The Nobel Women’s Initiative is joining the civil society movement in Toronto and calling for world leaders to use the G8/G20 summits as an opportunity to advance global justice.
Our advocacy efforts began earlier in the month when the Laureates sent letters urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper and leaders of the United Nations Security Council countries to ensure climate change is a central focus of the G8/G20 agenda.
‘Environmental degradation and global warming and their impacts are economic and security issues as well as environmental ones’ they wrote, adding that ‘Failure to address climate change will put the global economy at further risk, and plunge millions who are already living on the economic margins into deeper poverty.’
The letters received significant attention in the Canadian press and parliament and Prime Minister Harper is now under immense pressure to lead on climate action – an issue he has consistently dismissed as a sideshow.
LEARN MORE
‘Nobel laureates urge Harper to put climate on G20 agenda’ The National Post, 9 June 2010.
‘Why is Canada not putting climate change on the agenda?’ Jody Williams, The Globe and Mail, 11 June 2010.
‘L’environment: parent pauvre du G8 et du G20’, Cyberpress, 10 June 2010.
G20 leaders may discuss climate change: PM CBC, 10 June 2010.
Harper pressured to put climate change on G8, G20 agenda Canwest, 13 June 2010.
Tories put climate change on the agenda after pressure from world leaders, The Globe and Mail, 14 June 2010.
Dreaming of a climate change end run, The Toronto Star, 18 June 2010.
Visit our partner’s websites for more information on gender justice, climate change and the G8/G20 Summits:
Climate Action Network: G8/G20 Page
Oxfam: G8/G20 Summits 2010
TAKE ACTION
Organizations from across the country are participating in themed days of action. For those of you in Toronto, come and join the movement! Check out the Toronto Community Mobilization website or find the schedule of events here.
Make your voice heard at the G8/G20 Summits from anywhere. Join the At the Table Campaign.