Statement Denouncing Corporate Takeover of UN Climate Summit

September 16, 2014

Mobilize and organize to Stop and Prevent Planet Fever!

Climate Summit, September 19 – 23, New York:

When we, as human beings, get a fever, we immediately get worried and take action. After all, we know that if our body temperature rises to 1.5ºC, let alone 2ºC [3.6 ºF] above the normal average, there can be severe damage, while an increase of 4-6ºC [7.2-10.8 ºF] or more can cause a comatose situation and even death.

So it is, when planet Earth gets a fever. For the past 11,000 years, the average temperature of the Earth has been around 14ºC [57.2ºF]. It is now about to reach an increase of 1ºC. And, if we do not take appropriate measures now to stop this fever from spreading, the forecast is that our planet will be well on its way to anywhere between 2ºC to 6ºC rise in temperature before the end of this century. Under such feverish conditions, life as we know it will dramatically change on planet Earth.

We have no other recourse but to take action now. Not just any action but the right action and at the right time. When, for example, a human person has a fever, we urge them to rest their body, give them a lot of liquids, prescribe the right medicine, and if the fever goes up we bring them to the hospital and try to find the underlying cause of the fever, which can range from a simple infection to life-threatening diseases like cancer.

Right Prescriptions

In the case of a planetary fever, the right prescription requires at least 10 actions to be undertaken and applied.

Make immediate binding commitments — not voluntary pledges — to control planetary temperature rise to no more than 1.5ºC [2.7 ºF] this century by reducing global greenhouse gas emissions per year to 38 Gigatons by 2020.
Let the Earth rest by making binding commitments to leave more than 80% of known fossil fuel reserves under the soil and beneath the ocean floor.
Move away from resource extractivism by placing bans on all new exploration and exploitation of oil, bitumen sands, oil shale, coal, uranium, and natural gas including pipeline infrastructure like Keystone XL.
Accelerate the development and transition to renewable energy alternatives such as wind, solar, geothermal and tidal power with more public and community ownership and control.
Promote local production and consumption of durable goods to satisfy the fundamental needs of the people and avoid the transport of goods that can be produced locally.
Stimulate the transition from industrialized, export-oriented agriculture for the global supermarket to community-based production to meet local food needs based on food sovereignty.
Adopt and apply Zero Waste strategies for the recycling and disposal of trash and the retrofitting of buildings to conserve energy for heating and cooling.
Improve and expand public transportation for moving people and freight within urban centres and between cities within urban regions through efficient trains.
Develop new sectors of the economy designed to create new jobs that restore the balance and equilibrium of the Earth system such as climate jobs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and Earth restoration jobs.
Dismantle the war industry and military infrastructure in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by warfare, and divert war budgets to promote genuine peace.

Wrong Prescriptions

At the same time, we must also be aware that all actions are not appropriate actions and that some initiatives can worsen the situation. Perhaps our most pressing challenge is the fact that big corporations are capturing the climate agenda to make new businesses designed to take advantage of the crises. In response, we need to send a message, loud and clear, to corporations: ‘Stop Exploiting the Tragedy of Climate Change!’

More specifically, we need to resist the ‘greening of capital’ as the solution by rejecting the following policies, strategies and measures:

The commodification, financialization and privatization of the functions of nature through the promotion of a false “green economy” agenda which places a price on nature and creates new derivative markets that will only increase inequality and expedite the destruction of nature.
This means saying No to REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) … No to Climate Smart Agriculture, Blue Carbon and Biodiversity offsetting — all of which are designed to create new for-profit business for corporations.
Techno-fix “solutions” like geo-engineering, genetically modified organisms, agrofuels, industrial bioenergy, synthetic biology, nanotechnology, hydraulic fracking, nuclear projects, waste-to-energy generation based on incineration, and others.
Mega and unnecessary infrastructure projects that do not benefit the population and are net contributors to greenhouse gasses like, mega dams, excessively huge highways, stadiums for world cups, etc.
Free trade and investment regimes that promote trade for profit and undercut domestic labor, destroy nature, and substantially reduce the capacity of nations to define their own economic, social and environmental priorities.

Preventative Cure

Finally, we also need to go beyond identifying right and wrong prescriptions to naming the disease that constantly causes and drives this planetary fever. If we don’t take this step, the fever will keep coming back again and again in a much more aggressive way. We need to take stock of the roots of the disease in order to weather the storm.

