The Council of Canadians firmly believes the success coming out of the recent UN climate negotiations (December 2009) was not what happened in the official negotiation process (in fact, the Copenhagen Accord is a significant step backwards in achieving a fair climate agreement that advances climate justice) but what happened in the streets.
With our op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen, we argued that the climate justice movement transformed Copenhagen into the second coming, direct descendant of Seattle.
The Bolivian government’s announcement, shortly after the failed Copenhagen climate negotiations, to host a People’s Summit on climate change (April 19-22 2010, Cochabamba Bolivia), has created an important space for the perspectives and voices of the Reclaim the Power action we highlight in this op-ed and in our report-backs from Copenhagen, to be heard.
Conference organizers report that more than 10,000 people are expected to attend the summit, with many more participating via the Internet, and in campaign actions on the final day of the conference, April 22nd, which marks UN International Mother Earth Day.
The conference is described as open to peoples of the world, social movements and Mother Earth’s defenders, and invites scientists, academics, lawyers and governments that want to work with their citizens. You can read the Bolivian government’s call for the conference here. The objectives include identifying alternative proposals from civil society and movements for international climate action. The process involves 16 participatory working groups that have begun discussions which will culminate in meetings during the Conference identifying areas where consensus emerges. The Conference also includes plenary panels, self-organized events and space for dialogue with governments.
The goals include identifying concrete lobbying items for future UNFCCC negotiations as well as progress on innovative proposals such as working on the organization of the World People’s Referendum on Climate Change, analyzing and developing an action plan to advance the establishment of a Climate Justice Tribunal and defining strategies for action and mobilization to defend life from Climate Change and to defend the Rights of Mother Earth.
The Council of Canadians will be present in Cochabamba, As part of our newly launched “Climate Justice: Take Action for People and the Planet” campaign and the Blue Planet Project‘s international water justice work (you can read a recent article by Maude Barlow on climate and water justice here), we will be participating in working groups, co-hosting a panel on the tar sands with the Indigenous Environmental Network as well as panels on water justice, meeting with government officials as well as global climate and water justice allies and be an active participant in developing social movement strategies for the next major round of UN climate negotiations in Mexico (November 2010).
Building on our experiences in Cochabamba, we will work with our membership, allied groups and organizations in continuing to build a Canadian climate justice movement. Our recently released climate justice statement and campaign action areas identifies some “next steps,” we’ll also be looking towards Canadian mobilizations in November during the Mexican UN climate negotiation (one exciting possibility includes the world-wide call for people’s assemblies on climate justice).
