From 7th - 10th July 2015, Paris will host the Our Common Future Under Climate Change conference. Co-sponsored by CDKN, this four-day conference will be the largest forum for the scientific community to come together ahead of the 21st UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP21), also in Paris, in December 2015. Building on the results of IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, the Conference will address key issues concerning climate change in the broader context of global change.

CDKN at Our Common Future Under Climate Change conference

Thursday 9th July, 4.30pm - 6pm Gender and Climate Change: From Vulnerability to Mainstreaming in Adaptation and Mitigation

CDKN's Gender Advisor Virginie Le Masson will present during this parallel event on the gender dimension in climate policy and climate negotiations. She will explore how the gender dimension of climate change can enable responses to be more grounded in people’s daily realities. This approach highlights societal factors that influence people’s vulnerability to environmental shocks and stresses. A gender perspective has helped uncover, for instance, how men are distressed to the point of suicide in India due to agricultural losses leading to an inability to repay loans; and the way in which women are more likely to die from floods because they have not learned to swim and cannot leave their houses without being accompanied by a male relative.

The presentation will document examples where projects have integrated gender considerations; Dr Le Masson will highlight :

• How a gender approach has helped to uncover new knowledge;
• Challenges and opportunities to implementing gender-integrated planning;
• Potential negative impacts of a gender-blind approach;
• Opportunities to foster greater gender equality and better climate compatible development outcomes.

Lessons from these examples will serve to draw recommendations for future projects and policies to ensure that attention to gender equality is not sidelined in climate debates and programming. This is particularly crucial for supporting the Lima Work Programme on Gender which aims to promote a greater awareness and consideration of gender issues within climate policy for COP21 and beyond.

Read Virginie Le Masson's blog on Why gender matters for climate change.

Friday 10th July, 2pm - 3.30pm Sustainable development goals and the new climate regime: synergies for change?

In this parallel session, Nigel Walmsley and Helen Picot will present some of the findings from the CDKN and HR Wallingford report and policy brief on How a high-ambition global climate change deal will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The research found:

• The decisions taken at UNFCCC COP21 in Paris will have a significant impact on global development by 2030, even before the resulting climate impacts are felt.
• A high-ambition agreement that aims to minimise global warming to 2C by 2100 is essential to have the best chance of achieving the SDGs by 2030.
• A high ambition agreement is most crucial to achieving the draft SDGs on poverty (SDG 1), inequality (SDG 10), climate change (SDG 13) and global partnerships for sustainable development (SDG 17).
• Furthermore, the research presents findings from country case studies - showing how a high-ambition climate deal could play out at country level.

For more information about the conference, see the full Our Common Future Under Climate Change conference programme here.