2009

Our civil society debates, demonstrations and forums coincide with the UN climate talks - the fourth gathering of the year in preparation to the climate summit in Copenhagen this December.

The civil society program has included daily mobilisations demanding the repayment of the climate debt, the exclusion of the World Bank and other international financial institutions from climate finance, and the rights of indigenous peoples, fisherfolk and women to be protected.

The forums have focussed on articulating how we can achieve climate justice - real solutions to climate change that don't risk either people or the planet.

official talks

Meanwhile the official climate talks have been significantly undermined by the regressive position of wealthy industrialised countries, particularly the US, who are failing to meet their obligations to accept emissions reduction targets and financing for developing countries in line with what science requires.

This is wearing thin the patience of many developing countries who are now questioning whether an agreement in Copenhagen is possible with such limited political will of the developed countries.

nnimmo bassey

In his interview with Time magazine Nnimmo talks of how a massacre in 1990 by Nigeria's armed forces prompted him into championing the environment and rights of the people around him.

"We realized that if people don't have a safe environment to live in, then they don't have literally any other rights," he says.

He talks about the work of Friends of the Earth Nigeria in documenting the environmental abuse caused by the oil companies, his efforts to educate people on their rights and the fact that his work often puts him on a collision course with the authorities.

"Oil has been the destruction of the Nigerian economy," says Bassey. "It destroys the relation between the people and the state" he says.

Read Nnimmo's interview

Syeda Rizwana Hasan

Rizwana, who is also a member of the Friends of the Earth International board, has been nominated for her legal work in advocating for tighter regulations for the country's environmentally devastating ship-breaking industry

Ship breaking is a big employer in Bangladesh - last year over 150 ships were decommissioned - and the authorities often turn a blind out to the immense harm it causes.

Rizwana sees it differently, "It's better to be jobless than to have a job that gives you cancer" she says.

In March 2009, the Supreme Court laid down strict regulations on the industry, resulting in the closure of 36 ship breaking yards operating without environmental clearance.

The government has since appealed against the ruling but Rizwana and her team will fight on.

"I don't want the outside world to think of Bangladesh as a dumping site," she says. "It is against my dignity. It is against the dignity of my nation and the dignity of the people."

Read Rizwana's interview

• Read our July 8 statement in full here and donate to the Honduras solidarity fund
  

Greetings from Nicaragua, the land of Sandino, Rubén Darío and Fonseca, where we are right now in a Friends of the Earth International Mission, called for by Vía Campesina, with whom in addition to thousands of other voices, we condemn the brutal coup d´etat perpetrated in Honduras, which reminds us of the worst times of military regimes which violated human rights and have caused so much pain and blood in Latin America.

As FoEI members, we are proud to represent a federation which remains faithful to its mission, principles and values, which is completely committed to express and realize solidarity with the brothers and sisters of Madre Tierra (Friends of the Earth Honduras), together with the most impoverished sectors of Honduran society people are demanding justice. It is urgent, in the face of the attitude of the perpetrators of the coup, to be alert in order to protect the lives of Juan Almendares and all members of FoEI in Honduras and our allies in the popular movement.

All of us in the federation should consolidate our unity and mobilize in the defense of life and the rights of the peoples, since this moment is decisive for the present and future of our continent because the achievements reached by the popular struggles in other countries and regions are also threatened by the military force. These struggles show the ways that need to be walked in order to achieve sustainability and justice.

The situation in Honduras is worsening increasingly. The refusal by the coup perpetrators to negotiate a way out with the Organization of American States (OAS) is proof of their determination to continue and deepen this historic injustice against the will of the Honduran people, and to continue insulting the international community. Breaking into hotels, persecuting foreigners that are being accused of indoctrination and instigation to violent actions, shows an ideological-military offensive against the international solidarity, which is raising in support of the people and the organizations of the Honduran social movement. The analysis we can carry out from here indicates that we must continue looking for the best way to mobilize solidarity and the constant support from foreign countries and inside Honduras.

