Activities of Frances FITZGERALD related to 2020/2042(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
The impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries
Amendments (35)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2
Citation 2
— having regard to the European Consensus on Development and the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular Goals 1, 10, 11, 13 and 13,7
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas women - who constitute half the world’s population - bear severe gendered impacts of climate change, such as flooding, fires, droughts, deforestation or water scarcity, and are more prone to suffer from infectious diseases, such as water-, food-, and vector-borne ones, and health outcomes associated with poor air quality; whereas consequences of climate change constitute an enormous risk for women, especially pregnant, due to deteriorating sanitary and hygienic conditions and restrained or insufficient access to substantial medical care and treatment;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas 80% of people displaced, sometimes forcefully, as a result of climate change are women and children who are at larger scope exposed to the negative effects of climate change than men and face greater difficulties related thereto; whereas women are usually at a higher risk of being located in unsafe, overcrowded shelters due to their lack of assets and greater vulnerability to poverty;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas climate change, environmental degradation, scarcity of resources and natural disasters may increase tensions and reinforce gender inequalities which result in more frequent acts of violence, including domestic and economic violence, sexual assault, forced prostitution, forced or involuntary marriage and other acts of gender-based abuse;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Recital B e (new)
Recital B e (new)
Be. whereas climate change has serious ramifications of food security, availability, accessibility and utilization; whereas women, especially in developing countries account for 40-80 per cent of all labour force related to food production and collection, depending on the region; whereas increased crop failure and unprecedented natural resource depletion due to altering weather may result in excessive agricultural workload to satisfy the household food provision;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Recital B f (new)
Recital B f (new)
Bf. whereas climate change has a severe impact on fresh water resources and availability thereof, especially in developing countries located in hot and dry climate areas, influencing the availability of water used in households; whereas scarcity of water resources may hit women the most;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Recital B g (new)
Recital B g (new)
Bg. whereas in many developing countries, the access of girls and women to information and communication technology is constrained by varying factors, such as social and cultural bias, inadequate technological infrastructure, especially in rural areas, inadequate access to education, science or computer illiteracy, as well as women’s lack of disposable income to purchase technology services;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas developing countries are more exposed and whereas the poorest and already most vulnerable populations in these countries are even worse affected, because their dwellings tend to be located in areas more prone to flooding, landslides, drought, etc., because they lack the means to increase their resilience and because they tend to live from agriculture, fishing and other activities based on natural resources, the presence of which may decrease or even cease; whereas climate change impacts will increase the already high number of people worldwide in need of humanitarian assistance;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for the new Gender Action Plan for External Relations (GAP III) to include for the first timepay special attention to gender equality and climate change as prioritywithin all four pivotal areas, to develop related indicators and to guarantee sufficient resources to deliver on thiGAP's objective;
Amendment 66 #
4. Calls on the Commission to design a concrete action plan to deliver on the commitments of the renewed Gender Action Plan agreed at the 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) and to appoint a permanent EU gender and climate change focal point, with sufficient budget resources, tofurther strengthen the implementation and monitoring of gender-responsible climate action in the EU and globally.policies in climate;
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses that in spite of their vulnerability women may act as effective and active agents and promoters of adaptation and mitigation; calls, in this regard, in order to improve the local adaptive capacity of women particularly in developing countries, for more adaptation initiatives that would identify and address gender-specific impacts of climate change predominantly in areas related to food security, water management, agriculture, energy, health and disaster management;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas women suffer disproportionately from the impacts of climate change, owing not least to the agricultural tasks they carry out but also to the discrimination they suffer in terms of access to land and services, participation in decision-making and respect when embarking on activities traditionally dominated by men; whereas women and children are also strongly over-represented among people displaced for reasons related to climate change;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Emphasizes that efforts should be made to mainstream gender perspective into sustainable development and climate change plans and interventions, including the inclusion of Sustainable Development Goals;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4c. Calls for more actions towards increasing women’s participation in high- level climate-related decision-making positions at national, regional and local levels; Recognises that empowering women, as well as their full and equal participation and exercising leadership functions on international level, as well as their management of national, regional and local climate action initiatives, is crucial for enabling of the success and efficiency of action for climate change; calls, in this context, for greater women’s integration in the process of finding solutions to adapt to climate change, foster adaptation strategies and national adaptation plans;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 d (new)
Paragraph 4 d (new)
4d. Emphasises the importance to ensure and protect the rights of women inhabiting rural areas in regards to food security, non-discriminatory access to resources, and increased participation in decision-making processes on local and national levels;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 e (new)
Paragraph 4 e (new)
