KAIROS at COP24 in Poland


COP24 in Poland

KAIROS is pleased to announce that Jessica Steele and Georgine Kengne will represent KAIROS as United Church accredited delegates to COP24, the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in Katowice, Poland from December 3-14, 2018.  The United Church of Canada (UCC) is the only Canadian church with official observer status at COP and this year invited KAIROS as a member of the ecumenical community to nominate participants for its delegation.

Jessica Steele is an environmental educator and climate change activist based in Vancouver, on unceded Coast Salish Territory. Jessica is the Program Coordinator for Ocean Bridge at the Ocean Wise Conservation Association.  Ocean Bridge empowers youth and young adults across the country to participate in ocean conservation service project.  Jessica is Chair of Curriculum Resources for the Primate’s World Relief and Development (PWRDF) and represents PWRDF on the KAIROS Ecological Justice Circle.  She is also co-vice president of the United Nations Association in Canada – Vancouver Branch.  In this role, she promotes the goals and ideals of the UN throughout the Vancouver region and engages community members in issues relating to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Georgine Kengne, a Cameroon-based francophone woman is the Senior Projects Coordinator on Consent and Just Alternative Development with WoMin: African Women Unite Against Destructive Resource Extraction.  KAIROS is currently exploring partnership opportunities with WoMin around our gendered impacts of resource extraction.  To date, this work has focused on Guatemala, Ecuador, the Philippines and Canada, and KAIROS is exploring how to bring in the experience of African partners.  WoMin participated in the KAIROS delegation to the International Gathering of Women Resisting Extractivism in April of this year and is hosting a Thematic Social Forum on mining and extractives in Johannesburg on November 12-15, to which KAIROS is encouraging partners to participate.

Georgine’s participation at COP will be a continuation of this emergent partnership and an opportunity to highlight the links between resource extraction and climate change, in particular the impacts on women.  Georgine is the former General Secretary of the Nairobi-based World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) – Africa, with which KAIROS has worked closely on climate change, debt forgiveness, and HIV/AIDS advocacy issues in Africa.  In 2006, she presented a workshop on economic advocacy with KAIROS at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

COP24 is being referred to as “Paris 2.0” because it is expected to deliver the set of rules that will govern the Paris Agreement and the tools for its effective implementation.  COP24 will also be an important meeting to move forward on implementation of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP) and the Gender Action Plan.

Be sure to follow Jessica and Georgine on their journey to COP24!  Starting in late November, KAIROS will post updates and stories from Jessica and Georgine to share their experiences from this international gathering.


Filed in: Ecological Justice

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