations at the centre of decisions and ensure that they have a voice at the policy level. [3] 
​We call for:
[DRAFT ideas for comment, consideration, expansion]
  • Introduce Protection of Future Generations Legislation similar to the Welsh model.
  • Establish a Commission for the Future within the Australian Government to provide planning and review of all policies impacting, or potentially impacting future generations.
  • Other?
[3] See https://www.futuregenerations.wales/news/wales-leading-the-way-with-future-generations-legislation-un-plans-to-adopt-welsh-approach/


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This deep connection to Earth underpins First Nations land management practices and governance structures, including the autonomous and complementary roles of women and men in decision making.
​We call for:
[DRAFT ideas for comment, consideration, expansion]
  • Provide opportunities with First Nations peoples to formally acknowledge the damage and disruptions of new settlement upon the traditionally managed Australian landscape.
  • Seek opportunities with First Nations peoples to learn from their historic knowledge and practices in land and water management, in forest thinning and purposeful mitigation of wild-fire risk
  • In seeking more collaborative and gender-balanced governance (see above), actively learn from and integrate First Nations approaches.
  • Other? 

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​New economic models are emerging that are designed to create an ecologically healthy, inclusive, socially just and gender-balanced society.[4]
​We call for:
[DRAFT ideas for comment, consideration, expansion]
  • Adopt a broader Wellbeing Index in addition to/ instead of GDP measurement which includes environmental measures of health.
  • Ensure climate risk is incorporated into corporate law to reflect all relevant duties of care.
  • Include measurement of the costs of not taking action on climate risk as well the costs of mitigation or remediation in budget policy.    
  • Provide policy frameworks and promote business opportunities which support a circular economy.
  • Other? [noting that focus here is on climate change]
[4] See for example ‘Doughnut economics’ by Kate Raworth:  https://www.kateraworth.com/doughnut/  

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We call for:
[DRAFT ideas for comment, consideration, expansion]
  • Establish a ‘Participatory Democracy Authority’ to support public authorities and civil society stakeholders to establish mechanisms for citizen participation.[5]
  • Governments to support participatory projects such as the citizens’ forum being trialed in the ACT.
  • Other?
[5] See for example, https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/339306da-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/339306da-en . 

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We call for:
[DRAFT ideas for comment, consideration, expansion]
  • Adopt the Charter for Compassion Australia across all government business.[6]
  • Consider adopting a ‘compassion threshold’ in policy similar to that being developed
    ​in the UK.[7]
  • Other?
[6] See https://www.charterforcompassion.com.au/
[7] See https://www.compassioninpolitics.com/

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The unfolding climate change issue has made it abundantly clear that hard facts alone do not capture people’s feelings and hearts, or inspire unified action. The arts have the ability to move people to new understanding and action and to provide comfort and inspiration in times of challenge.
We call for:
[DRAFT ideas for comment, consideration, expansion]
  • Provide policy frameworks that support integration of the arts into public discourse, and in recognition of their key role in community wellbeing.
  • Include funding for artistic contributions in climate education, and community rehabilitation activities after climate related disasters. 
  • Other?

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We call for:
[DRAFT ideas for comment, consideration, expansion]·      
  • A commitment to honesty in communicating historic, social and environmental truths and their implications.
  • Review the curriculum to give equal importance to the history and creative output of women, of the First Peoples of Australia, and of the many settler peoples’ multicultural contributions.
  • Teaching of scientific and economic principles and methods of analysis as a foundation for citizen engagement with actions to minimise and ameliorate the effects of climate change, and create long-term human and planetary wellbeing.
  • Other?
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CALLING ALL WOMEN ...
National Congress of Women 
www.nationalcongressofwomen.com
Upcoming: 
Renewal
, 11-12 September 2022 (Canberra) — registrations open
 

Previous:
Weaving, 28 April 2022 (online) 

Women Rising, 30 November 2021 (online)

​WCC Women's Charter for Change 

Have your day on our Charter here 


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