2009

At 10am on Monday morning Anje von Broock and Tina Loeffelsend form Friends of the Earth Germany / BUND delivered 10,000 signatures collected via the DemandClimateJustice.org website calling for at least 40% cuts in carbon emissions from Germany and the EU by 2020.

The minister said he welcomed Friends of the Earth International's efforts to push governments forward.

Picking up on Chancellor Merkel’s remarks that she will not make unilateral commitments now, Anje and Tina reminded the German government that, industrialised countries have led the way in carbon emissions and now have to take the lead in reducing them in Copenhagen.

Drastic reductions of at least 40% are needed from rich countries at home without offsetting.

The minister responded by stating the German government's mid to long-term reductions targets of 80-95% by 2050. At which point Anje questioned the Minister's commitment to that pledge given the investment currently going into new coal fired power plants in the country.

"That is something we can debate back home" the minister responded.

We look forward to what will be a lively debate.

Speaking to the cameras after the second action Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of Friends of the Earth International said the rich countries were "using dirty negotiating tactics..trying to change the rules and tilt them in their own favour."

African countries stood up to these tactics and during the action Friends of the Earth International chanted "We stand with Africa. Don't kill Kyoto targets"

• Watch coverage of the first action
  
• Hear Nnimmo explain why it's important to stand with Africa
  

In recognition of 'young and future generations day' at the climate conference, the daily briefing in the Klimaforum - the civil society summit - was carried out by members of Young Friends of the Earth and other young people attending the summit.

There are around a thousand young people following the negotiations in Copenhagen and the role youth can play in these negotiations is now being formally recognised.

The panel was split into regions and Mauro Ramos from Friends of the Earth Uruguay talked about the position of Latin America, particularly when it comes to climate debt.

Firstly he spoke about Bolivia and the strong position they have taken in the region.

"They are one of the few countries that propose to maintain and preserve oil reserves in their territories"

He talked about the discussions around climate debt and how it can be paid; two options being direct payments to countries and technology transfers from developing country to non developing country.

On the subject of renewable energy he was positive but cautious:

"Many private companies are seeking new business opportunities. We say it's important to keep this energy at the reach of local people."

He ended by calling on negotiators to listen to indigenous people. "Native populations are not heard… these people are totally forgotten. We have to bear them in mind for a fair world."

the feminist struggle

The first talk of the afternoon was 'feminists struggling against climate change and the privatisation of the environment' organised by the World March of Women and supported by Friends of the Earth International.

Meena Raman from Friends of the Earth Malaysia began by updating us on the climate talks from the perspective of developing countries and women.

She said how great it was to be at the Klimaforum," a place of passion, inspiration, spirit and hope and justice" and went on to say how women's closeness to the earth mean they are at the forefront of the climate struggle:

"They see what contamination does their bodies, what pollution does their children."

She spoke with passion detailing the spin the developed countries are putting on the talks.

"They say there needs to be a new treaty to replace Kyoto which runs out in 2012. It doesn't."

She criticised the Danish government for their back room talks and other countries for invoking intellectual property rights when it comes to green technology transfer.

"These same rights were used to deny Africans life saving AIDS drugs" she said.

It's hard to get a crowd fired up on the finer points of the Kyoto Treaty yet Meena had no problem in generating whoops, sighs and cheers.

• Listen to Meena's assessment of the talks here

Thuli Mahama from Friends of the Earth Swaziland spoke in advance of the event saying the face of poverty is always that of a woman or a malnourished child yet these same people are adapting without attending any conferences."

They have no choice but to find ways to survive:

"In Swaziland some women scrape some sand from the ground and if they wait long enough, perhaps two hours, a small pool of water may appear. This is how women are adapting to climate change" she said.

ecological debt and climate justice

As feminist struggles continued, over the corridor, the 'People's tribunal on ecological debt and climate justice' was taking place. There, a panel including Angela Navarro one of the Bolivian negotiators, the author Naomi Klein and Ricardo Navarro from Friends of the Earth El Salvador gave their thoughts on the pursuit of climate debt and reparations - an essential element to climate justice.

