Friends of the Earth is the U.S. voice of Friends of the Earth International, an international federation of diverse grassroots-based environmental organizations in 77 countries working in solidarity for sustainable, equitable and just societies.
We believe that as the world’s biggest historical global warming polluter, and as a wealthy nation with considerable resources, the United States has a special responsibility to lead the world in forging equitable solutions to the climate crisis, and we hold elected officials accountable for living up to that responsibility. We also believe, for the poorest countries on our planet, the global economic system has been an underlying cause behind environmental degradation and disruption of people’s livelihoods, and we work to change unjust global financial institutions and trade rules.
Read the latest news and updates from our International campaigns:
The intensity level kicked up a notch today. More people, more security, two separate entry lines for "heads of state" and "participants." The high level segment has started with a series of speeches from country representatives today and tomorrow. But while the ministers speak, the negotiations are still ongoing behind closed doors. The high level representatives who have just arrived have their work cut out for them to reach an agreement.
The Bush administration is once again holding things up in the international climate negotiations. In fact, the United States won the Fossil of the Day award today - a daily award given by the NGO community for doing really stupid things during the UN negotiations. Today's award went to the United States for...
Senator Kerry arrived in Bali today, trumpeting the Lieberman-Warner climate bill as an indication that the United States is ready to take a lead on climate change internationally. Although the bill is an indication that the United States is changing course on climate change, in the context of these negotiations, the bill does not go far enough.
One of the big items being discussed in Bali is an Adaptation Fund that would help developing countries deal with problems arising from climate change - severe weather events, droughts, flooding, impacts on food and water, and other development challenges that will be made worse as a result of global warming.
Friends of the Earth is focusing not only on what is going on inside the talks in Bali, but is also working closely with social movements and others outside the negotiations to build a movement to demand climate justice. WALHI/Friends of the Earth Indonesia, which is a network of 400 local organizations in Indonesia, is one of Friends of the Earth's largest member groups. They have been fantastic in supporting our international Friends of the Earth team here in Bali (which is about 30 strong), and they have also done substantial work to raise awareness in Indonesia around climate change - an issue that is relatively new to many people in the country.
REDD stands for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries. It is a big issue at the UN negotiations, because deforestation accounts for as much as 25 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions globally.
The World Bank is one of the most well known providers of financing to developing countries for "development" projects. But over the years, the Bank has shown time and again that it sees development finance as being more about helping large multinational corporations set up shop in developing countries than it is about helping people out of poverty.
UN climate conferences are a bit overwhelming. The negotiations, which are divided into several tracks that go on simultaneously throughout the two weeks, are awash in a sea of acronyms (SBSTA, SBI, AWG, etc.) and issue areas (adaptation, deforestation, technology transfer, clean development mechanism). Beyond the actual discussions between governments, there are numerous press conferences, side events, and even protests and demonstrations going on outside.
Australia has now ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the United States is left as the only major country refusing to join the agreement. A recent change in government in Australia means that the US is now truly by itself in refusing to commit to this initial step towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Negotiations started today in Bali, Indonesia at the 13th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Over the next two weeks, countries are working to agree to a mandate for negotiating the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which currently requires signatories in industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by modest percentages below 1990 levels. The first phase of the Protocol will end in 2012, and agreements need to be made now to be able to negotiate the second phase.
