messages of solidarity

A planned nickel and cobalt mine on Halmahera Island in Indonesia could result in an ecological nightmare if it goes ahead. Twenty-one percent of Weda Bay nickel mining area is part of Indonesia's protected areas and includes the Lalobata and Aketajawe National Park.

The mine will destroy 35,155 hectares of protected forest. Approximately 17 million tons of rock will be dug each year from this small and fragile island rich in biodiversity.

Export of the nickel and cobalt from this mine is expected to reach 65,000 tons a year. The company behind the mine plan to use sulphuric acid to extract nickel from the ore. In addition, they will dump their waste into Weda Bay.

Friends of the Earth Indonesia (Walhi) reject the role of the World Bank and financial institutions everywhere that provide insurance and funds to dangerous projects such as the PT Weda Bay Nickel mine.

take action

Please support the Halmahera people by signing the petition on Friends of the Earth Indonesia's website. 

Early on in the second week of COP15, the cordoned path created for long lines of NGOs seeking entry into the Bella Centre was a crowded mass of people. The cold was setting in, but the people pressed in. 

The story was different for the last two days of the COP. The path was desolate and taken over by a carpet of snow. Observers had been barred from entering the venue and the few with possibilities of entry had to contend with long waits as security officials thumbed through sheets with names of those cleared to enter.

Within the conference venue the most democratic space appears to be the entrance hall where the registration of delegates was carried out. The pull here is the large UNFCCC logo on the wall where virtually every delegate sought to be photographed as a memento to a conference of lost opportunities.

Inside the chambers, more went on behind closed doors than in plenary. The Danish president of the COP spent more time denouncing leaked or rumoured secret texts rather than spending precious time negotiating. Blocks and hurdles were erected in the path of negotiators to ensure that real progress was not made.

The UNFCCC erected banners inviting people to raise their voices for climate change. Out on the streets the Danish police fought to ensure that the voices of dissent were silenced.

Thousands demand Climate Justice

If any good news emerged from the climate conference, it must be that the climate justice movement is rising up. On December 12, 2009 over 100,000 citizens of the world braved the cold and marched more than six kilometres through the streets of Copenhagen to show their disgust with politicians and leaders who consistently refuse to act but keep talking about climate change.

Would emissions be cut? Would these be done at source or would it be through acts carried out elsewhere rather than at home? Who would pay for the mitigation measures needed to be effected in poor developing nations? The impacted nations have said that levels of funding needed to tackle these impacts have been put at about US$400 billion per year. With brave generosity, rich nations offer to place $30 billion for the period 2010 to 2020. And then ramped up to US$100 billion by 2020.

President Lula of Brazil, while speaking at the plenary on the closing date, wondered if the negotiators would have to wait for angels to put intelligence in their brains before they could come to a good deal. His statement suggested that there was a case of lack of intelligence. Was it really a lack of intelligence or an unwillingness to toe the paths of true ambition?

take it or leave it

When President Obama took the stage, he asserted that climate change poses an unacceptable risk to our planet. The world should act boldly in the face of the threat. He said he came to act and not to talk. So what was the act.

Obama stated that the USA would change the way they create and use energy as a necessary block in their national security. In addition they would work to ensure reduction of dependence on foreign oil.  At the end of the day, all that President Obama said amounted to declaration of US interests that the world had to accept or leave. It brought nothing new to the table.

Even the funds promised for mitigation in poorer nations was made with a snigger that no one expecting aid should escape the demand for responsibility.

Talking about responsibility, who is responsible for the climate impacts in these poor countries? The pledge of President Lula to meet Brazilian challenges with own funds and the promise to assist poor countries in their efforts to take mitigation measures shone in the dark hallways of the Copenhagen talks.  

With several versions of the Copenhagen Accord, coined perhaps from a phrase in President Obama’s speech, one leaves the conference wondering where all the hype about working for an ambitious deal went. If there was a deficit of anything at this conference it was that of ambition.

A disaster for the world's poor

I left the Bella Conference at 1:45 AM to meet the warm chants of climate justice activists protesting in the cold, beneath the Metro tracks, denouncing the lack of seriousness in the climate negotiations. The protesters could have been snugly asleep in their beds, but these were mostly young people whose future was being jeopardised for the political expediency of a few and for the comfort and profiteering of carbon speculators.

As we said in our final statement at the talks, the so-called accord was a disaster to poor nations. A two degrees Celsius temperature rise means sure disaster and death to millions in vulnerable countries. 

As I crushed the snow beneath my feet, each step raised a question: for how long will leaders be disconnected from the voices of the people? But I took great comfort from the strength of Friends of the Earth International activists who demonstrated to the world that the time for the growth of the climate justice movement has indeed come.

Congratulations, friends. Have a great holiday season and an action-filled 2010.

