CAN Intervention: CAN, CJN, Gender, YOUNGO, TUNGO joint intervention in ADP Ministerial, COP20, Dec 10, 2014

I am Lidy Nacpil of Jubilee South Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development, and from the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice. As a Filipina, the fight against the climate crisis is a fight for the survival of our people not in the future but now.  The only solace we can get from the annual visits of super typhoons exactly at the time of the Summit of the Conference of Parties is the hope that our tragedies will somehow move governments into more ambitious, more just and fairly shared global actions to confront the climate crisis.

The fight against the climate crisis is a struggle for the rights of peoples across the globe. And it is the people those who stand up for their rights –the rights of workers, the rights of women, the rights of youth, the rights of the poor, the rights of communities, the rights of indigenous peoples ––  they are the people who are targeted, harassed, and killed for standing up,  speaking out, and resisting the system that drives the climate crisis  

Ministers, you must recognize this fundamental fact — that to avert climate catastrophe, you will need all voices and all hands and that you must do more, here at the UNFCCC but also at home – to protect, respect, fulfill the human rights of all to fully and effectively participate in all levels of decision making

One of the outcomes of the ADP negotiations must be much greater commitments by governments to protect rights-defenders. And we expect the Paris agreement to include clear and direct reference to the need for responses to climate change to advance gender equality and respect, promote and fulfill human rights.

Any agreement that will protect future generations must contain commitments to immediate action with a long term perspective. It must recognize that our planet is held in trust for future generations thus Intergenerational equity is a key principle in tandem with equity between people today.

Intergenerational equity and this obligation to the future means that we must have a long term goal of limiting temperature rise to no more than 1.5C.  We demand that the world begin to immediately phase out fossil fuel and other dirty and harmful energy projects.  We demand a just transition to 100% renewable energy systems as quickly as possible, that are community owned and deliver energy to the 3 billion women and men without access to enough energy for lives of dignity.

We urge parties to make INDCs in accordance with a cost-benefit analysis of climate change that does not discount our future, while addressing gender equality and human rights.

It is because of the rights of women and men that we demand that the Lima decision addresses all aspects of the climate crisis – not just emission cuts. We expect a decision that mandates all countries to make “intended contributions” on adaptation, finance, technology, and capacity building that are gender responsive and include social and environmental safeguards. It’s only through focusing on these issues at the highest level that the needs of impacted women and men will be addressed.

Mitigation commitments of developing countries but be discussed together with finance and technology transfers without which we cannot possibly hope to see the scale of transformation the world needs. Without adequate, gender responsive, safe finance and technology transfers we cannot ensure a swift complete transition and neither a just transition – one that provides decent, lasting, safe and well-paid jobs, one that does not leave the workers out in the cold.

The conference is not over – there is still time to show this commitment, to show that you listen to your people,  to show that you do hear the almost twenty thousand people marching in central Lima today. You can still take a decision here to see climate change as more than just emission cuts but also about  the rights of women and men. You can still take the decision to include adaptation, finance and technology as mandatory elements of your contributions to the future agreement.

We also urge you to put the issue of pre-2020 actions at the top of your agenda in Lima.  Targets in 2025 will be too late if we continue with the weak proposals for the next six years – you face a political and physical imperative to drastically change direction on immediate climate action.  We must move away from a talk shop format and transform the pre-2020 process into solutions-based collaborative forums that look to the needs of women and men for greener jobs, energy access, clean and healthy communities, and control over their own energy systems. All these are possible if there is commitment at the highest level to seeing real outcomes on pre-2020 action, and ensuring transfer of finance and technology.

We also demand a commitment to revisit and revise ways to scale-up your 2020 targets until you bring them into line with what science and justice requires. We demand an agreement on a finance roadmap that shows when, how, and how much finance will be available to tackle climate change in the South. And we expect discussions on clear and concrete proposals to start a global energy transformation away from the fossil fuel era, and into renewable energy. All of these issues are on the table, and actions on these issues are being called for – by the science, back in your capitals, out there in the streets, and in here.

The climate crisis is about real people — women and men, girls and boys – across the globe.  Their rights, their survival, their future should guide your decisions in Lima.