Scientists have clearly traced the problem of increasing greenhouse gas emissions back to the industrial revolution 250 years ago while tracking the spurt that has taken place during the past century. From this analysis, it is clear that the industrial model of increased extraction and productivism for the profit of a few is the prime cause of the problem. We need to replace capitalism with a new system that seeks harmony between humans and nature and not an endless growth model that the capitalist system promotes in order to make more and more profit. We need a system that links climate change and human rights and provides for the protection of most vulnerable communities like migrants, and recognizes the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Mother Earth and her natural resources cannot sustain the consumption and production needs of this globalized modern industrialized society. We require a new system that addresses the needs of the majority and not of the few. To move in this direction, we need a redistribution of the wealth that is now controlled by the 1%. In turn, this requires a new definition of wellbeing and prosperity for all life on the planet under the limits and in recognition of the rights of our Mother Earth and Nature.

We urgently need to organize and mobilize in September in New York and the world to push for a process of transformation that can address the structural causes that are driving the climate crisis.

Initial signatures:

Alternatives International
ATTAC – France
Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo – La Via Campesina (CLOC-LVC)
Corporate Europe Observatory
Ecologistas en Acción
ETC Group
Fairwatch – Italy
Focus on the Global South
Fundación Solón – Bolivia
Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and end TNCs’ impunity
Global Forest Coalition
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) – Nigeria
Indigenous Environmental Network
La Via Campesina
Migrants Rights International
No-REDD Africa Network
OilWatch International
Polaris Institute – Canada
SENTRO – Philippines
Thai Climate Justice Working Group (TCJ)
Transnational Institute

Endorsing organizations:

