People's Declaration from Copenhagen

By Tony Gonzales

AIM West

COPENHAGEN -- As I am making preparations to head for home to the Bay Area, I am sending you this final Declaration that came from the KlimaforumO9 in Copenhagen, from the large group of NGOs attending the UNFCCC separate from the Government representatives meeting at the Bella Center. Please post the document.

I must say that I am not pleased at all with the final outcome of the text, particularly where Indigenous peoples were inserted deep in page 6, beginning with "Our Demands."

Although I did attempt to work as close I could with the declaration team to include Indigenous Peoples somewhere after the Preamble and to insert the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples -- both to secure the rights of all Indigenous Peoples, and to gain the NGO's support for it to function as a stop gap to the continued and future destruction of Mother Earth that contributes toward the unregulated emissions and increasing temperatures -- evidently it was to no avail.

What we need is our own document and for it to stand on its own. For this to occur we will need the support from our brothers and sisters, friends, allies and supporters to join with the American Indian Movement International Conference to be held in San Francisco, California during the week of November 22-26, 2010. This should be just prior to the next COP-16 in Mexico City, November 29th until December 10, 2010.

Hopefully we will develop a more strategy plan that will effectuate the necessary systems change that will assert the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and take that to Mexico City to be adopted both by all NGO's, and Governments into their final document. I will elaborate further on this project/plan when I return to San Francisco later during this week. All is not lost, we are still hopeful, and coming into our element! Until then, to all my relations.

Tony Gonzales

AIM-WEST Director

eltonyg@earthlink.net


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The Klima forum09 Declaration – final version



System change – not climate change


A People’s Declaration from Klimaforum09

SUMMARY

There are solutions to the climate crisis. What people and the planet need is a just and sustainable

transition of our societies to a form that will ensure the rights of life and dignity of all peoples and deliver

a more fertile planet and more fulfilling lives to future generations.

We, participating peoples, communities, and all organizations at the Klimaforum09 in Copenhagen, call

upon every person, organization, government, and institution, including the United Nations (UN), to

contribute to this necessary transition. It will be a challenging task. The crisis of today has economic,

social, environmental, geopolitical, and ideological aspects interacting with and reinforcing each other as

well as the climate crisis. For this reason, we call for urgent climate action:

• A complete abandonment of fossil fuels within the next 30 years, which must include

specific milestones for every 5-year period. We demand an immediate cut in GHG of

industrialized countries of at least 40% compared to 1990 levels by 2020.

• Recognition, payment and compensation of climate debt for the overconsumption of

atmospheric space and adverse effects of climate change on all affected groups and people.

• A rejection of purely market-oriented and technology-centred false and dangerous solutions

such as nuclear energy, agro-fuels, carbon capture and storage, Clean Development Mechanisms,

biochar, genetically “climate-readied” crops, geo-engineering, and reducing emissions from

deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), which deepens social and environmental conflicts.

• Real solutions to climate crisis based on safe, clean, renewable, and sustainable use of natural

resources, as well as transitions to food, energy, land, and water sovereignty.

Therefore, we demand that COP15 reach an agreement that will initiate the restoration of the

environmental, social, and economic balance of planet Earth by means that are environmentally, socially,

and economically sustainable and equitable, and finally come up with a legally binding treaty.

The adverse impacts of human-induced climate change cause gross violations of human rights. All nations

have an obligation to cooperate internationally to ensure respect for human rights everywhere in the world

in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. Any specific agreement on climate change must be

seen in the broader context of achieving a sustainable transition of our societies.

We, participating peoples and organisations at Klimaforum09, commit to continue our full and active

engagement in promoting such a transition, which will require a fundamental change in social, political,

and economic structures and a rectification of gender, class, race, generational, and ethnic inequalities and

injustices.

This requires a restoration of the democratic sovereignty of our local communities and of their role as a

basic social, political, and economic unit. Local and democratic ownership of, control over, and access to

natural resources will be the basis for meaningful and sustainable development of communities and

simultaneously for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There is also a need for stronger regional and

international cooperative arrangements to manage common and shared resources, as well as for a stronger

and democratic UN.

We call upon every concerned person, social movement, and cultural, political or economic organisation

to join us in building a strong global movement of movements, which can bring forward peoples’ visions

and demands at every level of society. Together, we can make global transitions to sustainable futures.

