23 Apr 2010

Statement from climate conference Bolivia 'Today, our Mother Earth is wounded and the future of humanity is in danger'

Today, our Mother Earth is wounded and the future of humanity is in danger.

If global warming increased more than 2 º C, which would lead to the so-called "Copenhagen Understanding" there is a 50% chance that the damage caused to our Mother Earth are totally irreversible. Between 20% and 30% of the species would be in danger of disappearing. Large tracts of forests would be affected, droughts and floods affect different regions of the planet, deserts extend and exacerbate the melting icecaps and glaciers in the Andes and the Himalayas. Many island states disappear and Africa suffer a temperature increase of more than 3 º C. Likewise, reduced food production in the world would create catastrophic effects for the survival of the inhabitants of vast regions of the planet, and dramatically increase the number of hungry in the world, which already exceeds the figure of 1,020 million people.

Corporations and governments of countries called "more developed" in complicity with a segment of the scientific community, discuss climate change as a problem limited to the rise of temperature without questioning the cause [which] is the capitalist system .

We confront the terminal crisis of the patriarchal model of civilization based on the subjugation and destruction of human beings and nature that accelerated with the industrial revolution.

The capitalist system has imposed a logic of competition, progress and unlimited growth. This mode of production and consumption gain unlimited search, separating man from nature, establishing a logic of domination over it, turning everything into a commodity: water, earth, the human genome, the ancestral cultures, biodiversity, justice, ethics, rights of peoples, death and life itself.

Under capitalism, the Earth Mother becomes the only source of raw materials and human beings into means of production and consumers, people who are worth what they have and not what they are.

Capitalism requires a strong military industry to the process of accumulation and control of territories and natural resources, suppressing people's resistance. It is an imperialist system of colonization of the planet.

Humanity is facing a great dilemma: continue on the path of capitalism, predation and death, or the path of harmony with nature and respect for life.

Require building a new system to restore harmony with nature and among humans. There can be only balance with nature if there is equity among human beings.

Put to the peoples of the world recovery, empowerment and strengthening of knowledge, wisdom and traditional practices of Indigenous Peoples, affirmed in the experience and proposal of "Living Well", recognizing the Mother Earth as a living being, with which we have a relationship indivisible, interdependent, complementary and spiritual.

To address climate change must recognize the Mother Earth as the source of life and forge a new system based on the principles of:

• harmony and balance between everyone and everything
• complementarity, solidarity, and equity
• collective well-being and satisfaction of basic needs of all in harmony with Mother Earth
• respect for Mother Earth Rights and Human Rights
• recognition of the human being for what it is and not what has
• Elimination of all forms of colonialism, imperialism and interventionism
• peace among peoples and Mother Earth.


The model we advocate is not destructive or unlimited development. Countries need to produce goods and services to meet the basic needs of its population, but by no means can continue on this path of development in which richer countries have a carbon footprint five times larger than the planet can bear. They already had exceeded 30% over the planet's capacity to regenerate. At this rate of exploitation of our Mother Earth will need two planets by 2030.

In an interdependent system of which humans are one of its components is not possible to recognize rights only to the human side without causing an imbalance in the whole system. To ensure human rights and restore harmony with nature is necessary to recognize and enforce the rights of Mother Earth.

We propose the attached draft Universal Declaration of Mother Earth in which are recorded:

• Right to life and to exist;
• Right to be respected;
• Rights to continue its vital processes and cycles free of human disturbance;
• Right to maintain its identity and integrity as distinct beings, self-regulated and interrelated;
• Right to water as a source of life;
• The right to clean air;
• The right to comprehensive health care;
• Right to be free from contamination and pollution, toxic and radioactive waste;
• Right not to be genetically altered and modified in structure or function threatening its integrity and healthy life.
• Right to a full and speedy restoration for violations of the rights recognized in the Declaration caused by human activities.

The shared vision is to stabilize concentrations of greenhouse gases to give effect to Article 2 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change which determines the "stabilization of concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level that prevents dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. " Our vision is based on the historical principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, to demand that developed countries commit to quantified targets for reducing emissions that allow return concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at 300 ppm and thus limiting the increase in global mean temperature to a maximum level of 1 C.

