Newsletter no 1 – Editorial
Climate change
Illustration by Anna Loveday-Brow
Together we can create a thousand Cancuns for change!
International talks are hamstrung by industrialised countries failing to address their historical responsibility but our movements are forging ahead with real solutions to climate change. Across the world peasants and fisherfolk, pastoralists and Indigenous Peoples are articulating and living solutions – societies not based on high consumption of fossil fuels, protecting forests, and implementing food sovereignty. Increasingly they are joined by grassroots and workers movements in the industrialised world who recognise the harm that overconsumption and corporate control has done to their wellbeing.
The fact that these issues will now be taken from Cochabamba to Cancun is testament to the strength, integrity and interconnectedness of the climate justice and food sovereignty movements. But there are also real challenges to overcome. Proposals are on the table that would undermine the ability of people to make the urgent changes needed. The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD) offset projects, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and geo-engineering are fundamentally flawed solutions, and arise due to the capture of the climate debate by corporations. This edition of the newsletter highlights the need for us to take the future of our planet into our own hands. Together we can create a thousand Cancuns for change!
Kirtana Chandrasekaran, Food Sovereignty programme co-ordinator / Friends of the Earth International