Ricardo Navarro from Friends of the Earth El Salvador opened proceedings at the Klimaforum by talking about the expulsion of the Friends of the Earth International delegation from observing the talks and how the people who represent the millions of affected people around the world are being denied a voice.

Today only two people from Friends of the Earth International were allowed into the conference centre where the talks are taking place.

"The blame game is now beginning for who will be responsible for the no solution."

Friends of the Earth International believes that rich countries are squarely to blame for the lack of any meaningful progress made so far.

Cristian Dominguez from the Bolivian negotiating team at the climate conference told the audience what it was like on the inside for developing countries:

"They don't want to talk about the Kyoto Treaty so they delay. Last night we stayed until 2am and achieved nothing."

He said the politicians of the developing countries were focusing on the past and unwilling to change, "they are like robots of the capitalist system."

"We have faith that Evo Morales [the Bolivian President] won't sign a document that goes against humanity, against Mother Earth" he concluded.

the climate fund

Most of the politicians and heads of state attending the summit have now arrived in Copenhagen and are making announcements on how they propose to move forward.

Today US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced a $100 billion climate fund. However, she did not say how much the US would contribute to this amount that falls far short of what the United Nations say is needed.

Read the press release

Watch the video of the how the day unfolded

Nnimmo Bassey the Friends of the Earth International Chair said:

"Our organizations represent millions of people around the world and provide a critical voice promoting climate justice inside the UN. On the inside and the outside, all the rules have gone out the window - organizations such as Friends of the Earth that support peaceful action are being barred while developing countries concerns are being trampled in the plenary."

This is a shocking turn in events and we are working on our response now to the UNFCCC.

We will keep you updated.

To learn more about today's dramatic events inside and outside of the conference centre please visit the Friends of the Earth US blog.

The first talk explored the false solutions being promoted in the name of tackling climate change including the role of the World Bank, carbon offsetting, monoculture tree plantations and agrofuels.

The speakers included Camila Morena from Friends of the Earth Brazil and Nnimmo Bassey from Friends of the Earth Nigeria and the Chair of Friends of the Earth International.

Camila looked at REDD as a false solution.

"The Amazon covers 49% of Brazil and Amazon deforestation accounts for 48% of the deforestation taking place at the moment, four times the rate of Indonesia - the second deforester" she said.

REDD, which stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation in developing countries, will mean that forests are incorporated into carbon markets.

Put simply, a factory in Europe can offset their emissions by buying credits on the carbon market and as a result a landowner in the Amazon will be paid not to cut down a hectare of trees. The way the mechanism is set up though could also mean that deforestation actually increases under the scheme. It is flawed in many ways.

Camila said there was "tsunami of investment in REDD projects in Brazil at the moment" and said that big agribusiness, who are the owners of most of this land - not peasant farmers as we are led to believe, who are cutting down the rain forest to plant soy are now being rewarded for not deforesting the Amazon anymore.

"We are paying the kings of deforestation not to chop down our forests" she said.

In the climate talks Friends of the Earth are demanding that forests are kept out of carbon markets, that plantations are entirely excluded and land rights are enforced as the basis of any forest policy.

Find out more about REDD

Nnimmo Bassey talked about gas flaring in his country.

Gas flaring takes place when the the associated gasses that occur when oil is extracted from the ground are burnt straight into the atmosphere. This is what Shell and other companies do in the Niger Delta, often in the middle of communities, twenty-four hours a day. Not only are huge quantities of CO2 pumped into the air but also toxins that have had devastating effects on the surrounding communities.

For decades oil companies have broken the law by illegally flaring, saying it's very difficult to stop. Now the clean development mechanism (CDM) has come along, another false solution, and Shell are looking to stop these illegal flares and claim money for doing so under the pretext of reducing their carbon emissions.

Nnimmo put this question to the audience:

"If I were a bank robber and I decide to rob only one bank a day instead of ten should I be given an award? This is what is now happening as oil companies turn to carbon development mechanisms."

Find out more about gas flaring

a future without fossil fuels

In another room George Monbiot, an environmentalist from the UK, also addressed false solutions and looked at the huge levels of investment that would be needed to continue down the road of fossil fuels.

He dismissed the notion that we'll soon be at peak oil and once that runs out we will naturally progress to renewables because we will have no choice.

"The problem we're facing is not too little fossil fuels, it's too much" he said.

He explained that as fossil fuels become harder to reach, more and more money will be needed to extract them. In the case of coal there is plenty in the far reaches of Siberia and the North Sea bed. The problem is getting it.

He conceded that the path to renewables is an expensive one - around $4.2 trillion he'd calculated - and will totally change our consumption patterns but the path to our continued reliance on fossil fuel would also cost around the same amount just to continue with business as usual.

