People of the world take on global warming in Bolivia
admin April 19th, 2010
In the wake of the perceived failure of COP-15 in Copenhagen in December last year, today sees the opening of the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. This is taking place in Cochabamba in Bolivia and runs to April 22nd. Full details are here.
‘The defence of Mother Earth’ has been championed by Bolivian President Evo Morales, and the World People’s Conference lists 241partners – grassroots and indigenous movements, non-governmental organisations, activists and intellectuals – who are calling for a charter of rights for the planet.
The main aims of the conference are to organise a world people’s referendum on global warming, draw up an action plan to create an international climate justice tribunal, and agree new commitments. The agenda priorities are: climate debt, climate change migrants and refugees, greenhouse gas emission cuts, adaptation, technology transfer, financing, forests and climate change, shared visions and indigenous peoples.
With the governments of the world unable to agree to any binding commitments at all in Copenhagen – just an Accord that now has 110 countries signed up, but falls well short of the binding treaty sought by many nations – the indigenous movements are hoping to plug the gap and initiate action.
The Accord that has been signed sets a goal of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit). But crucially it does not spell out what each nation has to do.
The 110 countries are drawn from the 194 that attended COP-15. Anongst countries not on the list of signatories are many OPEC nations (including Saudi Arabia), which fear a loss of oil revenues if the world shifts to renewable energies, plus some small island states which fear rising sea levels and believe that much more radical action has to be taken much sooner to avoid disaster for them and their people.
The Accord also promises almost $10 billion a year in aid for poor nations from 2010-12, rising to at least $100 billion from 2020 to help them slow emissions growth and cope with impacts such as floods, droughts and rising sea levels.
But it remains to be seen both whether this spending will actually come to pass. It also remains to be seen whether the World People’s Conference can deliver more by working from the grass roots up.
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