1408-1407 Avoiding Climate Chaos

Following the last UN Conference of Parties on climate change at Warsaw, Poland, ten civil society organisations issued a statement citing their concern about the direction negotiations were taking on climate change. During the negotiations in Warsaw, the industrialised countries that bear the greatest responsibility for the climate crisis did not make any progress in remedying the main socio-economic causes for this crisis, such as the trade, energy, transport and agriculture policies.

The lack of ambition in these negotiations becomes clear when a comparison is made between the sums allocated for addressing climate change and the subsidies for polluting industries. This is why several civil society organisations left the Warsaw talks denouncing the lack of political will on the part of the governments to reach an agreement to avoid climate chaos. Indeed, if the world does not manage to make considerable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 the consequences for nature and the ecosystems will be irreparable.

Policies favouring polluting industries and economic interests are given greater weight than questions of public interest such as the climate and a healthy environment. The current economic system is based on the principle of infinite growth and economic operators aim to maximise their profits while over-exploiting the planet’s natural resources.

Therefore, the civil society organisations are convinced that to fight the effects of climate change effectively requires a change to the economic system. Moreover, there is a need to change the mentality that underpins current climate policies as these offer false solutions to climate change such as carbon markets, the privatisation of forests - in the name of combatting climate change (REDD+) - and biofuels. The populations resisting this privatisation of nature and its excessive exploitation, including land-grabbing, must be given a voice. They often have the answers to climate change, for example the ecological farming methods that the small farmers use in Africa as opposed to the polluting methods used for food production by the industrialised countries.

Source: CADTM & Forum des Alternatives