[fse-esf] Climate Justice statement from Poznan

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RADICAL NEW AGENDA NEEDED TO ACHIEVE CLIMATE JUSTICE
 
Poznan statement from the Climate Justice Now! alliance
12 December 2008
 
Members of Climate Justice Now! ­ a worldwide alliance of more than 160
organisations -- have been in Poznan for the past two weeks closely
following developments in the UN climate negotiations.
 
This statement is our assessment of the Conference of Parties (COP) 14, and
articulates our principles for achieving climate justice.

 
THE URGENCY OF CLIMATE JUSTICE
We will not be able to stop climate change if we don't change the
neo-liberal and corporate-based economy which stops us from achieving
sustainable societies. Corporate globalisation must be stopped.
 
The historical responsibility for the vast majority of greenhouse gas
emissions lies with the industrialised countries of the North. Even though
the primary responsibility of the North to reduce emissions has been
recognised in the Convention, their production and consumption habits
continue to threaten the survival of humanity and biodiversity. It is
imperative that the North urgently shifts to a low carbon economy. At the
same time in order to avoid the damaging carbon intensive model of
industrialisation, the South is entitled to resources and technology to make
this transition. 
 
We believe that any ´shared vision´ on addressing the climate crisis must
start with climate justice and with a radical re-thinking of the dominant
development model.
 
Indigenous Peoples, peasant communities, fisherfolk, and especially women in
these communities, have been living harmoniously and sustainably with the
Earth for millennia. They are not only the most affected by climate change,
but also its false solutions, such as agrofuels, mega-dams, genetic
modification, tree plantations and carbon offset schemes. Instead of market
led schemes, their sustainable practices should be seen as offering the real
solutions to climate change.
 
UNFCCC IN CRISIS
Governments and international institutions have to recognise that the Kyoto
mechanisms have failed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
 
The principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) ­ common but differentiated responsibilities, inter-generational
equity, and polluter pays -- have been undermined in favour of market
mechanisms. The three main pillars of the Kyoto agreement --the clean
development mechanism, joint implementation and emissions trading schemes --
have been completely ineffective in reducing emissions, yet they continue to
be at the center of the negotiations.
 
Kyoto is based on carbon-trading mechanisms which allow Northern countries
to continue business as usual by paying for ³clean development² projects in
developing and transition countries. This is a scheme designed deliberately
to allow polluters to avoid reducing emissions domestically. Clean
development mechanism projects, which are supposed to support ³sustainable
development², include infrastructure projects such as big dams and
coal-fired power plants, and monoculture tree plantations. Not only do these
projects fail to reduce carbon emissions, they accelerate the privatisation
and corporate take-over of the natural world, at the expense of local
communities and Indigenous Peoples.
 
Proposals on the table in Poznan are heading in the same direction.
 
In the current negotiations, industrialised countries continue to act on the
basis of self-interest, using all their negotiating tactics to avoid their
obligations to reduce carbon emissions, to finance adaptation and mitigation
and transfer technology to the South.
In their pursuit of growth at any cost, many Southern governments at the
talks are trading away the rights of their peoples and resources. We remind
them that a climate agreement is not a trade agreement.
 
The main protagonists for climate stability ­ Indigenous Peoples, women,
peasant and family farmers, fisherfolk, forest dependent communities, youth,
and marginalised and affected communities in the global South and North, are
systematically excluded. Despite repeated demands, Indigenous Peoples are
not recognised as an official party to the negotiations. Neither are women¹s
voices and gender considerations recognised and included in the process.
At the same time, private investors are circling the talks like vultures,
swooping in on every opportunity for creating new profits. Business and
corporate lobbyists expanded their influence and monopolized conference
space at Poznan. At least 1500 industry lobbyists were present either as
NGOs or as members of government delegations.
 
The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)
scheme could create the climate regime¹s largest ever loophole, giving
Northern polluters yet another opportunity to buy their way out of emissions
reductions. With no mention of biodiversity or Indigenous Peoples¹ rights,
this scheme might give a huge incentive for countries to sell off their
forests, expel Indigenous and peasant communities, and transform forests
into tree plantations under corporate-control. Plantations are not forests.
Privatisation and dispossession through REDD or any other mechanisms must be
stopped. 
The World Bank is attempting to carve a niche in the international climate
change regime. This is unacceptable as the Bank continues to fund polluting
industries and drive deforestation by promoting industrial logging and
agrofuels. The Bank¹s recently launched Climate Investment Funds goes
against government initiatives at the UN and promotes dirty industries such
as coal, while forcing developing countries into the fundamentally unequal
aid framework of donor and recipient. The World Bank Forest Carbon
Partnership Facility aiming to finance REDD through a forest carbon
mechanism serves the interest of private companies and opens the path for
commodification of forests.
 
These developments are to be expected. Market ideology has totally
infiltrated the climate talks, and the UNFCCC negotiations are now like
trade fairs hawking investment opportunities.
 
THE REAL SOLUTIONS
Solutions to the climate crisis will not come from industrialised countries
and big business. Effective and enduring solutions will come from those who
have protected the environment ­ Indigenous Peoples, women, peasant and
family farmers, fisherfolk, forest dependent communities, youth and
marginalised and affected communities in the global South and North. These
include: 
 
·      Achieving low carbon economies, without resorting to offsetting and
false solutions such as nuclear energy and ³clean coal², while protecting
the rights of those affected by the transition, especially workers.
·      Keeping fossil fuels in the ground.
·      Implementing people's food and energy sovereignty.
·      Guaranteeing community control of natural resources.
·      Re-localisation of production and consumption, prioritising local
markets
·      Full recognition of Indigenous Peoples, peasant and local community
rights, 
·      Democratically controlled clean renewable energy.
·      Rights based resource conservation that enforces indigenous land
rights and promotes peoples sovereignty and public ownership over energy,
forests, seeds, land and water
·      Ending deforestation and its underlying causes.
·      Ending excessive consumption by elites in the North and in the South.
·      Massive investment in public transport
·      Ensuring gender justice by recognising existing gender injustices and
involving women in decision making.
·      Cancelling illegitimate debts claimed by northern governments and
IFIs. The illegitimacy of these debts is underscored by the much greater
historical, social and ecological debts owed to people of the South.
 
We stand at the crossroads. We call for a radical change in direction to put
climate justice and people's rights at the centre of these negotiations.
 
In the lead-up to the 2009 COP 15 at Copenhagen and beyond, the Climate
Justice Now! alliance will continue to monitor governments and to mobilise
social forces from the south and the north to achieve climate justice.
 
For more information on CJN contact Nicola Bullard at n.bullard at focusweb.org
or Juana Camacho at deuda at censat.org