On the night of 18-19 December in Copenhagen, a handful of governments
opposed the text presented by the United States, China, Brazil, India and
South Africa. Among those few Bolivia — represented by President Evo
Morales who has been re-elected just days before with an overwhelming
majority – strongly condemned the agreement both on the process (the text
was discussed in small groups outside of the UN) and on the content, which
fell far short of anything close to what the IPCC recommended, did not
include any constraints on emissions, or financing commitments for the
South.

Just a few days later President Morales issued an invitation to the “Peoples
World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth’s Rights” in Cochabamba,
Bolivia, 19-22 April 2010. Although the initiative from Morales raised a lot
of interest and enthusiasm from activist networks across the world, there
were still many questions about the nature and the objectives of the
conference. Pablo Solon, Bolivia’s ambassador to the United Nations and a
veteran of the World Social Forum, came to the Porto Alegre WSF 10^th year
events, to share information and gather support for the conference. He spent
three hours meeting with climate justice activists and movements and there
was a very useful sharing of information and views.

Following the failure of Copenhagen and the mounting pressure for
governments to sign on to the Copenhagen Accord, Bolivia believes that it is
vital to take some immediate initiatives to change the correlation of forces
to shift the international agenda. The proposal is original: to invite all
governments, UN agencies, scientists, social movements and NGOs — without
conditions – to participate in a working groups and to prepare conclusions
and a final declaration.

So far, several governments have indicated that they will attend, including
some from Latin American and European countries. The goal of the Bolivians
is to have several chiefs of state and a large number of ministers. The
Bolivians are also sure of the participation of some UN agencies but the
outstanding question is the level of representation from governments and the
UN. Many activists and scientists have shown interest and some have already
confirmed their participation.

The conference has six objectives:

– Analyse the structural and systemic causes of climate change and
propose substantive measures that facilitate the well-being of all mankind
in harmony with nature.

– Discuss and agree the draft Universal Declaration of rights of Mother
Earth.

– To agree on proposals for new commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and
projects for a COP Decision under the United Nations Framework for Climate
Change that will guide future actions in those countries that are engaged
with life during climate change negotiation

– Work on the organisation of a people’s world referendum on climate
change.

– Analyse and draw up a plan of action to advance the establishment of a
Climate Justice Tribunal;

– Define strategies for action and mobilisation in defence of life
against climate change and for mother earth rights.

So far, sixteen working groups have been identified but others can be added
with the limit of 20 due to room and translation constraints. (Translation
will be in English and Spanish only.)

They are: Structural causes; Harmony with Nature; Mother Earth Rights;
Climate Change Referendum; Climate Justice Tribunal; Climate Migrants and
Refugees; Indigenous Peoples; Climate Debt; Shared Vision; Kyoto Protocol;
Adaptation; Financing; Technology; Forest; Dangers of Carbon Market; Action
Strategies. (see http://cmpcc.org <http://ccmcp.org/> for more information)

The working groups will prepare proposals that will be aggregated in a
final text. The groups will start their work at the beginning of February
through email. Besides the thematic issues, groups are invited to self
organise activities and a scientific conference is also planned. Finally,
the Bolivians are encouraging the formation of national committees to
prepare for the conference to lay the ground for an ongoing movement after
the conference.

A lot of objections could be raised about this grand scheme. The timing is
very short, and travelling to Cochabamba is both expensive and quite
difficult. Mixing government representatives, UN agencies, social movements
and NGOs can create problems for many of the potential participants who
prefer to maintain their autonomy. There is no committee organising the
conference – the invitation comes directly from Evo Morales – which has the
advantage of avoiding debates about who is or is not part of the committee,
but which can also create problems about how the conference will be
conducted. The preparations rely on internet, which is always difficult, not
least for social movements, and in two languages. And so on and so on...

At the same time, it was clear in Porto Alegre that all the social
movements from Latin America will support and join Cochabamba, as well as
many delegations from other continents, motivated by the necessity to build
a large global alliance for climate justice. And we all know that in periods
of uncertainty and transition, such as the times we are in, initiatives that
could be seen as crazy or unrealistic are, from time to time, those that
change the course of history.

Christophe Aguiton and Nicola Bullard

Porto Alegre 28 January 2010