Work it, baby, work it

Posted on 04. Dec, 2010 by lauratyrer in South Africa

Last night at South Africa’s COP17 promotion (held at the Durban stand in the Cancunmesse) I bumped into delegates from SA’s labour movement. While some country delegations include labour representatives in climate change negotiations, this is by no means the norm, so kudos to SA.

More importantly, however, I’m pleased to see that the labour movement takes an interest in climate change. Labour represents a large proportion of the people who will be affected and who stand to benefit from a transition away from fossil fuels towards a low-carbon economy. So why would labour be involved in the UNFCCC process?

1. Climate change texts needs to represent social interests: This is not just an economic or scientific process, but one that includes people and it should, therefore, strive for social justice.
2. Decisions made in the interest of climate change mitigation must consider the workforce who will be affected. The transition away from fossil fuel dependency and increasing low carbon reindustrialisation should create sustainable jobs for people. The key word? Sustainability.
3. Climate change negotiations represent people. For this reason, people should have a voice in the process. Labour and civil society need to be respected within this process and should have greater involvement than they currently do.

Tags: Labor, people, South Africa