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System change – not climate change

A People’s Declaration from Klimaforum09

1. Preamble

There are solutions to the climate crisis. What people and the planet need is a just and sustainable

transition of our societies to a form that will ensure the rights of life and dignity of all people and deliver a

more fertile planet and more fulfilling lives to present and future generations. This transition must be

based on principles of solidarity – especially on behalf of the most vulnerable – non-discrimination,

gender equality, equity, and sustainability, acknowledging that we are part of nature, which we love and

respect. To address the climate crisis, however, awareness creation and determined actions adhering to a

rights-based framework are required. All nations have an obligation to cooperate internationally to ensure

respect for human rights everywhere in the world, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

We, participating peoples, communities, and all organizations at the Klimaforum09 in Copenhagen, call

upon every person, organization, government, and institution, including the United Nations (UN), to

contribute to this necessary transition. It will be a challenging task. The crisis of today has economic,

social, environmental, geopolitical, and ideological aspects interacting with and reinforcing each other as

well as the climate crisis. This very moment of conjunction of crises – climate, energy, financial, food, and

water crises, among others –, urges us to unite and transform the dominant social and economic system as

well as global governance, which currently block necessary solutions to the climate crisis. For this reason,

a movement from below is called upon to act now.

Environmental and climate debts must be paid. No false, dangerous, or short-term solutions should be

promoted and adopted, such as nuclear power, agro-fuels, offsetting, carbon capture and storage (CCS),

biochar, geo-engineering, and carbon trading. Instead, we should implement a truly sustainable transition

built on clean, safe, and renewable resources as well as energy conservation. We welcome alliances across

social movements and sectors, representing all ages, genders, ethnicities, faiths, communities, and

nationalities. We want to take the future into our own hands by building a strong and popular movement

of youth, women, men, workers, peasants, fisher folks, indigenous peoples, people of colour, and urban

and rural social groups; a movement that is able to act at all levels of society to deal with environmental

degradation and climate change. We call for a new international economic order and support a strong and

democratic UN as opposed to G8, G20 or other closed groups of powerful countries.

2. The challenge as we see it:

The concentration of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) in the atmosphere is already so high that the climate

system has been brought out of balance. The CO2 concentration and global temperatures have increased

more rapidly in the last 50 years than ever before on Earth, and will rise even faster in the coming

decades. This adds to a multitude of other serious ecological imbalances, the impacts of which threaten

the lives and livelihoods of the people of the world, most acutely, impoverished people and other

vulnerable groups.

The imbalance of the climate system leads to greater and more frequent extremes of heat and rainfall

patterns, tropical cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons, extreme flooding and droughts, loss of biodiversity,

landslides, rising sea levels, shortage of drinking water, shorter growing seasons, lower yields, lost or

deteriorated agricultural land, decreased agricultural production, losses of livestock, extinction of

ecosystems, and diminished fish stocks, among others. These phenomena result in food crises, famine,

illness, death, displacement, and the extinction of sustainable ways of life. Interacting with this is the

introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), monoculture farming, and industrialized

agriculture, all strongly promoted by corporations. These seriously threaten the stability and diversity of

ecosystems, marginalize and impoverish small-scale farmers, and undermine food sovereignty. Corporate[

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controlled agriculture is geared to meet an inflated global demand generated by over-consumption

especially in the North, rather than for local basic needs. The same can be said about modern industrial

fisheries, intensive forestry and mining, which destroy ecosystems, diminish biodiversity and destroy the

life and livelihoods of local communities.

These effects of climate change together with growing social inequalities and severe impacts on our

common environment are already devastating the lives of millions of people as well as their local

communities. However, we – the people – are not prepared to accept this fact as our fate. That is why

there are fast growing popular movements determined to defend their livelihoods and stand up against

those forces and causes that have led us onto this ultimately suicidal route of environmental destruction.

In Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Oceania and South and Central America, as well as the periphery of

North America and Europe, popular movements are rising to confront the exploitation of their land by

foreign interests, and to regain control over their own resources. A new type of activism has revitalized

the environmental movements, leading to a wide variety of protests and actions against mining, dams,

deforestation, coal-fired power plants, air travel, and the building of new roads, among others. There is a

growing awareness about the need to change the present economic paradigm in a very fundamental way.

