August 16th, 2018 | Los Angeles, CA
The 9th Annual Women in Green Forum will convene pioneers in the environmental movement, drawing an international audience of sustainability experts including academic researchers, CSR executives, energy analysts, and technology developers. Join us in Los Angeles to connect one-on-one with the world’s leading environmental trailblazers.
Honoring Climate Trailblazers
Each year, the Women In Green Forum recognizes two environmental trailblazers for their outstanding leadership and achievements in the areas of climate change, sustainable development, and human rights.
Christiana Figueres is an internationally recognized leader on global climate change. She was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010-2016. While in this position, she directed the successful Conferences of the Parties in Cancun 2010, Durban 2011, Doha 2012, Warsaw 2013, and Lima 2014. Her efforts culminated in the historical Paris Agreement of 2015. Throughout her tenure, Ms. Figueres brought together national and sub national governments, corporations, activists, financial institutions, communities of faith, think tanks, technology providers, NGOs, and parliamentarians jointly deliver the unprecedented climate change agreement. For this achievement, Ms. Figueres has been credited with forging a new brand of collaborative diplomacy.
She is currently the convener of Mission 2020, a global initiative that seeks to ensure the world bends the curve on greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Its goal is to protect the most vulnerable from the worst impacts of climate change and usher in an era of stability and prosperity.
Nalleli Cobo’s community activism started in 2009 when, at the age of 9, she noticed that she was getting sick more often than seemed normal. It started with headaches, stomach pain, nosebleeds, and body spasms. Then the problems got worse – she developed asthma and heart palpitations. She also realized that others in her neighborhood were having similar health problems.
Ms. Cobo lived in an apartment complex in South L.A., across from an AllenCo’s oil drilling operations. She and her neighbors noticed strong smells coming from the oil well, and these fumes made walking or opening windows difficult during drilling times. Despite calling the city and local health agencies to report the problem, nothing was done to protect the health and safety of her community. That’s when Ms. Cobo and her neigbords decided to take action. She helped organize her neighbors to create a grassroots campaign called People Not Pozos (translation: People Not Wells).
Through grassroots activism, Ms. Cobo strengthened her community’s voice while fighting the uphill battle against the oil company poisoning their neighborhood. As a result her their efforts, AllenCo temporarily closed in Nov 2013. Despite this being a great victory, Ms. Cobo continues to work with her community to close the plant permanently.