4e. Points out that actions towards women’s higher enrolment in science and technology-related fields of education are of outmost importance to effectively combat gender-specific climate change consequences; calls for greater uptake of STEM studies by girls and women, future scientists and engineers in the field of renewable energy combating negative implications of climate change;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic drastically increases vulnerabilities in developing countries both through its direct impact on public health and through its many deepening economic effectand societal effects, and impact on access to resources and services; whereas both the pandemic and climate change are eroding public finances while at the same time increasing financing needs, including for social protection and services;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 f (new)
Paragraph 4 f (new)
4f. Argues that Integration of gender perspective into existing climate, development, and disaster-risk reduction policy frameworks requires improvement in data acquisition, disaggregated by sex, monitoring of related targets, coordination between sectors, and stakeholder engagement;
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 g (new)
Paragraph 4 g (new)
4g. Underlines that the fact of empowering women as educators, caregivers, holders of knowledge, and promoters and agents of change may improve mitigation and adaptation policy interventions;
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 h (new)
Paragraph 4 h (new)
4h. Points out that climate change may prompt to raise of violence against women and girls, be it systemic or culturally-embedded, including domestic violence; calls for actions aiming at strengthening capacities among national authorities and social partners to understand and address the intersections of gender violence and climate change consequences; stresses the importance of providing aid in developing capacities to address gender violence risk factors through various community engagement and leadership efforts;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas the governments of developing countries must lead efforts to reduce vulnerabilities, increase resilience and strengthen support capacities, but the EU, its Member States and other developed and emerging countries must radically scale up their actions, given that the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are causing climate change were emitted almost exclusively by them, their emissions remain totally dominant, they possess badly needed resources for effective climate action, and they have made important commitments in this respect; whereas, for all these reasons, the EU, its Member States and other developed and emerging countries have a moral obligation to do much moresupport developing countries’ mitigation and adaptation efforts, with a focus on vulnerable populations;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas a territorial approach and concrete actions should be encouraged to ensure a tailor-made approach; whereas a partnership between all spheres of government (from the local to national and international) must be encouraged, through the involvement of the local population, civil society organisations, the private sector, and academia;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that the world is badly off track to reach the agreed objective of limiting global heating to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C; is alarmed by the impacts of this on developing countries; condemns the failure of world leaders to take adequateurges world leaders to take the appropriate and necessary action and calls for the EU to make its European Green Deal an example of such action;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – indent 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 – indent 2 a (new)
- to advance clean energy strategies and to share best practice with country partners in this regard; emphasises the potential to work with the private sector in energy adaptation; further emphasises that the introduction of such energy strategies requires working with communities and local populations to ensure the delivery of such energy matches the needs of the population;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – indent 3 a (new)
Paragraph 2 – indent 3 a (new)
- increased support for community- based actions on disaster risk reduction and focus on early action to mitigate and reduce risk and build resilience, to enable local communities to prevent and withstand climate shocks;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – indent 3 b (new)
Paragraph 2 – indent 3 b (new)
- working with local populations and communities to promote innovative and climate-smart agriculture, particularly local initiatives with positive effects on sustainable agriculture and land management;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – indent 5 a (new)
Paragraph 2 – indent 5 a (new)
- Reinforcing the role of education in resilience building and low-carbon approaches;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for a specific budget line underearmarking within the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument for specific actions to limit and manage the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Commission and Member States in their relation and dialogues with third countries to support Governments and other stakeholders at national and sub-national levels to adopt finance laws, policies, standards and budgets that support adaptation measures to strengthen the resilience of systems (e.g. health system, education system, social protection etc.), communities and people
Amendment 209 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Considers that the strategy must include reducing poverty and inequality and strengthening good governance in general as a means to reduce risks and harm caused by climate change;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. RCalls on the European Commission to advance opportunities to leverage alternative funding, from both the public and private sector, and promote blending of funds from different donors to tackle the colossal challenge of climate change; reiterates its call for a commitment by the EU and its Member States to significantly increase the adaptation finance they provide and points once more to the need for progress on the issue of loss and damage, for which additional resources should be raised;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Urges the European Commission and the Member States to consider specifically the vulnerability of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to climate change, and to consider in their responses the need to promote adaptation and mitigation, particularly as regards energy sources and through clean energy strategies;
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for climate-related EU gender funding to be scaled up and for urgent gender-based climate action focused on women and girls to be established in the design and implementation of preparedness, mitigation and adaptation programmes;
Amendment 263 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls on the European Commission and the Member States to work in close cooperation with grass-roots organisations and local communities to promote policies that enhance climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, thereby strengthening the resilience of affected people and communities in line with international frameworks;