Among various movements, alternative ways of life are proliferating. At the same time it is becoming

evident to the public that the present holders of power are unwilling to face and deal with the threats of

climate change and environmental degradation. The so-called strategy of “green growth” or “sustainable

growth” has turned out to be an excuse for pursuing the same basic model of economic development that

is one of the root causes of environmental destruction and the climate crisis.

3. The causes as we see them:

The immediate and primary cause of human-induced climate change is an unprecedented emission of

greenhouse gasses (GHGs) into the atmosphere originating from the increasing burning of fossil fuels for

industrial, commercial, transportation and military purposes, to mention a few but significant sources.

Other important drivers of climate change are forest degradation – excluding indigenous people’s

sustainable practice of shifting cultivations – deforestation, extractive industries, disturbance of the water

cycle, expansion of industrial agriculture areas through land grabbing, increased industrial meatproduction,

and other types of unsustainable use of natural resources.

Une ve n co ntr ol and owne rs hi p ov er re sources

These immediate causes are the results of an unsustainable global economic system built on unequal

access to and control over the planet’s limited resources and the benefits that accrue from their use. This

system is premised on the appropriation of local, national, and planetary commons by local and global

elites. What has been praised as great strides in technology, production, and human progress has in fact

precipitated global ecological and development disasters. Still, a privileged global elite engages in reckless

profit-driven production and grossly excessive consumption while a very large proportion of humanity is

mired in poverty with mere survival-and-subsistence consumption, or even less. This is the situation not

only in countries of the South but also in the North. The world’s largest transnational corporations

(TNCs), based mainly in the northern countries and tax-havens, but with expanding operations, have long

been at the forefront of these excesses.

The competition among global corporations and rich nations for resources and greater market shares, as

well as trade agreements and treaties, have led to a neo-colonial suppression of southern peoples, denying

them rightful ownership and control of their resources. The World Trade Organization (WTO) and

international financial institutions, as well as the European Union (EU) and United States (US), using

bilateral trade agreements, are increasing the privatization and commoditization of public resources,

intensifying the plunder of natural resources of underdeveloped countries, and imposing conditions that

increase their dependence.

Pre vail ing p atte rns of tho ught and alte rnati ves

The development model promoted by these institutions is not only a question of “economics.” The

prevailing economic paradigm is strongly related to a system of thought that is based on an imagination

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conception of the human being as “economic man.” This ideology is reinforced by corporate media and

marketing firms that promote egoism, competition, material consumption, and boundless accumulation of

private wealth in utter disregard of the social and ecological consequences of such behaviour. This system

of thought is intimately intertwined with patterns of patriarchy and paternalism.

If we really want to address this crisis, we need to recognize that the human species is part of both nature

and society and cannot exist without either. Therefore if humanity is to survive, we need to respect the

integrity of Mother Earth and strive for harmony with nature and for peace within and between cultures.

We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world. Everyone shares responsibility for the

present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world. The spirit of human

solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live according to the principle of “One among

many.”

4. A just and sustainable transition

It is clear that solving the climate crisis requires far-reaching transformations, which are currently

excluded from the agenda of policy-makers in governments and multilateral institutions. People are

calling for system change, not “business-as-usual” and the uncritical use of technology and market

fixes to which powerful interests have confined the climate agenda.

People’s movements embrace a number of alternative visions for society and concrete steps that

must be taken in order to move towards a sustainable future while addressing the climate, water,

food, and economic crises at the same time. Such a sustainable transition will begin by many

different initiatives. Some of these steps towards sustainable transition are:

• Food sovereignty and ecological agriculture: Uphold the rights of people,

communities, and countries to determine their own systems of production, including

farming, fishing, food, forestry, and land policies that are ecologically, socially,

economically, and culturally appropriate to the circumstances. People’s, especially women’s

access to and control over productive resources such as land, seeds, and water must be

respected and guaranteed. Agricultural production must rely principally on local

knowledge, appropriate technology, and ecologically sustainable techniques that bind CO2

in the diverse and native plant systems, bind water, and return more nutrients to the soil

than were taken out. Food and agricultural production must be primarily geared towards

meeting local needs, encourage self-sufficiency, promote local employment, and minimize

resource use, waste and GHG emissions in the process.

• Democratic ownership and control of economy: The reorganization of society’s

productive units around more democratic forms of ownership and management, in order

to meet people’s basic needs, such as employment creation; access to water, housing, land,

health care, and education; food sovereignty; and ecological sustainability. Public policy

must make sure that the financial system serves public interests and channel resources for

the sustainable transformation of industry, agriculture, and services.