Stressing the need for urgent action to achieve this vision, and with the support of the people, movements and countries, developed countries should commit to ambitious targets for reducing emissions that achieve short-term objectives, while maintaining our vision for balance the Earth's climate system, according to the ultimate objective of the Convention.

The "shared vision" for the "Long-term Cooperative Action" should not be reduced to the climate change negotiations to define the limit on increasing the temperature and the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but must understand a comprehensive and balanced set of financial measures, technology, adaptation, capacity building, patterns of production, consumption and other essentials such as the recognition of the rights of Mother Earth to restore harmony with nature.

The developed countries the main cause of climate change, assuming your historical responsibility and current, must recognize and honor their climate debt in all its dimensions, as the basis for a just, effective and scientific climate change. In this context we urge developed countries to:

• Reset developing countries air space which is occupied by their emissions of greenhouse gases. This implies the decolonization of the atmosphere and absorption by reducing their emissions.
• Assume the costs and technology transfer needs of developing countries for the loss of development opportunities to live in a restricted air space.
• be accountable for the hundreds of millions that will have to migrate by climate change which have caused and to remove its restrictive policies on migration and migrants provide a decent life and all rights in their countries.
• Assume adaptation debt related to the impacts of climate change on developing countries by providing the means to prevent, minimize and deal with damages arising from its excessive emissions.
• Honor those debts as part of a major debt to Mother Earth to take and implement the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth at the United Nations.

The focus should be not only financial compensation but principally of restorative justice - that is restoring integrity to the people and the members who form a community of life on Earth.

We deplore the attempt by a group of countries to cancel the Kyoto Protocol the only specific binding instrument for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in developed countries.

We warn the world that despite being legally bound emissions of developed countries rather than reduce, grew by 11.2% between 1990 and 2007.

United States because of the unlimited consumption GHG emissions increased by 16.8% over the period 1990 to 2007, issuing on average between 20 and 23 tonnes of CO2 per capita, which represents more than 9 times the emissions for a average inhabitant of the Third World, and more than 20 times the emissions of an inhabitant of sub-Saharan Africa.

Absolutely reject the illegitimate "Understanding Copenhagen", which allows developed countries offer insufficient reductions of greenhouse gases, based on voluntary commitments and individuals that violate the environmental integrity of the Mother land leads to an increase of about 4 º C.

The forthcoming Climate Change Conference to be held later this year in Mexico should adopt the amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, for the second commitment period to begin in 2013-2017 in which developed countries must commit significant domestic reductions of at least 50% compared to 1990 base excluding carbon markets or other diversion systems that mask the failure of actual reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases.

We require first establish a goal for all developed countries and then make individual allocations for each country developed in the context of a comparison of effort between each of them, thus maintaining the system of the Kyoto Protocol for emission reductions .

The United States of America, as the sole country on Earth in Annex 1 which did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol is a significant responsibility to all peoples of the world as it should ratify the Kyoto Protocol and commit to respect and comply to emissions reduction targets-wide economy.

The people have the same rights of protection to the impacts of climate change and reject the notion of adaptation to climate change understood as the resignation to the impacts caused by historic emissions of developed countries, who must adapt their lifestyles and consumption to this planetary emergency. We are forced to deal with the impacts of climate change, considering adaptation as a process and not as an imposition, and also as a tool that serves to counteract this, showing that it is possible to live in harmony under a different model of life.

You need to build an Adaptation Fund, as an exclusive fund to address climate change as part of a financial mechanism operated and managed in a sovereign manner, transparent and equitable for our states. Under this fund should be evaluated: the impacts and costs in developing countries and that these impacts needs arise, and record and monitor the support from developed countries. It also must handle a mechanism for compensation for damage occurring impacts and future opportunities for loss and replacement by extreme weather events and gradual and incremental costs that could arise if our planet exceeds the thresholds and ecological impacts which are curbing the right to live well.

The "Understanding the Copenhagen imposed on developing countries by some States, beyond offering insufficient resources, intends to divide itself and face the people and seeks to extort money from developing countries conditional access to resources to adapt to change mitigation measures. Addition is set as unacceptable in international negotiation processes attempt to categorize developing countries by their vulnerability to climate change, creating disputes, inequality and segregation between them.

