Cop 18 planned for Doha, Quatar

The Media influence in the U.S.

You’ll have your fight, but it won’t be with the human opposition you’re looking for, it’ll be with droughts and forest fires, heavy rainfall and damaging winds, crop damage and dead livestock. Your battle will then shift towards the insurance industry, who are watching these events with a keen eye, ledgers at the ready. I’d offer you a “Good Luck”, but you’ll need more than that, and you won’t find any help, anywhere, as the insurance industry is poised to make a killing on climate change issues. In America, they’re already quietly raising rates and changing policies on the east coast, as sea-level rise and storm-surge are taking their toll. You and your denier-troll buddies better enjoy the good times now, so party on. The next decade is going to be a helluva ride down the rabbit hole…

"Venezuela Demands Attention at COP17.MP4"

lost the video feed Venezuela Demands Attention at COP17.MP4 Venezuelan Ambassador Claudia Salerno stands on table at COP17 to demand attention before telling the world that she had received two threats in the corridors of COP17. One:

"Dennis Bevington NDP MP Northwest Territories, Canada."

Dennis Bevington NDP MP Northwest Territories, Canada. Dennis talking about the Tarsands & the Harper government @ COP 17 Durban South Africa.

"Inhofe to UN Climate Conference in Durban: Kyoto Process is Dead"

Inhofe to UN Climate Conference in Durban: Kyoto Process is Dead

"New negotiation text in Durban full of dangers" by Nele Marien

Part 1: mitigation again disregarded

Posted on 6 December 2011 by Nele Marien

Last saturday a new negotiation text was published in the Climate Change Negotiations in Durban.
The text presents a few interesting points, many of which come from the People Agreement of Cochabamba. See the article on those interesting points here. The problem is, it is quite probable that those proposals don’t get into the final COP decisions.
On the contrary, there is a big push to get all the bad ideas in the decisions. It is impossible to be exhaustive, but I will be reflecting on some of the major problems.

No real mitigation being projected

What the whole climate change negotiations should be looking for in the very first place, is for the necessary mitigation commitments by developed countries (responsible of 75% of all historical emissions, and still today responsible of 46% of the emissions, with per capita emissions of 4 times more than the avarage in developing countries). Let’s see if the problem is attended.
What does the chapter of mitigation realy talk about? It has three main sections:
1) Matters relating to paragraphs 36-38 of the Cancun Agreements
2) Biennial reporting guidelines for developed country Parties
3) Modalities and procedures for international assessment and review (IAR)
Let’s be clear: nor reporting, nor international assessment and review do really attend the climate problem. Leaving aside the injustice that what is demanded in this sections is almost less stringent then what is demanded to developing countries in the correspondent sections, those issues may be important to follow up the damage we are doing to Mother Earth, but do not define mitigation commitments nor mitigation actions.
So the real issues are suposed to be attended in section 1, on ‘matters relating to

Meanwhile Civil Society has been very busy...

Meanwhile, on top of a hill overlooking the city of Durban, thousands of civil society activists have overtaken the campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (students are on summer break). Hundreds of conferences and seminars deal with the plethora of issues at stake : land grabs and privatization of wind and sun by corporate energy giants; threats to farmers and fisherfolk, including with mono-crops and industrial farming; the threats from big oil, big coal, big nuke, etc. Africa’s Rural Women have a six –day summit of their own, replete with spontaneous outbursts of resistance songs and dances and seminars for mobilization and activism.

The labour movement has eight days of trainings and seminars, with the mornings dedicated to local area shop stewards, explaining the basics of climate change, the dynamics of the UN negotiations and discussions on implications for specific sectors. PSI hosted Public Services Day on 2 December, with many shop stewards, as well as speakers from Korea, South Africa, Nicaragua, and the Philippines. Although we touched on a range of issues for public service workers, we focused most heavily on the implications of impending climate disasters for health, municipal, water and energy workers.

from " Public Services International at COP17"
www.world-psi.org/en/public-services-international--cop17

Figueres and Canada's Enviro Kent & Pics of Sherpa.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecclimate/6459643355/

Canada's Environment Minister, the Honourable Peter Kent, meets with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres, at COP17 in Durban, South Africa, on December 5th, 2011.

