Climate Justice Now! Central American Declaration

Author: Central American Block, Climate Justice Now! Campaign

Organizations and social movements, churches, indigenous populations and populations of African descent, youth, and networks of the central American region who are active participants and promoters of the Campaign "Climate Justice Now", demand the right of the Central American population and all people of the planet to live in peace with dignity, justice, gender equity, in harmony with nature, and in a planet free of global warming caused by human beings.

We are a great nation with vast cultural and biological diversity. Throughout history we have maintained a relationship of respect and care for nature.  We are women and men who have created and recreated ourselves with corn and nature.  Our people have not contributed to polluting the atmosphere.

Nevertheless, we are currently facing the consequences of climate change, which are increasing the deterioration of material living conditions, poverty, social exclusion, access to basic services, and general living conditions of the Central American population.

Given this systemic crisis, based on an energy model that is unviable, obsolete, and lethal for all planetary life, which maintains the current status quo of the consumerist societies of the global North, we express our demand for Climate Justice:

1.    Rich, or “developed” countries need to take responsibility.

The countries responsible for the excessive increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially CO_2, must accept immediate and timely reduction to stabilize the concentration of CO₂ at 350 ppm; to be certain that the increase in the average global temperature of Earth will not be more than 1.5°C.

We must imitate nature to live well, continue into the solar era and wind power, among other practices, which will bring an end to the patterns of production, distribution, and consumption of nature's common assets, which have laid in very few hands as resulted in waste and unnecessary consumption.

The world economy should be de-carbonized by 2050, rich countries must reduce CO₂ emissions by over 40% in 2020 and over 95% in 2050, and international monitoring mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions should be established in the short term.

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2.    The plunder and domination of countries in the South must end.

Climate change is part of a global crisis of civilization, which has been brewing for centuries, and more directly since the 1970s, exceeding the planet's biological capacity due to looting, exploitation, conquest, and colonialism of the peoples of Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

This crisis, which characterizes the ending phase of western, industrial, and capitalist civilization, comes simultaneously with the energy crisis, the end of the oil age, the food crisis, health crisis, and the financial crisis, which sweep away the real economy and will have more adverse effects in our Southern countries.

We will not allow the capitalist system to relaunch and resuscitate itself from the suffering of the impoverished peoples of the South, nor from the looting and exploitation of our natural goods, which concentrates wealth in the North.

3.    We Demand Recognition of Ecological Debt.  Reparations Now.

We demand the recognition of the historic responsibility of the Global North and its obligation to guarantee the restitution and reparation of its ecological debt, which includes the climate debt that it has with the Global South, acquired over centuries of looting natural resources and violation of human rights.

The restitution and reparation of the debt includes complete restoration of territories and ecosystems, the reconstruction of basic infrastructure, the recovery of social rights, agriculture and the deepening of agricultural reform.  It involves the restoration of just, sustainable, and peaceful communities for the peoples of the South, self-determination of the peoples, and ensuring non-repetition.

4.    Funds for reparations. Establishment of mechanisms and alternative funding streams.

Genuine reparation of the debt implies that the sources are public funds and should be based on the sovereignty and respect of nature and the people's rights.  These funds should not reinforce the political and economic models that cause climate change.  Instead, they should prioritize financial, food, and energy sovereignty, the strengthening of campesino agriculture, women, indigenous people, people of African descent, fishing communities, and the general population.  It must prioritize the right to protect forests and other natural assets such as air, water, and land.

The new financial institutions created under the auspices of the United Nations Climate Change Convention should insure that resources reach communities and indigenous people through public, decentralized mechanisms and self managed social networks.  We demand the immediate termination of the role of International Financial Institutions (IMF, World Bank, IDB), in any funding related to the climate, as well as other financial mechanisms that intensify climate change and increase ecological debt and other debts.

The funds should be sufficient to permit transition into sustainable societies that do not rely on fossil fuels and should be additional to the cancellation of illegitimate debts imposed on Southern countries.  We demand the annual transfer of $15 million from the Global North to the Central American peoples.

In this framework, cooperation is required in technical development, not technical transfer, to overcome dependence and imposition of the models of development, growth and knowledge of the people responsible for the damages of global warming.

