Women's Leadership and Climate Security on the Road to COP31

Üsküdar University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Prof. Deniz Ülke Kaynak and Head of History Department Prof. Hadiye Yılmaz participated in the 'Climate, Environment, Women 2030 – Women Leaders Governing Forum' held in Gaziantep. Prof. Kaynak chaired the session titled 'Women's Leadership in Climate and Environmental Transformation: Women at the Decision Table'. The forum addressed women's leadership in climate and environmental transformation, and the global security dimension of climate change.  

The forum, organized in the lead-up to COP31, brought together numerous women executives and decision-makers from public administration, business, academia, local governments, and civil society in Gaziantep. 

Üsküdar University also took its place with an academic perspective on the platform where the relationship between climate and environmental transformation, women's leadership, and global security was discussed.

Prof. Kaynak drew attention to the global security dimension of the climate issue

During the forum, the session titled 'Women's Leadership in Climate and Environmental Transformation: Women at the Decision Table' was chaired by Prof. Deniz Ülke Kaynak.

Prof. Kaynak highlighted in the session that climate and environmental problems cannot be addressed solely from their environmental dimension, and emphasized that the climate issue has become a security-related topic worldwide today.

Kaynak, pointing out that climate change is increasingly at the center of the global agenda and decision-making processes, stressed the importance of evaluating climate and environmental transformation together with a security perspective.

Women from business, public administration, and academia met on the same platform

One of the striking aspects of the forum was that it brought together numerous women holding high-level positions in different sectors around a common climate agenda.

Women executives from the business world, high-level women executives working in ministries and public institutions, academics, local government representatives, and civil society actors met on the same platform in Gaziantep before COP31.

Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, Deputy Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and COP31 Chief Executive Fatma Varank, Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Fatma Şahin, and UN Women Turkey Country Director Maryse Guimond also attended the forum, where women's roles in the formation and implementation of climate policies were discussed from different perspectives.