CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis campaigners during the Climate Justice campaign launch in Poznan, Poland.

© CIDSE

The main losers in the climate pact, which is to be agreed in December in Copenhagen within the framework of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, may well turn out to be developing countries, who must suffer the climate problems identified which have been caused to a large extent by the industrialised countries responsible for the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Influencing the negotiations

This is significant for two reasons. Firstly, the solutions advocated to limit greenhouse gas emissions are essentially market instruments managed by, and often in favour of, the industrialised countries (see the box). Secondly, the lack of expertise and political gravitas of the representatives of third-world countries may well weaken their position in negotiations which promise to be uncompromising, highly technical and complex. The network of NGOs in the CIDSE (www.cidse.org) association, which includes 16 Catholic organisations, has criticised these two shortcomings. The German NGO Misereor, which is part of the association, is endeavouring to identify, in partnership with the local population, methods to enable these countries to mitigate the effects of climate change and to adapt to them. Two concepts – mitigation and adaptation – will be the subject of fierce negotiations in Copenhagen where the parties to the convention will have to decide on a special fund enabling developing countries to take ad-hoc measures.

Anika Schroeder, head of climate and development at Misereor, explained: “We try to provide our partners with the tools to allow them to take part in the negotiations. Copenhagen is just the beginning of the process after all. The people on the ground are not yet ready to influence their governments, but that will come step by step.” The German NGO is organising a webcast in Malawi of negotiations between the African nation’s representatives and those from the northern countries at the preparatory meeting to the Copenhagen summit which will take place in Bonn (Germany) in June.

Learning from the countries of the south

The NGO is also operating on the ground. Anika Schroeder said: “We have launched workshops with the local populations in three countries   Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. These three sub-Saharan countries have in fact learned some important lessons about the climatic changes they have been experiencing for more than 10 years. They have already taken preparatory measures and are demonstrating the flexibility needed. Adapting is already part of life for them. It’s like a laboratory. We are actually trying to understand their process of adaptation with the aim of sharing it with the rest of the world.” The technical workshops set up are to be followed up by political workshops. A major conference will be held next October in Niamey, Niger’s capital, where the issues of climate change and justice will be discussed in depth. Anika Schroeder said: “We intend to invite scientists from the north, including from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, to show them what climate change means on the ground rather than according to their models.”

Half of Misereor’s funding is allocated to agricultural projects. Anika Schroeder added: “We have observed that small farms adapt very well to climate change. We also aim to collect and preserve native seeds. In the Philippines, for example, farming communities use ancient rice varieties, and have also succeeded in developing new varieties which are resistant to drought and flooding.”

Fighting poverty

Misereor is also active in other areas which present different challenges, in particular in South Africa. Anika Schroeder said: “There is an emergency economic situation which presents problems, but opportunities as well. There are major polluters, but at the same time there is still great poverty. We are fighting on two fronts.” South African NGOs are already very active and are striving in particular to reduce the carbon footprint of the wealthy populations. In poor districts, Misereor works with communities faced with daily risks, such as landslides. Such districts are often built in boundary areas. A must: the initiatives should come from the populations concerned. The NGO contributes advice and funding.

“Bring Africa in from the cold”

Araya Asfaw, Director of the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre at the University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, believes a review of the ground rules is imperative at Copenhagen to enable Africa to adapt efficiently to climate change. In a document published in March for the Science and Development Network (SDN), Asfaw said that the Kyoto Protocol, which currently governs reductions in greenhouse gas emissions between industrialised countries, has in fact curbed sustainable development in Africa.

Araya Asfaw is particularly critical of one of the protocol’s instruments, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows investors from the north to finance projects in the south to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in exchange for “carbon credits”. The Ethiopian scientist condemns the CDM principle itself for not allowing new “clean” projects to be financed. Only the countries which are already significant polluters and which have to reduce their emissions can benefit from it. This is the case with South Africa, which alone has the majority of CDM projects in Africa. One example: the Europeans are examining the possibility of producing solar power in North Africa, importing it and connecting it to the energy grid. However, as the CDM does not support solar power technology, Africa cannot pursue this approach alone.

Suggested weblinks