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Story and Perspective

Reflections on COP26 and what it means for women, girls, and global health

Now that COP26 has ended, see what our Managing Director, Empowerment Funds Barbara Merz, Senior Program Manager Madiha Latif, and one of our youth activists, Megan Brown, took away from the climate conference:

Let’s Build on the Progress at COP26 by Investing in Women and Girls

By: Barbara Merz

COP26 concluded late last week with 197 countries signing on to the Glasgow Climate Pact, which establishes consensus on the need to cut carbon emissions but gives signatories still another year to say just how they’ll do it.

Across major media outlets, much was made of an eleventh-hour edit to the agreement’s language that replaced the promise to phase out fossil fuels with the softer goal of phasing them down. It’s no small point. In some parts of the world, like the Maldives, anything less than a swift reduction of carbon emissions—and some would say a carbon drawdown—will likely result in the catastrophic displacement of huge swaths of people. And at Pathfinder, we know all too well how such events cascade through health systems, reserving their worst impacts for women and girls. Read more >>


After COP26: Keep Amplifying the Connections Between Climate, Gender, and Health

By: Megan “Bee” Brown, Doctoral Candidate at Southern Methodist University and Pathfinder Acacia Circle Member.

The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties – also known as COP26 – took place in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31 to November 12. It’s a critical summit where world leaders work together to meet the climate change goals they agreed to as part of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. But it’s also an important opportunity for civil society groups and activists to gather, share their frontline experiences with climate change, and advocate for action. This year, young activists have had a greater voice than ever, pressuring leaders to take larger-scale, more intersectional action now. Read more >>


COP26: What Now? Instagram Live Chat

ICYMI: Check out our Instagram live chat where we discussed what happened in Glasgow, what it has to do with global health and sexual and reproductive health and rights, and what young people can do to help! Watch the video, here >>

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