Minister Kent reinforced Canada's goal to seek a single, new international climate change agreement that includes commitments by all the world's major emitters

Thousands March at U.N. Climate Summit in Durban to Demand Climate Justice

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/5/thousands_march_at_un_climate_summit#.Tt0E7UaxZp0.email
My name is Tom Goldtooth. I’m from North America, from the belly of the beast, from the occupied territories of the United States. We know what’s real, as far as indigenous peoples in North America. We got the escalation and expansion of tar sands and the Keystone XL pipeline. We got the U.S. government pursuing expansion of fossil fuels by pursuing oil drilling in Alaska and offshore oil drilling. So it’s business unusual. And what allows them to do this is carbon offsets. What they’re doing is buying cheap credits in the Global South, continuing to dump pollutants in the local communities, creating a toxic hot spot. This is not a solution. Also, they included agriculture and soil as part of carbon, so we’re here to liberate Mother Earth, to liberate the trees, to liberate the soil in the ground, to stand together with the farmers, the La Via Campesina, to stand together with the people of the world, demanding real change, systemic change, not climate change.

10000 strong and at the ICC ,COP17 durban

10,000 people at Durban, South Africa on Saturday December 3rd.2011- Global Action Day.
http://twitpic.com/7nkhh5#.Ttuf_HCiQQo.email
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"S. Raubenheimer & L. Brahm -The COPpuccino

Stefan Raubenheimer & Laurence Brahm speak at The COPpuccino, COP17 Today we have two guests; Stefan Raubenheimer, international climate change policy facilitator, CEO of SouthSouthNorth, CDKN and MAPs & Laurence Brahm, global activist, international mediator and leading advocate of The Himalayan Consensus - a fresh development paradigm.

OXFAM Occupy COP17"

Activists occupy COP17 Civil society organisations embarked on different campaigns on Monday 28 November 2011 to ensure their voices are heard during the COP17 climate change conference.
© 2011 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

Video first GA of #OccupyCOP17

Durban Climate Justice Video clip of the first general assembly of #OccupyCOP17 by willnham willnham |  http://wp.me/p1VYrj-at http://durbanclimatejustice.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/video-clip-of-the-first-general-assembly-of-occupycop17/

OCCUPY COP17,Durban

DURBAN — This morning, the international “Occupy” movement arrived at the UN Climate Talks in Durban. As deliberations began inside the formal negotiating halls, dozens of people gathered across the street for the first COP17 “General Assembly.” The majority of these everyday citizens — from students to farmers to entrepreneurs — are not allowed inside the UN negotiations, which are taking place in a convention center surrounded by barbed wire fences and guarded by hundreds of police. “I was inside the UN negotiations for many years,” said Pablo Solon, the former Bolivian ambassador to the United Nations, told the crowd gathered at the General Assembly. “And I can tell you, this, right here, is what needs to be happening around the world.” At the gathering this morning, many shared the concern that the UN negotiations, known as the COP, has become a “Conference of Polluters” and that negotiators no longer represent the interests of the people. They hope that the general assembly, which they labeled a “Conference of People,” can become a more effective COP than the corrupted UN process. “A gathering under the trees to discuss community problems is very familiar in rural areas of Africa,” said Samantha Bailey, African Coordinator for the international climate campaign 350.org.”It’s great to see this old tradition and new spirit of Occupy movements come together here in Durban. Since our politicians are failing to lead, now it’s up to the people to show the way forward.” During the first General Assembly, groups talked enthusiastically about climate problems and responses at the local level, how climate struggles are connected with struggles for economic justice, gender equality, indigenous people’s rights and many others, how the deliberations happening in the official COP space are cut off from the complexity and heart of climate justice, and how indigenous people have wisdom of living in balance with the natural world that we have much to learn from. The Conference of People assemblies are open to all citizens to attend Monday to Friday at 1:00pm at “Speakers Corner” on the intersections of Bram Fischer and Walnut Streets, across the way from the Hilton Hotel/ICC.Updated information (including rain plans) will be broadcast on www.durbanknights.wordpress.co​m as well as www.occupycop17.org MEDIA LINKS Picture Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/​69167123@N04/ www.occupycop17.org www.350.org/en/occupy http://​durbanclimatejustice.wordpress.​com/events-calendar/

Friends of the Earth :

  
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Climate talks gets "Occupy" warning

Al Jazeera.Net

UN climate summit gets 'occupy' warning

( http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/11/20111127104445682701.html )