Angela Navarro began by talking about the kind of climate agreement Bolivia wants. One that takes into account the fact that developed countries and their pursuit of ever greater profits caused the mess that we're in today.

"Developed countries have forgotten what a healthy relationship is with Mother Earth. In the south we are still listening to her" she said.

She then went on to offer developed countries capacity building on being more in tuned with the earth.

Finally she ended with some news on the negotiations:

"Our President is preparing a surprise for us. We need your help to make this process inclusive from the bottom up. Thirty nations don't have a right to impose a solution"

Having spent a few days in the convention centre where the official climate talks are taking place, Naomi Klein observed that the talks resembled "the final scrabble for the remaining resources of a planet in peril"

She gave encouragement to the movement calling for reparations comparing them to the people who asked for reparations for the slave trade:

"They will laugh until there is a movement... We are that movement."

Finally it was Ricardo Navarro's turn.

He spoke of a new paradigm of development that needs to take place where it's not the economists who have the final word. He urged people to resist any project that contributes to climate change and transform the system; "small scale agriculture and energy sovereignty is part of the solution."

Naomi Klein had the last word when she said:

"A common phrase in American is 'let's press the restart button.' The earth doesn't have a restart button."

Listen to the report on Real World Radio

Desperate to get any kind of deal, the Danish Prime Minister has been leading meetings with rich country negotiators to agree the wording of agreements before proposals are even on the table.

We need to make it clear to the Danish government that this isn't acceptable. And as the hosts of the talks, their responsibility is to ensure a fair and transparent process , not to broker a deal at any cost to the millions of people in developing countries who will suffer most.

Email the President of the Conference of Parties now.

This action is hosted by Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland.

Our magician try his best to magic away carbon emissions but it just doesn't work.

Young Friends of the Earth promote the Angry Mermaid Award

Offsetting protest in the Bella Center atrium

 

Take me to your climate leader


Indigenous protest

REDD protest

At 08:00 on Friday morning my colleague and I found ourselves in the waiting room for the Climate Express from Brussels to Copenhagen. We were to be ‘eco-passengers’ on the Train to Copenhagen, and would travel direct, powered from renewable sources, with a plethora of events to entertain us en-route, before arriving in Copenhagen 14 hours later.

After dodging the camera crews, we settled into our seats, and prepared flyers and posters for the Friends of the Earth International ‘Flood for Climate Justice’ to spread around the train. I joined the champagne breakfast, accompanied by jazz, in the dimly lit dining car, as the train sped past the still, grey, sleepy Belgian countryside. During the day, a range of talks and presentations across two carriages would cover a range of topics, from climate science to urban transportation, and would continue right up until arrival in Copenhagen at 23:00.

The Climate Express was not as fast as the name implied: train-spotters in Aachen took the opportunity to film the unique Climate Express as it stopped to give way to numerous freight trains.

I photographed Tom Picken, the international climate campaigner from Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland, as he handed over our 40% study, showing that 40% emission cuts are possible in Europe, to the CEO of Eurostar, Richard Brown.

what are we doing in Copenhagen?

The majority of MEPs disembarked in Köln to return to Brussels, and were replaced by more passengers for the stretch to Copenhagen. The media moved from the front of the train to the rear to get a different perspective and the FoEE representatives found themselves in front of an Italian camera crew. The question being asked from the crew was simply,  “What will you be doing in Copenhagen?”

Tom provided a sane and sober response – urgent and deep emission cuts for developed countries, without offsetting; money for developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change; forests out of carbon markets; public money to fight climate change through the UNFCCC, not the World Bank.

When they unexpectedly turned the camera on me, they received a mumbled, embarrassed and red-faced “demand climate justice”, which will no doubt be edited out. A good reason for all those in the FoEI delegation to familiarize themselves with the official FoEI messages and keep their cool in front of the cameras!

The Climate Express took on a very relaxed atmosphere towards the end of the journey, with the media circus calming down, and those remaining on the train until Copenhagen taking what would probably be the last chance for an evening nap. The same Italian TV crew from earlier debated whether the organic tagliatelle to be served for dinner would have been cooked since Köln, and therefore be well past its best – which was thankfully not the case.

