Indigenous summit ends with no consensus

The UN-sponsored Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change last week ended with no agreement on a final summit document that was proposed to be submitted to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Disagreements came over a suggested moratorium on oil and gas drilling on native lands in the document. Some indigenous delegates disputed the language, saying that the use of fossil fuels should be phased out but indigenous people should be allowed to develop their resources.

Andrea Carman, representing the North American delegation, told CBC News shortly before the end of the Anchorage summit that she hoped that "we'll be able to come up with a compromise language that is still strong enough for people to support."

Organizers say even though only five of seven delegations signed on, the final declaration and a final report from the summit will be presented to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December.

Saskatchewan back tracks on climate change promise

The Globe and Mail reported yesterday that despite being one of the few provinces making healthy returns, Saskatchewan's government is scrapping an election promise to reduce greenhouse gases 32% by 2020.

Environment Minister Nancy Heppner said this week that a 32-per-cent reduction would be "a pretty huge burden on industry" and that a revised, intensity-based target was forthcoming.

Environmentalists are worried that with one of the better off provinces using the recession to backtrack from climate promises, more and more will follow. In its budget announcement last month, the governing Saskatchewan Party projected a $425-million surplus.

"Governments that are inclined not to act on climate change will use the downturn as an excuse to continue not doing anything," said Dale Marshall, climate-change policy analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation.

Marshall also said that downturns generally make emissions reductions easier to meet. "When there's less economic activity, there's usually less electricity being used, less coal being burned and less oil and gas produced," he said. "All of those things make a target more achievable, not less so."

And on this earth day...

Canada's latest greenhouse gas inventory has been just released and...its not good news. After leveling off in 2003/2004 and declining the next two years, Canada's emissions are back on track to the top, with a 4% growth between 2006 and 2007. That's 26.2% above 1990 levels and 33.8% above the Kyoto target.

Walk your talk on Earth Day

Back in school, Earth day used to be a massive event marked by students wearing green, announcements, a trash pick up, speakers and other events. Now that I'm in university, I'm desperately looking for signs of a mass push or even recognition that it is Earth Day on this now deserted campus during the exam period.

Luckily, as I walked into one of the campus eateries, there was a large sign saying "It's Earth Day - please use the china or a re-usable mug for your coffee"

I've been a major advocate of the re-usable mug lately, especially having found out that about a MILLION foam and paper cups, most with plastic lids, are dumped each day by Toronto coffee drinkers. And yes, that's just in Toronto.

So I would really encourage everyone today, to yes, mark Earth Day with something special like a clean-up, but I would think more importantly, to incorporate a change in your day-to-day life, like taking a re-usable mug to get your morning coffee, or saving print outs you don't need to print again on their other side. Reducing the amount of packaging in your purchased goods is a good tip as well, and the Toronto Star has done a great article on this issue: http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/621098

Happy Earth Day!

Indigenous people gather this week in Alaska to talk climate change

When I was blogging from Poland on the UN Climate Change Conference, it was the first time it had really occurred to me what was at stake for indigenous peoples from around the world if the horrors of climate change lived up to the predictions - the indigenous peoples' particular connection with the physical environment not only for spirituality and cultural values, but for livelihood and habitat as well makes this clear.

This is what is being discussed this week in Alaska for the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change. The aim of the summit is to create a global action plan to submit to the United Nations for consideration.

"It is really the first opportunity that we've ever had, as indigenous people worldwide, to gather together," Patricia Corchran, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, told CBC News before the summit.

"It was extremely important because of the guidance that needs to come from indigenous peoples."

The summit is also exploring ways for indigenous people to cope with climate change, and ways to preserve indigenous ways of life. 

"It's always important for indegenous peoples from all parts of the world to come together and unite, and have some common views and positions on the issue itself and their own anlaysis and their world view on why this thing is happening," said Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

United States and Mexico agree to climate change partnership

President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon agreed this morning in Mexico City to begin a new bilateral partnership on climate change and to promote environmentally-friendly forms of energy production.

According to a joint statement by the two country leaders, the "Bilateral Framework will focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency, adaptation, market mechanisms, forestry and land use, green jobs, low carbon energy technology development and capacity building."

The statement also said that Mexico would host a meeting of major economies on climat echange in the coming months. The first session is set to take place at the end of April.

UN videos show the humanitarian impact of climate change

I came across these great set of videos produced by the United Nations Environment Programme focused on the humanitarian impact and the human cost of climate change in Africa. From highland malaria, creeping deserts, coastal erosion and flooding rivers, the acceleration of climate change in Africa and its impact on the livelihood of millions is demonstrated in these series of videos.

The videos are available to view online for free on the UN website here, as well as on video. I've posted a first chapter of the series below on floods in Mozambique:

Update from Bonn - some more bad news

The interim UN conference on climate change negotiations held in Bonn, Germany recently concluded, and surveying initial thoughts on the conference, it was predictably glum. Most notably, the Indian delegation declared, despite a recent push by the American administration, that it was unlikely that India will agree to binding emission cuts, a position among many emerging economies that many say derail effective action:

 "If the question is whether India will take on binding emission reduction commitments, the answer is no. It is morally wrong for us to agree to reduce when 40 percent of Indians do not have access to electricity," said a member of the Indian delegation.

