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10 de diciembre de 2010 | Entrevistas | Justicia climática y energía | COP 16
Outside, Please
Widespread rejection to World Bank and its attempts to control climate finance
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The international campaign called “World Bank Out of Climate” was launched on Wednesday, in Cancun, Mexico, where the UN COP16 on Climate Change is taking place. Over 200 social organizations signed a public letter demanding the governments present at the COP to create a Global Climate Fund under the authority of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Tens of peoples´ organizations, NGOs and civil society networks from different parts of the world met outside the Municipal Building in Cancun to protest against the World Bank. Then, they marched to downtown Cancun, demanding the World Bank to stay out of climate finance. The Jubilee South network was one of the organizers.
The public letter signed by over 200 social groups demands that the global climate fund has a fair governance structure that gives priority to affected communities and is transparent and accountable, among other things.
This action coincided with the arrival of World Bank´s President, Robert Zoellick, to the official negotiations to announce the establishment of a multi-million dollar fund to promote the creation of carbon markets in developing countries.
Friends of the Earth International issued a press release on this to express their rejection to carbon markets and the “perverse role of the World Bank in climate change and carbon trading”.
Real World Radio participated in the demonstration and interviewed two members of Friends of the
Earth. Grace Garcia is COECOCEIBA-Friends of the Earth Costa Rica´s representative and she highlighted the South-South Summit on Climate Justice and Finance which took place a few days ago, organized by Jubilee South. Organizations from Asia, Africa and Latin America participated.
Garcia, who is also Latin American Coordinator of the FoEI Economic Justice-Resisting Neoliberalism Program, said that there were three main outcomes from the South-South Summit. She made reference to the inclusion of gender justice in the debate about climate justice, an utter rejection to the false solutions to climate change, and the importance of social movements in the climate discussions.
The Costa Rican activist talked about some of the false solutions that are worrying the social movements. She made reference to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD) and to the Clean Development Mechanism, which are developing projects in the Global South to generate reducing emission certificates, Northern carbon offsets and carbon trading.
Garcia also said that we shouldn´t only focus on the World Bank, because the roles of the Inter-American Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank are also important. The environmentalist said that the threat of the involvement of the World Bank in climate finance “brings concerns over debts and payments with conditions”.
Meanwhile, Domingo Lechon from Otros Mundos-Friends of the Earth Mexico, said to Real World Radio: “we want to raise our voices against the World Bank so that the negotiators at the COP understand that we want this institution out of climate”. “The World Bank has a widely-known record in Latin America of hindering the development of peoples and in addition it finances extractive and oil industries”, he added. “So, it is illogical that this bank manages the funds that would serve to fight against climate change”, he said.
Lechon also made reference to the REDD mechanism “to sell forests and create carbon markets”. Forests “will become the “star”, indigenous people are already suffering the effects of the privatization of forests, they are being displaced”. “REDD is the Trojan Horse of forest privatization”, he said.
The member of Otros Mundos told Real World Radio that this is the first time he participates in a COP and that he was slightly nervous inside the Moon Palace Hotel, where the official negotiations are taking place, because the negotiators “don´t listen” to social organizations and movements. “It seems that the agreement which may come out will be worse than that of Copenhagen (making reference to the secret agreement of the COP15, December, 2009). They are pushing for carbon markets, World Bank finance and they do not listen to the countries already suffering the effects of climate change”.
Finally, Lechon said that “we are not seeing any real solution, they don´t speak of reducing emissions, and if they do, they speak of voluntary and inadequate measures”. “Businesses are being promoted here”, he concluded.
