ECO Newsletter

Dear Negotiators, you’ve seen your Article 6 shopping list, now ECO’s here to help you read the labels and understand exactly what it entails. Because you don’t want to buy the wrong thing – and knowing the details will help you make the right purchase. In Article 6, it is crucial to get everything right before going forward, otherwise it could all go horribly wrong.  

ECO wants to get you up to speed on human rights. “But why?” – you might ask – “when what we are discussing is markets?” Because ultimately, climate action is about people. And climate action, whether it’s through Article 6 activities or other climate finance projects, must not harm people and the environment. We know Article 6 activities can lead to harm, and often to those on the frontlines of the climate crisis, because we’ve seen it before (think Kyoto Protocol markets). Climate action shouldn’t lead to human tragedies. And climate action that displaces people, floods their lands, causes biodiversity loss, undermines ecosystem integrity, and infringes on their rights to food and water surely isn’t sustainable development. But don’t worry, ECO’s here to help you not repeat these past mistakes, and to ensure that you have all the necessary rules for Article 6.
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Today is the International Day of Disabled People, which revolves around the theme ‘Promoting the participation of Persons with Disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda’. The latter is an agenda that involves leaving no one behind. Yet, disabled people are already being left behind in the climate crisis and the irony of this is not lost to us.

As COP25 begins, there is no better time to recognise the rights of  the disabled – a community that needs to be at the forefront of our minds when discussing human rights under the UNFCCC process and the Paris Agreement, including, but not limited to Article 6, Loss & Damage, NDC development and implementation, COP location and relocation.

The disabled community is extremely knowledgeable and resourceful in designing adaptive solutions to complex problems: its experience and knowledge is thus extremely important as the world gathers to seek solutions to strengthen the resilience of our societies. Yet, the disabled community has no formal voices in the negotiations. 

At the national level, many of ECO’s members implore COP attendees to ensure that “disabled people cannot be the expected casualty of the climate crisis”. Thus reminding us all that “this fight belongs to disabled people too, but we don’t have a focal point.”
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‘For all life’ – this was the cry echoed across the opening of both the Indigenous People’s Pavilion and the Plenary on day one of COP25. ‘For the lives of our children, our grandchildren, and future generations.’ This seems a simple sentiment , but for those defending environmental justice and human rights on the frontlines, this sentiment continues to go unheard – and indigenous lives are the price being paid. Yesterday the Indigenous People’s caucus stood in solidarity with the Papuan people for the raising of the Morning Star Flag, a symbol of Papuan independence from the occupying state of Indonesia. On December 1st, four Papuan people were arrested for raising this flag in Papua, which is illegal in the Indonesian occupied territories.

In 1962 the United Nations facilitated the transfer of administration of West Papua from the Dutch colonisers to Indonesia. Following that, in 1969 the United Nations oversaw the so-called “Act of Free Choice” referendum, in which West Papuan leaders would vote for or against Papuan independence. Around a thousand tribal representatives were escorted at gunpoint and forced to vote in favour of Indonesian sovereignty. Since the 1970s, the extraction of minerals, especially gold, within Papua has been a key part of Indonesian economic growth.
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The Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) was set up to address the devastating loss and damage in the most vulnerable developing countries. But 6 years later, it is clear that this international mechanism has become little more than a talk shop with minimal  on-the-ground benefit to the most vulnerable. 

When Typhoon Idai swept through Mozambique, the WIM was not delivering for those on the   front lines, those keeping the storm shelters open and battling flood water to deliver lifesaving supplies to people. Instead, a few Executive Committee (ExCom) members and technical experts were planning their next meeting in Bonn to formulate workplans and review papers. 

The WIM review event of 1 December showed that the current flagship mechanism from the UNFCCC on loss and damage has not yet been fully operationalized and is far from being fit for purpose. In reality, the event confirmed that the WIM has performed very poorly.

The Loss & Damage review at COP25 is critical to ensure that we enhance the WIM to tangibly respond to climate impacts in the real world and support those most affected in vulnerable developing countries. The coming days of negotiations are intended to review how the WIM has performed since its inception, and decide on how it must be enhanced and strengthened. 
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Here at the “People’s COP” it is the people’s position that all Parties should be shooting for the stars by at the very least signalling their intention to increase ambition to their fair share, in line with 1.5ºC. With developed countries taking the lead. 

The scientific reality lit up the sky over Katowice last year with the IPCC’s special report on the impacts of 1.5ºC detailing the task ahead for reducing emissions. That task has become even more clear in 2019, with publications such as the 2019 UNEP Emissions Gap Report and The Production Gap Report detailing specific goals to meet, and actions to take. 

And what are those goals and actions? Next year, we must begin cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 7.6% per year through 2030, reaching 25 GtCO₂e. In 2030, global fossil fuel production, especially coal, must be at least 120% less than the amount governments are currently planning to extract and burn.

It’s time to shoot for the moon on ambition instead of burying ourselves deeper into the ground with fossil fuels. Submitting revised and enhanced Nationally-Determined Contributions by 15 September 2020 at the latest is the most effective way to blast off. Governments should develop enhanced NDCs that reflect their fair share of a 1.5ºC trajectory, and do so through transparent and participatory processes that respond directly to people’s demands for social and economic justice.
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Brazil’s Environment minister Ricardo Salles is taking a two-week break from all the trouble back home and enjoying the good wine and tapas in Madrid. In his spare time, he embarrasses his country’s professional diplomats by trying to play negotiator. His tactic: to blackmail richer countries into paying Brazil for burning down the Amazon rainforest.

Minister Salles has said he is coming to the COP to demand big money in return for environmental protections after the current government has systematically dismantled forest protection programs and  the existing funding channels that involve any control  and oversight systems, such as the Amazon Fund and other bodies that involve civil society and other stakeholders. 

The minister calls his management strategy «results-based environmentalism». The results couldn’t be clearer: deforestation, which makes up the lion’s share of Brazil’s carbon emissions, has sharply increased this year – rising by 29% for the one-year period ending in July. Assassinations of indigenous and community leaders are increasingly common throughout the Amazon re gion, when they get in the way of the land-grabbers, ranchers and illegal miners who are feeling newly empowered by the efforts of President Bolsonaro and Minister Salles to support unsustainable economic expansion in the Amazon and dismantle the already fragile regulatory and enforcement systems.
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Dear Delegates,

ECO is glad you found your way to Santiago de Chile Madrid. Rest assured, ECO will not forget about the people of Chile and will closely follow the situation and update you. But not only the location of COP25 has changed. Just like the IPCC 1.5°C Special Report last year adjusted our frame of reference, so, too, have the IPCC Special Reports of this year adjusted our measuring sticks by clearly showing us that irreversible tipping points and climate impacts will hit even faster than what we anticipated just last year.

Around the world, millions of people have taken to the streets — from Hong Kong to Bolivia, the UK, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Ecuador, and Chile — demanding their right to a better life. We are not only seeing the failure of big emitters to respond to the demands of people, youth, and science but also a profound blindspot of the inherent linkages between social, ecological and climate justice. The IPCC 1.5°C report robustly highlighted the need for governments to internalize these connections and act on them. ECO knows relocating COP25 has created challenges – but hopes you don’t even think about taking this as an excuse to underdeliver.
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