Paraguay proposes for the Rio+20 process, among others, Harmony with Nature, Living Well and Green Development as opposed to market-based mechanisms. Some relevant extracts of its submission:
2. 1. GREEN DEVELOPMENT
Paraguay advocates the innovative concept of green development, which is much broader than the concept of a green economy. Green development incorporates economic aspects (green economy), social aspects and ecological/land use aspects in a fully synergistic manner respectful of the interplay between the different aspects. Participation is essential to green development, with workers, women, peasants, indigenous people, young persons, scientists and all sectors of society making their contributions to a new form of social coexistence, with diversity and in harmony with nature, in order to achieve the goal of “buen vivir” (“collective well-being”), respectful of nature of which we are all part and which is vital for our existence. Read more…
Balance sheet and perspectives on the climate change negotiations (Part I)
http://pablosolon.wordpress.com/(*)
Almost a year has gone by since the results of the climate change negotiations in Cancun were imposed with the objection of only Bolivia. It’s time to take stock and see where we are now.
In Cancun, the developed countries listed their greenhouse gas emission reduction pledges for the 2012-2020 period. The United States and Canada said they would reduce emissions by 3% based on 1990 levels, the European Union between 20 and 30%, Japan 25%, and Russia from 15 to 25% [1]. Adding up all the reduction pledges of the developed countries, the total reduction in emissions by 2020 would be 13-17% [2] based on 1990 levels.
These greenhouse gas emission reduction “pledges,” according to the United Nations Environment Programme [3], the Stockholm Environment Institute [4], and even the Executive Secretary of the Climate Change Convention [5], would lead us to an average increase in global temperature of around 4°C or more.[6] That is double the amount they established in Cancun: a maximum temperature increase of just 2°C.With an increase of 2°C, the number of deaths per year attributed to climate change-related natural disasters, which was 350,000 in 2009 [7], could skyrocket into the millions. Some 20-30% of animal and plant species would disappear. Many coastal zones and island states would end up below the ocean, and the glaciers in the Andes – which have already been reduced by one third with a temperature rise of just 0.8°C – would disappear entirely. Read more…
BONN, 17 june 2011 – At the close of UN climate talks in Bonn that failed to address the huge shortfall in emission targets compared to what the science suggests is necessary, Ambassador Pablo Solon of the Plurinational State of Bolivia called for a high-level meeting to discuss how to drastically reduce climate pollution.
“In order to have success at the UN climate conference in Durban in December we need to have a clearer willingness to increase the emissions reduction pledges that are on the table.” Ambassador Solon said. Read more…
Sixty-fifth session
Second Committee
Agenda item 20 (i)
Sustainable development: Harmony with Nature
Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gabon, Georgia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Syrian Arab Republic and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of): revised draft resolution
Harmony with Nature
The General Assembly,
Reaffirming the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,1 Agenda 212 and the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21,3 the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development4 and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Johannesburg Plan of Implementation”),5
Recalling its resolutions 64/196 of 21 December 2009 and 63/278 of 22 April 2009, in which it designated 22 April as International Mother Earth Day, Read more…
United Nations Approves Two More Resolutions by Bolivia: Harmony With Nature and World Conference on Indigenous Peoples
Earlier this week, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved by consensus two resolutions presented by Bolivia. The first, entitled “Harmony with Nature,” asks to convene an interactive dialogue on International Mother Earth Day on April 22nd, 2011. Topics will include methods for promoting a holistic approach to harmony with nature, and an exchange of national experiences regarding criteria and indicators to measure sustainable development in harmony with nature.
This resolution recognizes that “human beings are an inseparable part of nature, and that they cannot damage it without severely damaging themselves.” It also seeks to contribute to the preparatory process for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012. Read more…
Declaration of the Ministerial Committee for the Defense of Nature of ALBA-TCP
NATURE HAS NO PRICE
Ministers, Authorities of the Ministerial Committee for the Defense of Nature of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Republic of Cuba, Republic of Ecuador, Republic of Nicaragua, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas – Treaty of Commerce of the People (ALBA-TCP), gathered in the city of La Paz in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, from November 3rd to 5th, 2010. Read more…
(Meena Raman and Dale Wen) – Developed countries were urged at the climate talks in Bonn not to repeat history in continuing to over-consume the remaining atmospheric space.
In a workshop on the scale of emission reductions to be achieved by Annex 1 Parties held on 3 August, under the working group of the Kyoto Protocol, Bolivian Ambassador Pablo Solon said that “if the developed countries (Annex 1 Parties) emit more greenhouse gas emissions beyond their fair share of the remaining carbon budget, they will not only be occupying the carbon space of developing countries but will also hurt Mother Earth”. Read more…
(IPS) - A world people’s referendum on climate change will be held in April 2011 for the earth’s peoples to decide how to address this global problem.
Although it is hoped that some states will cooperate, the participation of governments will not be essential to the referendum, as civil society organisations are to plan it according to their own lights and the traditions and customs of each local area. This was one of the final resolutions Thursday at the close of the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, held in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba. Read more…
(Democracy Now) One of the key initiatives of the climate conference in Bolivia is to come out with a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. We speak with South African environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan, the co-president of the Rights of Mother Earth Working Group at the summit. He arrived at the climate change conference with a draft Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth that formed the basis of the discussion. Read more…
(treeshaverightstoo) 60 years ago the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was born out of the devastation of the humanitarian crisis of the Second World War. Now we have a planetary crisis. Over the past 35 years there has been an ever increasingly loud voice of those calling for proper protection of the planet. There are over 500 pieces of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ law, social documents and individual manifestos that refer to the environment, but until now there has not yet been a comprehensive codification of the Rights of the planet, nor a recognition of our role as trustees and the responsibilities that brings with it. Read more…
