The Bolivian government issued on Sunday a statement where they highlighted that the positions of social movements and organizations gathered in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in April, continue on the negotiating table after the UN official climate summit which recently took place in Tianjin, China. These issues should be addressed in the 16 Conference of the Parties of the UN on Climate Change, from November 29th to December 10th in Cancun, Mexico. It was precisely Bolivia the country that included the Peoples´ Agreement in the multilateral negotiations.

The government of that country pointed out that the situation towards Cancun is “extremely worrying” because there is the “real danger that at the last minute a text which hasn´t been negotiated by all parties will be imposed”.

In fact, this is what happened in December last year in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the imposition of the “Copenhagen Accord” promoted by the US, and what was attempted several times last week in Tianjin. For instance, some negotiation groups such as the one on mitigation actions proposed a text with initiatives in favor of markets, although finally this attempt, which didn´t reflect the positions agreed by all countries, could be stopped.

The official statement by the Bolivian government points out that it has the support of other countries to question market mechanisms related to forests, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD).

The proposals raised in Cochabamba, present in the text to be discussed in Cancun, demand -among other things- to limit the increase of global temperature to 1 degree Celsius; to reduce emissions by over 50 per cent by 2017; to ensure human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples and climate migrants.

They also propose the creation of an International Climate Justice Tribunal; a halt to new carbon markets; a halt to forest commodification and that developed countries invest at least 6 per cent of their GDP in climate finance in developing countries.

The Bolivian government regrets the lack of advances in Tianjin on the issue of mandatory emission reduction by developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol. “There was no advance in the offers by developed countries, which result in an increase of 3 or 4 degrees Celsius of global temperature”, they state.

There is the risk that the issue of emissions reduction and the validity of the Kyoto Protocol will be left for the next UN official conference on climate change, which will take place in South Africa by the end of 2011.

At multilateral level, the pressure of Northern countries to impose new mechanisms within the carbon market, especially related to forests, continue. “Thus, the only way to move forward is to strengthen the mobilization of social, environmentalist, women, academics, youth, artists and indigenous peoples movements and promoting the Peoples´ Agreements of Cochabamba”, reads the statement.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/