Wednesday, 11 July 2012

CAN Indigenous Peoples Council Demands International Climate and Environment Court


 
22 June 2012: In a formal declaration sent to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Consultative Council of Indigenous Peoples of the Andean Community (CCPICAN) demanded the creation of an International Court of Climate and Environmental Justice.
 
The Council, which represents indigenous peoples of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, sent two "special declarations" adopted on 10 June 2012, to Rio+20. One on some of the themes of the Conference, the other focused on climate change.
 
The Special Declaration to Rio+20 calls for the new Court to be empowered to "prevent, adjudge and sanction" States, enterprises and persons for acts or omissions that provoke climate change "or strong and irreparable damage to nature." The Declaration also calls for, inter alia: the rejection of green economy, geoengineering, transgenic organisms and nanotechnology; the creation of a world tax on international financial transactions, with the revenue earmarked to combating climate change and restoring and preserving Mother Earth; and the approval of a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.
 
The Special Declaration on Climate Change rejects the Cancun Agreements and "the false solutions of carbon markets," condemns and rejects REDD, REDD+ and REDD++, and demands that developed countries reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 50% by 2017 and 100% by 2040. The Declaration reiterates the call for a global tax on international financial transactions, and commits themselves to push for a Latin American Referendum on climate change that would require LAC governments to take their demands to "global leadership." [CAN Press Release (in Spanish)] [Declaración Especial a la Conferencia Mundial sobre Desarrollo Sostenible (Rio+20) & Declaracion Especial sobre Cambio Climatico]
 

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