The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the “devils in the details” in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from whats really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about Cap & Trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.

by Indigenous Environmental Network

[23 April, 2010] As Earth Day celebrations commence around the world, indigenous peoples from across the Americas are in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to close the historic conference on climate change and the “Rights of Mother Earth” hosted by President Evo Morales. Morales, the only indigenous head of state in the world, called this conference in the wake of failed climate talks in Copenhagen.

As the world prepares for the next round of talks in Cancun, Mexico, indigenous peoples vowed today to push for proposals that keep fossil fuels in the ground, protect indigenous rights, and reject predatory policies like REDD (reducing emissions through deforestation and forest degradation).

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Climate summit closed to civil society, but remains open to big business

By Belen Balanya

Yesterday hundreds of activists were beaten and arrested in the streets of Copenhagen and Via Campesina, Friends of the Earth and other NGOs were banned from the Bella Center, where the UN negotiations take place. But this morning, representatives of big business were inside the Bella Center having a high-level breakfast with 10 ministers, an event jointly organised by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the UNFCCC. The WBCSD has 230 accredited delegates in Copenhagen.

The WBCSD’s President Björn Stigson hosted today’s breakfast with summit chair Yvo de Boer, and his message, according to the WBCSD, is a ‘simple one’: “You (governments) will not tackle climate change without business at the table as an engaged, involved partner. Governments cannot deliver the targets which are being talked about without business.”

Later in the morning the WBCSD co-organised another event in the Bella Center to discuss “Private Sector and the UNFCC: Options for Institutional Engagement”. The event title is more than wishful thinking. Only a few weeks ago the EU awarded a contract to the WBCSD and consultanciesEcofys and Climate Focus to do a study that should “define options for formal engagement of the private sector within the UNFCCC process”.

The EU has also been promoting this initiative during the summit. On 12 December, an event on Private Sector Engagement in the International Climate Change Policy Process took place in the EU pavilion in the Bella Center, co-organised by the Commission, DG Enterprise and the three groups contracted to do the study.

The WBCSD’s privileged access today to the Bella Center and to high-level decision-makers and the fact that the EU is funding the WBCSD to make proposals for involving business even closer in international climate talks is outrageous and unacceptable. Since its foundation in 1992, the WBCSD has only been advocating industry self-regulation, a global carbon market and false solutions like nuclear energy, agrofuels, coal (CCS) and carbon credits from plantation forests.

The EU’s and the UN’s preferential treatment of the WBCSD are deeply flawed. Effective and just climate policies are only possible if governments keep a healthy distance from companies that have a direct economic interest in the decisions taken.

Also at: http://climatecrashers.blogspot.com/2009/12/climate-summit-closed-to-civil-society.html

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/16/police_tear_gas_beat_back_protesters

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/dec/17/copenhagen-climate-change

North American Indigenous Peoples Demand More in Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark – As the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) winds down, thousands of people marched in the streets today to “reclaim power” from the UN process they say is not good enough. Indigenous Peoples led a march from inside the official venue of the climate negotiations, to stand in solidarity with the rest of civil society in demanding climate justice.

Over the past two weeks, indigenous peoples have been working to ensure all potential climate policies and actions that come out of the negotiations, ensure recognition of and respect for the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. Specifically, indigenous peoples have lobbied for the incorporation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) into climate policy. Although some would see the mention of the UNDRIP in the text of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) a small success, many feel it is a slap in the face of indigenous peoples.

“Indigenous peoples rights are mentioned once in the form of a recommendation for nation states to consider, but not as a requirement,” explains Alberto Saldamando of the International Indigenous Treaty Council (IITC). “But ensuring basic human rights for the worlds populations who are most affected by climate change should not be voluntary. It is a matter of obligation.”

“It’s a sad situation that world leaders representing industrialized society have lost their understanding of the sacredness of Mother Earth,” adds Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN). “Before we can achieve global action, there needs to be international awareness of why we are really here. We marched out in support of our brother, President Evo Morales of Bolivia, and his demand that the rights of Mother Earth be recognized in the negotiating text here in Copenhagen.”

“Coming into these negotiations, I was optimistic about our world leaders coming together to solve this global problem,” says Nikke Alex, a Navajo youth who works for the Black Mesa Water Coalition (BMWC) in the southwest United States. “But now I see the health of our people and Mother Earth are not central to their agenda. Their goal is to use the climate crisis to make profit. The people who are really solving climate change are those at the grassroots level, working to create more sustainable societies.”

The IEN delegation brought a delegation of 21 Indigenous Peoples from North America affected by fossil fuel development. They came to call out false solutions like clean coal technology, nuclear power, and the carbon market. Over the past two weeks, the IEN delegation has used a variety of tactics to push for strong targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and demand effective, fair and equitable methods to address the climate issue.

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The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) is a United States-based non-governmental (Indigenous) organization formed in 1990 addressing environmental and economic justice challenges.  IEN is a network of Indigenous Peoples empowering Indigenous communities and Nations towards sustainable livelihoods, demanding environmental justice, and maintaining the Sacred Fire of our traditions. Since 1998, IEN has been working on issues of climate change and global warming.  IEN is one of the leading organizations/networks within the U.S. environmental justice movement involved in climate change policy – locally, nationally and globally.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 16, 2009
Contact: The Indigenous Environmental Network Media Team
Mobile Number: +45 526 85596
E-mail: indigenous.environmental.network@gmail.com
Websites: http://indigenousenvironmentalnetwork.blogspot.com/

http://www10.cop15.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop15/templ/play.php?id_kongressmain=1&theme=unfccc&id_kongresssession=2629

Mass Nonviolent Protest by North-South Climate Justice Alliances at COP 15 Marks Defining Moment for Emerging Global Climate Justice Movement

Despite Police Violence Civil Society Groups Inside and Outside Unite in “People’s Assembly” to Demand Real Solutions to the Climate Crisis

Protests Expose Deep Flaws in the COP Process and Denounce Efforts to Silence Critics by Excluding Civil Society

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An array of civil society, delegates and negotiating parties representing a global alliance of both north and south civil society groups, people’s movements, indigenous representatives and even some governments have begun a dramatic protest today disrupting the inside of the Bella Center.

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