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last modified September 21, 2016 by facilitfsm


ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF THE COP22
AFRICAN AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SEPTEMBER 2016 CONCEPT NOTE

From November 7th to 18th 2016, Morocco, fifteen years after the COP7, will host, in Marrakech, the twenty-second session of the Conference of Parties (COP22) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

For the civil society, global warming has become a political priority, the problem is no longer the diagnosis, but the public policies, human and financial resources invested to limit the impact of global warming.

Climate and environmental issue is as important as the economic development, the promotion of good governance, the advance of human rights or the establishment of democracy. It’s even urgent in the view of climatic upheavals that attack biodiversity and the daily lives of people, particularly those of Africa, whether in the north, east, west and south of the continent.

Today, the consequences of climate changes generate environmentally displaced people and climate refugees. Border conflicts also arise from the disputed ownership of natural resources, extraction (mining)...


What assessment of the Paris Agreement?

If the Paris Summit, in the words of George Monbiot in the Guardian, «Compared to what it could have been, it's a miracle. Compared to what it should have been, it's a disaster. The negotiations in Paris were the best we have ever had. And this is a sad fact”.

The Paris Agreement will not prevent the rise of sea levels, salinization of arable land and drought, neither food insecurity, population displacement or social tensions that result...

However, this agreement, accepted by 195 parties and the European Union, is an important geopolitical signal. It contains everything, including a language that reflects the need of States to fight together against climate change. In this, can the Paris Agreement constitute an instrument that must be seized by all those who defend the environment to put pressure on governments and economic actors?


From words to actions:

The Paris Agreement was welcomed by the world political and diplomatic arena as a historic turning point. However, it has left several issues pending:

Limited temperature increase to less than 2 °C or 1.5 °C: While the stated objective at the start of the negotiation was 2 ° C. Article 2 of the Agreement provides that the objective is to maintain "the rise of the average global temperature well below 2 °C, compared to pre- industrial levels, and continuing efforts to limit temperature increases to 1.5 ° C compared to industrial levels”;

The Paris Agreement, a "beautiful rhetoric without coercion"? The agreement does not mention any binding procedure (political, legislative procedure, standards ... that would be included as part of the climate negotiations) ;

Revision of targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gas every five years;

The thorny issue of funding;

Respect for equity and recognition of differentiated responsibilities;

The protection of human rights is seen considerably weakened. In general, the agreement disregards climate justice principles and the importance of launching a just transition, a process of change in the production model, consumption ...

No explicit mention of the required output of fossil fuels in the 39 pages of the agreement, while the sector is responsible for 80% of GHG;

What about the terms of transparency, access to information and accountability?

What about the inclusion of civil society in the decisions of states?

We hope that COP22 will be an opportunity to move from words to action. It’s clear that all occasions, the COP22 is one, are favorable for us, civil society, to make heard the voices of the people, to broaden the mobilization, deepen and refine our thinking and strategies to achieve our fundamental objective for democracy, justice, equality; and there can be no question of building a democratic State, a social and solidarity economy, a system of democratic values and a healthy environment and sensitive policies to safeguard the interests of generations without women, who constitute the majority of the victims of climate change.

For this step, the struggle would be on concrete and practical implementation of the elements of the Paris Agreement, for a climate justice that takes into account the gender approach, the human rights approach, the rights of peoples to a healthy environment and a sustainable development.


Making Africa, land of environmental vulnerabilities, an issue of debates and decisions of the COP22:

Africa is very vulnerable. Climate changes threaten the living conditions of the people on a continent already victim of poverty, of degraded ecosystems and civil and social unrest. More than 40% of Africans live in extreme poverty and of these, 70% live in rural areas, subsisting mainly through agriculture. The severity of impacts in critical areas for Africa such as water, health and diet are well established.

However, Africa is not the cause of climate change because it produces only 3.8% of total emissions of greenhouse gases in the world, and this, since a very short time. In addition, its ability to participate in the fight against climate change is generally ignored or underestimated. Given that over 70% of greenhouse gas emissions come from behaviors and investments at the local level, the role of the local authorities is crucial.

Africa is the continent which "has experienced more violent conflicts than any other continent in recent decades," as highlighted the Commission for Africa in 2005. The potential role of environmental issues cannot be ignored in the emergence of conflicts at the local level. Indirectly, global warming may have a "multiplier effect on tensions and instability", making the link between security and environment - following the words of the report by Javier Solana, High Representative for Foreign Policy and common security of the European Union, on the defense and security strategy in 2008.

Finally, the third set of tracks is related to the development. Poor development, poor governance, socio-economic difficulties and vulnerability are highly correlated: support the development of Africa would be one of the best tools of peace and security on the continent.

Moreover, the impossibility to predict rainfall patterns, reduced harvests, rising food prices and depletion of natural resources are already causing increased human migration, tensions and conflicts.

Beyond the responsibility of industrialized countries and polluters, it is important that African nations specifically and collectively, mobilize themselves to take charge of their own destiny and finding solutions to the climate.


The axes of the conference:

The proposed conference will focus on four key axes:

COP22: What possible joint responses from the civil society on the 9 points mentioned? And this, beyond the fact that the diagnosis is globally unanimous. What joint actions to influence the negotiations? Around which priorities? And this must be developed in an inclusive spirit, respecting the diversity and specific fields of intervention;

Towards a civil society‘s COP AFRICA? How to make Africa a priority in the debates and decisions of the States at the COP22? What(s) strategy (s) set up for a convergence of efforts of African civil society, with the involvement and support of the international movement for climate justice? What relationships between civil society and the African Negotiators Group in terms of support for their effective participation in discussions at the COP22? What monitoring and evaluation framework for Africa's participation in the climate negotiations? What vision? What(s) strategy(s)? What(s) priority(s), but also what mechanisms and with what means? What structure as a social entity to coordinate actions?

How to strengthen citizens' movements?

How to seize the COP22 in order to give visibility to the solutions proposed by CSO, NGOs, unions, grassroots organizations and strengthen links between struggles while strengthening the social anchor for climate justice and involving experts, researchers, universities? The COPs have much to learn from the initiatives of civil society, as citizens are the first affected by the effects of climate change. The fight for the climate must be collective and inclusive; all citizens should be able to participate. Exclude some citizens; this is to miss the problems they face. You cannot separate the climate injustice from social injustice.


Organization and participation of civil society to the COP22:

-  What links and joints between the self managed and official spaces?

-  What strategy to make our voices heard in the blue zone? How to overcome the obstacles to accreditation of the south organizations?

-  What design for the organization of the autonomous space?

-  Can we schedule powerful events and about what themes?

-  What timing? The entire period or only a few days? Which ones?

-  What about the opening march? What themes? What slogan?

-  How to organize the work? The joints actions? The convergence?

-  What communication strategy?

-  What management of the stands?


Expected outputs:

-  A statement of the international civil society on our expectations about the COP22

-  A strategy paper on the launch of the COPAFICA of the civil society

-  A mobilization and communication strategy paper

-  A paper on the methodology for the management of civil society space (including the opening march of the COP22)