Video livestream ..First Press Meeting

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Activists Confront US Investors Over Tanzanian Land Deal | Africa | English

fierce debate is taking place re huge tracts of Tanzanian land which U.S. investors are seeking to develop. Tens of thousands of former refugees now farm the land. The investors say they want to help the east African country, but activists and Tanzania's opposition call it a land grab. Agrisol Energy Tanzania Limited, to develop 325,000 hectares in the western Rukwa and Kigoma. The company , Agrisol Energy, a U.S-company co-founded by Iowa-based hog and ethanol entrepreneur Bruce Rastetter Click the following to access the sent link: Activists Confront US Investors Over Tanzanian Land Deal | Africa | English Forward This Link * This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Activists-Confront-US-Investors-Over-Tanzanian-Land-Deal-134082923.html

"Civil Society Expectations for COP 17,:Rehana Dada"

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Civil Society Expectations for COP 17, Interview with Rehana Dada Rehana Dada sits on the South African Civil Society Committee for COP 17. In this interview she talks about civil society expectations and how environment and climate groups in South Africa are organising themselves to engage with local, regional and international counterparts in order to effectively impact COP17.
© 2011 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

Swazi Observer Newspaper

Durban COP17: Conference of Polluters 12 November, 2011 01:21:00 with Ackel Zwane Font size: All roads lead to Durban this month for the Conference of Partners, COP 17 but not without daggers drawn. Civil society on the one hand is coming out guns blazing to face the industrial giants of the first world while the third world on the other wants its hoarse voice to be also heard. This week we reproduce an article by Patrick Bond, who directs the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society. The failure of Durban’s COP17 – a veritable “Conference of Polluters” – is certain, but the nuance and spin are also important. Binding emissions-cut commitments under the Kyoto Protocol are impossible given Washington’s push for an alternate architecture that is also built upon sand. The devils in the details over climate finance and technology include an extension of private-sector profit-making opportunities at public expense, plus bizarre new technologies that threaten planetary safety. Politically, the overall orientation of global climate policy managers, especially from the US State Department and World Bank, will be to eventually displace the main process to the G20. This requires distraction of our attention from any potential overall UN solution to the climate crisis – which in any case is a zero-possibility in the near future because of the terribly adverse power balance – and to ignore civil society’s varied critiques of market strategies, strategies to keep fossil fuels in the ground and plans for state-subsidised, community-controlled, transformative energy, transport, production, consumption and disposal systems. amounted Recall from last December how disappointed the progressive movement was that in the wake of the 2009 Copenhagen fiasco, the primary face-saving at the Cancun summit amounted to restoring faith in carbon markets. The Bolivian delegation was the only sensible insider team, and they summed up the summit’s eight shortcomings: Effectively kills the only binding agreement, Kyoto Protocol, in favour of a completely inadequate bottom-up voluntary approach.

What is C17 Organising? 26th November-10th December

What is C17 Organising?
Common Process: C17 is working to facilitate civil society preparation for COP 17 and creating the conditions for effective participation, inclusivity and accountability. The process will encourage mutual solidarity by linking people's struggles for climate justice but also accommodate differences between organisations.
Civil Society Space: At each COP, civil society groups organise independent events, strategise, share knowledge, hold conferences and build international links for campaigns and initiatives. There is immense value in creating a single precinct to meet these needs. The People's Space being set up by C17 is inclusive of all civil society groups working on climate change and is open to the public. The Space will be active from 26th November to 10th December 2011.
Climate Refugee Camp: During 2011, national, regional and international organisations will mobilise people across South Africa and the continent to ensure a strong presence of informed and engaged community activists at COP17. The activists will be accommodated in the Climate Refugee Camp at COP17. They will participate in a programme of events, centred on the Global Day of Action, to raise awareness of climate impacts in Africa, the potential scale of social disruption, and hence the need for real solutions. The camp will be active from 1 to 5 December 2011.
Global Day of Action: The Global Day of Action (GDA) is a traditional and important event at the UNFCCC COPs. The primary action is a mass march of international and national community

Calendar

Conference of Youth
International REDD+ P...
Multi-faith mass rally an...
Climate Train - Arrival

28COP17/CMP7 United Nations...
Installation opening: 09:...
Side event: What must Dur...
Side event: Showcasing In...
Side event: Question and ...
Side event: Presentation ...
Side event: Innovative ap...

29Green Growth South Africa...
COP17/CMP7 United Nations...
Exhibition: Recycled bron...

