Action for Climate Empowerment is the workstream related to public participation, access to information, education, training, awareness raising and international cooperation.
ECO never tires of reminding you that three of these six elements – the right to access to information, the right to participation and the right to environmental education – are internationally recognized human rights. While less “sparkly” than topics like Loss and Damage or Article 6, ACE has the potential to break down the silos across different workstreams, acting as a catalyst for increased climate ambition and a people-centered implementation of the Paris Agreement.
At COP26, ECO was extremely disappointed when Parties swiftly moved to adopt the new Glasgow work programme on Action for Climate Empowerment without any reference to a “human rights-based approach”. Though initially included as one of the guiding principles for the new Work Programme, it was removed during the very last hours of negotiations. Leaving the mandate for a new Action Plan to guide the implementation of ACE as one of the few highlights.
As ECO never loses hope, we have arrived in Bonn with renewed optimism that Parties will use the negotiation of a new ACE Action Plan at SB56, to be adopted at COP27, to make sure that it actually enhances effective, rights-based implementation of the Paris Agreement.
How you may ask? Don’t worry! ECO is here to help. The new ACE Action Plan should include a set of activities in line with relevant processes within and outside the Convention and the Paris Agreement that can support Parties in better understanding what it means to integrate the right to participation and access to information (among other rights) when putting in place climate policies. There is a wealth of expertise within and outside the UNFCCC among Parties and non-Party stakeholders, who can inform each other’s work and ensure that procedural rights are taken into consideration across all relevant workstreams.
As the workstream on participation and access to information, ACE simply cannot overlook that worldwide there are still many restrictions for people to exercise these rights. Especially those on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
Environmental human rights defenders working for climate justice are increasingly targeted with violence, harassment, and criminalization. The operationalization of the linkage between ACE and human rights requires the ACE Action Plan to address the situation of those working to demand climate action by exercising their rights of access to information and participation.
The ACE Action Plan should recognize the need to effectively protect environmental human rights defenders and include activities that support Parties’ efforts to guarantee an enabling environment for those on the front lines.
At COP26, fourteen Parties took the floor during the SBI plenary to apologize for the failure to include human rights in the new Glasgow Work Programme. Now it is the time to show real commitment and match words with action. ECO will be following the ACE in-session technical workshop and will report back on (hopefully!) progress towards an Action Plan that is meaningful and centered on human rights.