Women’s Climate Conversations online

Our very popular Women’s Climate Conversations online series brings together women from diverse backgrounds in online conversations with WCC Founder Dr Janet Salisbury and other WCC members. In these events we discuss aspects of the WCC vision, values and commitments in the light of initiatives and insights from women from diverse backgrounds and disciplines.

Participants have been struck by the inclusivity of these conversations as we bring together women to share insights on the interconnected factors affecting women and Earth. Feedback from participants suggest what we offer is unique and captures a form of deep listening rarely seen elsewhere.

See also our ‘Other events’ page for other events and activities, including those hosted in collaboration with other organisations.

Next event …

A celebration of International Women’s Day/Month:

Women coming together to activate the UNFCCC Belém Gender Action Plan

Tuesday 31 March 2026
6-7.15 pm AEDT (Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne)

Register here

On International Women's Day (8 March), UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) launched a global digital activation campaign to drive shared ownership of the new 9-year ‘Belém Gender Action Plan’ (2026-34) which, despite significant pushback from countries pushing an anti-rights agenda, the new plan was finalised and agreed at COP30 in Brazil.

Women, women’s organisations and supporters are invited to share how we are championing gender equality and climate action, ‘because real progress happens when we all come together’.

The WCC has responded by creating the first of our flagship Women's Climate Conversations online events for 2026, as an International Women's Month special event featuring Fleur Newman who is the UNFCCC Unit Lead for Gender, Children and Youth and ACE (Action for Climate Empowerment) and so was centrally involved in the development of the Belém Gender Action Plan.

Fleur (an Australian from Perth who is currently based in Bonn) has been following the work we do to engage women at all levels from grassroots to federal parliament and has agreed to lead this conversation about the new gender action plan. She will be joined by Dr Sally Box, Head of International Negotiations at Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), and Joanne Crawford AM – an Australian leader in gender equality, sustainable development and human security to address poverty and inequality.
Their conversation will be moderated by WCC Founder, Dr Janet Salisbury.

Meet our conversationalists:

Fleur Newman has been leading the work on gender and climate change under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement for over a decade. She also leads the work on Action for Climate Empowerment and children and youth. Fleur is a lawyer by training, with a decade of experience in corporate law focusing on climate change, sustainability, energy and international law, before joining the United Nations in 2011. Throughout her career, Fleur has advocated for gender equality and the rights of women and girls in all their diversity. Fleur has a Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Development, a Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws in International Law.

Joanne Crawford AM has combined research, policy, advocacy and collaboration for more than 35 years, working across government, civil society and academia to advance gender equality, sustainable development, human security, and to address poverty and inequality.

Joanne’s work with the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) has been at the core of her contribution to gender equality over the past two decades. Research that Joanne co-authored, drove a strengthened focus on gender equality across the development sector. Through submissions and evidence to seven parliamentary inquiries between 2009 and 2015, she communicated key opportunities to advance gender equality in development policy and practice, influencing analysis and recommendations.

Significantly for this conversation, Joanne was a Director at the Office for the Status of Women when, in the lead up to the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, the Australian Government conducted a widestread consultation with women on enviromental issues - whch was the last environmental consutation of this sort that has been done in Australia.

Dr Sally Box is the Head of the International Climate Negotiations Division in the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Sally is also Australia’s head of Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Prior to this role, Sally served as the Australian Government’s Threatened Species Commissioner, where she led the development and implementation of the Threatened Species Strategy and the environmental response to the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.

Sally has over 18 years’ experience working in the Australian Public Service in the fields of climate change and environment policy development, program delivery, regulation, and communications. She has a PhD in Plant Sciences from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Adelaide.