“Everything is connected, and there’s no longer any such thing as solving for only one challenge.”

That was the emerging theme of Global Washington’s annual Women of the World event, as expressed by Martha Kongsgaard, a prominent Seattle philanthropist and co-founder of the Kongsgaard-Goldman Foundation.

The topic of the January 28 event was climate justice, inspired by the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, who defined the effort as “[linking] human rights and development to achieve a human-centered approach, safeguarding the rights of the most vulnerable people and sharing the burdens and benefits of climate change and its impacts equitably and fairly.” In other words, said Kongsgaard, “it’s managing the ecosystem with people and equity at the center.”

For example, the Seattle Foundation’s Climate Justice Impact Strategy is a comprehensive initiative to ensure that communities of color and low-income communities are leading and shaping efforts to reduce the disproportionate effects of climate change they experience, explained Norma Fuentes, managing director of the foundation’s philanthropic services. But the event didn’t just address climate justice in our region. Speakers from four other countries – Nepal, Nigeria, Palau and Suriname – shared what climate justice looks like in their communities, as well.

Unlike the events of years’ past, the discussion was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which Yifat Susskind, executive director of the international women’s rights organization MADRE, described as one of the compounded threats that have “rocked us all” over the past year. However, far from affecting everyone equally, the pandemic, economic breakdown, and climate crisis have deepened existing inequalities.

The irony is that many of the people who are hurt most by these crises are actually essential to solving them. Yet, they have not only been left out of the conversation, but also often harmed by so-called solutions that aren’t human-centered.

For example, the threat of climate change is perhaps felt more immediately and existentially by Indigenous communities than any other, as rising sea levels threaten to swallow their homes, wildfires consume their forests, droughts diminish their water sources, and seasonal changes endanger their food security and livelihoods. According to Jupta Iteowaki, an Indigenous woman from the Wayana tribe in Suriname and president of Mulokot Foundation, the crisis is creating profound negative mental health impacts on Indigenous communities.

Read the full article about centering indigenous knowledge and experience by Joanne Lu at Global Washington.