Download beyond copenhagen campaign – 2010 - 2011

BEYOND COPENHAGEN CAMPAIGN – 2010 - 2011
Over the period the Coalition has interacted extensively with farmers, civil society, women,
policymakers and other stake holders on issues related to climate change. The interventions in
2010 and 2011 have not only ensured visibility and priority to climate change at state, national,
regional and COP level but also strengthened the coalition and provided immense possibility in
terms of research, networking, advocacy, and education at various levels. A brief summary of
activities undertaken during the period follows for your perusal.
Peoples Tribunal on Climate Crisis (16th November, Delhi): More than 500 people, NGOs and
farmers, pastoralists, women, fisher folk from all over India demanded compensation from the
developed countries for climate crisis. Deposing before a highly esteemed Jury Including Justice
Dave (Retd. Justice Jaipur High Court), Justice A K Srivasatava (Retd. Justice Delhi High Court),
Ms. Syeda Hamid (Member, Planning Commission), Prof. A A Nambi (MSSRF), Mr. Hari Jai
Singh (Former President Editor’s Guild of India, Prof. Jaya Mehta (Economist), victims provided
verbal and written testimonies on how climate change have devastated their lives. The Tribunal
in its verdict attested the severe impact of climate change on people’s lives and that developed
countries are liable to pay compensation under the existing legal framework in Kyoto Protocol
and UNFCCC and many other Human Rights obligations. The Tribunal was a collective effort
of a number of organizations in collaboration with Oxfam India.
State and Regional Consultations: The Tribunal was the culmination of a series of consultations
and Tribunals at various places including Patna, Ranchi, Pune, Jaipur, Anantpur. At all these
places people participated in the discussions on priorities in agriculture, food security and
climate change and provided valuable insights on what they expected from the developed
countries, Government of India, state governments in building up collaboration with farmers
and other stake holders in strengthening resilience of agriculture to climate change.
Preparedness and Possibilities in COP 16 (18th November, Delhi): The National Consultation
engaged representatives of developed and developing countries on expectation and possible
outcomes from COP 16. The Consultation was co-organized in collaboration with Mexican
Embassy. The discussants included representatives from Mexico, Belgium (EU presidency),
France and Italy. All the speakers highlighted immediate concerns for preserving faith in
multilateralism and priorities for the COP 16.
South Asian Consultation on Climate Change (18th November, Delhi): The consultation came
out with a concern that while Climate change should be a seen from a regional perspective as
major countries in South Asia will face similar problems and food, water and agriculture will be
a major casualty in the region. It lamented that none of the existing networks are working on
voicing South Asian concern at regional or COP level. The consultation decided to strengthen
South Asian concerns at national, regional and COP level and use all the platforms available to
provide visibility to the common concerns. Besides, civil society organizations from India,
NGOs from Nepal and Sri Lanka also participated in the Consultation.
Media Consultation (13th November, Delhi): Senior journalists and editors from newspapers
and portals participated in the Consultation and discussed how media was presenting the
climate change issue only in the context of energy, industries and transport while agriculture is
being completely neglected. All the participants agreed to provide more visibility to issues
related to agriculture, food security and climate change in their publications, newspapers and
portals. A follow up workshop with journalists on climate change and agriculture was also
planned.
Consultation with Retired Supreme Court and High Court Judges Association (14th November,
Delhi): In view of the critical role of judiciary in defining and ensuring implementation of the
norms related to environment and environmental justice, the coalition also had a brief meeting
with Retired Supreme Court and High Court Judges Association where five senior members
and office bearers of the Association participated. The Rajasthan chapter of the Association is an
active partner in the coalition. The Association has agreed to take up this issue in their internal
deliberations and also support the coalition in their interventions. It is mention worthy that on
the request of the Coalition; the Association also adopted a resolution asking the government of
India to put a moratorium on GM Foods in the country.
Interventions at 4th Climate Change Conference, (25th November, The Hague): Beyond
Copenhagen organized a workshop on “Agriculture and climate change negotiations; what to
expect at COP” at the Conference. The discussants drew attention of the participants on
inadequate focus in climate negotiations on agri and food security and emphasized that
increased pressure from civil society and media a6t national, regional and COP was required to
press upon the COP the centrality of agriculture in increasing communities’ resilience to climate
change in developing and poor countries. Please see the complete report at
http://www.hier.nu/adaptatie/?fuseaction=home.showPages&pagenr=197&parent_id=148
Delegation to COP 16 at Cancun, Mexico: A high powered delegation consisting of JJ V S Dave
and P C Jain, Mr. Kailash Vijayvargiya (Minister, Commerce and Industries, IT and S&T, Govt.
of MP), Mr. Takar Marde (Minister Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Govt. of AP), Mr.
