| UN Climate Change Conference was protested outside and inside by activists |
By Pablo Solón, World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, December 15, 2011
The Climate Change Conference ended two days later than
expected, adopting a set of decisions that were known only a few hours before
their adoption. Some decisions were even not complete at the moment of their
consideration. Paragraphs were missing and some delegations didn’t even have
copies of these drafts. The package of decisions was released by the South
African presidency with the ultimatum of “Take it or leave it”. Only the
European Union was allowed to make last minute amendments at the plenary.
Several delegations made harsh criticisms to the
documents and expressed their opposition to sections of them. However, no
delegation explicitly objected the subsequent adoption of these decisions. At
the end, the whole package was adopted by consensus without the objection of
any delegation. The core elements of the Durban Package can be summarized as
follows:
1) A Zombie called Kyoto Protocol
•
A
soulless undead: The promises of reducing greenhouse gas emission for the
second period of commitments of the Kyoto Protocol represent less than half of
what is necessary to keep the temperature increase below 2°C.
•
This
Zombie (second period of the Kyoto Protocol) will only finally go into effect
next year (COP 18).
•
It is
not known if the second period of the Kyoto Protocol will cover 5 or 8 years.
•
United
States, Canada, Japan, Russia, Australia and New Zealand will be out of this
second period of the Kyoto Protocol.
•
This
will be known as the lost decade in the fight against climate change.
2) New regime of “Laisser Faire,
Laisser Faisser”
•
In 2020
a new legal instrument will come into effect that will replace the Kyoto
Protocol and will seriously impact the principles of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change.
•
The
core elements of this new legal instrument can be already seen due to the
results of the negotiations: a) voluntary promises rather than binding
commitments to reduce emissions, b) more flexibilities (carbon markets) for
developed countries to meet their emission reduction promises, and c) an even
weaker compliance mechanism than the Kyoto Protocol.
•
The new
legal instrument will cover all the States, effectively removing the difference
between developing and developed countries. The principle of “common but
differentiated responsibilities” already established in the Climate Change
Convention will disappear.
•
The
result will be the deepening of the “Laisser Faire, laisser passer” regime
inaugurated in Copenhagen, Cancun and Durban which will lead to an increase in
temperature of more than 4°C.
3) A Green Fund with no funds
•
The
Green Fund now has an institutional structure in which the World Bank is a key
player.
•
The 100
billion is only a promise and will NOT be provided for by the developed
countries.
•
The
money will come from the carbon markets (which are collapsing), from private
investments, from credits (to be paid) and from the developing countries
themselves.
4) A lifesaver for the Carbon
Markets
•
The
existing carbon markets will live regardless of the fate of the Kyoto Protocol.
•
Also,
new carbon market mechanisms will be created to meet the emissions reduction
pledges of this decade.
•
It is a
desperate attempt to avoid the loss of the carbon markets, which are collapsing
due to the fall of the carbon credits, from 30 Euros per ton to 3 Euros per ton
of CO2.
•
Developed
countries will reduce less than what they promise because they will buy
Emission Reduction Certificates from developing countries.
5) REDD: a perverse incentive to
deforest in this decade
•
If you
don’t cut down trees you won’t be able to issue certificates of reduction of
deforestation when the REDD (Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation) mechanism comes into operation.
•
CONSEQUENCES:
deforest now if you want to be ready for REDD.
•
The
safeguards for indigenous peoples will be flexible and discretionary for each
country.
•
The
offer of funding for forests is postponed until the next decade due to the fact
that demand for Carbon Credits will not increase until then because of the low
emission reduction promises.
¡Amandla! ¡Jallalla!
In the actions and events of the social movements in
Durban, two battle cries emerged: “Amandla” and “Jallalla”. The first one is a
Xhosa and Zulu word from South Africa which means “power”. The second word is
an expression in aymara which means “for life”. “¡Amandla¡ °Jallalla!” means “¡Power
for life!”
This is the “power for life” that we must build, that
transcends borders, from our communities, neighborhoods, workplaces and place
of study in order to stop this ongoing genocide and ecocide.
(*) Pablo Solón, international analyst and social activist.
United Nations Ambassador and Chief Climate Change Negotiator from the
Plurinational State of Bolivia.
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