5.    No more false solutions.

The people and the planet are experiencing a systemic crisis due to the fallacy of unlimited "growth" under a limited ecological reality.  The solutions to this crisis should overcome unsustainable forms of production and consumption, and fundamentally transform economic systems.

These false, unacceptable solutions include, amongst others, carbon markets, the transfer of obligation to reduce emissions onto third parties (offsetting), nuclear energy, monocultures, transgenic and forest plantations, geo-engineering, infrastructural megaprojects, or projects or plans for CO₂ capture and storage.  These false solutions perpetuate social and climate injustice and financial instability.

We rejects the instruments and mechanisms that are based in the market, as they do not solve the climate crisis, and on the contrary, increase climate debt and permit large multinationals and countries from the North to transfer their obligation to reduce emissions and the problem to people from the South.

WE DO NOT WANT TO BE LIKE THEM.  THE NORTH IS NOT OUR PARADIGM.

Central America demands a climate where peace, social justice, gender equity, and environmental sustainability flourish.

The Central American peoples do not need to assault Mother Earth to live well.  We do not see ourselves in the mirror of consumerism and the waste of exclusion, deprivation of liberty, and hunger of others.  We are going to make best use of the richness of natural goods to improve the quality of life of the people.

Faced with this harmful system, the organizations that work in communities affected by climate change in Central America promote alternative models that are under construction, based in social and political transformation, oriented towards solidarity-based, alternative, and popular economies based in the principles and values of: sustainability, balance and harmony with nature, justice, humanity, gender equality and equity, participation of all sectors in social control, recognition of the rights of Mother Earth, living and coexisting well with the incorporation of ancestral and traditional knowledge of indigenous people (organization, sustainable management of life sources, natural assets, and biodiversity.)

In this regard, Central America must strengthen its policies of reforestation and sustainable management of nature from the perspective and interests of the peoples of the region.

It is important to break from the conditions of inadaptability the region has, including the variations in weather, which are results of the models of development that for years have been imposed by local oligarchies, and more recently by international financial organisms.  This has led us to a lack of strong legal and institutional frameworks, poor management of land and all elements of the ecosystems, and the prioritization of profit over life and the erosion of biodiversity.

The unity of our diverse and multicultural peoples and the political value of the ecosystemic coordination with the Caribbean Region are fundamental for the new Central American nation.  Latin American integration, solidarity, and cooperative relations with all people of the world will replace the relations of dependency and neocolonialist subordination of our countries to the imperialist countries of the North.

We propose to governments and states in the region, Latin America, and the world, the construction and implementation of inclusive public policies that are intentional, participatory, and programmatic, aimed at seeking measures in response to the causes ad effects that generate climate changed, that must fulfill the following principles:

·         Diversity, Consider the social, environmental, economic, and cultural aspects, and political environment.

·         Self Sufficiency, analysis of the resilience and ability of the affected peoples to face and overcome an adverse event and overcome is without suffering major disturbance.

·         Comprehensive or holistic, in the sense of combining the position between global and local decision-making.

·         Equality, considering social justice and participation in power relations from a gender and generational perspective.

·         Participatory Democracy, participation of all sectors and interests within development, implementation and impact with the strategy.

·         Revaluing the knowledge and ancient practices of our original indigenous, campesino, Afro-descendents, and aboriginal peoples, and all the cultures and traditions to guarantee their quality of life.

These principles and values mark a clear rejection of the concentration of wealth, irrational exploitation and production, unlimited consumerism, and degrading treatment of goods and services, and in this way we are moving towards the root of the problem.

Furthermore, this leads to developing effective communication mechanisms that provide the opportunity to learn about the environmental problematic of climate change, to create a participatory culture and citizen involvement in environmental management.

A program for the social-environmental sustainability for the Central American region must include at least the following components:

·         Food security and sovereignty.

·         Water self-sufficiency.

·         Regional energy sovereignty.

·         Restoration, rational use, and protection of biodiversity.

·         Environmental land management and strengthening of sustainable cities. 

·         Deepening of Land Reform.

This implies that countries in the region carry out a process of information sharing and training on climate change impacts and adaptation measures with communities and the general population.

The Central American peoples demand Climate Justice Now!

Central America, November 30th, 2009.

Undersigned, El Salvador