At the time we are in Managua. We have to remain alert, let´s raise the flags of solidarity, let´s create a support fund for the struggle of the Honduran people, let´s establish support networks, let´s not allow the dictatorship to disguise or to become legitimate. Let´s demand a breaking of the diplomatic ties with the coup perpetrators.

Almost a week has passed since I returned from Bonn; the dust has settled and hopefully the majority of the FoEI delegation, like myself, have returned to a normal working schedule – although I know a few who travelled directly to the FoEE AGM in Lenzen, Germany.

The weekend provided an opportunity to process and evaluate everything that had happened in Bonn, and I remain impressed and inspired by the FoEI presence.

On returning to the office a colleague informed me that a friend who had been to the talks had asked her “how much money do Friends of the Earth have!? You were everywhere.” And I agreed, although not because of money, but due to fantastic coordination, dedication and hard work from the FoEI and Young FoEE delegations.

Asad Rehman, Senior Campaigner from Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland summed it up perfectly:

“We were plugged in at every level, from government delegations to NGO and movement groupings. It was a real example of what an inside and outside strategy can accomplish.” And, the strategy looks set to develop and continue in Bangkok, Barcelona and finally Copenhagen.

The evaluation of the talks themselves: industrialised countries are still not showing leadership. The Climate Justice Network! And FoEI press conference can be watched here:

• http://unfccc2.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/090601_SB30_Bonn/templ/ovw_page.php?id_kongressmain=76

In short, US, Japan and the EU put forward inadequate reductions targets, continued to push offsetting, and ignored historical responsibility and calls to pay back their ‘climate debt’ – to compensate for the damage that pollution from excessive greenhouse gas pollution over the past 200 years has and will cause in developing countries.

The Alliance of Small Island States called on developed countries to commit to higher greenhouse gas reduction targets, Bolivia demanded repayment of the developed world's climate debt and El Salvador and Paraguay stood strong to
protect Indigenous Peoples rights.

For a more detailed overview go to:

• http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2009/us-holds-u.n.-climate-negotiations-hostage

Thanks for following, and thanks to all those who were in Bonn, look forward to seeing you all in Copenhagen at the latest.

Wednesday was a manic rush to get the action materials ready for Young FoEE’s action on Thursday, before I had to leave Bonn at 2pm. I had worked late into the night to prepare the templates for the school reports, and now had to fill it with content. I arrived at the FoEI meeting with draft action materials in hand in preparation.

The biggest news of the day seemed to be that Japan was set to announce their incredibly low targets to the Japanese press at 11am – a 15% reduction from 2005 levels, equivalent to 8% reductions from 1990 levels. Reacting to the targets, Yvo de Boer - Executive Secretary of the climate talks - would later comment that "for the first time in two and a half years in this job I just don't know what to say." 

• View the report card in full [pdf]

Rumours had been circulating around the Maritim, with plans discussed the previous night in the Youth camp, that the Japanese delegation would be boo-ed upon announcing the targets in the plenary session. Whether the Japanese delegation heard these rumours or not the 11am announcement never happened, and the Japanese delegation chose instead a closed session with the press later in the day.

Outside of Bonn, the results of the meeting in Luxembourg of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, Ecofin, were brought to the table at the FoEI meeting – the opinion seemed to be that it was disastrous. Offsetting was included in financial contributions to developing countries, and the EU again failed to show leadership, potentially influencing the talks in Bonn.

Straight after the meeting I continued with the action materials. The idea to give a school report to delegates with a simple pass or fail mark awarded to each country. This would coincide with a banner outside and the area where the Flood banner was previously suspended to be converted into a blackboard, again with the results. With a much reduced Young FoEE team, from 35 to five, preparations began and text for the materials began to come in.

I had to leave before everything was finished and took the work with me, with the intention of working on the train. I sat down, booted my computer and promptly fell asleep, to wake in Brussels three hours later. I returned to the office and with the action team on the end of the phone, finished the materials, returning home finally at 10pm, but considering myself lucky: I knew the action team would be working hard long into the night, and would be up at the break of dawn.

After the first week of actions and media work, and with the majority of Young FoEE either leaving or already gone, my main Young FoEE responsibilities ended and I was thrown abruptly into the world of policy. The day began with the FoEI meeting, where the policy experts discussed the daily agenda and brought updates from the previous day to the table.