Amjad Abdullah, the Maldivian director general of the environment ministry, said delegates from the 175 countries, like India, were unwilling to “put numbers on the table” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“There wasn’t a consensus,” said Amjad. “It was disappointing and disheartening.”

India's position has cut to the heart of what makes these international climate negotiations so difficult - the debate on how quickly nations should try to phase out fuels such as coal and switch to renewable energy sources, as well as what has been painted as a choice between pursuing urgently needed economic growth to reduce poverty and addressing climate change.

The ten day discussions which started on March 29, are a part of a series of talks in the lead up to Copenhagen in December, with many seeing the meeting in Copenhagen as the last chance for countries to reach a solution to tackle global warming.

Harper appoints former oil executives as energy envoys

The Ottawa citizen reported this week that the Harper government has named a former oil and gas industry executive who led a company active in the Alberta oil sands as a representative on a U.S.-Canada working group on clean energy. Charlie Fischer recently served as president and CEO of the Calgary-based Nexen Inc., described on their website as being "strategically positioned in some of the world's most exciting regions: the North Sea, deep-water Gulf of Mexico, middle East, offshore West Africa, and the Canadian Athabasca oil sands."

The other members of the envoy also have had clear links to the oil industry.

The article reports that "while the exact mandates of working groups are still being developed,
Environment Canada says that none of the participants will be put in a position of a conflict-of-interest."

No conflict of interest you say? Putting members of the oil industry in charge of a clean energy working group is like putting former McDonalds executive in charge of government eat-healthy programs. When the pockets of oil industries become entangled with that of public and environmental interests, that's never good news. 

10 Lessons for the climate movement

I recently came across a great article published back in February by Green Left , an online news-magazine based in Australia, titled "Ten Lessons for the Climate Movement", which seemed to have greater insight after the G20 protests in London last week. The author concedes that the progress made thus far by climate NGOs and activists have yet to result in a significant policy shift, let alone a global transformation of how we lives our lives day to day (oil, waste, consumption, industry) to ensure a safe climate.

Though its ten lessons are based on the author's experience in Australia, I thought it would be interesting to go through the ten lessons from a Canadian perspective (the full article can be found here)

1. Changing government  does not mean a chance in policy
Many people expected with the election of Rudd in Australia, and his government signaling in Bali to commit to the negotiations as a positive sign - much like how many think here in Canada that as long as we get the Conservatives, its all good news for the environment. But this as we know is not necessarily true, especially considering Ignatieff's approach to the oil sands.

2. Continuous mobilization
This lesson focuses on the continuous mobilization of the community, and not "turning people on and off" when an election come up. We can already see evidence of this happening in Canada for the annual Earth Hour event.

3. If we are not frightened then no one else will be
I recently wrote on this blog about the climate movement being too negative and relying on fear-inducing statements and facts. However the author points out that unless people are terrified they will not support the scale of action that is needed to solve the problem. According to Oscar Wilde: “The basis of optimism is sheer terror.”

4. Knocking on doors is as important as climbing smoke-stacks
Activists at the G20 summit in London last week received a lot of attention with their mass riots and protesting, some ending in run ins with the law. However, this only paints the climate movement and hence their cause, as being one filled with radicals, hippies and extremists. It is important to take the urgent of climate change directly to the people in communities, to make up a new band of foot soldiers of regular every day folk of parents, office-workers, coaches and the like.

5. Alliance building is more than box-ticking
Again emphasizing the importance of broadening the base of the climate movement, by involving welfare groups, unions, churches, farmers or business groups, who often are not fundamentally on the same side of the climate movement.

6. Propose solutions that will work
So we don't like Harper 20% reduction below 2020 levels goal - then what? The climate movement needs to patiently build support for a solution that can fully solve the problem - which means educating the politicians and public about why such a solution is necessary.

7. Stop talking about the reef and start talking about people
Canadian translation: stop talking about polar bears and ice caps. The author argues that we will continue to "reinforce a perception of climate change as a threat only to the environment and not the whole of society and civilization."

8. But it's the economy, stupid?

Debates on the economic costs of climate change due a disservice to the climate movement, who will inevitably lose such debates to businesses and industries. The climate movement should instead focus on the scale of the disaster and the need to act regardless of the cost. 

9. We are activists not policy advisers

There's a danger that activists become so close to the issue that many start to believe that all they need to do is create the perfect solution and then the job is done. However, the main role of the activist should be to convince the public that the government must fix the problem, and not get lost in the world of policy jargon.

10. Our movement is and must be global.
In a nut shell, creating more global links and cooperation amongst grassroots movements will be more effective in the long run, rather than national insularism.