My second embarrassing media interview commenced immediately after stepping out of the train into the Copenhagen drizzle, when a Japanese camera crew filmed me holding the ‘seal the deal’ bag that we had all been given on boarding. I tried to convince them that climate justice was more important than just any old deal, but it was lost on them.

For the rest of the COP I will try and stay behind the camera. Blogging is more my thing.

If you want to read our Copenhagen demands you can do so here. 

Image: Tom Picken presents the 40% study to the CEO of Eurostar. Copyright: Friends of the Earth International

For a large part of the official G8 summit world leaders will be discussing climate change. Whereas they will be talking about market based solutions and the World Bank's role in bringing about a low carbon economy the alternative summit will be discussing how this transition must be managed in a way that does not harm the poor by limiting energy access or the right to develop, and adds to the empowerment of local communities to make decisions about local resources.

• Find our more about the alternative G8 and watch the discussions live
  

We, the women and men of Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific (FoE APac), defend and uphold human dignity and the universal sanctity of human rights. We believe in a just society where sovereignty and social justice can only be attained through genuine democracy.

As a continent that has been ravaged by dictatorships and oppression, we oppose dictators and the military in their fascist attempts to suppress the sovereign rights of peoples. We continue to fight and stand together with masses of people, with communities and with movements in pushing for genuine democracy.

We cannot remain silent when our sisters and brothers across the oceans are blatantly denied their genuine democracy and are being abused for exercising their rights.

Therefore, our nations in the Asia Pacific, stand together with our sisters and brothers in Honduras and in Latin America who are opposing the fascist coup d'etat staged against the Honduran people and the government of Honduras which led to the kidnapping and exile of President-elect Manuel Zelaya.

We reject the installation of Roberto Micheletti as Honduran President and condemn the Congress, the military forces and their elitist powerful cohorts in protecting an installed leadership in Honduras which is not the popular will of the Honduran people.

We denounce the blatant abuse of power and the human rights violations committed against the right of the Honduran people to demonstrate against the perpetrators of the coup d'etat, where hundreds were beaten and seriously wounded. We oppose the repression, intimidation, persecution and silencing of our comrades and leaders of social movements.

We denounce the crack-down on freedom of speech and the closing down of broadcast media where national television stations and radio stations were taken off the air following Sunday's military-led coup d'etat. We condemn the corporate mass media in promoting Micheletti and the Honduran oligarchy in their efforts to stop popular will and peoples' democracy by justifying and supporting the coup d'etat.  

We, therefore, demand:

1. The immediate and unconditional reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya as the President elect of Honduras;
2. The protection and respect towards Manuel Zelaya upon his return to Honduras;
3. That freedom of speech be respected and that the crack-down on broadcase media immediately ceases;
4. That Honduran Armed Forces immediately cease to protect the interest of the powerful and the elite, and instead fulfil their duty to serve and protect Honduras and its people;
5. That activists and leaders of social movements are respected and not harmed while exercising their right to freedom of speech; and
6. That an immediate investigation be conducted on the human rights violations that have been committed against demonstrators, activists and social movements and that justice will be attained for those who fought for genuine democracy

We call on the international community to continue to be vigilant and support genuine democracy in Honduras.  Say NO TO FASCIST MILITARY RULE! NO TO DICTATORSHIP! NO TO HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS!

In solidarity, the women and men of Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific, stand united with our sisters and brothers in Honduras.

Friends of the Earth Australia, BELA – FoE Bangladesh, WALHI – FoE Indonesia, FoE Japan, SAM – FoE Malaysia, ProPublic – FoE Nepal, PENGON – FoE Palestine, CELCOR – FoE Papua New Guinea, LRC/KsK – FoE Philippines, KFEM – FoE South Korea, CEJ – FoE Sri Lanka and HABURAS – FoE Timor Leste

Here is some text you can use or sample for your email or letter.

• Find your nearest Honduran embassy here
  

Subject:  Reinstate President Manuel Zelaya.

Date: xxx

To:  The Embassy of Honduras in xxx

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to express my deep concern about the current situation in the republic of Honduras and my unreserved condemnation of the illegal detention and expulsion of the constitutional President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya.