Outside the conference venue - the Maritim Hotel - a collection of organisations, three trees and a number of dancers where protesting against deforestation, with a minute’s silence held for the Peruvians who lost their lives in the protests against free trade agreements and encroachment of industry on land in the Amazon.

This was mirrored by a minute of silence in the plenary halls for the Belarusian delegate, who, on Saturday afternoon, had collapsed and died on the very sofas in the Maritim foyer that would be filled with revellers the same night.

I spent the day trying to catch up on everything that had been happening behind the doors of the Maritim halls, harassing as many colleagues as possible. The general feeling was still one of frustration; the talks do not appear to be going well. Rich industrialised countries are still failing to put forward sufficient emissions reduction targets, with Japan failing to put forward any at all, and offsetting and other false solutions still feature prominently. But, there are glimmers of hope, with progress in REDD, and Bolivia, Paraguay and El Salvador pushing on FoEI’s behalf; using the FoEI language.

There was an interesting development in the Kyoto Protocol Working Group: the Micronesian delegate called for 45% emissions reductions by 2020, which would mean keeping carbon dioxide below 350 ppm (parts per million), keeping global temperature increase below 1.5 degrees, but in essence ensuring survival for many of the islands in this area of the South Pacific.

She compared the EU’s target of 30% reductions to the equivalent of playing Russian roulette with their lives. It struck me as profound that with so many climate change sceptics out there, here inside the walls of a rather modern, shiny but bland hotel next to a motorway in Bonn, an entire subregion of Oceania was battling to keep their tropical islands above water.

Further policy discussions with colleagues continued in the Maritim restaurant, where we were forced to eat expensive salads due to the lack of options. It was either an intentional decision by the UNFCCC to only provide expensive food within the Maritim so as to starve out NGO workers, or it was subtle ploy to make sure everyone went to side events – where food was provided.

Needless to say we fell for it, and found ourselves at the Copenhagen Climate Treaty side event, where the NGO community were putting forward their proposal for a Copenhagen agreement. I found myself struggling to keep up with the figures, and was relieved at the comic interlude when the speakers introduced a new acronym, LCAP (Low Carbon Action Plan), bringing the total in the document to 82. In general it seemed a decent proposal, but more discussion and analysis is needed to find where it coincides and clashes with FoEI policy.

• The document can be found here

More comments to come. With the Q&A over, we left our seats, and dived into the snacks...

The hour and a half long movie details the current state of the earth and the environmental challenges we face as a consumerist society.  

Amidst breathtaking images, Yann explains that although our civilization has to change the way we live and save our planet.

The price to pay is high, but it is too late to be a pessimist: humanity has barely ten years to reverse the trend, become aware of the full extent of its spoliation of the Earth's riches and change its patterns of consumption.

• Watch Home now and get inspired to save the earth.

Photo: © HOME – a co production with ELZEVIR FILMS / EUROPACORP

With most nursing either sore heads or sore backs, depending on where they had spent either their time awake or asleep respectively, the final evaluation session rounded off the week of very intense work from the Young FoEE delegation.

We had collectively achieved a huge amount in a very short space of time: two actions, two teaser actions, meetings with delegates, regional planning sessions, blogs, films, participation in further actions, policy meetings, press work, a march... I could go on.

Everyone was exhausted, but, I think it’s fair to say, inspired. I was definitely inspired. This was my first experience with Young FoEE, and I am left with nothing but respect for a force of very dedicated, intelligent and motivated people. I have no doubt that they have the capability to play an important role in the negotiations in Copenhagen, from inside and out, and have no doubt that each and every one of the participants will return to their countries and inspire more to join.

The trainers themselves did a fantastic job coordinating and developing the participants and deserve huge respect for the work that they have done and will continue to do. In five days we had gained ourselves a reputation both inside and outside the walls of the Maritim hotel, even challenging the UNFCCC action policy, and it was all thanks to the energy and dynamism of the Young FoEE team.

