Women and nature’s wellbeing
Bern, 06.07.2019 - Global Summit of Women - Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga, Basel, 6 July 2019
(the spoken word applies)
Excellencies
Dear Ladies of the Global Summit
Dear Gentlemen
Dear Irene Natividad
Wangari Maathai –
She was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. As the assistant minister for the Environment and Natural Resources in Kenyan, she was aware of an important fact: investing in women means protecting the climate and environment.
And this was some time ago – in 2004.
Women bear the burden
Wangari Maathai recognised that women bear many things, not just children. They bear responsibility. They fetch water for drinking and wood for cooking. They bear responsibility for the health and well-being of their family.
And, to a large degree, they are the ones who bear the effects of climate change.
Because they are among the most vulnerable.
Landslides, floods and hurricanes often impact women and children the hardest. In many ways.
They have no money, no access to everyday necessities. And frequently they have no access to important information such as warnings of extreme weather.
When a natural disaster strikes, those who are unable to flee face difficult challenges: animals die; crops fail or disappear under mud; people suffer from lack of water, hunger, disease and totally inadequate healthcare.
Women and girls are particularly vulnerable. Hardship denies them choices. They look after children, the old and sick – working even harder than they are normally required to. They walk even further to fetch water and wood. They have no possibility of moving away to look for protection or work elsewhere.
Forecasts suggest that, within the next 30 years, the destruction of the natural world and climate change could force up to 700 million people throughout the world to flee their homes.
As the former minister for immigration, I have seen the misery suffered by refugees – men, women and children.
Women must be allowed to bear political responsibility
Women, above all. They are the ones who bear burdens, and who have to put up with discrimination, humiliation, and the blows of fate.
But as Wangari Maathai has shown:
Women are the ones who make things happen. They run projects, planting seeds from which trees grow.
Women provide an example. Their ecological footprint is smaller than men’s, not because they own less, but because they live differently.
Research into CO2 emissions by experts at the renowned Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich has shown that women use significantly less electricity than men. In a single-person household, a woman uses a quarter less electricity than a man, regardless of income level and apartment size.
Wangari Maathai realised 15 years ago that women play a key role in climate protection.
But they often come up against barriers – social, economic and political ones.
In many cultures and legal systems they are not permitted a voice when it comes to deciding about property and the use of land and resources.
All too often, there are people who think that women’s heads are simply there for decoration, and that women are only useful from the shoulders downwards. As Wangari Maathai asked: Who takes women seriously?
I do. Each one among us does. On 14 June, the women of Switzerland showed just how seriously they should be taken: around half a million people, most of them women, took to the streets to demonstrate for women’s rights.
Women need to be heard. After all, the glaciers are melting, island states are being submerged by the oceans, bees are dying on a massive scale, and animal and plant species are disappearing at an alarming rate.
We need to adopt a joint approach to these huge global challenges. The international community has set 17 goals in its Agenda 2030. And it is no accident that the UN is focusing on women in order to achieve these goals.
Only if women and girls are included can a just society be achieved, and one that treats resources with care and values sustainability in businesses. Women are the key factor in achieving all the objectives of Agenda 2030.
We women are needed
Women are needed. We are needed. Internationally and nationally. We can achieve so much:
In the Swiss climate delegation, in recent years the main points have been negotiated by women.
When we women were in the majority in the Swiss Government (this has been the case only once, and for just a few months), but in that period we decided to remodel our energy production, away from nuclear power and towards greater use of renewables.
And when the Swiss electorate voted about the decisions we had taken, female voters were crucial in ensuring the path we had launched.
The department responsible for energy was headed by a woman for the past eight years, and I am her successor.
Women have opportunities and influence. Let’s use these things for the good.
Because the natural world gives us many things:
- It provides us with food and water
- with oxygen and medicines
- with warmth and energy
- And it is a place where we can relax and recharge our batteries.
We depend on nature for our own wellbeing. And nature’s wellbeing depends on us.
- When fishing nets are full of plastic instead of fish
- When harvests fail and income falls
- When rich rainforest give way to ordered rows of oil palms –
then all of us are directly affected.
To change the world, to change it for the better, is a great thing. Thank you for using your knowledge, your skills, your influence and your vision to do just that.
Women must be able to contribute to all the important global issues. We want to participate in political processes, with our own strength and our own capabilities. To hold back women means to hold back a better world.
Thank you so much for all you do for a better world!
Address for enquiries
Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), Press and Information service, Kochergasse 6, 3003 Bern, +41 58 462 55 11
Publisher
General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications; General Secretariat DETEC
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