Nigeria Women’s Climate Assembly 2025 Demands Justice, Remediation and Inclusion — “Women Are Not Victims; We Are Leaders of Climate Solutions”
- Kebetkache
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Today, hundreds of women leaders, grassroots defenders, fisherfolk, farmers and allied civil society organizations (CSOs) from across the Nigeria, and a sister delegation from Brazil’s Amazon convened under the banner of the Nigeria Women’s Climate Assembly (WCA 2025). Meeting under the theme “Promoting Women’s Critical Role in Climate Mitigation Initiatives,” participants united to declare an urgent demand: Climate Justice must be gender-just, community-led and non-negotiable.
The Assembly, convened by Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, brought together representatives from Nigeria, as well as women from the Amazon. After three days of shared learning, testimony and strategy building, participants produced a powerful communiqué reaffirming women’s leadership in climate action and issuing a clear set of observations, demands and commitments.
Key Observations from the Assembly
Women and frontline communities in the Niger Delta disproportionately bear the harms of climate change and decades of unregulated oil extraction, gas flaring, land degradation and polluted waterways — yet receive no reparations or meaningful accountability.
The climate crisis worsens social and economic marginalisation: shrinking farmlands, coastal erosion, declining yields, rising health problems and loss of livelihoods threaten community survival.
Despite contributing minimally to global emissions, the Niger Delta communities pay a severe price for fossil fuel extraction, while companies and complicit institutions avoid responsibility.
Women are not passive victims. They are custodians of knowledge, leaders of community-based solutions—from mangrove restoration and agroecology to waste management and grassroots mobilisation and must be central in all mitigation and adaptation strategies.
“Women are not victims of climate change — we are leaders of climate solutions,” said Prof. Emeshe Engobo.
“We will not allow our rivers, mangroves and futures to be traded for profit. Any conversation about energy or development that fails to prioritize cleanup, health and community consent is a conversation we reject.” - Dr. Emem Okon, Executive Director of Kebetkache:
We say NO to:
The sacrifice of our minerals, forests and communities on the altar of profit and extractivism.
The resumption of oil extraction in Ogoni and similar communities without full remediation, consent and reparations.
The corporate capture of climate negotiations that silence grassroots women’s voices.
Militarisation and intimidation of environmental defenders and communities.
Policies and projects that exclude persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups from climate decision-making.
We say YES to:
Life; healthy water, clean air and fertile soil for children and future generations.
The Rights of Nature: recognising rivers, mangroves and ecosystems as worthy of protection and restoration.
Feminist Climate Justice; centering women’s knowledge, leadership and labour in all climate responses.
Agroecology, food sovereignty and indigenous knowledge as core solutions to ecological restoration.
Community-led energy transitions that transfer power and decision-making to women and frontline communities.
Demands and Urgent Calls to Action
The Women’s Climate Assembly calls on the Federal Government of Nigeria, state governments, international partners and oil companies to act now:
Halt all Plans to resume extraction in Ogoni and other onshore areas until independent forensic clean-ups, comprehensive health audits, and legally binding reparations are completed and verified by community-led processes.
End gas flaring and pollution, and immediately implement clean-up obligations for all contaminated lands, creeks and mangroves.
Fund and prioritise women-led climate initiatives, including renewables, mangrove restoration, reforestation, waste recycling and community energy projects. Allocate accessible and transparent resources to women’s cooperatives.
Include women and persons with disabilities in all climate and energy planning, budgeting and governance structures — from local councils to national policy fora.
Protect environmental defenders: demilitarise land, cease intimidation, and ensure security and legal protection for those who defend ecological and community rights.
Collect and publish gender-disaggregated climate data to inform equitable policy and track impact.
Ensure use of ecological funds for proactive flood infrastructure, coastal embankments and livelihoods support for flood-prone communities.
Delegates reaffirmed a shared commitment to sustain the Women’s Climate Assembly as a platform for peer learning and policy engagement; to deepen community climate education and monitoring; to advance transnational solidarity (Nigeria–Amazon); and to mobilise for legal and policy change that puts people and planet before profit.
The Assembly warns that any attempt to resume extractive operations without cleanup, consent and reparations will be met with resolute resistance from organised women and allied communities. At the same time, the Assembly extends a hand to government agencies, donors and companies willing to prioritize genuine remediation and co-design community-led transitions.
See the full communique here.
The time for action is NOW!
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