I personally spent Sunday in a form of stupor trying to remember why at 4 am the previous night we had thought it would be a good idea to check out the nightlife of Bonn, and also question how we had achieved so much. It was my first opportunity to really sit and assess.

Here is a short list of sites where you can see for yourself the movies, images and blog posts from the week:

• www.flickr.com/photos/actnow09/
• www.actnow09.eu/
• www.youtube.com/user/YFriendsOfTheEarth

A few of the Young FoEE-ers will continue the good work through the week, but the majority leave today, to meet again in Sholta, Croatia for the summer training camp. Then, if everything goes to plan, the Young FoEE force meet again in Barcelona: so watch out!

• Follow Young Friends of the Earth's reaction to the Bonn climate talks on their blog
  

After shaking off the excess water, and with the rain still falling, Young FoEE grouped to brief for the march towards the Maritim Hotel. The idea was to form a blue block using blue bin bags to cover our clothes, and to display the numerous banners that had been created during the week. We wanted to take the message to delegates that the Flood really is coming, and pride of place was given to the Flood banner, that would eventually be hoisted up outside the Maritim during the speeches.

The Young FoEE block, with the addition of BUND Jugend, the German arm of Young Friends of the Earth Europe, numbered over 50 people in total, and with the calls for “Climate Justice Now!” appeared to be the most dominant force in the march. Organised charges by David Heller, Communications Officer for The Big Ask Campaign, where the Flood would squat and count down from 10, and then charge, banners flying, were an injection of energy, and dispelled all worries of cold and soggy feet.
 
The route weaved through the park towards the “Halls of Power”, as the choreographer had described them, and after dancing behind the samba band we charged the last portion of road up to the roadblock outside the Maritim.

We diverted towards the Tck Tck Tck stage, where speakers delivered motivating stories and chants on the theme of climate justice. With experimental chants that attempted to find rhymes with “climate justice”, we raised our voices with the hope that we would make so much noise that not only the delegates inside would hear us, but that their superiors would hear us at the end of every phone line.

Finally, Jasmine and Bjorn, two members of the Young FoEE delegation took to the stage and gave speeches, in English and German respectively, to the soaked but upbeat crowd. I made a dash inside to get the pictures online as quickly as possible, before joining the evaluation meeting.

The rain continued to fall all evening, and when we returned to the hostel late at night, after the rather raucous NGO party held in the Piano Bar at the Maritim, many campers found themselves on the receiving end of the very message they’d been carrying all day: the flood literally came, and 27 people, with tents drenched inside and out took shelter in the meeting room for the night.

The hour had finally arrived for the UNFCCC football match. I still maintained that it was some sort of elaborate prank, but considered that the worst case would be an opportunity for some informal lobbying. However, I could not have been more wrong. I arrived at the meeting point and was greeted by a selection of delegates and NGO workers all kitted out in shorts and running shoes, a box of beer and a rather shiny trophy. Game on.

We shuttled down to the UNFCCC Headquarters to meet the UN Secretariat team, who had been warming up for the last half hour. Spirits were high in the NGO camp; a chance to release any pent up frustration from the talks. There was little time for tactical discussions or stretching, although this was what we all needed after a week of inactivity and sleep deprivation. We split into two teams, roughly NGO and delegates, and I found myself on the ‘Greenpeace Team’ alongside five Greenpeace delegates, including, with everyone whispering in excitement, “one from Brazil”. I campaigned to have us renamed the ‘NGO Team’, but majority ruled in the team of nine.

A very messy game

With raw herring from lunch still brewing in my stomach I took to the field. The game kicked off before we’d even nominated a keeper and 20 minutes of schoolyard football commenced. The Lesotho delegate in goal let a soft shot slip through his hands and roll across the line within five minutes, and the Brazilian tripped on the ball and twisted his ankle within seven. I had two breaks on goal and the only shot on target but failed to equalise, and after a heavy 50-50 challenge in the second half one of the Secretariat team members told me, in very un-diplomatic terms, that he’d “mess me up”. The game remained in deadlock until the end. The disgruntled Greenpeace team ‘borrowed’ the trophy and declared moral victory.