Om Thanvi (Editor, Jansatta), Mr. Soumya Dutta (National Convener BJVJ), Mr. Lennard
Roubos (Development Professional), Dr. Malla Reddy (Accion Fraterna), Sharad Joshi
(Secretary, CECOEDECON) and farmers from Rajasthan participated in the COP 16. The
delegation interacted with the media, UNFCCC officials, country delegations and also
undertook a number of speaking assignments at side events to provide visibility to agriculture
and food security in climate negotiations and air their concerns. The delegation also met with
Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister Environment and Forests, government of India. Besides, the
delegation also interacted and engaged networks and organizations from India, South Asia and
Europe in order to create a larger platform for concerns which Beyond Copenhagen is seized
with.
(The interviews of the delegation members with Climate change TV can be accessed at
http://www.climate-change.tv/ajay-k-jha-december-2010,
http://www.climatechange.tv/soumya-dutta-december-2010,
http://www.climate-change.tv/subhas-chandrpurohit-december-2010)
Side Event at COP (30th November, Aguila, Cancunmesse): At COP 16 a panel discussion on
“Agriculture and Food Security in COP; Small holders Perspective.” The panelists discussed
that the focus on mitigation in agriculture and climate change is a misguided agenda, driven
mainly by developed countries where agricultural emissions are huge source of concern; while
for developing countries the real focus should be agricultural adaptation. The panel discussion
led to a lively discussion with participants and a declaration was also adopted to further the
interests of small holders in developing countries.
Remembering Bhopal at Cancun (3rd December, Cancunmesse): On the anniversary of Bhopal
Gas Tragedy, Beyond Copenhagen organized a silent march to pay homage to the victims,
demand compensations and stronger climate regime. The event was extensively covered by the
media.
A
brief
coverage
of
the
March
can
be
accessed
at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAQ3WRwUH4s.
Meeting with Mr. Jairam Ramesh (6th December, Moon Palace Hotel): The delegation also
sought time with the Minister, Environment and Forests, Govt. of India to present him the
perspective of farmers and civil society from India and shared the outcomes of the national
interventions and COP Consultations with the objective of taking up the issue on agriculture
and food security. The Minister was briefed on the demands of the campaign, which he assured
to look into and take up for discussion.
South Asian Consultation on Food Sovereignty (13th & 14th December, Kolkata) : The Coalition
also participated in the Consultation organized at Calcutta and participated by representatives
of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan besides India. The Consultation was organized by
IMSE, WB. The Consultation came up with the determination to have a follow up Meeting in
Delhi to connect with the policymakers on these issues and requested Beyond Copenhagen to
take lead in the process.
South Asian Consultation on Climate and Food (1st & 2nd Jan 2011, Kathmandu): The
Consultation was organized by All Nepal Peasants Association, Farmers wing of the UML,
leading political party in Nepal in collaboration with South Alliance against Poverty (SAAPE).
Participants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan provided insights on
the status on the context and response analysis and in various South Asian countries. Beyond
Copenhagen shared its intervention in the COP 16 and Peoples Climate Conference in Bolivia.
The organizers invited Beyond Copenhagen to take lead in building up an advocacy campaign
on food and climate in South Asia and strengthening Institutional framework on climate and
agriculture in Nepal.
Important outcomes from the Campaign
Public education and awareness; The network has contributed significantly to education and
awareness of public including farmers, civil society, media, judiciary and policymakers through
discussions, consultations, and a number of user friendly publications aimed at variety of
audiences and has got appropriate responses from various user groups. Sustainable Agriculture
and food security, small holders farmers, rights based approach and legal framework on climate
change, agriculture and food security in climate negotiations etc. have received high priority
from the coalition. As a result, the communities have started understanding and taking keen
interest in climate change conversations and articulating their demands.
Strengthening a network focused on climate and agriculture and food security: The Beyond
Copenhagen has become a leading and growing network of organizations working on
agriculture, food security, water and climate change concerns.
