Jai Ram in Mayan land

Guest post by Rishab Khanna from the Indian Youth Climate Action Network, and part of the IofC team in Cancun

Sitting here in the Space shuttle of the Cancun Messe, far away from the negotiations in the Moon Palace, I wanted to share my first impressions of my interaction with the Indian Environment Minster Jai Ram Ramesh.

Well here I am just started to type in some words, and being attacked by a giant butterfly . Jai Ram did not waste any time in getting to the point, he said that in the last 15 months, India’s strategy with regards to climate change has been a function of three factors:

a) Indian Economic Interest
b) Domestic Environment agenda
c) Global diplomacy, repositioning India for the UN security council

COP-16 Turtles and hopes

 

It has been already a week since the COP-16 started. Many people, including myself have been struggling to commute between the different venues that make it difficult to network.

A couple of days ago I attended the Agriculture and Rural Development day held at the resort area of Cancun. During one of the long breaks of the conference I put on my tennis shoes and decided to go for a run on the beach that is fully covered by five-star hotels and tourist infrastructure.

COP16 – Where are the people?

I came to COP16 to learn and to convince myself whether the solution to such a complex problem could come from this sort of conferences and negotiations, and how they happen.

Also with basic questions such as how do people interact? And how can NGO’s participate? And most specially, how the people, all of us, can have a part in the conversations?

Moving from ‘I’ to ‘We”

Today one of the biggest global campaigns in history launches a new phase – the 10/10/10 global work party. During 2009, in the run-up to the Copenhagen conference on climate change, COP15, the 350.org campaign organised the ‘most widespead day of political action’ on Saturday 24 October when 5,245 separate actions took place across 181 countries all calling for a commitment to a target of 350 parts per million (ppm) carbon dioxide (CO2) in the earth’s atmosphere. Present levels are above 385 ppm and rising.

2010 – Year of the Climate Change Activist

by Mike Lowe

Well, COP 15 is over, and along with the turkey and Christmas pudding we’ve had time to digest what it all means.  This is my own take, having read a lot of different views. I have posted this on the IofC global website, along with a report from Jennifer Helgeson of her reflections from Copenhagen.

Questions for the Day

by Marcia

These questions were posed by Huck, a member of the Youth Delegation at Copenhagen.  They challenge us to think more concretely about what kind of world we are living in and what kind of world we want to be living in.  What are your thoughts?

Vigil for Climate Justice

Earlier this evening, I attended a vigil in conjunction with the 24 hour fast.  It was beautiful and reverent.  A great place to be revitalized in this fast.  There are many people here who have never fasted before, but for this cause they have made this choice to stand together.  There is also a person who has been fasting since November 6^th: 44 days.  I spoke with her briefly and she took great courage from us joining her in the small way that we did.

The Human Face of Climate Change – Tim Costello at the Parliament of the World’s Religions

by Mike Lowe

Following on from previous posts with the contributions of Martin Frick and Mary Evelyn Tucker at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, here is the third speaker in that session – Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision, Australia.  Tim is a very well-known and much loved figure in Australia, a former Baptist pastor and long-term campaigner for social justice issues. He is also the brother of former Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Peter Costello.  Again, thanks go to film maker Ashley Young for these videos.

Religious leaders call for 350ppm target

by Mike Lowe

Over 4 billion people claim allegiance to religious communities of one form or another, which is why the recent Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne was so important. Here is a statement on climate change which emerged from that gathering, read by Bishop Geoffrey Davies from the Southern African Faith Communities Environmental Institute.  It endorses a target of 350ppm and recognizes the principles of climate justice.  Special thanks to Tom Duncan and Ashley Young for this film.

Deforestation and UNFCCC REDD – An easy way to replace forests with plantations? Or financial mechanism to save our planet’s forests?

By Tom Duncan

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD) – is a new addition to the Kyoto Phase II/ Copenhagen Treaty, that aims to reduce deforestation. The problem is, that large timber companies, illegal loggers, palm oil plantations, aim to replace rainforest and orangutang habitat, with income producing plantations, threatening to undermine the REDD scheme. There is much concern from Indigenous communities that they already have very little control over their forests, and REDD potentially may put control of forests more in Government hands, and corporate plantations, which endanger indigenous communities survival and culture. More information updates after REDD sessions this evening.