Posts Tagged ‘environment’
During COP 17, the UN’s latest round of climate talks, civil society organizations – including 4 IDEX Partners – are mobilizing from all over the world to put pressure from the outside on the government negotiators on the inside.
Katherine Zavala – IDEX’s Program Manager, Grassroots Alliances – is in South Africa on a site visit to our partners and to support their activities at COP 17. She reports from Durban.
IDEX partner SDCEA conducts a toxic tour in South Durban to highlight environmental degradation in the area under the watchful eye of a security guard.
Throughout the two weeks of COP17, IDEX Partner SDCEA has organized toxic tours, as part of their strategy to showcase the realities of low-income communities in South Durban living right next to several big polluters.
Toxic tours always start at a spot overlooking the Shell/BP oil refinery which is located right next to a huge paper mill and an airport strip.
This whole cluster is right next to the Umlazi channel that flows all the toxic waste directly to the beach, where fisher folks can no longer fish because of the extreme toxic waste that has accumulated on the shore.
As we arrived, we noticed several people including a security agent for the oil refinery, who is paid to stand around and call the cops if he sees anyone from SDCEA doing their toxic tours.
SDCEA is so accustomed to this routine that they have taken the approach of being transparent and telling the security agents what they’re doing and how many people are there for their tour.
Sure enough, after a few minutes a police helicopter came and surrounded our area for a good five minutes before flying away!
During COP 17, the UN’s latest round of climate talks, civil society organizations – including 4 IDEX Partners – are mobilizing from all over the world to put pressure from the outside on the government negotiators on the inside.
Katherine Zavala – IDEX’s Program Manager, Grassroots Alliances – is in South Africa on a site visit to our partners and to support their activities at COP 17. She reports from Durban.
Getting ready to walk in the Global Day of Action march in Durban, South Africa where the UN COP17 talks are taking place
It wasn’t easy to get the right route for the Global Day of Action march, but after multiple negotiations with the municipality a path was finally agreed on. It would start at Botha’s Garden, going towards Down West Street, turn into Aliwal Street [ Samora Machel ] and then in Braam Fisher Street [Ordinance Road] to meet the UN President of COP 17, Christina Figueres at the International Convention Center. The march ended at the Old Pavilion site, next to the beach.
Arriving at Botha’s Garden around 10am, I found a huge octopus marking the ending point of the march. The octopus represented USA and its demands for more carbon markets!
I joined the march with IDEX Partner Biowatch who had brought 15 farm workers (mostly women) from rural KwaZulu Natal to Durban to be part of the protests at the People’s Space and the International Convention Center (ICC) where the UNFCCC conversations were happening.
This was the first time the farm workers had been part of this process and in their debrief later many expressed how powerful it was for them to see African leaders in different networks and movements.
IDEX Partner Biowatch's workshop brought together rural women farm workers to put together posters to march with on Dec 3rd's Global Day of Action
IDEX is joining social movements from across the globe in creating 1000′s of Durbans in conjunction with the social movement activities around the UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa.
Why? To demonstrate to governments around the world the people’s determination to prevent catastrophic climate change.
This year the Global Day of Action calling for a “1,000 Durbans” is being headed up by Desmond D’Sa, of IDEX partner South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, which will see a non-violent mass march in Durban calling for measures to halt climate change.
“World leaders are discussing the fate of our planet but they are far from reaching a solution to climate change. If they fail to make progress we will see drought and hunger blight our country and continent even further. We call on all South African’s to march with us this Saturday and remind our leaders they must come to a fair climate change deal that avoids runaway climate change.” - Desmond D’sa
Like many organizations around the US and the world, IDEX will be marking the Global Day of Action and supporting our South African partners through a series of activities to highlight grassroots communities concerns and making the local-global links around climate change work.
In Durban, staffer Katherine Zavala will be supporting partner activities and networking to promote climate justice solutions.
In the US, we will engage in activities that include:
- Occupy Oakland Event – Friday, December 2:
Join us at the Occupy Oakland General Assembly on at 6pm as we introduce a statement of solidarity with social movements in Durban. Email yeshica at idex.org for info.
- Oakland Urban Farm Event – Saturday, December 3:
We’ll be supporting a Bay Area ally organization as they demonstrate sustainable urban food-growing practices on their public land-based farm in an East Oakland community.
- Learning Call – Tuesday, December 6th:
At 9am (Pacific) and 7pm (South Africa), IDEX will be hosting Learning Call: Grassroots Leaders Live from South AfricaCivil Society’s Role in COP17 Climate Talks in Durban with our four partners organizing on climate justice issues at COP 17. This is a unique, firs- time effort to bring grassroots voices live and direct from one of these events. We are very excited about this first-time event! If you are interested, please call the office at 415-824-8284 for more information.
