Grassroots movements quit climate conference, protesting against rich countries’ governments

This video says about itself:

Global Voices From Africa to the Philippines Demand Climate Justice at U.N. Summit in Warsaw

18 Nov 2013

We are broadcasting all week from Warsaw, Poland, where the U.N. climate summit, known as COP 19, has just entered its second week. On Saturday, thousands of protesters marched in Warsaw calling for climate justice, culminating in a rally outside the National Stadium where the climate summit is being held. Speakers from all over the world addressed the crowd, urging world leaders to take action on global warming, including climate activists from the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, and organizers of a chartered train that brought more than 700 people from Belgium, Britain and France to join the demonstration. Polish activists also spoke, including residents of the village of Zurawlow, where resistance to fracking is growing despite massive shale gas concessions.

See all of our coverage from the U.N. climate summit in Warsaw, Poland: here.

From the WWF site:

NGOs, Social Movements Walk Out Of Warsaw Talks

21 November 2013

Enough is enough.

We have said we stand in solidarity with the millions impacted by Typhoon Haiyan, and with all climate impacted people. Our solidarity compels us to tell the truth about COP 19 – the Warsaw Climate Conference.

The Warsaw Climate Conference, which should have been an important step in the just transition to a sustainable future, is on track to deliver virtually nothing. In fact, the actions of many rich countries here in Warsaw are directly undermining the UNFCCC itself, which is an important multilateral process that must succeed if we are to fix the global climate crisis.

The Warsaw Conference has put the interests of dirty energy industries over that of global citizens – with a “Coal & Climate Summit” being held in conjunction; corporate sponsorship from big polluters plastered all over the venue; and a Presidency (Poland) that is beholden to the coal and fracking industry. When Japan announced that it was following Canada and backtracking on emission cut commitments previously made, and Australia gave multiple signals that it was utterly unwilling to take the UN climate process seriously, the integrity of the talks was further jeopardized.

This week saw a “finance ministerial” with almost no actual finance, and loss and damage talks that have stalled because rich countries refuse to engage on the substance of an international mechanism. Warsaw has not seen any increase in emission reductions nor increased support for adaptation before 2020 – on these things it has actually taken us backward. And a clear pathway to a comprehensive and fair agreement in Paris 2015 is missing.

We as civil society are ready to engage with ministers and delegations who actually come to negotiate in good faith. But at the Warsaw Conference, rich country governments have come with nothing to offer. Many developing country governments are also struggling and failing to stand up for the needs and rights of their people. It is clear that if countries continue acting in this way, the next two days of negotiations will not deliver the climate action the world so desperately needs.

Therefore, organizations and movements representing people from every corner of the Earth have decided that the best use of our time is to voluntarily withdraw from the Warsaw climate talks. Instead, we are now focusing on mobilizing people to push our governments to take leadership for serious climate action. We will work to transform our food and energy systems at a national and global level and rebuild a broken economic system to create a sustainable and low-carbon economy with decent jobs and livelihoods for all. And we will put pressure on everyone to do more to realize this vision.

Coming out of the Warsaw Climate Conference, it is clear that without such pressure, our governments cannot be trusted to do what the world needs. We will return with the voice of the people in Lima to hold our governments accountable to the vision of a sustainable and just future.

ORGANISATIONS AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS STATEMENT:

– Aksyon Klima Pilipinas
– ActionAid
– Bolivian Platform on Climate Change
– Construyendo Puentes (Latin America)
– Friends of the Earth (Europe)
– Greenpeace
– Ibon International
– International Trade Union Confederation
– LDC Watch
– Oxfam International
– Pan African Climate Justice Alliance
– Peoples’ Movement on Climate Change (Philippines)
– WWF

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, please contact:

Aksyon Klima Pilipinas
Denise M. Fontanilla – aksyonklima.sec@gmail.com

ActionAid
Brandon Wu, Email: Brandon.Wu@actionaid.org, mobile: +1 202-730-5974

Bolivian Platform on Climate Change
Martin Vilela martinvilela.uma@gmail.com

Construyendo Puentes (Latin America)
Martin Vilela martinvilela.uma@gmail.com

Friends of the Earth (Europe)
Asad Rehman, email: asad.rehman@foe.co.uk, Mobile: +48 733 412 897 (Warsaw)
Samuel Fleet, Samuel.fleet@foeeurope.org, Mobile: +48 537 884 902 (Warsaw)

Greenpeace
Martin Kaiser, email: martin.kaiser@greenpeace.de, mobile: +49 171 878 0817

Ibon International
Tetet Lauron <tlauron@iboninternational.org

International Trade Union Confederation
Anabella Rosemberg: Anabella.Rosemberg@ituc-csi.org; mobile: +33 677 699 429

LDC Watch
Azeb Girmai azebgnat@gmail.com

Oxfam International
Anna Ratcliff, email: anna.ratcliff@oxfaminternational.org mobile: +44 (0) 779 699 3288

Pan African Climate Justice Alliance
Mithika Mwenda <mwemithika@yahoo.com

Peoples’ Movement on Climate Change (Philippines)

WWF
Samantha Smith, ssmiht@wwf.no , mobile; +47 450 22 149
Mandy Woods, email: mwoods@wwf.org.za, mobile: +48 515 289 239 (Warsaw)
George Smeeton, email: GSmeeton@wwf.org.uk, mobile: +44 (0)7917 052 948
Ian Morrison, email: ian.morrison@wwfus.org, mobile: +1 202 372 6373

See also here.

Australia sabotages climate summit: here.

As Poor Countries Walk Out of Climate Talks, Venezuela Calls on Industrial Nations to Take Action: here.

Understanding Warsaw: Capitalism, Climate Change and Neocolonialism: here.

Some progress but distinct lack of ambition in Warsaw climate talks: here.

Climate coverage drops at The New York Times after paper closed its environmental desk: here.

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