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UN Women welcomes the adoption of the Belém Gender Action Plan at COP30.
The nine-year roadmap aims to place women and girls at the centre of climate policy.
New provisions address health, violence, decent work and protection for women environmental defenders.
The agreement recognises intersecting challenges faced by Indigenous, disabled, rural and Afro-descendant women.
UN Women urges countries to ground implementation in human rights and ensure strong financial and technical support.
A new global framework to advance gender equality in climate action called the Belém Gender Action Plan (GAP) was adopted at 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. UN Women has welcomed the adoption, calling it “a blueprint for action” over the next decade.
Announced on November 20 in Belém, Brazil, the plan sets out measures to ensure that women and girls, especially those most affected by climate impacts, are placed at the centre of climate policies. UN Women described the agreement as a “crucial step forward” that strengthens commitments to protect those on the front lines of the climate crisis.
The decision introduces new provisions on health, violence against women and girls, and protection for women environmental defenders. It also highlights the importance of care work, decent work and socially just transitions. The framework explicitly recognises the intersecting barriers faced by women with disabilities, Indigenous women, women from rural and remote communities, and women and girls of African descent.
The UN agency stressed that for the plan to succeed, countries must anchor implementation in human rights principles and ensure adequate support through finance, technology and capacity-building.
“UN Women stands ready to work with all Parties and relevant stakeholders to bridge the gaps, so the Gender Action Plan becomes a tool for inclusive, effective and sustainable implementation for gender-responsive climate action that benefit women and girls in all their diversity”, Sarah Hendriks, Director of the Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division at UN Women, said in a statement.