Blog: Localisation under the looking glass; a feminist perspective

December 17, 2019

On Tuesday December the 10th, ActionAid Ireland and Oxfam Ireland co-hosted a seminar in UCD which was supported by the Dochas Humanitarian Aid Working Group (HAWG). The day was entitled “Localisation under the Looking Glass; a feminist perspective”.

Below is a blog recounting a most thought-provoking day of learning, written by our DCU student volunteer Muirenn Mulholland.

Luck seemed to be against us last Tuesday. The morning was dark, wet and stormy. However, it turned out to be a bright and hopeful day, thanks to our wonderful speakers & attendees!

“Localisation under the Looking Glass; a feminist perspective”, brought to us first-hand testimonies of women-led humanitarian work in disaster affected areas around the globe. The discussion focused on women’s efforts in humanitarian responses, how their roles often go unnoticed and what can be done to change this issue.

The event also focused on the process of ‘Localisation’ – which is working in partnership with affected populations and devolving power & funding from international and national to local level.

The keynote speakers, Claire Bleasdale (ActionAid Kenya) and Naomi Tulay-Solanke (Feminist Humanitarian Network, Liberian Women’s Network) were not only heart-felt and passionate, but also informative and gave us as an audience much to consider when discussing the work involved in humanitarian responses and how we look at the developing world, especially in the west. After their speeches, we divided up into groups for the workshop / consultation portion of the seminar. Three questions were offered up for discussion and debate;

1) What do we mean by localisation and why is it so important that it be women led?

2) What (if any) are the major shifts towards female led local decision making since the World Humanitarian Summit and the Grand Bargain? Are they getting support from their governments?

3) What can NGOs do to make sure power shifts take place in favour of women’s community-based organisations?

Muirenn presenting her group’s discussion findings

Perhaps the most interesting part of the day was the presentations and conversations that ensued. Rich discussion was added to by a number of international students from UCD who were present. They noted that they were from so-called “Developing Countries” and they drove home the point of localisation even further. They reinforced how localisation should be a ‘given’ and that involving members of the local community who have been affected by disasters/humanitarian issues is so important as it builds resilience skills and well-being.

The main take away from our conversations seemed to be just how important localisation is in a humanitarian context- involving the communities we wish to aid. The inclusion of local people and local solutions in response to humanitarian issues, working with them and supporting the work they do over a longer period. Not only this, but also to acknowledge the work that women do in these situations which often goes unnoticed. If women are involved in the humanitarian aid process, they must also be involved in the decision-making process.

The day ended on a promising note, with many of us hopeful to see the change necessary to improve the acknowledgement of humanitarian responses led by women.

Protestors at COP 28 in Dubai. Photo: Konrad Skotnicki.

Belfast Climate Change March, 2019. Photo: Trócaire.

The Profit Driving the Crisis

Despite their overwhelming contribution to global emissions, fossil fuel companies continue to attract significant financial backing—driven by their enduring profitability. This is starkly illustrated by the case of ExxonMobil, the top fossil fuel investment held by asset managers based in Ireland. In 2023, ExxonMobil reported €33.63 billion ($36 billion) in profit. That is almost twice the GDP of Botswana (€18.1 billion) and nearly three times Namibia’s GDP (€11.5 billion).

Ireland plays a hugely disproportionate role in facilitating investments into fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil. In 2023, the investments made into fossil fuel companies by investment managers based in Ireland generated an estimated 72.5 million tons of CO2e. This is more than the CO2e emissions for the entire country of Ireland—and more than ten times that generated by Sierra Leone.

The Global Human Impact

The climate crisis is here, now, and it is causing disproportionate harm in the Global South. In Bangladesh, rising sea levels and increasingly severe cyclones are displacing coastal communities, with projections indicating that 17% of the entire country could be underwater by 2050. The legally binding Paris Agreement on climate change explicitly acknowledges the importance of tackling private finance. Its three overarching goals are: keeping below 1.5C of warming; increasing adaptation and making finance flows consistent with low emissions and resilience.

This gives a clear mandate for action: both tax reform and corporate regulation are needed to tackle financial flows, and both nationally in Ireland and at EU level, ‘polluter pays’ taxes are lacking and regulation of the financial sector remains weak and fragmented. While EU regulation exists, it is designed more to nudge investors toward more sustainable investment practices by increasing transparency and reporting levels than to enforce strict standards. And it is moving in the wrong direction: the recently passed EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive excluded investments; and now the EU Commission’s Omnibus legislative proposal threatens to undo the limited gains made on climate plans, as well as blocking future attempts for stronger action at national level.

The Risk of Inaction

Fossil fuel investment is too profitable to remain weakly regulated. If Ireland continues with its current strategy of encouraging FDI at all costs, and relying on weak EU regulation, we are headed for catastrophe. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly warned that every fraction of a degree beyond 1.5°C brings irreversible consequences: collapsed ice sheets, vanishing coral reefs, and extreme weather events that will make vast regions of the planet uninhabitable. And yet, companies are developing oil and gas fields that could push global warming beyond 2°C.

Our research found that 91% of the investments made into fossil fuel companies by investment managers based in Ireland were to companies that have plans for fossil fuel expansion like these. Ireland cannot afford inaction on this issue.

About This Research

The figures in this report regarding investment from Ireland are based on new research commissioned by ActionAid Ireland and Trócaire. In the paper, we uncover the scale of fossil fuel investment through Ireland, who the investors are, and in which fossil fuel companies they are investing. We analyse the current regulatory framework and explain why it is inadequate—and moving in the wrong direction. And we make specific recommendations for change, which are summarised below.

Summary of Recommendations

Regulate the private financial sector
Ireland must end its outsized role as an enabler of destructive fossil fuel investment. Ireland should introduce a strong gender-responsive national human rights and environmental due diligence framework which includes the regulation of investors with respect to human rights and the environment and climate. The transposition of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive could achieve this if downstream activities are included and the Omnibus proposal is rejected. Ireland should prohibit investments in fossil fuel expansion and require investors to implement climate transition plans consistent with a 1.5°C climate limit.

Endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
Ireland should endorse developing a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to curb fossil fuel expansion and commit to a fair and funded phase out of fossil fuels.

Support tax justice
Ireland should support bold and fair new global tax rules through the UN Framework Convention on Tax, should adopt all OECD BEPS measures, and should conduct an updated and comprehensive spillover analysis of its tax policy. Ireland should take coordinated action globally, at the EU level and domestically to introduce a range of new taxes to mobilise finance needed for climate justice, based on ‘polluter pays’ and social equity principles such as wealth taxes for the highest earners, climate damages tax on investors, fossil fuel production taxes and levies on aviation and shipping.

Finance a just transition
Ireland must also meet its fair share climate finance obligations under Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, and pay our ecological debt to the Global South. Ireland should support conditionality-free debt cancellation for countries on the front lines of the climate crisis, commit to a new UN Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt, moving debt negotiations from the IMF to the UN, and to a debt workout mechanism that is fully representative and fair.