Post-Covid Webinar Series

This session titled “Climate Justice in the MENA region” is part of a series of five webinars organized by the Political Feminism and Gender Office at FES between the months of June-August 2022, which brought together guest speakers, feminist activists and experts from the region to reflect on and provide feminist recommendations and alternatives to the post-Covid era. The discussion was moderated by Rula Asad, Co-founder and Executive Director of Syrian Female Journalists Network (SFJN), and included the following panelists:

• Sarine Karajerjian, Program Director of the Environmental Politics program, Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
• Lina Abou Habib, Gender Director at the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship, American University of Beirut

A sneak peek into the session: Feminist work in climate justice is not very visible, and that is because climate justice movements intentionally excluded feminists. In fact, most of these movements that claim to be progressive exclude women and marginalized communities. One of the main causes of climate inequality is a patriarchal system that does not consider the rights of everyone to access resources, but rather relies on extractive policy that aims to extract and deplete the energies of the less fortunate. Injustice becomes then more apparent in times of crises and pandemics, where women on the ground are asked to find solutions and alternatives for the sustainability of societies.

Panelists recommended to keep in mind that most feminist movements are developing in times when patriarchal violence is increasing and that tackling climate justice is directly linked to attacking the wealth of the rich. A more just climate action would thus include creating local knowledge on climate justice and providing spaces for intersectional feminists to work together and build alliances with global advocacy networks. Suggestions also included building communities with focus on practicing active movement and coalition-building, as effective environmental movements should not exist in silos.