• Energy sovereignty: A dramatic reduction of energy consumption especially in the

enriched countries, combined with a mix of renewable and public energy sources such as

solar, wind, geothermal, mini-hydro, wave, and tidal; the development of off-the-grid

electricity distribution to secure energy supplies to communities; and public ownership of

the grid.

• Ecological planning of urban and rural zones: The aim is a radical reduction in the

inputs of energy and resources and the outputs of waste and pollution, while encouraging

locally based supply of basic needs of the citizens. An urban and rural planning built on

social justice and equal service to all, reducing the need for transport. Promoting public

transport systems such as light and high-speed rail-systems and bicycles, reducing the need

for private motor vehicles and thus decongesting the roads, improving health and reducing

energy consumption.

• Education, science and cultural institutions: Re-orientate public research and

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education to meet the needs of people and the environment, rather than the present bias

for developing commercially profitable and proprietary technologies. Research and

development should be primarily an open and collaborative endeavour in the common

interest of humankind. Eliminate patents on ideas and technology. Fair and just exchange

of appropriate technologies, traditional knowledge, and indigenous innovative practices

and ideas between countries should be encouraged.

• An end to militarism and wars: The present fossil fuel based development model leads

to violence, war, and military conflict over control of energy, land, water, and other natural

resources. This is demonstrated by the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq and

Afghanistan, as well as militarization across the globe in regions rich in fossil fuels and

other natural resources. Peasants and indigenous communities are also being violently

displaced from their lands to make way for agrofuel plantations. Trillions of dollars are

spent on the military-industrial complex, thus wasting enormous material and human

resources, which should instead be devoted to implementing a sustainable transition.

By taking steps forward, we can learn by doing. These steps will help us to convince the broad

majority of people that a sustainable transition entails the promise of a more fulfilling and good life.

The social, political, economic, and environmental fields are closely interrelated. A coherent strategy

must therefore address them all, which indeed is the central idea behind the concept of sustainable

transition.

One aspect of this concept is the restoration of local communities rather than the global market as a

basic social, political, and economic unit. Social cohesion, democratic participation, economic

accountability, and ecological responsibility can only be accomplished by restoring decision-making

at the lowest appropriate level. This is a basic lesson we have learned from ethnic cultures and local

communities.

A community-based approach does not, however, contradict the need for extensive international

cooperation. On the contrary, it will need stronger alliances within and across all borders between

direct producers in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and industry. Alliances also built on the strength of

gender equality and on recognizing and overcoming unjust power relations at all levels. It also

includes the need for stronger regional and international cooperative arrangements to manage

common and shared resources, such as cross-border water resources. Furthermore, international

cooperation will promote the full mutual exchange of ideas, technologies, and expertise across all

boundaries, as well as an open-minded dialogue between different cultures, based on mutual respect.

5. Paths to transition

Many people are involved in the practical creation of more sustainable industry, agriculture, forestry,

and fishery as well as in the renewable energy sector. These initiatives within the system have

furthermore created alliances with other sectors of society, trade unions, consumers, city dwellers,

teachers, and researchers, all of whom are striving towards sustainable ways of life.

Uni ted Natio ns (UN) and Confe renc e of Par ties (COP)

We need to address the UN negotiations on Climate Change, and the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15)

on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The lessons from previous rounds of

negotiations are not very promising. Despite the high-profile schemes for concerted action launched first

in the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change of Rio de Janeiro and later in the 1997 Kyotoprotocol,

results are meagre and the problems have not been solved. Indeed, it has worsened as the

principles, targets, and timelines of both the Convention and the Protocol have made little headway.

The same big corporate interests that are largely responsible for causing the climate crisis appear to have

immense influence on climate policies at the national and global level. We strongly oppose this

undemocratic influence of corporate lobbyism in the current COP-negotiations. Contrary to this, we call

on states to put in place an appraisal mechanism for all policies and policy instruments under the

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UNFCCC, to ensure inclusive and deliberative multi-stakeholder processes that repair existing inequalities,

whether based on gender, colour, age, disability or other forms of discrimination in the COP-negotiations.

We demand that COP15 reach an agreement that will initiate the restoration of the environmental, social,

and economic balance of planet Earth by means that are environmentally, socially, and economically

sustainable and equitable, and finally come up with a legally binding treaty.

