To Reverse Climate Change, We Need the Voices of Grassroots Women

Today, as world policymakers gather in Durban, South Africa for a major summit on climate change, MADRE underscores that prioritizing the expertise of grassroots women worldwide is critical to addressing climate change while upholding human rights. Our grassroots partners represent women on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and they are there to present solutions that can meet these twin challenges.

MADRE partners with women worldwide who are disproportionately impacted by climate change. When extreme weather diminishes crop output, it is women who eat last and least. And when droughts dry up water supplies, it is women who must walk farther to fetch drinking water.

Yifat Susskind, MADRE Executive Director, said today, "We're running out of time to change course, and poor women worldwide are already feeling the consequences. But those who bear the greatest responsibility for creating this threat are the global 1%--the rich, industrialized countries who are stalling progress on a climate agreement. We must break this pattern, and policymakers must reach an agreement that imposes limits on carbon emissions."

To bring attention to unjust economic policies promoted by international financial institutions like the World Bank in the name of addressing climate change, MADRE has released a set of talking points, titled "The Myth of the Green Bank." You can access that resource by clicking here.

Available for interview:

Fatima Ahmed, President of Zenab for Women in Development in Sudan and the founder of the first Women Farmers Union in the country.

Yifat Susskind, MADRE Executive Director, works with women's human rights activists from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, creating programs to address violence against women, economic development, climate change, armed conflict and more.