The next team took to the field, including Kuni Shimada, from the Japanese Ministry of Environment and the game quickly descended into chaos. Shimada left the field after one minute over confusion about untied shoelaces, the keeper took a goal kick from his hands, and the Secretariat scored a lot of goals.

The final match between the NGOs and delegates was a humourous affair, with further confusion for Shimada, who unsure whether to take a corner or a throw appeared to do something akin to both at the same time. A controversial penalty decision saw the Greenpeace delegates up in arms over the injustice, followed by bickering over the position of the penalty spot, until it was decided the player who would take the penalty “was a girl”, with the ref moving the spot closer. She smashed it into the top left corner.

They think it’s all over…

Further confusion broke out later when someone mistook “first substitution” for “perverse regulations” and the game finally ended in victory for Greenpeace with smiles all around. The trophy was returned to the rightful owners (UN Secretariat), and a surprisingly sincere speech about something about climate change followed. Then we all drank beer…

At the climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, world leaders will make decisions affecting the future of our planet. They will have an historic opportunity to commit to actions that help to protect us from the disastrous consequences of dangerous climate change.

Sign Friends of the Earth International's petition to urge them to do the right thing by our climate and people all over the world.

• Sign the petition here

The alarm seemed to be ringing before I’d even set it. The night had ended around 1am, and the plan was to have the action set up at 8am, leaving the hostel at exactly 7:22, after packing everything up and moving bags and all, along with our tents, in preparation for the night’s camping. This would be followed by another teaser around 11am, a meeting with the German delegation, a further action at 1pm, talks, talks and more talks, and the small matter of a football match. I began to question whether I could somehow disguise my youth status and sneak a couple extra hours of sleep, but to no avail. I was bundled out of bed at 6:30am sharp.

By the time I emerged from the building, the action group were already packing the van, with desks, chalk, cut-out cartoons, banners, benches and bodies. Bags were hurled into a spare room and somehow the majority of us made it for the bus with a minute to spare.

On arrival, the police had changed the venue of the action at the last minute, but it suited us: with a clear view of the Maritim Hotel the action team began to set up. First came the tables and benches, then the blackboard, then the banners. I dashed inside to hand out the last press releases to the media and returned to find a fully-fledged classroom, complete with noisy and unruly students, dominating the route towards the Maritim. The idea behind the action: it’s the end of the first week of the UNFCCC climate conference, and the leaders of industrialised nations have failed to do their homework on climate change.

I will not invest in cole

The action team were kitted out in masks depicting Merkel, Sarkozy, Obama, Aso, Van Rompuy, Brown, Reinfeldt, Rudd and Berlusconi and all dressed in uniform. The teacher, armed with a megaphone, ordered the mob to write lines on the blackboard as punishment for failing to do their homework: “I will not invest in cole, nuklear and offsetting [sic]” wrote Sarkozy, and “I must reduce my carbon emmisions [sic] by 40% by 2020” wrote Merkel. Despite the best efforts of the leaders to lay blame on their dogs or fellow classmates, and several ambitious attempts to deny any knowledge of the words “historical” or “responsibility” they ended the class with a unified chant: “Climate Justice Now! Climate Justice Now!”. Watch out for the Young FoEE video of the event, coming soon.

Sadly the event received less media attention than I’d hoped, despite the media team’s best efforts, although a Japanese journalist took great interest, and a local Bonn paper promised to run the story. But, importantly the delegates loved it. The event was met with unanimous positivity. Colleagues in the media team interviewed many, asking if they too had done their homework.

The action was undeniably a huge success; the only hiccup the lack of media attention – I asked myself if I too had failed to do my homework!

• Watch the video
  

After leaving the press invitation in the capable hands of the media group, I was dragged out of the Maritim Hotel to document the first teaser action. Six Young FoEE-ers, armed with chalk and stickers were determined to take the message of climate justice to the citizens of Bonn.

After energetically peppering every lampost and sign in sight they decided they should probably stick to the original plan and save some resources for the centre, and we all jumped on the tram and set our sights on central Bonn.