- COp17 Report Back – Later in January, date TBA:
We’ll be participating alongside Bay Area ally organizations about COP 17 and our partners’ grassroots solutions to climate change.
To read more about the 1000 Durbans Global Week of Action and to see other actions happening around the US, visit: www.grassrootsclimatesolutions.net.
In South Durban, host of COP 17, this year's UN climate talks, homes are located directly next to oil refineries and factories. The factories continue to offer no support to these families who are at risk because of their poor environmental practices.
- Written by Yeshica Weerasekera, Director, Program Partnerships
As the COP 17 UN Climate Talks kicked off this week, in Durban, South Africa, I’ve noticed a sudden and somewhat limited flurry of media interest.
With the world at great risk from the consequences of global warming, millions of people are rightly concerned about whose interests the UN negotiators will protect as they hash out a deal to address climate change.
Will they, as they have to date, focus on market interests, short-term costs and narrow, political expediency, or will they take the ethical higher ground and think of equitable solutions which protect vulnerable communities, the rights of nature and future generations?
I rarely hear the voices of the poor in the media, however, and the scale and impact of the environmental crises on their communities.
Africa Will be “Frying”
In each of the countries that IDEX works in, our partners remind us time and time again of the deepening impact of changing weather patterns and toxic pollution.
An agreement to limit global temperature to even the best-hoped for 2 degrees centigrade, for example, will mean a 4 degree change in Africa, the most vulnerable continent, and catastrophe for it’s people. Africa will be “frying” as African environmentalists lament.
An estimated 40,000 people from all around the world are arriving in Durban, South Africa this week for COP 17, the UN’s latest round of climate talks. Civil society organizations – including 4 IDEX Partners – are mobilizing from all over the world to put pressure from the outside on the government negotiators on the inside.
Katherine Zavala – IDEX’s Program Manager, Grassroots Alliances – is in South Africa on a site visit to our partners and to support their activities at COP 17. She reports from Durban.
What is COP17?
COP17 is the 17th annual meeting where world governments get together to discuss and negotiate solutions to mitigate climate change. COP stands for Conference of Parties – the parties being the 195 nations that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The ultimate goal of the UNFCCC is to get nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, so that these gases stabilize at a level that will prevent “dangerous” climate change.
Why COP 17 Matters for Grassroots Organizations
Many grassroots organizations were disappointed with the outcome of the last COP (COP16), held in Cancun, Mexico to the point where many feel (and rightly so) hopeless with this process and foresee governments once again prioritizing false market-based solutions to climate change.
But it is important to continue to mobilize and amplify the voices of grassroots organizations, especially those based in South Africa, as the COP17 lands on the African continent for the second time.
The People’s Space: IDEX’s South African Partners and Their Role in COP 17
Durban is home to two of IDEX South African Partners. One of them, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), is actively convening and establishing the alternative civil society space (The People’s Space) during COP17.
This space will provide the base for organizations to network and share grassroots solutions to tackle climate change in real, practical ways to ensure their communities’ ability to cope with and adapt to climate change.
Four IDEX Partners in South Africa to Present Their Climate Justice Solutions
IDEX will be present at the civil society space, as an ally and supporter of four IDEX Partners and Grantees who will all be present this week organizing and networking to promote their climate justice solutions:
Elvira Sanchez Toscano helped to found Institute for Overcoming Urban Poverty (ISMU) – an IDEX partner in Guatemala – over a decade ago together with community groups in the urban shantytowns of Guatemala City. Through ISMU, Elvira has helped develop housing improvement projects, youth leadership and women’s empowerment programs, educational scholarships as well as participating in a regional movement on climate change.
In July, Elvira came to the United States to present the work of ISMU at the International Human Rights Funders Conference in New York and meet with ally organizations in New York, Washington D.C. and Seattle. IDEX Program Manager Katherine Zavala conducted this interview with Elvira below.
Desmond D’Sa, a key leader in the South African climate justice movement and chairperson of IDEX Partner South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), came to the Bay Area, Seattle, and New York as to share his findings of pollution left by major oil refineries in south Durban, and participate in the ongoing discussion of getting large oil companies to change their destructive ways.
May
27Indigenous Communities on Frontlines of Climate Change Share Learnings at Conference
2011
Posted by IDEX
IDEX Executive Director Vini Bhansali reports from the 10th Annual Conference of the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP) currently wrapping up in Haudenosaunee territory in upstate New York. IFIP creates a bridge where the philanthropic and Indigenous worlds meet to understand and collaborate with each other. Vini is there with Heera Lal Sharma from IDEX Partner Sahyog Sansthan in India.
IDEX is pleased to announce that in June, Desmond D’Sa of South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) – an IDEX partner since 2009 – will be visiting the United States. Desmond will be sharing the work of his organization at events in the Bay Area, Seattle, and New York- visit our calendar soon for more details. Read the rest of this entry »
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