"CLIMATE CHANGE: The U.N.'s Boys' Club"

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UNITED NATIONS, Mar 18 (IPS) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's decision to appoint a 19-member, all-male high-level advisory group on Climate Change Financing (CCF) has triggered strong protests from women's groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) outraged by the composition of the panel.

The new panel was announced on Mar. 12 when the United Nations, ironically, concluded a two-week meeting on gender empowerment.

”That is incomprehensible,” Karen Hardee, Population Action International's vice president of research, told IPS.

Since women are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Hardee was surprised when she first saw the list.

”In an ideal world, wouldn't it be nice if half of the people who are qualified to be on the panel were women?” she said.

Elizabeth Becker of OXFAM America and Suzanne Ehlers of Population Action International wrote an article in the online environmental magazine ”Grist” complaining that ”leaving women out is unfortunate and reflects a persistent bias in climate change decision-making roles.”

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