African CSOs insist on deep, legally binding pollution reduction targets at COP17
ECA Press Release No. 89/2011
Addis Ababa, 17 June 2011 (ECA) - As preparations enter high gear in South Africa for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change scheduled for Durban late this year, African Civil Society Organizations are calling for “deep, legally binding climate pollution reduction targets” at UN climate talks, according to Stand Up for Africa one of the NGOs currently mobilizing support for emission reductions.
At a press conference hosted in Bonn Germany last week by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), a platform for over 300 civil society groups in 45 African countries, African representatives from non-government groups speaking on behalf of trade- unions, gender, and environmental justice groups outlined essential elements of any just outcome from the annual UN climate conference to be held this December in South Africa.
"Climate change zeroes in on African women. Climate change will hit Africa hardest. It already is, our crops don't grow like they used to, and the rains don't come when they are supposed to. These changes hurt the poor, the majority of who are women.
African women are engaged in the fight of, and for, their lives in these talks because even a temperature rise of 2˚C would cause devastation to our crops, farms and families." Cecilia Kibe, climate justice campaigner with the Kenya Climate Change Network said.
"To limit the harm to Africans temperature rise must be limited to between 1 to 1.5C. But at the moment, under the so-called Cancun Agreement, countries' reduction pledges risk 5C of warming. That's unthinkable and unconscionable. To get off this road to ruin we need much deeper emission cuts, 50% of developed countries' emissions on 1990 levels by 2017”, Augustine Njamnshi, Central Africa coordinator of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), explained.
According to Bobby Peek, Director of GroundWork (Friends of the Earth South Africa) who also attended the meeting, “South African social movements were at the forefront of the fight against one of the 20th century's greatest moral injustices: apartheid.
Today we stand ready to lead global movements against the most significant moral injustice of the 21st century: climate change."
"We watched with disappointment at how the Mexican government undermined open and accountable decision making in Cancun. South Africa is building a new democracy, and we expect our Government to support democratic processes globally by having open, transparent and accountable climate negotiations - where every country is respected”, he added.
Peek warned that “the South African Government cannot have secret or selective side meetings to prepare for these talks - they need to tell the world: when, where, and who they’re meeting and how they're going to be accountable to the voices of those most vulnerable to climate change: women, farmers and the poor, by ensuring their effective and meaningful participation in these meetings."
"Climate change requires a just transition for African workers to new industries, clean technologies and first and foremost requires a safe environment. African trade unions will be mobilizing to support our brothers and sisters in ensuring that Africa's COP delivers for Africa. That means deep emission cuts in the North contained in the Kyoto Protocol, compensation to finance our transition to low carbon societies and an open process where governments can be held to account by their citizens." Yahya Msangi, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) - Africa, said.
Reacting to the CSO calls, Lawrence Flint, Coordinator of Research into Climate, Vulnerability and Adaptation at the Dakar-based Environmental Development Action (ENDA), observes that “it is hard for civil society to make its voice heard at these types of events which are dominated by talks involving ‘Parties’ meaning country negotiators who seem to align themselves in blocs representing highly developed, semi developed and least developed economies which often take apparently intractable positions in negotiations.”
Progress is normally very slow at the CoP and other negotiations sessions that take place throughout the year, he says.
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