Dear Colleagues,

We would like to start this last newsletter of 2024 with a message of hope. That’s not easy in a world where wars devastate lives and governments divert resources from addressing people’s urgent needs for military spending.

Get some Impressions from recent GCAP activities below: Biodiversity COP16, Climate COP29, G20, Social Protection Strategy

The year 2024 witnessed a big number of elections, yielding mixed outcomes —  several with very dangerous results. In many countries the extreme right is getting stronger – closing civic space and restricting rights of people – including women’s rights.

UN conferences were either failures as the recent COP29 on climate or offer quite limited results as the Summit of the Future.

Amid these developments, movements for justice and accountability have emerged. In places like Kenya and Bangladesh, young people continue to inspire with their resilience, innovation and determination for a better future – despite many people being killed in the demonstrations.

2025, a year of economic justice?!

The coming year presents critical opportunities to make progress for economic justice – including at key events such as the Financing for Development Conference (FFD4) at the end of June, the World Social Summit and COP30 in November.

2025 is a Jubilee Year and we invite you to mobilise together for Economic Justice.

We deeply appreciate your solidarity, support and collaboration throughout 2024. Your dedication inspires us to keep fighting for a fairer world. Together, we are stronger in advocating for social, economic and climate justice across the globe.

We wish everyone happy holidays and a peaceful New Year!

Your Team of the GCAP Global Secretariat

Ingo Ritz                                Nuru Maro                           Pradeep Baisakh

Pragatiprava Bai             Carlos García Flores          Pradeep Kumar Nanda

Some Impressions from recent GCAP activities at global level:

COP16 in Cali, Colombia

GCAP Latin America and the Caribbean, hosted two side events in collaboration with Associacion Generaciones De Paz (ASDEPAZ), at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) on Biological Diversity held in Cali, Colombia, from 21 October to 1 November 2024. These events held on 31 October spotlighted pressing issues linking human rights, environmental protection and the future of biodiversity.

COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan

GCAP members emphasized the importance of social and economic justice and gender equality for achieving climate justice at COP29, 11-22 November 2024 in Baku, advocating for prioritizing women in decision-making and urging rich countries to commit $3 trillion annually for a just transition.

G20 Summit 

Mauro Pereira, GCAP Brazil, participated in the G20 Summit on 18-19 November in Rio de Janeiro, Defensores do Planeta (GCAP Brazil) highlighting the need of collective efforts to fight against poverty and climate injustice in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

Strategy Meeting on Social Protection Floors, Johannesburg

From November 16-18, GCAP actively engaged in the Strategy Meeting on Social Protection of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) in Johannesburg. This event underscored the global commitment to universal social protection, bringing together advocates and organisations from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Latin America.