\nas the source of climate change pervaded the People’s
\nWorld Conference on Climate Change<\/a>, from the opening
\nspeech of Bolivian President Evo Morales<\/a> on Tuesday to the final
\ndeclaration agreed upon Thursday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On the first day, as 15,000 people from 125 countries
\ngathered for the summit, Morales laid out his view bluntly: “Either capitalism
\nlives or Mother Earth lives.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“The main cause of climate change is capitalism,”
\nhe continued. “As people who inhabit Mother Earth, we have the right to
\nsay that the cause is capitalism, to protest limitless growth. … More than
\n800 million people live on less than $2 per day. Until we change the capitalist
\nsystem, our measures to address climate change are limited.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bolivia’s lead climate negotiator, Angelica Navarro, echoed
\nMorales’ points: “You cannot create a climate market to solve climate change.
\nYou have to address the structural causes. These causes are not only to be
\nmeasured in terms of greenhouse gases. They are trade, finances, and economy.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The conference ended on Thursday—Earth Day—in
\nCochabamba’s downtown stadium, with world leaders and delegates presenting a
\nfinal declaration that broadly outlined a path forward for addressing both the
\nimpacts of climate change and the economic and political structures that have
\nbrought it about. That statement
\nwill now be taken to the U.N. ahead of the next big international climate
\nconference, COP16, to be held in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of the year. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Bolivian government laid the groundwork for the <\/p>\n The conference sought to avoid the backroom deals and lack <\/p>\n The “people’s conference” invited civil society <\/p>\n The forest working group rejected the U.N. REDD program <\/p>\n The working group on climate refugees drafted a statement <\/p>\n The conference also provided a boost to the climate-justice <\/p>\n But there was also dissent at the conference. Various <\/p>\n Oscar Olivera, who was active in organizing the “water <\/p>\n Still, most conference attendees rallied together around the Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Obama climate agenda in turmoil after Republican pulls out of compromise<\/a><\/p>\n The good news about the very bad news (about climate change)<\/a><\/p>\n
\ndeclaration with a set
\nof four demands<\/a>: climate reparations from developed countries to developing
\ncountries; an International Climate Justice Tribunal; a Universal Declaration
\nfor the Rights of Mother Earth; and development and transfer of clean
\ntechnologies. The final statement
\ncalled for creating a multilateral organization to fight climate change and
\nprotect climate migrants; ensuring that knowledge related to technology
\ntransfer not be privatized; and acknowledging and protecting the rights of
\nindigenous peoples.<\/p>\n
\nof transparency that plagued the U.N. talks in Copenhagen in December. “That is
\nnot democracy. That is not the U.N.,” Navarro said of the Copenhagen
\nprocess. “For months, we were discussing our proposals with other
\ncountries. They did not listen. What we want in Bolivia is a true and
\nparticipatory democracy. If the governments do not come up with a plan for
\nclimate change, the people have to lead with a plan.”<\/p>\n
\ninto the process, creating a bottoms-up rather than a top-down approach.
\nSeventeen working groups met over the course of the three days, and dozens of
\npanels and countless informal strategy sessions were held too. The working groups had varying degrees
\nof success. Some reached
\nagreements that supporters can organize around and push for at future U.N.
\nclimate meetings.<\/p>\n
\n(Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), arguing that by
\nusing market mechanisms to offset carbon emissions, it allows companies to
\nspeculate and get around actual carbon reductions.<\/p>\n
\nthat was included in the final declaration, calling for protections for the
\nhundreds of millions of people expected to be displaced by rising sea levels,
\ndroughts, floods, and dwindling water supplies. In his opening address on
\nTuesday, Morales had called for borders to be opened to climate refugees.<\/p>\n
\nmovement, giving advocates an opportunity to network, organize, and share
\nstories about local and regional environmental and indigenous struggles.<\/p>\n
\norganizations and an unofficial 18th working group focused on the discrepancy
\nbetween Morales’ rhetoric on behalf of Mother Earth and his policy of resource
\nextraction, emphasizing the environmental degradation brought about by mining
\nand oil and gas drilling. Revenues from natural gas help to keep Bolivia, the
\npoorest country in South America, afloat. Eduardo Gudynas has referred to this
\npolicy as the “new
\nextractivism<\/a>” of Latin America. <\/p>\n
\nwars<\/a>” against privatization in Bolivia 10 years ago, argued that there
\nare currently two kinds of movements: those on the inside of the government and
\nthose on the outside. He said, “Social movements in Bolivia are fragmented not
\nbecause of ideological reasons but because of cooptation by the government. One
\nof the characteristics of this government is that there is not room left for
\nautonomous spaces, for grassroots organizing. Until 2004, the people of society
\nin Bolivia were very strong and organizing horizontally. The issue of land
\ndistribution is not solved. Despite the rhetoric, oil and gas have not been
\nnationalized.”<\/p>\n
\nmain anti-capitalist message: to solve climate change, we must stop the push
\nfor unlimited growth that capitalism is based on. This is well summed-up by a slogan that got attention in
\nCopenhagen and even more traction in Bolivia: “System change, not climate change.”<\/p>\n