Climate Change Exchange

G8 countries found guilty of environmental crimes by Asian People's Climate Court

On Tuesaday,  the Global Coalition for Climate Action (of which Christian Aid is a member)organised  an Asian People's Climate Court mock-trial in which the 'Children of Asia' filed a case against G8 countries. The G8 defendants were  accused of committing 'planetary malpractice resulting in inter-generational damages.' The panel of judges ruled that G8 nations must help poor countries cope with climate change by setting up a global adaptation fund. It also stated that the defendants had broken about a dozen international agreements while continuing to threaten the petitioners' right to life and the sources of life.
 
Five 'climate change witnesses' from poor communities in the Philippines, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh were called on to give evidence of the impact of climate change on their lives and livelihoods, while scientists supported their cases with scientific evidence. The defending counsel questioned the existence of climate change, even though G8 countries have indeed accepted that climate change is already a scientifically proven reality.
 
The Court also ruled that there is a legal basis for reparation claims by developing countries. Chief Prosecutor Antonio Oposa said that the mock-trial could well pave the way for developing countries to sue developed countries for damages resulting from climate change through official international legal forums in the future.

The view from inside the Bangkok climate change talks

One of the mountains that government delegations currently attending the UNFCCC climate talks in Bangkok have to climb in these two weeks is to reduce the mindboggling 180 page negotiating text down to a more digestible size of around 30 pages so that when it comes to Copenhagen, politicians will have a document that they will be able to easily comprehend and effectively negotiate...  and then endorse, we hope. However, it is vital that in a more compact text the urgent need for ambitious mitigation targets to keep temperature rises below 2 degrees Centigrade are reflected. Such a text also crucially needs to reflect the support required by developing countries and poor communities to respond to climate change, to adapt appropiately, and to be able to develop in a future low-carbon climate.

A team of Christian Aid staff and partners have been working all hours of day and night since the talks began on 28 September to make sure that government delegations from the North and South are listening to the demands of civil society and communities in developing countries. Through analysis, networking, pressuring, and a great deal of pushing and shoving, our team of advocacy experts are doing everything they can to ensure that the eventual final text will deliver a fair, equitable and adequately ambitious agreement at the end of Copenhagen in two months time.

Their job is little seen and little appreciated by the outside world. Inside the cool, air-conditioned and  heavily guarded UN Convention Centre, NGO representatives dash from meeting to meeting, from early morning until the small hours of the night, working with networks and allies to strengthen their positions, bending the ears of government delegates and following a seemingly endless trail of 'intelligence'': Who is saying what? Who has agreed what? Which delegation will cause trouble next? Which delegates are sympathetic to our causes? Which delegations are colluding? Which ones are hiding secrets?'Where are the pressure points?

Meanwhile, outside the UN centre, NGOs organise endless numbers of events and meetings in conference centres, hotels, restaurants or anywhere they can find a respectable space to hear what positions the negotiators are taking and rally support for their own messages. To these events, they invite delegates, civil society, journalists and others who they hope they can persuade to support the technical messages that lie behind those concepts of fairness, adequacy and equity in these historic climate change debates and negotiations.

It is a complex, technical, exhausting but utterly intriguing process. Our team of advocates are highly skilled and extremely canny. Where they spot a crack, a gap or an opportunity, they are ready to pounce to ensure that the negotiating text reflects the needs of the poor and the marginalised who are already suffering the worst impacts of a less than two degrees warmer world but  have done very little to contribute to it.

But what of progress so far? Christian Aid's African partner alliance PACJA has accused  developed countries of sabotaging the talks (see previous post). Meanwhile, according to Christian Aid's Nelson Muffuh, 'snail's pace catastrophic' was one way that NGO observers reported the progress, or lack of, made by last Friday.

Following a stock-taking of the week's activities, Nelson summarised the activities into the following gloomy themes:

1. The worryingly slow pace of the negotiations: "Progress is lacking on issues of substance - like mid-term targets and financing from developed countries - and meagre progress has been made in consolidating the negotiating text for actual negotiations to begin in Barcelona before going on to Copenhagen. There is also a lack of a clear mandate to the LCA chair to further shorten the text, rather than depend on the party driven process which is tedious."

