Leaders will be meeting next month at the Amazon Summit in Belém, a city also due to host the Cop30 climate talks in 2025, to discuss the 45-year-old Amazon Cooperation Treaty for the first time in several years.

The final guest list is not yet clear, but nations across Latin America are expected to be represented as well as some from Europe.

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has rebooted the summit in the hope of using it to build support for his commitment to end illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, but curbing fossil fuel extraction does not appear to be on the agenda.

G20 divisions over key climate goals pile pressure on Cop28 hosts

However, a grassroots campaign led by Indigenous groups and civil society argues such a move is essential to combat climate change, and to protect biodiversity and the Indigenous people that live there.

The campaign builds on an existing effort to get a global pact for the permanent protection of four-fifths of Amazonia by 2025. Focusing specifically on oil and gas, it calls for an Amazon exclusion zone where no fossil fuels can be exploited, in line with the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) warning that there can be no new fossil fuel projects if the world is to stay under a 1.5°C warming threshold.

Domestic exploitation

A number of South American countries in which the Amazon rainforest lies have been trying to boost domestic oil and gas exploration and extraction in recent years. 

Peru is proposing to place 31 oil blocks over 435 indigenous communities, while Bolivia recently finalised an ‘Upstream Reactivation Plan’.

Meanwhile, the result of a forthcoming Ecuadorian referendum about oil exploitation in the Yasuní rainforest will be hugely significant for that part of the Amazon but will also send a wider message about the region’s priorities.

In Brazil, a far-right Congress is proposing to gut the powers of both the ministries of the environment and Indigenous peoples, throwing Lula’s deforestation pledge into doubt. 

The Brazilian president’s own ambitions of positioning himself as climate leader have also been called into question over his stance on an oil drilling project at the mouth of the Amazon river. He recently said he found it “difficult” to believe that oil exploration in the Amazon basin would damage the region’s rainforest.

EU and Argentina strike gas, hydrogen & renewables deal

Ahead of the Amazon Summit, Indigenous groups will be meeting in Brazil to share fossil fuel resistance strategies, with the support of campaign group 350.org. 

“From this we hope will come a very powerful document that will inform the discussions of the presidents in Belém,” said Ilan Zugman, 350.org’s Latin America managing director. “Hopefully it will have some very strong messages saying no new fossil fuel projects in the Amazon.”

Petro’s lead

Zugman said Colombian president Gustavo Petro had been a “very loud voice” in support of this idea. In January, Petro announced a halt in all new oil and gas exploration contracts, keeping 380 currently active contracts. 

In a recent opinion piece for the Miami Herald, Petro called on Amazon countries and their partners in the Global North to follow him on ending all new oil and gas exploration in the Amazon.

He said that, while ending deforestation was “fundamental”, it had to be accompanied by “an ambitious transnational policy to phase out fossil fuels”. Oil, gas and coal accounts for about half of all Colombian exports.

Dozens of oil & industry lobbyists attended secretive shipping emissions talks

Petro said some countries, like Colombia, could allocate a “substantial amount of resources” to protect the Amazon. 

But he stressed that curbing oil and gas exploitation would have a big economic impact on poorer South American nations and called on countries like the US to help with financial mechanisms such as debt-for-climate swaps, a multilateral fund that funds environmental protection services by inhabitants of these territories, or the kind of financial reforms being progressed by the Bridgetown initiative. 

At a recent meeting, the Colombian and Brazilian presidents pledged to cooperate to protect the Amazon but the latter did not appear to make any concessions on oil and gas.

“We need to convince other presidents like Lula.. to step up as well and really play this leadership role,” said Zugman, “to not allow fossil fuel exploration in one of the most important places of the world.” 

Banking spotlight

Campaigners are also stepping up pressure on financial institutions to stop financing oil and gas projects in the region.

A report, published today by NGO Stand.earth and the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), shows that US$20 billion has been provided to explore and exploit reserves in Peru, Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador over the past 15 years.

More than half of this (US$11 billion) came from just eight banks: JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Itaú Unibanco, HSBC, Santander, Bank of America, Banco Bradesco and Goldman Sachs.

Six of these banks are either headquartered in the US or act through their US subsidiary and operate in deals across the region, while the two Brazilian companies – Itaú Unibanco and Banco Bradesco – are highly connected to specific oil and gas projects in that country. 

The report is accompanied by a database of all the banks involved in Amazon oil and gas through directly traceable and indirect financing, for example by providing loans or underwriting bond deals for upstream and midstream development and transport of oil and gas in Amazonia. 

The EU-Mercosur trade deal will harm Brazil’s indigenous communities

JPMorgan Chase tops the list, having directly provided US$1.9 billion in direct financing to oil and gas in the region over the past decade and a half.

