COP26: a revived civil society puts pressure on the final negotiations
Mary Church (Friends of the Earth) and Muhammad Adow (PowerShift Africa), Peoples Conference co-chairs, November 12, 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow.
© GBD / RFI
Text by: Géraud Bosman-Delzons Follow
4 min
The COP26 officially ends this Friday, November 12, in Glasgow but should continue for part of the weekend to reach a compromise document.
This Friday, official representatives of civil society drew up their own assessment.
They did not compromise.
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From our special correspondent in Glasgow,
In the plenary room, the sentence falls: this 26th Conference of the Parties is on the verge of failure, in the eyes of the COP26 Coalition. Even if the word does not appear as clearly in its joint decision, while the final negotiating document is expected for this weekend, this is the tone that stood out in this Peoples' Conference on Friday. Delegates from NGOs representing the nine actors of civil society officially recognized by the United Nations Framework Convention alongside the States Parties took turns at the podium: youth, scientists, indigenous communities, women, etc.
“
We, representatives of civil society, today express our deep frustration for this COP (…) Successive governments have not ceased to fail to achieve significant results in maintaining the temperature at 1.5 ° C. Warming. The commitment to carbon neutrality without a real plan to reach "true zero" is only greenwashing. It is a smokescreen to continue to pollute and to continue digging the graves of the next generations with impunity,
”said Mary Church, co-chair of the Peoples' Conference and campaigner for Scotland, grimly. to the NGO Friends of the Earth.
Several speakers also disapproved that the warnings of recent scientific studies, starting with the 6th report of the IPCC, are not followed by more effects.
"
The time for words without action is over
," said the final declaration.
We no longer have the luxury of quietly waiting for governments and private interests to destroy our future.
The scientific predictions are extremely serious.
It is no exaggeration to say that the near future of humanity depends on the outcome of these negotiations.
"
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Climate justice will have been the real guiding thread of the demands of the COP26 Coalition during these twelve days. It should not be returned at the end of this COP, fear activists and NGO officials. "
Those who are least responsible
" for the climate crisis "
are those who are
most affected: women
, blacks, Indigenous people, people of color, peasants ...
" continued Mary Church. And the statement to quote those responsible: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Norway and the European Union "
bear the greatest responsibility for the broadcasts and have been enriched through centuries of colonization and exploitation of southern states.
"
Beyond the various agreements to mitigate global warming, it is the capacity of developed countries to put their hands in their pockets to help the poorest adapt to climate change that will determine a large part of the value of COP26.
Boris Johnson knows this well and at the end of the day the British Prime Minister urged states to "
put money on the table to help developing countries make the necessary changes."
This is what must happen in the coming hours
, ”said the chief host of COP26, after twelve days of summit.
►
Read also:
Their islands sink: how small island states are trying to struggle at the COP
Negotiations will continue at least until Saturday, and the Peoples' Conference reiterates its demands, among which: the settlement of the climate debt, more financing for adaptation, the implementation of the Santiago network from the next COP for assess the damage in poor countries, fair reductions in greenhouse gases, abandonment of the false solution of carbon neutrality which offsets emissions instead of reducing them or even the elimination of “big polluters” from COPs from the COP table, the fossil industry in particular, which
the BBC revealed
had the largest delegation to this COP with 503 accredited people.
"
People are tired of waiting for their government to put their people and their planet first, rather than profit at the expense of so many lives,
" the conference statement concludes
.
We are at the end of our time and patience.
"
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