 BY JAYA RAMACHADRAN
BONN (IDN) - A new group of activists is threatening to cause "massive disruption" of the UN climate change conference December 7-18 in the Danish capital Copenhagen.
"This will not be a repetition of Seattle," a spokesperson of the group 'Climate Movement Network' said in a brief interview. He was referring to unprecedented huge protests by the opponents of globalization during the World Trade Organisation's ministerial conference in Seattle in November 1999.
"What we are certainly planning is to cause massive disruption of the Copenhagen conference," said Kim Hagen.
The warning came June 6 as a small group of activists building the 'Climate Movement Network' (original name in German: Klima!Bewegungsnetzwerk) tried to block the entry to the venue of the preparatory round of 12-day talks in Bonn, the former West German capital.
Top on the agenda of these deliberations ahead of the December conference of parties (COP) to the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC), is to hammer out a draft agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires 2012.
The Kyoto Protocol sets binding targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European Community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions .These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997 and entered into force on February 16, 2005. 184 Parties of the Convention have ratified the Protocol to date.
"The Kyoto Protocol is part of the problem and not an element of a (possible) solution. It has created profitable markets for emissions trading, while the global CO2 emissions keep rising," said Hagen.
The activists, who were pushed back by the UN security guards, tried to block the entry to the Maritime Hotel conference venue carrying banners that proclaimed "Don't trade off climate! - CDM = Colonial Destruction Management".
The CDM allows a country with an emission-reduction or emission-limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to implement an emission-reduction project in developing countries.
Such projects can earn saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets. The mechanism is seen by many as a trailblazer. It is the first global, environmental investment and credit scheme of its kind, providing a standardized emissions offset instrument, CERs.
According to the CDM Executive Board's Chair Rajesh Kumar Sethi, CDM projects have so far generated more than 135 million certified emission reductions (CERs). The mechanism is anticipated, as of today, to generate more than 2.7 billion CERs in the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
"With 1000 projects in 49 countries in just two and half years, the 'infant' CDM has shown its potential, and is maturing into a 'junior'. It's clear that there is still much greater potential that can be realised, while respecting the imperative of ensuring environmental integrity and making the mechanism as simple as possible," says Sethi.
A CDM project activity might involve, for example, a rural electrification project using solar panels or the installation of more energy-efficient boilers.
"The mechanism stimulates sustainable development and emission reductions, while giving industrialized countries some flexibility in how they meet their emission reduction or limitation targets," says a UNFCCC fact sheet.
European Union (EU) sources said the 27-nation bloc saw its Emission Trading System (ETS) achieve an overall CO2 emissions reduction of 3 percent in the year 2008 compared to 2007 levels.
This was a result of installations reducing their own emissions, buying emissions within the EU's ETS and buying emissions through the CDM. The total amount of confirmed emissions from ETS installations in the EU in 2008 was 2.052 billion tonnes of CO2, 3 percent lower than the 2.118 billion tonnes recorded for 2007 in the same countries.
Explaining the rationale behind the Climate Movement Network's opposition to the CDM, Hagen said: "The neoliberal 'flexible mechanisms' of the Kyoto protocol are enabling the major polluters to circumvent their emissions reductions that are already ridiculously low."
At the same time, the projects implemented as part of the 'Clean Development Mechanism' are threatening the rights and livelihoods of the indigenous communities, which are being displaced from their land to pave the way for forestations, he added.
"This in turn is strengthening existing colonial exploitation structures. As a result, fake solutions for climate change are being carried out on the backs of those who are the least responsible for polluting," the Network's spokesperson said.
The Climate Movement Network is calling instead for a fundamental social change. "We need a breach with the capitalist growth models. Climate protection must be fought for against the interests of powerful corporations," Hagen said.
The June 6 action was a prelude to the protests against COP 15 in Copenhagen. The Network is planning to cause massive disruption of the December conference. "The time of waiting is over," said Hagen. - 6.06.2009
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