Climate justice event

7 December 2005

Roque Pedace (Argentina), Steph Long (Australia),
Tony Juniper (UK), Carolina Herrmann (Brazil) and
Prakash Sharma (Nepal) speaking at the side event

The impacts include the psychological and health effects, as well as storm damage and loss of homes and livelihoods.

In 2001, 58 per cent of displaced people around the world were refugees from environmental distasters, rather than fleeing from war or political repression.

Stephanie Long, Friends of the Earth Australia

Steph Long speaking
at the side event

As Stephanie pointed out, despite the huge numbers of environmental refugees, there is no international body or convention addressing this issue.

There was a lot of support in the room for the 'Carbon Debt' proposal outlined by Roque from Friends of the Earth Argentina.

The idea is that developing countries and future generations should be compensated for the damage caused by the carbon dioxide emissions from industrialised countries.

At the talks

Last night discussions on the crucial Article 3.9 (which looks at what will happen next) continued late into the night but progress is slow.

There is a proposal on the table calling for a specific group to be set up to continue this process after the talks - rather than under one of the existing subsidiary bodies.

This is important as it would mean that time and resources would be set aside and it could operate outside the set timetable for the existing Protocol.

Friends of the Earth will be lobbying our government and the EU for a dedicated working group with a clear mandate, timetable and end time to negotiate a process post- 2012.

Friends of the Earth International
breakfast catch-up meeting

Yuri, our Japanese campaigner is frustrated that the Japan delegation seem to be reluctant to move forward - they may even try to block timelines and the special working group.

Meeting with Canadians

The second week is now well under way. Catherine had a breakfast meeting with Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of Foreign Affairs from the Canadian delegation this morning.

The Canadians are pleased with the way things are going and are looking for a way forward under the Kyoto Protocol which would get things moving.

After a week of tense negotiating, the bureaucrats have hit a brick wall. Now the Minsters have arrived, things will speed up.

The hope is now that Ministers will prove to be more flexible and start making decisions.

Outside

Christmas in the
Montreal shopping malls

When you spend all day in the conference centre it's strange to think that it's coming up for Christmas and there's a whole world out there of people shopping and spending money.

The malls are awash with Christmas trees, jingle bells and festive music. It is an odd contrast to the critically important debate going on in the conference centre in the same city.

Katie Elliott and Joanna Watson, our Climate Campaigners are sending daily updates direct from the COP 11 talks in Canada.