2. The risk that the already inadequate Kyoto architecture will collapse completely:  "Developing Countries are very upset about the EU’s one-protocol position, even though the EU insists that essential KP (Kyoto Protocol) elements are not endangered."

"This all means we are not on track for the sort of effective and fair agreement we need from Copenhagen."

Nelson finished with a call to rally the NGO troops here in Bangkok and at home: "The only way to ensure we have an acceptable outcome is if we continue working hard through strategic influencing, networking, popular mobilization and communications to get the political conditions right in industrialised countries especially the UK, EU and US."

Bangkok climate talks latest: Africa civil society accuses developed countries of sabotaging climate talks

Christian Aid partner the Pan Africa Climate Justice Alliance has blamed rich countries for the slow headway being made in the UN climate change talks this week in Bangkok. Representatives from the Alliance urged Annex 1 countries, especially the US and EU, to show renewed commitment to support ambitious measures to tackle climate change and to help countries in Africa respond and adapt to the existing climate problems already threatening the continent. Christian Aid has supported PACJA since its establishment only a few years ago. Since then it has grown into a 138 member organisation with community representation from across Africa. PACJA representatives are working with Christian Aid in Bangkok between Sept 28 and Oct 9 to influence government negotiators to ensure justice is delivered for the poor in the UN climate change process. 

Read the PACJA press release below:

African civil society warns that developed countries’ deliberate sabotage of progress at the UNFCCC climate change talks in Bangkok threatens a crucial Copenhagen deal in December 2009.

Representatives from the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance attending the talks in Bangkok between 28 September and 9 October strongly disapprove of a perceived deliberate attempt by developed countries to sabotage any progress being made at the penultimate meeting before Copenhagen .

The representatives of African civil society claim that it threatens to undermine any chance of attaining a fair and equitable deal later this year. 

“Having observed much mistrust permeating the dialogue process in the past week, there is a real danger that governments are headed towards a tragic breakdown of the negotiations in Copenhagen unless political will, particularly from industrialized countries, is enhanced,” warns Mithika Mwenda, Coordinator of the Alliance made up of 183 civil society organisations from across 43 African states.

“A fair, ecologically just and equitable deal will only be attained through the frank and honest commitment of all parties,” he says.

The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance believes that Annex 1 parties should now urgently acknowledge their responsibility for and capability to deal with the climate crisis.

“Now is the time for Annex 1 countries to show genuine commitment to providing the required support for countries in Africa to respond and adapt to climate change.”

”Renewed genuine commitment and leadership by the United States, EU and other Annex I countries is a pre-requisite to enable discussions to move forward. This is particularly important in the areas of mid-term mitigation targets, as well as adaptation finance and technology transfer.

African civil society is calling for the following:

• The fulfillment of industrialized countries’ commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention and its Kyoto Protocol, including the polluter pays principle.
• Provision of adequate and predictable financing for adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer and capacity building for developing countries
• Deep emission cuts by Annex I countries of 45% below 1990 levels by 2020, and of a 90% reduction by 2050.
• Compensation to African Countries and establishment of an Adaptation Fund for Africa.

The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance voiced its support for the African Group of Negotiators as well as its solidarity with the G77&China.

 

Bangkok diary: 28 Sept - 9 Oct

Christian Aid and a team of partners from Africa and Asia are in Bangkok for two weeks at the penultimate round of climate change talks before Copenhagen. They are there to make sure that governments listen to the concerns of poor people in developing countries so that an agreement can be reached in December. At stake is the need to keep temperature rises below 2°C to avoid catastrophic climate chaos as well as a need to secure necessary additional funds for poor countries to respond and adapt to the type of climate chaos recently experienced in the Philippines.

Follow Christian Aid advocacy experts and partners during the second week of the talks here on the Climate Change Exchange. Get an insider's view into the complexities and intrigues inside the UNFCCC negotiations process. Take a glimpse at how civil society organisations from around the world influence government negotiating positions, and watch the excitement on the streets of Bangkok when southern civil society campaigners take their message to the UNFCCC.