Our demands

We are raising our voices to the leaders in the UNFCCC to put forward the people’s demands and

alternatives.

1. Phasing out fossil fuel: We call for a clear strategy for dismantling the fossil fuel era within

the next 30 years, which must include specific milestones for every 5-year period. We

demand an immediate cut in GHG emissions of industrialized countries of at least 40%

compared 1990 levels by 2020.

2. Reparations and compensation for Climate Debt and crimes: We demand full

reparations for southern countries and those impoverished by northern states, TNCs, and

tax-haven institutions. By this, we partly address historical injustices associated to

inequitable industrialization and climate change, originating in the genocide of indigenous

nations, transatlantic slave trade, colonial era, and invasions. This must be accompanied by

an equally clear strategy for compensating impoverished people for the climate and broader

ecological debt owed by the enriched. A global and democratic fund should be established

to give direct support to the victims of climate change. Developed countries must provide

new, mandatory, adequate, and reliable financing as well as patent-free technologies so that

developing countries can better adapt to adverse climate impacts and undertake emission

reductions. This would allow developing countries to play their part in curbing climate

change, while still meeting the needs and aspirations of their people. International financial

institutions, donor agencies, and trade mechanisms should have no part in reparations.

3. An immediate global ban on deforestation of primary forests and the parallel initiation

of an ambitious global tree-planting program based on native and diverse species in

partnership with indigenous peoples and forest-dependent communities. Similarly, a ban on

large-scale industrialized fishing methods and a return to primarily local and sustainable

fishing practices. Finally, a ban on land grabbing by foreign interests and the full acceptance

of people’s sovereignty over natural resources.

4. We express strong opposition to purely market-oriented and technology-centred false

and dangerous solutions put forward by many corporations, governments, and international

financial institutions. These include nuclear energy, agro-fuels, carbon capture and storage,

Clean Development Mechanisms, biochar, genetically “climate-readied” crops, geoengineering,

and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) as

currently defined by the UNFCCC. These only produce new environmental threats, without

really solving the climate crisis. Carbon trading and offsetting are also false and unjust

instruments, because they treat a common planetary resource – the atmosphere – as a

commodity that can be owned and traded. So far, the system has not proven its merits, and

by allowing rich countries to offset their reduction obligations, it has maintained this unjust

and unsustainable system.

5. Equitable tax on carbon emissions: Instead of the regime of tradable emission quotas we

demand an equitable tax on carbon emissions. Revenues from this carbon tax should be

returned equitably to people, and a portion should be used to compensate and contribute to

finance adaptation and mitigation. This is, however, not a substitute for repayment of

already accumulated climate debt. This compensation and funding should be unconditional

and free of market mechanisms and financial institutions. Reduction of emissions must be

strongly encouraged by a briskly increasing, transparent carbon tax, in addition to direct

regulations to drive the phase-out of fossil fuels, while enabling safe, clean and renewable

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energy.

6. Multilateral institutions and TNCs: Unjust, unsustainable, and unaccountable global

economic and financial institutions like the WTO, the World Bank, the International

Monetary Fund (IMF), regional development banks, donor institutions, and trade

agreements should be replaced by democratic and equitable institutions functioning in

accordance with the United Nations Charter, that respect people’s sovereignty over

resources, and promote solidarity between people and nations. A mechanism for strict

surveillance and control of the operations of TNCs should be created as well.

Finally, we commit ourselves to a full and active involvement in carrying our sustainable transitions

of our societies along the lines put forward in this Declaration.

6. A global movement for sustainable transition

Irrespective of the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, there is an urgent need

to build a global movement of movements dedicated to the long-term task of promoting a

sustainable transition of our societies. Contrary to the prevailing power structures, this movement

must grow from the bottom and up. What is needed is a broad alliance of environmental

movements, social movements, trade unions, farmers, civil societies, and other aligned parties that

can work together in everyday political struggle on the local as well as national and international

level. Such an alliance entails at the same time the creation of a new mindset and of new types of

social activisms, and must be capable not only of reacting to unsustainable practices, but also

showing by example how a new sustainable economy can indeed function.

We, participating peoples, communities, and social organizations at Klimaforum09 are all committed

to build on the results achieved at this event in the further development of a global movement of

movements.

This Declaration aims to inspire the further development of such a movement by pointing to the

general direction in which we choose to move. Together, we can make global transitions to

sustainable future. Join us.