Listening to their voices! The People’s Summit

Some political powers in the COP negotiations tend to ignore the demands of civil society, the people, el pueblo, and their rights regarding the impacts of climate change. The Cumbre de los Pueblos, (in English People’s Summit) is a space in which these marginalized groups, that tend to be the most susceptible to climate change’s impacts, are brought together to voice their struggles....

ADP: the biggest fight at COP20 Lima

by Klever Descarpontriez & Maria Alejandra Escalante(and many friends) Climate change impacts show no patience with the slow pace of progress at the intergovernmental negotiations and the very limited amount of actions being taken to halt global warming. We are already facing the impacts: sea level rise has displaced island communities in Bangladesh, droughts have decreased yields by 50% in...

10 things that are wrong with this approach to “equity”

Ever since our own Anjali Appadurai stood before world leaders at the 2011 Durban climate talks to demand “equity now,” echoing a longstanding demand of climate justice movements across the world, there has been an increasing use of the word in discussions on international climate change policy. The idea of equity is contested, as everyone from social movement leaders to former Heads of State...

You Could Have It All – Day 5 and Report of OWG12

by khristian méndez // The 12th session of the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals has come to an end. At 5pm on friday, co-chair Kamau wrapped up the informal session of negotiations of the OWG, and opened the formal consultations, to be wrapped up 30 minutes later. During all of Friday, we heard the positions from 20+ member states on the final proposed SDG: Means of...

Heat in the Room – Day 4 OWG12

by khristian méndez // Temperature has risen in New York City, both on all of the concrete and glass surfaces of this giant man-made complex, as well as in the negotiation rooms. Everybody can agree that we need to eradicate poverty, have access to food, education and health, but as we descend down the list of goals, the views become more and more heated. Divergence on Biodiversity This morning...