Right now, GGJ members and organizers are in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt as part of the It Takes Roots frontline delegation to the 27th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP27) with the Climate Justice Alliance, Indigenous Climate Action, Indigenous Environmental Network, Just Transition
Alliance, and The Black Hive at Movement for Black Lives. We are joining calls for real climate solutions that are grounded in human rights and justice and centering the leadership of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Arab, Asian, Pacific Islander, rural, and urban frontline communities — those most impacted by climate pollution and disaster. Over the past week, we’ve highlighted the links between militarism, human rights, and climate change, and are gearing up for the final week of negotiations.
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now One of the most central negotiations at COP27 involves loss and damage. Global North countries, responsible for the vast majority of historic greenhouse gas emissions, owe a massive debt to Global South countries that are disproportionately impacted by climate disasters. We align with demands for climate reparations to be paid by the U.S. as the leading driver of the global climate crisis and from other Global North countries that have benefitted from centuries of colonialism and extractivism. Last Monday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro presented 10 recommendations to confront the climate crisis, including an end to the consumption of oil and coal, a call for the world's private and multilateral banks to stop financing the extractive economy, and a pledge to grant $200 million annually for 20 years to save the Amazon rainforest. We await the global contribution, he said. Human Rights and Indigenous Rights On Tuesday, Sanaa Seif, sister of prisoner of conscience Alaa Abd El-Fattah, spoke at a packed news conference decrying the Egyptian authority’s refusal to provide proof of life after her brother stopped drinking water, in an escalation of a hunger strike that began in April. Her courage in the face of state harassment and intimidation, at a COP rife with privacy violations
and a pervasive police presence, elevated the issue of human rights at the summit. We are united in solidarity with calls to respect and uphold human rights in all aspects of the UNFCCC negotiations. The outcomes of this COP and the continued implementation of the Paris Agreement must protect the rights of environmental defenders and ensure that any governmental action on climate does not violate human rights and Indigenous rights. No False Solutions — Keep it in the Ground On Wednesday, U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry announced the launch of the "Energy Transition Accelerator," a carbon trading scheme incentivizing industries to pay to pollute instead of cutting greenhouse gas emissions at the source. This plan continues a disgraceful history of misleading the public with carbon credit smoke and mirrors, while ostensibly promoting a transition of the energy sector in developing countries. The U.S. must stop pushing these market-based programs that never reduce emissions at the source and the UNFCCC must end fossil fuel collusion at the COP and the illusion of net zero. We demand an end to false solutions like carbon trading, offset mechanisms,
carbon capture and sequestration, hydrogen energy, large hydro-electric dams, and biofuels. |