MEDIA ADVISORY - 3 December 2011
ECOTERRA International
Society for Threatened Peoples International
EARTHPEOPLES
Climate Change :
Thousands Protest At Cop17 -
Demanding Action To Save The Planet
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, 3 December 2011 – The people demand that governments have to radically change their behavior at
the UNFCCC negotiations, if the world is to have a chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change.
Today is the GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION, thousands of ordinary people from across Africa and the World are coming together to
make sure their voices are heard. Some of those most affected by the impacts of changing climate will be taking part in
the march including indigenous peoples, peasant farmers from across the continent and hundreds of women from South
African rural communities.
C17 Global Day of Action committee convenor Desmond D’sa: “World leaders are discussing the fate of our planet but they
are far from reaching a solution to climate change. If they fail to make progress we will see drought and hunger blight
our country and continent even further.”
The first period of emission cuts agreed under the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012. A new round of emission
cuts must be agreed in Durban to avoid gaps between the first and second periods.
But developed nations are trying to shift their responsibilities for drastic emissions cuts onto developing countries
that have done the least to cause the problem , while developing countries, joined by the European Union, try to kill
the Kyoto Protocol, and call for a “new mandate” for the UN climate negotiation, trying to escape their responsibilities
for climate action.
It would be disastrous if the internationally binding emission reduction commitments would lapse or end altogether in
Durban.
The US is leading the rich countries demand for a replacement of the Kyoto Protocol with a totally inadequate voluntary
pledge where countries would decide their own emissions cuts on a national basis.
It seems that only the Africa Group of countries are united in their demand to hold industrialised countries accountable
to their previous commitments, while rich industrialized countries are busy trying to carve out new business
opportunities for multinational corporations and their financial elites.
ENDS