The immense challenge we face as humanity to stop global warming and cooling the planet will only be achieved carrying out a profound transformation of agriculture into a sustainable model of agricultural production and indigenous peasant / origin, and other ecological models and traditional practices that contribute to solve the problem of climate change and ensure food sovereignty, understood as the right of peoples to control their own seeds, land, water and food production, ensuring, through production in harmony with Mother Earth, local and culturally appropriate, the peoples' access to sufficient, varied and nutritious supplementation with Mother Earth and deepening the independent production (participatory, community and shared) in every nation and people.

Climate change is already having profound impacts on agriculture and livelihoods of indigenous / native and peasant in the world and these impacts will be worse in the future.

The agro business through its social, economic and cultural development of globalized capitalist production and the logic of food production for the market and not to fulfill the right to food is a major cause of climate change. Its technological tools, commercial and political do nothing but deepen the climate crisis and increasing hunger in the world. For this reason we reject the Free Trade and Association Agreements and all forms of implementation of Intellectual Property Rights on life, current technological packages (agrochemicals, GM) and those who offer themselves as false solutions (agrofuels, geoengineering, Nanotechnology, Terminator technology and the like) only exacerbate the current crisis.

At the same time denounce as this capitalist model imposes mega infrastructure projects, extractive projects invade territories, water privatization and commodification militarized territories and expelling the indigenous peoples and farmers from their lands by preventing the Food Sovereignty and deepening socio-environmental crisis.

We demand to recognize the right of all peoples, living beings and Mother Earth to access and enjoy the water and support the proposal of the Government of Bolivia to recognize water as a Fundamental Human Right.

The definition of forest used in the negotiations of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which includes plantations, is unacceptable. Monoculture plantations are not forests. Therefore, we require a definition for trading purposes that recognizes the native forests and the forest and diverse ecosystems on earth.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples must be fully recognized, implemented and integrated in the climate change negotiations. The best strategy and action to avoid deforestation and degradation and protect native forests and the forest is to recognize and guarantee the collective rights of the lands and territories, especially considering that most of the forests are in the territories of indigenous peoples and nations , and traditional farming communities.

We condemn the market mechanisms and the mechanism of REDD (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) and their versions + and + +, which is violating the sovereignty of peoples and their right to free, prior and informed and the sovereignty of nation states, and violates the rights and customs of Peoples and the Rights of Nature.

The polluting countries are obliged to transfer directly the economic and technological resources to pay for the restoration and maintenance of the forests in favor of the peoples and indigenous ancestral organizational structures, originating farm. This should be a direct compensation and additional sources of funding committed by developed countries outside the carbon market and never serve as carbon offsets (offsets). We demand that countries stop local initiatives on forests and forest based on market mechanisms and propose results and conditional non-existent. We call on governments a global program to restore native forests and jungles, managed and administered by the people, implementing forest seeds, fruit trees and native flora. Governments should eliminate forest concessions and support the conservation of oil in the ground and urgently stop the exploitation of hydrocarbons in the jungles.

We call upon States to recognize, respect and ensure the effective implementation of international human rights standards and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ILO Convention 169 , among other relevant instruments in the negotiations, policies and measures to meet the challenges posed by climate change. In particular, we call upon States to legally recognize the prior existence of the right over our territories, lands and natural resources to enable and strengthen our traditional ways of life and contribute effectively to solving the climate change.

We demand the full and effective implementation of the right to consultation, participation and prior, free and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples in all negotiation processes and in the design and implementation of measures relating to climate change.

At present, environmental degradation and climate change will reach critical levels, one of the main consequences of internal migration and international. According to some projections in 1995 there were about 25 million climate migrants, this is estimated at 50 million and projections for 2050 are from 200 to 1000 million people will be displaced by circumstances arising from the developed countries must change climático.Los take responsibility for climate migrants, welcoming them into their territories and recognizing their fundamental rights through the signing of international conventions providing for the definition of migrant climate that all States abide by its determinations.

Establish an International Tribunal of Conscience to denounce, make visible, document, try and punish violations of the rights of the (s) migrants, refugees (as) and displaced persons in countries of origin, transit and destination, clearly identifying the responsibilities of States, companies and other actors.