I join with the international community in demanding that the Honduran Armed Forces immediately re-instate Mr Zelaya and re-establish respect for all elected authorities.  We condemn any persecution or repression of activists in grassroots movements and organizations by the sectors promoting the coup. 

We insist that the Honduran Army respect the physical integrity of all Honduran social movements, organizations, the demonstrators who are defending the institutional order and we will be watchful for human rights abuses.

We want the Honduran Army to know that we are fully aware of the current stage of repression and have photographic evidence of what is happening in the streets of Honduras.  The removal of President Zelaya was an illegal action and we are watching closely to ensure that social peace is restored in Honduras.  We demand that the democratic process, and the will of the Honduras people, be respected.

In solidarity with the Honduran people,

Sincerely,
 
Your Name Here

Friends of the Earth International is deeply worried about the current situation in the republic of  Honduras and expresses its unreserved condemnation for the illegal  detention and expulsion of the constitutional president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya by the armed forces.

Friends of the Earth International demands the restoration of the Honduran president and the unconditional respect for democracy.

Friends of the Earth International expresses its solidarity with Friends of the Earth Honduras / Movimiento Madre Tierra and all the forces struggling for democracy in Honduras.

The entire international community must demand the return of the democratically  elected president.

Friends of the Earth International invites citizens worldwide to protest and send letters to the embassies of Honduras worldwide, demanding the restoration of the elected Honduran president and the unconditional respect for democracy. The will of the Honduran people must be respected at all times.

More information

• Watch an interview with Dr Juan Almendares, Director of Friends of the Earth Honduras.
• Read the statement from Friends of the Earth Latin America and Caribbean 
• Read the statement from Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific
  

take action

Please write to your nearest Honduran embassy and demand the restoration of the elected President and the unconditional respect for democracy.

• Find a sample letter/email here
  
• Find your nearest embassy here
  

The first signs of exhaustion set in on Tuesday morning: I jumped on the bus, which I maintain left from the same bus stop, with the same number, at the same time, and failed to notice for several stops that I was going in completely the wrong direction.

Needless to say I was late for the 8am FoEI meeting. I arrived half way through the updates from the previous day. We discussed collecting all the blogs from various FoEI members during the two weeks in Bonn.

Here are a couple of links to those that I have not previously mentioned:

Video blogs from Friends of the Earth US:

• http://foe.org/video-blogging-bonn
  

Linda’s blog, Friends of the Earth Netherlands:

• http://www.milieudefensie.nl/klimaat/activiteiten/kopenhagen/weblog/linda-in-bonn/

I popped outside to photograph the Anti-nuclear action, protesting against the possible inclusion of nuclear activities under the clean development mechanisms, before joining the remaining Young FoEE in discussion over a further action – an end of week school report, and continuation of the previous detention action’s theme.

The evening was spent at the Secretariat’s reception, where after again being fooled by public transport we found ourselves 30 minutes late. We missed the speeches, but thankfully not the free dinner and wine, of which I suspect the majority of the punctual attendees were deeply jealous.

I spent some time doing my best to mingle, but too tired to speak decided instead to stand and observe lobbying in its informal setting. I was slightly disgruntled that after 20 minutes nobody tried to lobby me, but figured my green t-shirt with a bicycle logo betrayed my NGO status.
 
It also struck me that I recognised the majority of people, and that we had all been sharing such a small space for what felt like weeks: the Maritim bubble (the conference venue). I realised that the talks offered a really fantastic opportunity for NGOs to influence the direction that countries would take to tackle climate change in the future, and ultimately a fantastic opportunity to influence the future full-stop – through lobbying and action.

I mentally congratulated the FoEI and Young FoEE team for their dedicated work over the last days. Ready for bed, I accompanied a genuinely lost and confused member of the Secretariat to the train station. At one point during the walk she remarked “oh, what is this lovely place?” to which I responded, “Bonn”.

I took a second to reassess the situation after the detention action, and was shocked to find that it was only 10:30am. Some rushed discussions about further press work interrupted my sleepy ponderings, and then I had to dash to meet the policy group, who were badgering me to photograph their meeting with the German delegation, which I was more than happy to do.

