- 2 min read
- Published: 12th October 2015
Climate Change. Poverty. Hunger. It’s all the same fight.
This week thousands of people around the world are standing shoulder to shoulder with rural women, who are not only feeling the harshest effects of climate change but, in the face of woeful government inaction, are also leading the fight in feeding their communities, and the world. We meet women like Ipaishe, a farmer in Zimbabwe who is passionate about farming and vocal about the causes and solutions to climate change. And Langging, a young activist in the Philippines who thinks we should stop blaming each other and start doing what’s right – “imagine the impact we could have”.
Across six continents and more than 20 countries these women’s voices are being heard; on the streets, by politicians, online, in forums, at flashmobs, through song, through dance, at festivals, dinners, and on film. Welcome to GROW Week 2015!
Above: Anastasia Antonia, a member of the Farmer Field School of AENA, hitchhiking to Paris. Mozambique. Photo: Annie Bungeroth/Oxfam
Raising these voices this GROW Week is particularly significant as we are now just weeks away from the UN Climate Negotiations in Paris where government leaders from rich and poor countries will make big decisions about climate change that will affect all of us.
Climate change is changing the world we love. It’s putting our homes, our land and our food at risk and it’s threatening the fight against hunger. For most of us, it means less quality food, less choice, and higher prices. For nearly a billion people already living in poverty, it means more hunger.
Our message to leaders is that they must ensure that money to help people cope with the effects of climate change is on the way up, and the use of fossil fuels, the biggest drivers of climate change, is on the way out. And they have to start by protecting the people whose lives and livelihoods are most at risk.
This GROW Week we stand together to show what’s already possible and urge leaders to be as ambitious as these women in Paris.
Climate Change. Poverty. Hunger. It’s all the same fight.