Together with HSBC, it was a major backer of Petroperú’s Talara refinery expansion project, which is driving the exploitation of oil on Indigenous land in the Peruvian Amazon.

JPMorgan Chase has ruled out support for the highly controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline project, but made no such commitment on oil and gas activity in the Amazon or wider fossil fuel expansion. 

The Stand.earth report says an Amazon exclusion for financial institutions is an “essential strategy” to protect the region from oil, gas, and other extractive industries.

Although no banks have completely ruled out funding fossil fuels in Amazonia – the geographic region around the Amazon basin – the report does praise some companies for starting to recognise the risks involved. 

Exclusion policies

 In May 2022, BNP Paribas pledged to no longer finance or invest in companies producing from oil and gas reserves in the Amazon or developing related infrastructure, becoming the first major bank to adopt a geographical exclusion of oil and gas in this area.

And in December 2022, HSBC amended its policies to exclude all new finance and advisory services for any client for oil and gas project exploration, appraisal, development, and production in the Amazon Biome.

The EU-Mercosur trade deal will harm Brazil’s indigenous communities

Stand.earth says these two companies, along with some others, are “sending important signals” that banks should be willing to review their relationship to Amazon destruction and take steps to manage that risk.

These also go some way towards the Exit Amazon Oil and Gas principles devised by international advocacy groups including Stand.earth and Amazon Indigenous leaders.

Clear boundaries

Angeline Robertson, lead researcher of Stand Research Group, said efforts to restrict fossil fuels should cover the wider Amazonia area “to avoid confusion or allow banks to define the exclusion zone themselves.

This was an issue with Arctic exclusions, where banks used different boundaries in their policies.”  Standard Chartered’s and BNP Paribas’ exclusions, for example, cover the ‘Amazon’ or ‘Amazon Basin’, while Société Générale and Intesa Sanpaolo’s policies include only the Amazon regions of Ecuador and Peru.

Zugman said both governments and financial institutions had a big role to play in protecting the region. “Governments need to step up first. And banks… should be there by their side to support these bold decisions and to help accelerate the just energy transition.”

He added that banks could play an important role in the Amazon by supporting a just energy transition. “Energy access is still a big deal in the Amazon and banks could, in consultation with communities, be helping them have clean access to energy instead of investing in businesses that are going to destroy their lands.”

Zugman said the Belém summit was vital because it would inform about protection of the Amazon at Cop28 in December as well as the next G20 meeting which Brazil is due to host. “We’re really pushing together for this moment.” 

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While negotiators at UN climate talks have yet to overcome deep divisions on the design of a global carbon market, a framework is in place for countries to strike bilateral deals.

The deal signed on Tuesday allows Peru to fund sustainable development projects, while Switzerland gets to count the resulting emissions cuts against its national targets.

Peru’s environment minister Kirla Echegarry said the deal took two years to negotiate and was “an example of how cooperation between countries can facilitate the fulfillment of our climate goals and —at the same time— bring prosperity as well as well-being for our citizens.”

Fate of UN-led carbon market to be decided behind closed doors

Gilles Dufrasne, policy officer at Carbon Market Watch, said the agreement had “several good elements” and established principles that “could form a basis for the ongoing article 6 negotiations”.

Dufrasne praised the provision to avoid double counting, so Peru and Switzerland cannot both claim credit for the same emissions reductions.

On the other hand, Dufrasne said: “What we’re still missing is a system to go beyond the zero-sum nature of offsetting.” This means that the system should reduce pollution rather than move it around.

Dufrasne added that a grievance mechanism was needed where any stakeholder could make a complaint about a project. “This has been missing in international carbon markets until now,” he said.

The agreement gives the Swiss government the option to transfer the rights to retire the offsets to local government or to private companies headquartered in Switzerland.

Despite socialist scepticism, Cuba shows interest in carbon trading

The money for these projects comes from Swiss motor fuel importers. In practice, they can pass these costs on to their customers, who are charged a levy when filling up their cars. Transport accounts for around a third of the small, rich nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The transactions are to be managed by the Klik foundation, which was set up by the Swiss CO2 act to find 35-54 million tonnes worth of carbon offsets up to 2030. The Swiss and Peruvian governments will determine which activities are eligible to generate carbon credits.

Klik’s international co-head Mischa Classen told Climate Home that it is considering initiatives like a $50m green credit line for small and medium-sized businesses to invest in energy efficiency and electric buses.

Classen said the Swiss government has ruled out investment in nuclear power and “they don’t want to refurbish coal power – not to prolong the business case of coal, oil and gas”.