As he sees it, there are two options:

"We spend trillions on securing fossils fuels for the next generation an adapt to the the disastrous consequences, or we can invest the same amount in renewables that will last forever."

I know which one I would choose.

The event was hosted by Friends of the Earth Denmark in collaboration with Brian Vad Mathiesen, an assistant Professor at Aalborg University in Denmark. The Professor looked objectively at the case for and against CCS.

Firstly, Palle Bendsen informed us that the technology won't be ready until at least 2020 and not on a large scale until 2030. It's worth bearing in mind that 2020 is the date that countries are committing themselves to achieve large emissions reductions.

The Professor's presentation revealed some fascinating facts about CCS that never seem be raised by the people promoting this 'solution'.

Around 40% more coal will need to be burned just to enable the carbon dioxide to be captured and stored,

There are also added social impacts with CCS. In addition to the negative impacts of coal on the local population, there will now also be an impact on the people who live on land slated for the captured carbon facility. They will have to be evicted.

Professor Mathiesen said: "In Denmark at the moment a community of farmers need to be relocated to make way for a storage facility. They don't want to go and so the project has been delayed due as a result of their appeals."

At least in Denmark there is the benefit of an appeal. This can't be guaranteed for projects being developed elsewhere.

And finally, the money. It is estimated that a coal fired power station with carbon capture storage will take fifty years to achieve a return on investment.

With these stark facts laid out CCS clearly has to be exposed as a totally false solution to climate change.

Find out everything you need to know about carbon capture and storage

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
  

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.

View another video here from the Danish Climate Movement

The flood began outside the Klimaforum - the civil society event on climate change - with speeches from Nnimmo Bassey, the Friends of the Earth International Chair, Henry Saragih, General Coordinator of La Via Campesina and Amparo Miciano, from the World March for Women.

Nnimmo rallied the crowd with a stirring call to action. He demanded climate justice and called for end to false climate change solutions such as offsetting.

"To those who want to pollute at home and plant a tree in Africa, we say no," he shouted.

Around 5000 people, dressed in blue ponchos and carrying 'demand climate justice' flags, came to the march from every corner of Europe and beyond.

Reinford Mwangonde from Friends of the Earth Malawi said why it was so important for him to be there:

"In Malawi we now have flooding, desperate droughts and very short rains. This doesn't give farmers enough time to grow anything. Animals are also suffering because there is not enough green land. It's a daily struggle for Malawian farmers."

"Africa is at the front line of climate change and that is why I am in Copenhagen, to demand climate justice now!" he concluded.

After the speeches came the arrival of the carbon traders; sinister men and women in suits shouting:

"Come offset your carbon emissions. We're selling dirty air and buying clean air"

As the carbon traders left the stage they were pursued by the crowd, who 'flooded' the streets, chanting "No offsetting. Climate justice now!"

The Flood also carried messages from directly affected by climate change who couldn't make it to Copenhagen. These messages formed part of the 'climate capsule' that is currently on display in the Klimaforum.

• View a selection of the messages here. 

The Flood ended in front of the Danish Parliament with the creation of a massive human banner reading 'Offsetting is a false solution'.

The crowd then joined an estimated 100,000 demonstrators to march to the conference centre, where the official climate talks are taking place, with their messages of climate justice now!

It was a truly inspiring day where our demands were heard loud and clearly. Only next week will we know whether world leaders have listened.

• View more images on Flickr

Top photo: Addressing the crowd outside the Klimaforum. Credit: Christoffer Askman / FoEI
Bottom photo: Reinford Mwangonde from Friends of the Earth Malawi (right). Credit: FoEI

View some of the pictures here and many more on our Flickr account.

A full report will follow tomorrow.

Kim's journey began in East Timor where the people he met people had first hand experience of the devastating effects of climate change.

"For three years the seasonal rains never came and then one year they came all at once and were deluged. The few crops they have were destroyed" he said.

He met people in the Gobi desert who told him that every year the desert expands and more and more lakes and rivers dry up.

It was in the same desert that he saw a working example of renewable energy at a local level.

"All the tents they lived in had solar panels on the top."

Throughout his travels he collected messages for the world leaders at the climate summit in video, photo, illustrations and letters.

He is now trying to deliver those messages to the people in the COP15 summit who are deciding on their futures.

You can see a selection of the messages here

Watch the video here

Todd Stern, the US Special Envoy for Climate Change doesn't think rich nations owe a climate debt.

Speaking at a press conference about the USA's role in creating climate change he said:

"The sense of guilt or culpability or reparations, I just categorically reject that."

Instead he wants the poorest subsistence farmer in Africa to have the same responsibility for tackling climate change as an American with a
private jet.

With President Obama, the US has a unique opportunity to take the lead on tackling climate change. But Stern is threatening Obama's chances.

Call on Todd Stern to think again

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."