30COP17/CMP7 United Nations...
Exhibition opening: Don't...
Conference: Fossil fuelin...
Side event: Who is financ

International Conference on Water and Environment,Morocco,20.11.2011

Date: 20-Nov-2011
Details
The future adequacy of freshwater resources in the global scale is difficult to assess, owing to a complex and rapidly changing geography of water supply and use. Water resources in arid and semi arid regions face globally the greatest pressure to meet growing needs. The Middle East is “the most concentrated region of (water) scarcity in the world and of vulnerability to water shortages.” Water scarcity becomes most acute when one considers demand and supply in the context of future socio‐economic and natural changes that may occur.

The Global Institute for Water, Environment, and Health (GIWEH), Geneva- Switzerland and the International Center for Remote Sensing and GIS, Amman- Jordan in partnership with the University of Geneva- F.-A. Forel Institute, Geneve – Switzerland, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah (USMBA), Faculty of Sciences and Technology of Fez- Morocco, University of Abdelmalek Essaadi- Morocco, University and Faculty of Sciences Semlalia of Marrakech, University of Cady Ayyad- Facuality of Science and Technology, FST Marrakech Morocco, and University. Abdelmaled Essaadi, Tetouan and in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Intelictual property (WIPO), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), will hold the first of GIWEH’s Water Series conferences that will address multidisciplinary issues across all areas of the global water and environment sector and will also focus on the issue of the “Future prospective – Global Innovation Outlook on Water and Environment,” on 20th November 2011 at the conference center in Marrakech- Morroco, devoted to Sustainable Water Use and Management: Leading and Learning.

Saturday December 3rd and Sun.4.12

CISDL together with the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) and Warburton Attorneys are very pleased to invite you to an international conference on ‘Climate Law & Governance in the Global South’ in the context of the 2011 COP17 negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Durban. This Conference will be the first edition of an annual conference specifically focused on the legal and governance aspects of climate change mitigation, adaptation and finance in the global south. The Conference on ‘Climate Law & Governance in the Global South’ will bring together country representatives, development practitioners, law & governance experts, researchers, academics and other key stakeholders to discuss the most pressing issues facing developing country governments and citizens. The Conference will take place at the Faculty of Law of the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Howard College Campus in Durban, on Saturday 3 December & Sunday 4 December, 2011.

This Conference aims at stimulating dialogue, analyzing current trends and catalyzing legal thought on climate change and its implications for the development of laws and institutions in developing countries. Specifically, the conference hopes to address the gap in best practices related to climate change laws and governance in developing countries. As such, the conference will focus on fostering knowledge-sharing of best practices between the variety of stakeholders involved in climate law and governance with a focus on developing a South-South dialogue.

For more information on the Conference, and to register online, please follow this link. Attendance is by registration only, free of charge. For questions please contact secretariat@cisdl.org.

A draft version of the Conference program is available here.

Climate Change in South Africa

Poor countries and poor people in all countries are least responsible for driving climate change but most vulnerable to the impacts. Africa is particularly vulnerable and unmitigated climate impacts will result in massive social disruption. Without determined mitigation, tens of millions of people will die or be displaced while support for adaptation is already urgent. The gap between responsibility and vulnerability represents a climate debt owed by the rich to the poor.

The response of the world's governments to the climate crisis is not adequate to the urgency of the situation. The agreed target of 2 degrees is past dangerous. The target for stabilisation of the concentration of greenhouse gases at 450 ppm of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) has a poor chance of delivering on 2 degrees and will soon be exceeded. There is no credible mechanism under discussion to meet the 450 target.

The history of negotiations indicates that the strong will of governments, supported by corporate capital, is to avoid those changes to global systems of production and consumption necessary to seriously reduce carbon emissions. These economic systems are highly unequal, creating great wealth and great poverty both globally and in all countries. Global inequity is replicated in the climate regime

Civil Society

The Civil Society Committee for COP17 (C17) includes representatives of 16 organisations including social movements, labour, environmental justice organisations, international environmental NGOs and faith-based organisations. It is a facilitatory body that will coordinate the participation of international and national movements and organisations of civil society in the common process but will not seek to represent them or to enter into negotiations with, or lobbying of, governments on their behalf.

Rather, the C17 seeks to create opportunities for:
Civil society engagement with climate change solutions and in the climate change negotiations during 2011
Civil society engagement with the South African government around climate change negotiations and positions
A platform for the expression of diversity in civil society
Environmental movement building in South Africa and the region