November 6, Glasgow — At the global climate talks of the COP26, IBON International joined a mass mobilisation in Glasgow as part of the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice organised by the Southern Peoples’ Action on COP26 (SPAC26) and the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS). It raised concerns and demands of the global South who are most affected by the destructive impacts of the climate crisis, and joined in decrying the undemocratic and “least accessible” climate summit in history. 

“People’s movements in the global South were unable to come to Glasgow due to lack of access to vaccines and financial resources for travel requirements and accommodations. The few of us who made it here are hampered from participation in the negotiations, while leaders from the global North take centre stage to promote false ‘solutions’,” said Jennifer del Rosario Malonzo, IBON International Executive Director.

Developed countries have set targets of “net-zero” carbon emissions or else resorted to “carbon offsetting”. Both are dubbed as false climate solutions, and inadequate to limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius from pre-industrial levels, as these claim to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere through unproven technologies or through supposed reforestation and renewable energy projects that displace peasant and Indigeous Peoples’ communities. 

“For us in the global South, climate justice requires that developed countries be made responsible for their historical and continuing greenhouse gas emissions. Developed countries should commit to rapid, drastic, and real zero targets in cutting carbon emissions,” Malonzo added.

“We join movements in rejecting false and greenwashed ‘solutions’ that plunder our land and resources. Developed countries should be true to their minimum commitment of USD 100 billion in climate finance, and should commit additional public finance as reparations for peoples and communities most affected by the climate crisis,” said Ivan Phell Enrile, Climate Justice Programme Manager at IBON International. 

“We need systemic changes in the world economy to protect people and the planet, instead of profits. Real climate solutions advance working people’s rights, food sovereignty, Indigenous People’s self-determination, and would be owned and led by communities,” Enrile added.

IBON International is a Southern-based capacity development organisation tackling socio-economic issues faced by peoples in the global South, including work for climate justice. Its central offices are based in the Philippines, one of the countries worst hit by the climate crisis.

Reference: Ivan Phell Enrile, +639615005895, ienrile@iboninternational.org