The Executive Director of Plataforma CIPÓ, Maiara Folly, took part this Thursday (25) in New York in the panel “The Road to Environmental Justice: Financing Women’s Rights”, held during Climate Week NYC 2025. The event, organized by GWL Voices, Bahá’í International Community, Women Deliver, and CIPÓ, discussed how gender-responsive climate financing can strengthen environmental justice and women’s human rights.
“The money exists, but it doesn’t reach women or the populations most affected by the climate crisis,” said Folly, emphasizing that COP30 in Belém should be not only the COP of Implementation but also the COP of Women.
The panel brought together international leaders such as Mary Robinson (Ireland), former President and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Patricia Espinosa Cantellano (Mexico), former Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Convention; Maliha Khan (Pakistan), President of Women Deliver; Nigar Arpadarai (Azerbaijan), UN High-Level Climate Champion for COP29; Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim (Chad), activist and coordinator of the Association of Peul Indigenous Peoples; and Daniel Perell (USA), representative of the Bahá’í International Community at the UN. The discussion was moderated by María Fernanda Espinosa (Ecuador), Executive Director of GWL Voices and former President of the UN General Assembly.
Folly underscored the importance of ensuring gender parity in delegations and leadership roles, as well as including a gender perspective in adaptation, mitigation, financing, and just transition.
“Last year, only 38% of COP29 delegates were women, and just 32% headed delegations. We need parity and clear accountability mechanisms to ensure resources actually reach women-led organizations,” she concluded.
