Give More Women the Microphone at COP27

Nov 8, 2022 | Catherine McKenna and Amy Meyers Jaffe
View Original

Women are leading the climate revolution. At COP27, speakers should cede time to hear what they have to say.

In 2016, I (Catherine) was slated to give Canada’s statement as minister for environment and climate change at the COP22 climate negotiations in Marrakesh. Instead, I decided to share that time with Maatalii Okalik, then the president of the National Inuit Youth Council of Canada. I knew this young Inuk woman would convey more compellingly than I how climate change was affecting her community—their land, the ice, culture, food, health, safety—and how it is threatening that community’s very existence. I wasn’t allowed to cede the stage to her, but I decided to break the rules