ECO Newsletter

ECO Newsletter Blog

Previous Issues Articles

28 nov, 2012

Mettre un frein à la course à l’accaparement des terres qui affame à tout bout de champs

En parlant de climat, Doha parle également de développement. Parmi les phénomènes liés aux changements climatiques, on constate que le phénomène d’accaparement des terres s’est accéléré à la fin des années 2000 et touche essentiellement l’Afrique (62 % des transactions).

Les chiffres sont alarmants : Oxfam indique un accroissement des investissements étrangers dans des pays en développement de 200% entre mi-2008 et 2009; la Banque Mondiale estime les acquisitions effectuées en 2009 à 45 millions d’hectares, soit dix fois plus qu’en 2008; la FAO révèle qu’au cours des cinq dernières années, 50 à 80 millions d’hectares de terres agricoles dans les pays en développement ont fait l’objet d’achat ou de location. Ce qui inquiète le plus est ce à quoi les terres sont destinées: monocultures intensives et sécurité alimentaire du pays de l’investisseur.

L’enjeu est d’arriver à définir une meilleure gouvernance foncière qui pourrait empêcher les accaparements de terres, protéger les droits des communautés rurales contre toutes les formes d’accaparement foncier et in fine, contribuer à la sécurité et la souveraineté alimentaire des populations locales.

Les négociateurs et Ministres réunis à Doha doivent négocier des politiques climatiques qui permettent d’endiguer ce phénomène. Nous attendons des pays développés qu’ils développent des politiques agricoles qui luttent contre l’accaparement des terres au lieu d’y contribuer.
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Previous Issues Articles

27 nov, 2012

Climate Finance: Up and Not Down!

To our freshly arrived negotiators, get ready for a major wake up call (or at least a loud and not particularly polite noise) on finance, when the countries most vulnerable to climate change will be rightly asking: what happens when Fast Start Finance runs out at the end of this year?

And what happens now that we know Fast Start Finance (the money pledged between 2010 and 2012) was mostly a false start? Yes, ECO did the maths and estimates only 33% of FSF was “new” money (that is, additional to existing, pre-Copenhagen pledges), and around 24% additional to existing aid promises. Only one-fifth of finance was spent on adaptation, and less than half was available as grants. It seems developed countries need to re-learn some basics about climate finance. Which part of “new and additional, predictable, and adequate in relation to rapidly spiralling needs…with balanced allocation between mitigation and adaptation” are they failing to understand?

And to those who need illustration of “spiralling needs”, please count the unprecedented number of climate related disasters in 2012 which – along with sea-level rise, and the gradual but deadly effects on agricultural and fresh water systems – mean that the bill from carbon pollution just keeps going up and up.
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Previous Issues Articles

27 nov, 2012

President Obama: We Hope for Change

In his victory speech after being re-elected to a second term, President Obama swelled the hopes once again of people around the world who care about climate change when he said, “We want our children to live in an America that is not burdened by debt, that is not weakened by inequality, that is not threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet.” Those hopes continued to swell when in a press conference a few days later, he responded to a question from the media on climate by saying that he planned to start “a conversation across the country…” to see “how we can shape an agenda that garners bipartisan support and helps move this agenda forward…and…be an international leader” on climate change. President Obama appears to understand that climate change is a legacy issue that was not adequately addressed during his first term in office.

The question therefore has to be, what next? In his second term, will President Obama deliver the bold action needed to reduce the threat of climate change to the US and the world, by shifting the US economy towards a zero carbon future, and making the issue a centerpiece of US foreign policy? In the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, and the drought, wildfires and other extreme weather events that have afflicted the US over the last year, it is clearly time for President Obama to press the reset button on climate policy, both nationally and internationally.
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Previous Issues Articles

27 nov, 2012

Fossil of the Day

The First Place Fossil is awarded to USA, Canada, Russia, Japan and New Zealand for running away from a legally binding, multilateral rules based regime. To the USA – seriously, get over your exceptionalism and agree to common accounting rules already. Canada you are exceptional in ways we cannot communicate diplomatically during a fossil presentation, but it is not good – withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol is completely unacceptable and your target is an insult to the most vulnerable. As for Japan, Russia and New Zealand – you still have a chance to support the only legally binding regime and commit to ambitious targets for the second commitment period (and that means no AAU carry over, Russia). We are looking to hearing from you by the end of the week, because really, do we want to be lumped into this low-ambition group?

The Second Place Fossil is awarded to New Zealand. Unlike its neighbour to the west, New Zealand decided not to put its target into the second commitment period, citing spurious grounds when the reality is that it is just a massive display of irresponsibility. Its island partners in the Pacific should think again before ever trusting NZ again.

The Ray of the Day goes to the EU for having already reached their pledged 2020 target almost 10 years ahead of time!
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Previous Issues Articles

27 nov, 2012

Right to Appeal Is Not a Game Of Two Halves

Here in Doha, Parties will decide on an appeals procedure that would consider decisions made by the CDM Executive Board. It is crucial that civil society representatives are eligible to launch an appeal. But wait, ECO heard that some Parties would like to grant the right to appeal to one side (investors) only? Dear delegates, this is not a game of two halves but two sides of the same coin. Indeed, we would like to remind you that any appeals procedure must serve the interests of all affected stakeholders.

Granting the right to appeal to investors only prioritises corporate profit over the public interest, especially given the wider impacts that flawed CDM projects can have on global climate change and sustainable development.

ECO urges delegates to take this opportunity to adopt a fair and balanced means to provide a public check during the CDM project approval process, and promote transparency, accountability and integrity in the decision­making process. Take this critical opportunity to introduce much needed quality control in the CDM decision­making process and adopt a robust appeals procedure!

Previous Issues Articles

27 nov, 2012

Climat et sécurité alimentaire : attention aux fausses solutions !

Garantir le droit à l’alimentation dans un monde de contraintes climatiques ? Face à ce défi, le lancement d’un nouveau programme de travail sur l’agriculture, en débat depuis Durban, pourrait ouvrir la porte à plusieurs
« fausses solutions » :

→ La « climate-smart agriculture » : ce concept, qui mise prioritairement sur l’augmentation « durable » des rendements, néglige l’impact différencié des agricultures industrielles et familiales sur la sécurité alimentaire locale et l’environnement. Or il est crucial de rappeler que «les systèmes de production diversifiés, à petite échelle, des pays en développement offrent les meilleures perspectives d’amélioration des moyens de subsistance » ; Alors que l’agriculture industrielle à grande échelle, avec un fort apport d’intrants externes, génère d’importants niveaux d’émissions de GES.

→ L’intégration de l’agriculture aux marchés carbone, portée par certains comme solution pour garantir l’atténuation de l’agriculture tout en mobilisant des ressources financières pour l’adaptation, est discutable tout d’abord d’un point de vue environnemental. En effet, il est très difficile de mesurer le carbone contenu dans les sols agricoles, et il est impossible de garantir que le carbone y soit stocké durablement. De plus, les grandes exploitations agricoles seront les plus susceptibles d’attirer les investissements du fait de la complexité et des coûts de développement des projets de compensation carbone.
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