Current funding for developing countries to climate change and the proposal of Understanding Copenhagen is insignificant. Developed countries must commit to a new annual funding, additional to official development assistance and public source of at least 6% of its GDP to tackle climate change in developing countries. This is feasible considering that a similar amount spent on national defense and spent five times more to rescue failing banks and speculators, which raises serious questions about its global priorities and political will. This funding should be direct, unconditional and not to violate national sovereignty or self-determination of communities and groups most affected.

Given the inefficiency of the current arrangement, in the Mexico Conference should establish a new funding mechanism that operates under the authority of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change United Nations accountable to it, significant representation of developing countries to ensure compliance with funding commitments of Annex 1 countries.

It was found that the developed countries increased their emissions over the period 1990 - 2007, despite having stated that the reduction would be substantially contributed to market mechanisms.

The carbon market has become a lucrative business by commercializing our Mother Earth, this is not an alternative to tackling climate change, as looting, ravaging the land, water and even life itself.

The recent financial crisis has shown that the market is unable to regulate the financial system that is fragile and uncertain amid speculation and the emergence of brokers, therefore, would be totally irresponsible to leave in your hands the care and protection human existence and our Mother Earth.

We consider it unacceptable that the current negotiations seeking to create new mechanisms to expand and promote the carbon market given that existing mechanisms never solved the problem of climate change or became real and direct action in reducing greenhouse gases .

It is essential to require compliance with the commitments made by developed countries at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change regarding the development and transfer of technology and reject the "technological showcase" proposed by developed countries that only market the technology. It is essential to establish guidelines for creating a multilateral, multidisciplinary and participatory control, management and ongoing evaluation of the exchange of technologies. These technologies must be useful, clean, and socially appropriate. It is equally essential to establish a fund for financing and inventory of appropriate technologies and free of intellectual property rights, including patent monopolies should move from private to public domain, freely accessible and low cost.

Knowledge is universal, and for any reason may be the subject of private ownership and private use, nor its applications in the form of technology. It is the duty of developed countries to share their technology with developing countries, to create research centers to create their own technologies and innovations as well as defending and promoting its development and application for living well. The world needs to recover, learn, relearn the principles and approaches of the ancient legacy of indigenous peoples to stop the destruction of the planet, as well as traditional knowledge and practices of spirituality and recovery in rehabilitation of living well together with Mother Earth.

Considering the lack of political will by developed countries to meet effectively its obligations and commitments under the Convention United Nations Framework on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, and against the lack of an international legal body to prevent and punish all those crimes and climatic and environmental crimes that violate the rights of Mother Earth and humanity, we demand the creation of an International Court of Justice Climate and Environmental have binding legal capacity to prevent, prosecute and punish States , companies and people who by act or omission causing contamination and climate change.

Supporting States to submit claims in the International Court of Justice against developed countries that fail to meet their commitments under the Convention United Nations Framework on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol including their commitments to reduce greenhouse gases .

We urge the people to propose and promote a thorough reform of the United Nations Organization (UNO), so that all Member States comply with the decisions of the International Court of Justice Climate and Environmental.

The future of humanity is in danger and can not accept that a group of leaders of countries want to define for all countries as they tried to do unsuccessfully at the Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen. This decision rests with us all peoples. It is therefore necessary to undertake a world referendum, plebiscite or referendum on climate change in what we are all consulted on: the level of emission reductions to be made by developed countries and transnational corporations, the financing to be offered developed countries, the creation of an International Court of Justice Climate: the need for a Universal Declaration of Mother Earth, the need to change the current capitalist system.

World Referendum process, plebiscite or referendum will depend on a process of preparation to ensure the successful development of it.

In order to coordinate our international activities and implement the results of this "Agreement of the People" called to build a Global People's Movement for Mother Earth, which is based on the principles of complementarity and respect for diversity of origin and visions of its members, constituting a broad and democratic space for coordination and joint action worldwide.

To this end, we adopted the global action plan attached to that in Mexico the developed countries of Annex 1 to respect the existing legal framework and reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by 50% and take the various proposals contained in this Agreement.

Finally, agree to hold the 2nd World Conference of Peoples on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in 2011 as part of this process of building the Global Movement of People by Mother Earth and to react to the results of Climate Change Conference to be held later this year in Cancun, Mexico.

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