The same enthusiasm was released upon the streets, literally, with the small team covering the central pedestrian areas with the slogans “The Flood is coming” and “Demand Climate Justice”. The reaction was mixed. Positive interest and excitement from the younger generation, and grumbles, mumbles, shuffles and general despair from the much elder. But then it is Young FoEE.

I returned to the Maritim early to finish the press release for Friday’s action and to make sure we had spokespeople for the day, and made time to sign myself up for the UNFCCC football championships. Could this be a prank? Would they really unleash a team of NGO workers onto a football field with national delegates? We’ll find out.

Young FoEE were treated to an introduction to Climate Justice Now!, with stirring talks from affected people in the Global South, and everyone took a well deserved beer after almost 12 hours non-stop activity. Thoroughly exhausted I returned to the Young FoEE camp where meetings continued long into the night, with final preparations and last minute arrangements for tomorrow.

Fingers crossed…

more climate coverage

• Read Friends of the Earth's Tom Picken address at the Bonn climate talks
• Call on world leaders to do the right thing at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen this December

No to neoliberal illusions, yes to people's solutions!

For centuries, productivity and industrial capitalism have been destroying our cultures, exploiting our labor and poisoning our environment.

Now, with the climate crisis, the Earth is saying "enough"!

Once again, the people who created the problem are telling us that they also have the solutions: carbon trading, so-called "clean coal", more nuclear power, agrofuels, even a "green new deal". But these are not real solutions, they are neoliberal illusions. It is time to move beyond these illusions.

Real solutions to the climate crisis are being built by those who have always protected the Earth and by those who fight every day to defend their environment and living conditions. We need to globalize these solutions.

For us, the struggles for climate justice and social justice are one and the same. It is the struggle for territories, land, forests and water, for agrarian and urban reform, food and energy sovereignty, for women's and worker's rights. It is the fight for equality and justice for indigenous peoples, for peoples of the global South, for the redistribution of wealth
and for the recognition of the historical ecological debt owed by the North.

Against the disembodied, market-driven interests of the global elite and the dominant development model based on never-ending growth and consumption, the climate justice movement will reclaim the commons, and put social and economic realities at the heart of our struggle against climate change.

We call on everyone -  workers, farmers, fishermen, students, youth, women, indigenous peoples, and all concerned humans from the South and the North - to join in this common struggle to build the real solutions to the climate crisis for the future of our planet, our societies, and our cultures. Together, we are building a movement for climate justice.

We support the mobilizations against the G20 summit and on the global crisis from March 28th to April 4th, and the April 17th mobilization of La Via Campesina.

We support the call for an International Day of Action in Defense of Mother Earth and Indigenous Rights on October 12th, 2009.

We call for mobilization and action everywhere leading up to, during and beyond the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, especially on the Global Day of Action on December 12th, 2009.

In all of our work, we will expose the false solutions, raise the voices of the South, defend human rights, and strengthen our solidarity in the fight for climate justice. If we make the right choices, we can build a better world for everyone.

Friends of the Earth International is calling for an immediate end to the destruction of the environment and the lives of the people living in the Niger Delta. Please join us in calling on the President of Nigeria to end gas flaring in all Niger Delta communities.

Gas is often found mixed with crude oil and must be separated. Burning the gas is the cheapest way to do this yet also the most environmentally destructive. Regardless, this is what the major oil producers in the Niger Delta have been doing for decades despite it being illegal in Nigeria since 1984.

Nigeria is the world’s second largest flarer of gas associated with crude oil extraction. The country burns 23 billion cubic meters annually. This practice, which costs $2.5 billion in annual revenue losses has led to a myriad of social, health and environmental costs, and is also a major factor in the tension and conflicts raging in the Niger Delta region.

In 2005 a Federal High court sitting in Benin ordered Shell to stop gas flaring in Iwhrekan, saying it violates the people’s fundamental right to life and dignity of human person. The judge ruled that gas flaring is a "gross violation" of the constitutionally-guaranteed rights to life and dignity, which include the right to a "clean poison-free, pollution-free healthy environment".

There can be no more excuses. We must act in large numbers and demand the government of Nigeria brings about an end to gas flaring once and for all.

Take action now!