Council of Canadians Cherrypicks the Peoples Agreement from Cochabamba |
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Earth News |
Thursday, 27 May 2010 01:46 |
Council of Canadians Cherrypicks the Peoples Agreement from Cochabamba
PEJnews - Joan Russow | Global Compliance Research Project What was significant in the Cochabamba conference was that there was a final comprehensive People’s Agreement, emerging from the seventeen group discussions. In a recent release, the Council of Canadians has misrepresented the Peoples Agreement by asking the Canadian government to do less than was asked for at the conference, and by cherrypicking parts of the agreement. www.pej.org While in the section in the COC release, “What happened in Cochambamba”, the Council of Canadians reported the following: “On April 17‐19, [April 19 – 22] 2010 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, the Bolivian government hosted a conference called The World Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth, bringing together more than 34,000 participants (with 10,000 registered from countries outside of South America) for a dialogue on alternative proposals to the climate crisis. Government representatives from 147 countries were present, and at least 45 were active participants. The process included 17 working groups that met and discussed key issues relating to climate justice. There were also main plenary panels and working group events.” What was particularly significant in the Cochabamba conference was that there was a final comprehensive People’s Agreement, emerging from the seventeen group discussions.. The Council of Canadians has misrepresented the document by asking the Canadian government to do less than was asked for at the conference, and by cherrypicking parts of the document. In the recent release by the Council of Canadians, there appears to be a disjunction between the position of Maude Barlow, chair of Council of Canadians and the Council of Canadians negotiator. Surely when Maude appeared at the UN along with President Morales she did so under the presumption that she supported the conclusions in the People’s Agreement. One would expect that after appearing at the UN that the Council of Canadians would change their weak Copenhagen proposal and fully demand that Canada abide by the People’s Agreement. It would have been more ethical for the Council not to have issued a cherry picking release, and just followed up the UN presentation with a statement that the Council of Canadians fully supports the Peoples Agreement. For too long, self serving NGOs, more concerned about sustaining their power and “brand” have been undermining the discussions on climate change. Often the reasons were not immediately evident.. At the UN, at a NGO meeting on climate change and the Global Environmental Facility, , in 1997 when the issue of transparency was raised in relation to corporate participation on the NGO board, Felix Dodd from a UK NGO admitted that a representative from British Petroleum was on his board. More and more, the close ties between the corporate sector and NGOs are being revealed. The Council of Canadians, does not have corporate connections so why are they willing to be weak? Why are the Council of Canadians afraid to call upon the Canadian Government for an immediate end to the production in the tar sands instead of simply asking for the “end the expansion of the tar sands” as stated in their report? The problem in Canada has been that the mainstream NGOs, including Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club and the Council of Canadians and many other Canadian NGOS all endorsed the Kyoto Plus petition with the following modest demands: KYOTOplus Petition for Concerned Canadians Global warming is the greatest threat to life on earth. Entire populations and ecosystems are threatened by devastating impacts such as drought, heat waves, fires, floods, storms and rising sea levels.
The politicians then attempted to abide by the demands of the NGOs and Canada ended up with a flawed Climate change bill. http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=3526 WIN! C-311 passed by the House of Commons Friday, May 7th, 2010 On Wednesday May 5, the House of Commons voted 149 to 136 and passed Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act. C-311 now goes to the Senate for final approval. The Canadian Press reports that, “The bill — the Climate Change Accountability Act — has spent the last year or so bouncing between the full House of Commons and the Commons environment committee. The legislation calls for greenhouse gases to be cut 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.” By contrast, the Harper government to date has only called for - with no supporting plans or legislation - a cut of 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020. When this is translated to the standard baseline year of 1990, the Harper target actually equates to a 2.5 percent increase over 1990 levels by 2020. Commenting on the passage of C-311, federal NDP leader Jack Layton stated, “We would not be here without the thousands of Canadians who called and wrote to their Members of Parliament, pushing them to finally adopt meaningful climate-change legislation.” The Council of Canadians has been speaking out in support of C-311 and urging its supporters and the broader public to contact their MP on this bill for the past eight months. Our ‘ACTION ALERT: Support the Climate Change Accountability Act, Bill C-311, becoming law’ is at http://www.canadians.org/action/2009/10-Dec-09.html. Council of Canadians chapters have also been consistently raising support for C-311 in climate actions taken in their communities. The Council of Canadians believes the House of Commons support for C-311 is a step in the right direction, but much more is needed. Andrea Harden-Donahue, Climate Justice Campaigner with the Council of Canadians, says, “The passage of C-311 has been a long time coming and it is certainly good to see Parliament support it. While the Council of Canadians is celebrating the passage of C-311 and we want to see it pass the Senate, we believe that this is just a starting point.” In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the Council supports a target of at least a 40 per cent cut below 1990 levels by 2020. Harden adds, “We want C-311 to lead to regulations that actually reduce our emissions. Planning for a tar sands free future, getting off of coal, vastly improving energy conservation and efficiency alongside plans for sustainable energy development, these are the types of actions that are needed.” While we call for deeper emission cuts, and are concerned that the Harper government - given its past practices - may choose to ignore the will of Parliament on this matter, the passage of C-311 is still an important win and significant step forward to Canada meeting its climate change obligations. Our media release - ‘Parliament’s vote for Bill C-311 an important step toward climate justice, says Council of Canadians’ - can be read at http://www.canadians.org/media/energy/2010/05-May-10.html. The Canadian Press report is at http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/greenpage/environment/climate-change-bil l-passes-house-moves-to-senate-for-debate-92910189.html. |