Media engagement: The Coalition has made it a point to use media to the maximum efforts. It
has been able to get continued support of two of the leading newspapers the Hindu and
Jansatta, which have provided extensive coverage not only to the issue but also captured
campaign of the coalition. Other publications houses have been identified and they have also
provided ample space to the issues raised by the coalition.
Advocacy with state governments: The coalition has been able to ensure cooperation of a
number of state governments including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and
Arunachal Pradesh, who have responded positively to the discussions and dialogues. The
coalition is providing continuous inputs to support a more pro-people climate and agriculture
policies in these states. Senior Ministers from these states have been part of a number of
dialogues and discussions at various fora with the Coalition.
Relations with policymakers: The Coalition has approached political parties across the floor and
has received encouraging response from a number of them including the opposition parties and
the left parties.
Publications: Within a short span, the coalition has commissioned and completed a number of
publications ranging from primers aimed at beginners, to policy analysis, legal approach,
negotiations and policy briefs and mapping expectations and outcomes from COP. Variety of
audience including Partners and stake holders and policymakers have benefitted from these
publications.
Proposed interventions: The encouraging results from the campaign in 2009 and 2010 have
prompted us to plan and commit a number of interventions in the current year. We provide
brief overview of some of them below:
Research on communities resilience to climate change and food self sufficiency: A workshop on
food security and climate change was organized as a part of the Annual Convention of the
Peoples Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) promoted by APRN in January 2011. The
workshop planned and requested research inputs on “communities resilience to climate change
and food self sufficiency” from participants in different countries. Beyond Copenhagen will
support this Pan Asian research with inputs from different agro-climatic zones in India.
Ongoing research on climate change: Beyond Copenhagen is also doing studies on impact of
climate change on agriculture and cattle and climate change, which should be completed by
April.
World Social Forum and Forum initiative in South Asia: The Coalition also participated and
discussed climate change concerns in the WSF in Dakar in February. Climate change and land
grab in Africa formed the major part of the discussions in the WSF and therefore participation
of the Coalition was significant. The Asian Social Forum is being organized in Bangladesh in
Nov-Dec 2011 and the coalition explored the possibility of putting up a front on climate change
in the ASF with various South Asian partners, civil society networks and political parties. The
initial discussions have taken place and the preparations for a larger stake holder’s preparatory
meeting is underway.
Pro-poor CDMs: Though the coalition does not agree to the principle of the CDM, as it
considers them morally and ethically unsupportable. However, it has been encouraged by few
experiences where communities have benefitted from and controlled the CDM projects,
significantly improving their living. Fair Climate Network based in Bagepally (Karnataka) has
competently demonstrated how community managed and controlled CDMs can be created and
benefit communities at large. The coalition intends to enter into a partnership with FCN and
benefit from their experience in replicating pro-poor CDMs in North India.
Forests and climate change: The coalition has a number of partners engaged with forest
dwelling communities and indigenous populations. The coalition therefore, in order to respond
to their aspirations aims at including REDD + in its mandate and share related conversations
and build their and its own capacity on REDD related issues.
Planning for the COP 17: with COP 16 coming out with minimal outcomes; all important
decisions have been pushed back to Durban Climate Conference in 2011. It is highly probable
that unless opposed by the civil society and media in unambiguous terms the principles of
justice and equity and agriculture and food security in the post Kyoto Framework and Post
Kyoto Framework itself is threatened with dire consequences. Immense challenges lie ahead in
terms of public education and pressure on policy making at all levels to prevent developed
countries from running away without taking any responsibility for their historical role.
Agriculture needs to be brought back on the agenda, as Cancun agreements dropped all the text
from AWG-LCA document. In terms of KP, developed countries are already putting huge
pressure on the negotiations to merge LCA and KP. That would mean that no binding reduction
commitments for developed countries. Beyond Copenhagen is planning effective education and
research, and advocacy and lobby campaigns in pre Durban and run up to Durban to
emphasize on agriculture and food security, prevent the designs of developed countries and
agri-business industries, and ensure elements of justice and equity in Post Kyoto Framework.
We are highly grateful to Oxfam India, ICCO and MISEREOR for support and guidance and
Christian Aid and EED for their encouragement. We are also extremely grateful for the support
from the partners of the Beyond Copenhagen and look forward to their valuable cooperation in
future.
Please note that brief details have been provided for quick round up and as most of the partners
have already received detailed reports. However, we welcome any individual or organization
seeking details, publications, presentations, papers from the secretariat.