Acção Académica para o Desenvolvimento das Comunidades Rurais (ADECRU), Mozambique
Action Jeunesse pour le Développement (AJED-Congo)
ActionAid
Adéquations, France
ADENY, France
AFRICANDO, Gran Canaria, España
Aitec-IPAM, France
Alianza politica sector de mujeres, Guatemala
Alliance for Democracy, US
Alofa, Tuvalu
Alter Equo
Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC), South Africa
Alyansa Tigil Mina (Alliance Against Mining) – Philippines
Amigos da Terra Brasil – FoE Brazil
Amigos de la Tierra América Latina y el Caribe (ATALC)
Amigos de la Tierra – FoE Spain
Amigu di Tera – FoE Curaçao
Amis de la Confédération Paysanne Alsace
Amis de la Terre France
Aniban ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA) – Pilipinas
Aprilia in Movimento
Asamblea Nacional de Afectados Ambientales, México
Asamblea Permanente del Comahue por el Agua (A.P.C.A.) de Neuquén, Argentina
Assembly of the Poor, Thailand
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Asia-Pacific Solidarity Coalition (APSOC)
Asociación Argentina de Abogados Ambientalistas (AAdeAA)
Asociación aurora vivar, Peru
Asociación Catalana para el Agua y el Ambiente (ASCA), Catalunya, Spain
Asociación Civil Árbol de Pie, Bariloche – Argentina
Asociación de Pobladores del Departamento de La Paz (ASPODEPAZ)
Asociación humanidad libre, Peru
Asociación Indígena Ambiental – AIA
Asociación Regional Centroamericana para el Agua y el Ambiente (ARCA), Costa Rica
Association For Promotion Sustainable Development Hisar India
Association pour la Protection de l’Environnement et le Développement Durable de Bizerte – APEDDUB
Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP)
Association pour la défense des droits de l’eau et de l’assainissement, Sénégal
Associazione Marco Mascagna
Athens SAVEGREEKWATER, Greece
ATTAC Argentina
ATTAC Austria
ATTAC/CADTM Maroc
ATTAC Germany
ATTAC Hellas
ATTAC Ireland
ATTAC Italia
ATTAC Japan
ATTAC Poland
ATTAC Spain
ATTAC Togo
Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Labour Federation (BAFLF)
Beyond Copenhagen Collective, India
Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha (India peoples science campaign), India
Biofuelwatch, UK/US
Biowatch South Africa
Bizi! – Pays Basque
Border Agricultural Workers Project
Brigada Cimarrona Sebastian Lemba, Republica Dominicana
Campaign for a Life of Dignity for All (KAMP)
Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Campaña de Afectados por Repsol- Repsolmata, Catalunya
CEEweb for Biodiversity
CENSAT agua viva – FoE Colombia
Centro de Estudios para la Gobernabilidad y Democracia – CEGODEM
Centre for Alternative Technology, UK
Centre for Civil Society, Durban, South Africa
Center for Earth Energy & Democracy, US
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence, Austria
Centre for National-Democracy Studies, Indonesia
Centre for 21st Century Issues (C21st), Nigeria
Cercle Modesto Cugnolio, Italia
CESTA – FoE El Salvador
CETRI – Centre tricontinental
Climate and Capitalism, Canada
Climate Justice Alliance (US)
Coal-free Central Luzon Movement, Philippines
Coalition nationale Malgache pour l’Education Pour Tous – CONAMEPT
Coalition pour la Protection du Patrimoine Génétique Africain (COPAGEN)
COECOCEIBA – FoE Costa Rica
Col·lectiu RETS, Catalunya, Spain
Colectivo VientoSur, Chile
Collectif 07 Stop aux Gaz et Huiles de Schiste, France
Collectif citoyen les Engraineurs, France
Collectif pour le triangle de Gonesse, France
Collectif Stop aux Hydrocarbures extrêmes (38), France
Comitato Abruzzese per la Difesa dei Beni Comuni, Italie
Comité de Derechos Humanos de Base de Chiapas Digna Ochoa, Chiapas, México
Comité pour les droits humains en Amérique latine, Canada
Common Frontiers
Confédération paysanne, France
Conseil pour la Terre des Ancêtres, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Consejo de Defensa de la Patagonia, Chile
Cooperativa de Producción, Trabajo y Servicios Múltiples La Union Integral (COOPUNINTE), República Dominicana
Coordination Climat et Justice Sociale de Genève, Suisse
Critical Information Collective
Culture and Ecology (ICE)-Kenya
Democracy Center, Bolivia
DIÁLOGO 2000 – JUBILEO SUR ARGENTINA
Dichiariamo Illegale la Povertà’ (DIP), Italy
Dimensioni Diverse – Milano
Diverse Voices and Action for Equality, Fiji
Earth Law Center, US
East Africa Climate Change Network
ECA Watch – Austria
Echoes of Silence, United Kingdom
Ecohermanas
EcoNexus
Ecos del Silencio Nicaragua
Ecomujer Germany, Germany
Ecuador decide
Ecumenical Advocacy Network, Philippines
Effet de serre toi-même, France
Emmaüs International
End Ecocide on Earth
Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island, US
Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
Earth in Brackets
Farmworker Association of Florida, US
Fédération Artisans du Monde, France
Federación de Estudiantes del Perú
Federación nacional de Trabajadores del Agua Potable y Alcantarillado del Perú – FENTAP
Finance & Trade Watch
FÍS NUA, Ireland
Foro Ciudadano de Participación – FOCO, Argentina
Fondation Sciences Citoyennes, France
Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
Foreste per Sempre, Italia
Fórum Mudanças Climáticas e Justiça Social, Brasil
Forum per i bieni comuni e l’economia solidale del Friuli Venezia Giulia – Italy
Forum Solidarida Peru
France Libertés – la Fondation Danielle Mitterrand, France
Franciscans International
Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular de Honduras
Frente nacional por la vida y soberanía (FRENVIDAS), Peru
Freshwater Action Network (FAN)
Freshwater Action Network America del Sur (FANAS)
Freshwater Action Network – Central America (FANCA)
Freshwater Action Network – Mexico (FANMex)
Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA)
Fresh Eyes – People to People Travel, UK
Friche En Ville, France
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Friends of the Earth Malta
Friends of the Earth Sierra Leone
Friends of the Earth Sweden
Fundación Mundubat, España
Garjan.org, Nepal
Générations Futur, France
Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature
Global Exchange
Globalization Watch Hiroshima, Japa
Global Justice Ecology Project, US
Global Social Justice – Belgium
GRAIN
Green Cross France et Territoires