The debate seemed lively, although I must admit I had no idea what they were talking about. I was unsure whether I found it inspiring or troubling that so many of the participants, who were clearly much younger than myself, seemed so knowledgeable about policy, and knew so many acronyms: I was still mulling over the sign outside the Maritim Hotel which appeared to point to BINGO.

After lunch and a swift media group meeting, it was time to join BUND Jugend, the German Young FoEE group, preparing a beach party outside the Maritim, with cut-out cartoons of Merkel and climate refugees. Having been refused permission to present either the cut-out figures or the accompanying film inside the Maritim, they used portable laptops to show passers-by the clip, and collected signed postcards.

• See the video for yourself
  

Discussions with Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, followed concerning the vague action policy surrounding the event, resulting in permission for the entry of Merkel and company into the Maritim.

I finally found time to collect my thoughts, and it was still only 4 pm...

The Young FoEE day began earlier than any would have liked, especially after the late night spent banner painting in preparation for Friday, but everyone was keen to get their first look inside Hotel Maritim where the climate talks were taking place.

After final rushed meetings in the bus and tram we arrived at the rather soulless area around the hotel, and after a brief stroll along the footpath, adjacent to a motorway, 35 of us congregated in the front entrance of the hotel for the first group shot. Young FoEE had arrived, and we were hard to miss.

After passing security it was like being thrown into a sea of suits, and as my first experience at this kind of event I was relieved to find that it wasn’t as scary as I’d expected. A rather small venue, considering the importance of the talks, and a disturbing number of smiling delegates… was this a reflection on the progress of the talks? Not if the FoEI delegation were to be believed.

The atmosphere inside the hotel was a surreal cross between music festival and boardroom meeting: all the freneticism, energy and legions of sleep-deprived people that you’d find in a festival, but with all the music and fun removed.

The hotel was full of surreal juxtapositions and the rhythm strangely hypnotic: I would later find myself signing off a press release for Friday’s action with a snoring delegate on the sofa opposite, a destitute polar bear below, and calls of “Fossil of the day” echoing through the corridors.

But, to work! The Young FoEE groups split again into three, and continued from yesterday’s sessions. Action locations were scoped out, and plans refined. Policy differences were ironed out and the media potential was explored. It was clear there remains plenty of room for the Young FoEE/FoEI message.

To the poet of the olives
Mahmoud Darwish (1942 -2008)
and for the children of Palestine.

Killing or war!
said the wise owl,
while waking up from its millenary dreams.
Killing!! Said the hawk,
while showing its sinister claws ...
Killing is the slogan!
Cried the Coryphaeus of death.

While the owl,
settled on my eyes,
I could not open
my tightly closed eyelids
due to the gruesome scene
of the Palestine massacre.

Who can sleep
and keep silence,
if this unpunished killing
hurts the heart
of humanity?

In the labyrinth of infamy,
missiles and bombs
killing the children,
torture the life of dreams
and strangle the heart of the mothers

Such land in Gaza
my throat is tightened,
pain tores
my silence.

I shouted and shouted with solidarity courage:
Where is the humanity of the
United Nations?
Brother, sister!:
The children,
the olive trees and the winds of the desert have died!

I heard the voice of the poet of the olives:
The "Birds are dying in Galilee"
And the joy is "withered in the borders."

I am skin and heart of all colors.
My soul embraces the planet
with the song of the lark
and the subtle flight of the hummingbird.

I love humanity,
without holocausts:
Africa, Asia, Australia, Latin America,

Without the Nazi genocide against Jews and Gypsies,
without martyrdom in Palestine.

I love freedom:
freedom of the olives,
freedom without walls
freedom of the water.
Freedom of the stories
in "a thousand and one nights."

I Dream of the poet of the olive trees:
with no occupied territories,
without financial crisis and hunger
due to the business of weapons, or
oil wars;
due to gold and emeralds.

My dreams want to shake
the conscience of the people
and overcome with love and rebellion
the hunter of the planet.
I dream of the freedom of Palestine, and
Honduras, my occupied homeland.
A free Homeland!
Homeland for all mankind!