The people are speaking!
Posted on 02. Nov, 2009 by Philip Ireland in Australia
The first day of the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meetings in Barcelona has begun with a call to action from the people.
At the front of the convention centre the TCK TCK TCK movement assembled hundreds of people and hundreds of alarm clocks which all went off at 830. The action (as you may have guessed) was a ‘wake up call’ for world leaders to take real action on climate change. There were media and camera’s all around, the people called out for real action and the alarms sounded. Watch the video to get a sense of the action.
It didn’t stop there!
Following this action, a group of people with giant paper mache heads, representing the world’s leaders wondered over to the entrance with a giant check for the developing world. With great grins and excitement, they ripped the check up and it blew away in the wind. People laughed and there was great commotion. However, within the humour, this action symbolised something serious and of great concern.
Action at Barcelona | Ferran Esteve
There is a trend, a deeply worrying trend around financing for adaptation and mitigation in the developing world.
Last week the EU made a significant announcement about climate change financing. Whilst this was a step forward there were some significant flaws that must be repaired. The EU announcement stated that financing will not come from existing aid money…. which is good start. However, there were indications that it may come from already committed aid money. That is, money which has been pledged to reach 0.7 GDP for example. This outcome would be unacceptable as it means poverty alleviation would be sacrificed.
Climate financing must be in in addition to good aid and development NOT in place of it.
And this point brings me across the seas back to Australia. Despite our action, the Australian Government has remained silent on climate financing. It appears as if our government plans to play the same game as the EU and use already committed aid increases (currently to 0.5GNI by 2015….it should be 0.7) to finance adaptation and mitigation programs in the developing world.
Financing for adaptation and mitigation in the developing world must be ADDITIONAL to current and committed aid funds.
Amidst this difficult context there is hope. At the Climate Action Network (CAN) International meeting yesterday it was said:
“Things can change quickly, the difficulty is now political and around principals….campaigning is one of the best ways to move this process forward”
We must continue to pressure our political leaders to shift their positions and take a lead in these negotiations.
Stay tuned because there is more to come. Just this morning I met several of the Australian delegation and have a meeting with Australia’s lead negotiator on climate change, Louise Hand, planned for this afternoon.
Peace,
Phil
p.s. I am also blogging on our Australian sister website A Climate For Change where you can take action!
The Adopter - Phillip Ireland
Phil grew up in Newcastle on the beautiful east coast of Australia. He's deeply concerned about the impacts of climate change on poor communities around the globe, which has shaped a passion for activism around these issues. Phil is a Ph.D. candidate at Macquarie University in Australia... read more»
Its exiting to see such big statements been made to the world leaders. Its great to be able to keep up to date with whats going on. Keep it up! David
It makes me angry to hear about the recent developments from the EU that are going in the direction of using already committed finance for climate change mitigation and adaptation.. and of course Australia’s silence, this is concerning, especially if it looks like they’ll take the already-committed aid money approach also.
Have you heard much about how developing country delegations are responding to this?
Looking forward to hearing how your meeting with Lousie Hand went!
It is, as you say, a good start that the EU has announced that climate financing will be on top of existing aid - and more than Australia has yet done. It is very disappointing that Australia is yet to make any similar statement. And we can only hope that Australia (and the rest of the developed world) will take the right course and commit to the required climate financing.
This financing is both a matter of need, and justice for developing countries who are already struggling with extreme poverty. Our world’s leaders have made repeated commitments to increase aid to 0.7% of national income to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. But the impacts of climate change will be an added burden for countries already struggling to meet these goals, and will provide additional problems to overcome. Climate finance MUST therefore be over and above existing commitments to aid.
Australia certainly needs to become active in doing what is needed to prevent Excessive Climate Change. We need to cut emissions - which will only happen if required by law, and as preventative spend much more on renewable energy. As many countries are already suffering the effects of climate change we also need to generously fund adaptation measures for poor countries.
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