GroundWork, Friends of the Earth, South Africa
Grupo Carta de Belém – Brasil
Gruppo d’Acquisto Solidale Il Melograno Associazione di Siena (GAS)
Grupo de Estudios Ambientales (GEA), Mexique
Grupo de Solidaridad-Arenal (GRUDESA) – NICARAGUA
Grupo de Trabajo de Cambio Climático y Justicia (GTCCJ) de Bolivia
Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com, UK
Humanitarian Group for Social Development (HGSD), Lebanon
ICCA Consortium
IDEASforus Togo
ILLA centro de educación y comunicación, Peru
Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID)
Institut Européen de Recherche sur la Politique de l’Eau (IERPE)
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Institute for Policy Studies, Climate Policy Program, US
Instituto de Estudios sobre Desarrollo y Cooperación Internacional del País Vasco
Insurrectas Autónomas, Honduras
International Institute of Climate Action and Theory
International Network on Migration and Development
IRPAD/Afrique, Bamako (MALI)
Jóvenes Ante la Emergencia Nacional, México
Jubileo Sur/Américas
Jubilee South Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (JSAPMDD)
Justiça Ambiental – FoE Mozambique
Justicia Climatica, Republica Dominicana
Kalpavriksh – Environment Action Group, India
Keep Ireland Fracking Free, Ireland
KFEM (Korea Federation for Environmental Movement) – FoE Korea
Kilusang Maralita sa Kanayunan (KILOS KA), Philippines
KRuHA (people’s coalition for the right to water), Indonesia
La Belle Cause
La Nature en Ville, France
Landless Peoples Movement South Africa
Ligue Internationale des Femmes pour la Paix et la Liberté
LILAK – Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights, Philippines
Maison de la Nature et de l’Environnement “la Porcherie” (MNE.P), Democratic Republic of the Congo
Marcha mundial de las mujeres, Peru
Marcha mundial de las mujeres macro region norte
Maudesco – FoE Mauritius
Medical Mission Sisters, US
Medio Ambiente y Sociedad, Mexico
MELCA, Ethiopia
Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM), Philippines
Mindanao Peaceweavers (MPW), Philippines
Migrant Rights Council of Nepal
Mother Earth Action Co-operative Ltd, Canada
Mouvement de la Paix, France
Mouvement pour une Alternative Non-violente
Mouvement Utopia, France
Movement Generation, US
Movement no coke high lazio
Movimiento de Liberación Nacional, México
Movimiento Madre Tierra – Amigos de la Tierra Honduras
Movimiento Migrante Mesoameriano
Movimiento por il lavoro i diritti l’ambiente
MST-Italia
Mujeres de negro contra la guerra, Spain
Mujeres para el dialogo, Mexico
Natural Bonder, South Africa
Nepalese youth for Climate Action (NYCA)
NOAH – Friends of the Earth Denmark
Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, US
Noviciado franciscano de la provincia de San Pabl Apostol, Colombia
No Vox International
Nuclear-free bataan movement, Philippines
Observatorio de Multinacionales en América Latina – Asociación Paz con Dignidad
Oceanium Togo
Oltre La Crescita, Italy
Oregina di Genova, Italy
Osmonde XXI, France
Otros Mundos Chiapas – Amigos de la Tierra México
Pachamama Alliance, US
Pakistan rural workers social welfare organization (PRWSWO)
Pambasang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan – National Rural Women Coalition – Philippines
PAPDA – Haiti
Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ)
Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM)
Plataforma Boliviana Frente al Cambio Climatico
Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo (PIDHDD)
Plataforma Rural, Spain
Policy Alert, Nigeria
Programa de Extensión “Por una nueva economía, humana y sustentable” de la carrera de Comunicación Social de la UNER, Argentina
Programa FEES del CLAI
Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK) Philippines
Quaker Earthcare Witness, US
Rebrip, Brasil
Red de Cooperacion Amazonica – REDCAM
Red de Coordinación en Biodiversidad, Costa Rica
Red educacion popular entre mujeres (REPEM)
Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Transformando la Economía (REMTE)
Redes – Amigos de la Tierra Uruguay
Red nacional genero y economia, Mexico
Réseau international CADTM
Réseau Femmes Rurales
Réseau Féministe « Ruptures »
Réseau International Enda Tiers Monde
Rete Clima
Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
RIM Youth Climate Movement
Robin des Toits, France
Rural Coalition, US
Sanctuary Asia, India
Serve – Net (Service Education Research Volunteers and pro-Environment Network)
SERR – Servicios Ecumenicos para Reconcilacion y Reconstruccion
Share The World’s Resources, UK
Siembra, Mexico
Sobrevivencia/Friends of the Earth-Paraguay
Social Movements for an Alternative Asia (SMAA)
Sociedad Civil Amigos del Viento Meteorología Ambiente Desarrollo, Uruguay
Sociedade Sinhá Laurinha – Slau, Brazil
SOLdePaz.Pachakuti, Asturias, Spain
Solidaires – France
South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, Durban, South Africa
Stop Fessenheim, France
Stop nucléaire Besançon, France
Stop gaz de schiste Anduze (30), France
SUMPAY Mindanao, Philippines
Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment (SWAGEN), Uganda
Syndicat Autonome des Travailleurs de la Sénégalaise des Eaux (SAT-SDE)
Swarna Hansa Foundation, Sri Lanka
System Change not Climate Change, Canada & US
Taca Agir pour le climat
Terra Nuova
Thai Poor Act, Thailand
The Corner House
The International Grail Movement
The Woodlandleague, Ireland
Third World Health Aid, Belgium
Timberwatch Coalition
Touche pas à mon schiste, France
TripleA Marbella, Spain
Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development
Umphilo waManzi, South Africa
Union des associations pour la création d’un PARC NATUREL RÉGIONAL La BRIE et les deux MORIN
Université Nomade, France
Urgenci Community Supported Agriculture network Europe
Virage-énergie Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
VOICE, Bangladesh
Vrouwenraad, Belgium
WARBE, Bangladesh
WomanHealth Philippines
World March of Women
World March of Women – Philippines
World Rural Forum
Youth Action, Nepal
Young Environment Leaders League (YELL), Philippines
Young Leaders Initiative – CAR, Philippines
Young People We Care – YPWC, Ghana
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom – WILPF US
World Rainforest Movement