Women on the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis

At the beginning of May, I was lucky enough to accompany German Foreign Secretary Annalena Baerbock on a climate diplomacy trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. This was my first trip to the region and an acknowledgement of Oxfam's incredible work on climate justice over many years.

I was deeply touched by the experience of meeting so many caring and engaged people across the three countries and have taken three important learnings home with me.

#WomenforClimateJustice

At Oxfam we know that women are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. They are the ones who are most affected but they are also leading the fight for climate justice. I was fortunate enough on this trip to be able to meet my colleagues from Oxfam in the Pacific , some of our partner organisations and woman community leaders from Fiji. It is their tireless work I was most impressed by.

Women play a leading role in securing food and water for their communities due to their in-depth knowledge of the land. On the island of Totoya, for example, it was women's knowledge of food production and food preservation that ensured the community's food security despite coastal flooding and erosion due to climate change.

For further reading, please see the report "Making Climate Finance Work for Women: Voices from Polynesian and Micronesian Communities"

#ClimateFinance

Just last year at the COP28, Germany alongside other countries pledged money for the newly created Loss and Damage Fund which will support low-income countries to compensate for losses and damages from natural disasters caused by climate change. It was an incredible success for Oxfam's advocacy and public campaigns work on climate justice and climate finance.

Seeing the effects that climate change has on local communities in the Pacific has strengthened my understanding of the need to involve local communities in decision making because they are the one's with the most intimate understanding of their needs but also their strengths.

More on this can be found in the "Organisational Capacity Assessment Guide for Pacific Civil Society Organisations" published by my colleagues from Oxfam in the Pacific and partner organisations.

The trip has shown the German government's commitment to climate justice, but we also hope to see more action in two specific fields:

• Germany, the EU and the G20 should use the new NDCs to outline their contribution to the global phase-out of fossil fuels
• In view of the impending cuts to the federal budget, and the development budget in particular, we expect the federal government to keep its promise of providing 6 bn Euro per year in climate financing by 2025, or to even rise above its original pledge

#FeministDiplomacy

The week and the German government's programme as a whole have left a lasting impression on me. The programme was designed in the spirit of equal partnership and it focused on the valuable contribution of women in different areas. The week began with the return of Indigenous artefacts to the Kaurna people, whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. The week continued with meetings with women leaders who are fighting the climate crisis with their strength and expertise. To name a few examples, we met women from the village of Vuniniudrovo and students from the University of the South Pacific, as well as a girls' football team in Fiji. To conclude the trip, Lavenia McGoon showed us around a graveyard that was claimed by the rising sea level. She and her family are among the last people remaining in the village.

The experience gave me hope for a future of more feminist diplomacy.

I had the great privilege to spend the week surrounded by a delegation of people with different perspectives and ample expertise of their fields. I have learnt a lot from all of them and remain incredibly grateful.

Thorsten Benner - Co-Founder and Director Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi)

Chiara Martinelli - Director of Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe

Prof. Dr. Markus Rex - Head of Atmospheric Physics at the Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

Frau Dr. Birgit Scheps-Bretschneider - GRASSI Museum Für V?lkerkunde Zu Leipzig

Dr.-Ing. Walter Pelzer - Executive Board Member at German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Norbert Gori?en - Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Action at the Ausw?rtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office) Germany

Peter L?ffelhardt - Head of the Department for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands

Michael Scharfschwerdt - Director Policy Planning at the Ausw?rtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office) Germany

Sara Nanni - Speaker for Defense Policy for the Fraktion Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen im Deutschen Bundestag

Ulrich Lechte - Speaker on Foreign Policy for the FDP

Georg Schwarte - Journalist for Norddeutscher Rundfunk and ARD

Daniel Pontzen - Journalist for ZDF

Bernhard P?tter - Editor of Climate.Table at Table.Briefings