VSU students and faculty attended the whole-day conference on Climate Justice for Gender-Responsive & Resilient Communities at the Research Development and Extension (RDE) Hall last March 17, 2023.
The event was a joint initiative of the VSU Gender Resource Center (GRC), the Regional Climate Change Research & Development Center (RCCRDC), and the Institute for Strategic Research and Development Studies (ISRDS); and in partnership with the Ateneo de Manila University Coastal Cities at Risk in the Philippines (CCARPH).
Numerous speakers from the said institutions graced the stage to talk about their topics; one of which included Dr. Brooke Wilmsen from La Trobe University and visiting professor of CCARPH and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the Ateneo De Manila University as a keynote speaker; she presented the topic on the Resettlement as a Response to Climate change
The aim of the event was to increase climate literacy among students and faculty attendants specifically by using the information that was presented as a way to create "transformative climate justice" as said by Dr. Emma Porio, a project leader of CCARPH and professor from Ateneo de Manila. Only through acknowledgment of the "rights of people on the ground" as mentioned by Dr. Wilmsen and collaborating with different communities and institutions can climate justice be truly transformational.
The conference mainly centered on the correlation between gender and climate change in the pursuit of resilient communities from the impacts of the climate crisis. Mr. Ginbert Cuaton presented about Post-Disaster Community Resettlement and Adaptation specifically in Tacloban and Palo. Other topics included agroecology as a response to climate change, the correlation of gender and climate justice, and the like were also discussed.