He said that the Swiss government was in talks with several other countries that could sign a similar agreement to Peru. “The next in line” he said was Ghana and talks are ongoing with Senegal, Morocco, Thailand, Mexico, Chile and Argentina. “These processes are not always straightforward” though, he warned.

Balooning debt cripples poor countries’ hopes of green recovery from Covid

In 2015, Switzerland pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% between 1990 and 2030. The government intends to meet up to a quarter of the goal through international offsets. According to Climate Watch Data, Switzerland’s GHG emissions reduced by 8% between 1990 and 2017.

Counting offsets towards reduction targets is controversial. While countries like Switzerland, Norway and Canada have indicated they will use them, others like Finland and the UK have said they will not.

Peru is one of the Amazon nations and around half of its emissions come from land use, land use change and forestry.

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Both Latin American exporters have signed a declaration saying international shipping must “take urgent action” to limit its climate impact, in line with the Paris Agreement.

But ahead of a critical UN shipping meet in April, they warned against speed limits at sea, one of the few regulations being considered for implementation before 2023.

Rolando Drago, Chile’s ambassador to London and head of delegation to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), told Climate Home News his country had made “a political commitment” to discuss climate action in shipping.

Chile would support some measures more than others, he added: “We are really worried regarding the speed of vessels, because that could affect our exports.”

A 13-page submission from Chile and Peru, seen by CHN, urged the IMO to work on “optimal speed” instead of “speed reduction”, citing the impact on fresh fruit. Geography must also be taken into account, it said.

For example, it said a shipment of cherries from Valparaiso, Chile, to Shanghai, China would take 33 days at 20 knots and 44 days at a slower speed of 15 knots. This could affect quality and distort trade, the submission argued. Peru added avocados and blueberries as case studies.

Report: Brazil fights shipping emissions cap, citing cost concerns

In general, ships use less fuel and generate lower emissions when they travel slowly. If oil prices are high, many ship operators choose to slow down to save costs.

Brussels-based campaign group Transport & Environment is calling for speed restrictions to be introduced in the next five years, while the IMO develops longer term measures.

A study it commissioned from CE Delft found “slow steaming”, as it is known in the industry, could cut emissions in key subsectors by up to a third over the period 2018-30.

“Ships voluntarily slowed down between 2008 and 2012 because of the prevailing market conditions. There is no evidence that this has led Chilean or Peruvian fruit exporters to go bankrupt,” said T&E campaigner Faig Abbasov.

“Further mandatory speed reduction or at least capping speed at current levels will not be the straw breaking the camel’s back, either. Speed limits is the only measure on the table that can deliver immediate greenhouse gas savings for the entire fleet and IMO must give it due consideration to save the sector’s carbon budget.”

Timelapse video: shipping first as LNG tanker crosses Arctic in winter without icebreaker escort

Tristan Smith, a low carbon shipping expert at University College London, told CHN it was “plausible” that speed reduction would cause significant issues for a minority of shippers.

“It would be a pity to decide the viability of a global measure on one cargo type,” he said. “No-one is proposing using speed limits as an end in themselves, but as a relatively simple and proven means to reduce carbon intensity.”

When it developed rules to tackle polluting sulphur emissions, the IMO gave shippers flexibility to meet the limits either by using low-sulphur fuel or scrubbers to clean up their exhaust.

Similarly, Smith suggested, fruit exporters could use cleaner fuel or efficient technology to achieve a similar result to slow steaming. “It doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to incorporate in this potential policy measure something that gives those who would prefer, an opportunity to demonstrate compliance with the same carbon intensity outcome but through other means.”

As developing countries located far from major markets, Chile and Peru share some concerns with Brazil, which has emerged as the most vocal blocker of an ambitious climate deal for shipping. In signing the Tony de Brum Declaration, an initiative led by the Marshall Islands, they signalled a more progressive stance.

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Five years after its inaugural meeting, the fund has almost $10 billion of donations pledged but only a few million dollars have reached climate projects.

With its next board meeting scheduled for the 5-6 July, the UN-backed conduit for climate finance announced a series of payouts in May and June totalling $5.2m. A press release said the fund was scaling up disbursements.

On Friday, the Maldives received the first $3m of $23.6m committed to build better water infrastructure in the atoll nation, which is threatened by it lack of natural reservoirs, rising seas and saltwater intrusion.

Achim Steiner, head of the UN Development Programme, which will manage the project, said: “We are delighted that the Green Climate Fund’s first disbursement to UNDP will help realise this exciting project, which will see almost a third of the population of the Maldives becoming freshwater self-sufficient over the next five years.”

Two projects in Namibia will support rural communities. One $400,000 grant is to equip communities to access climate finance. A second tranche of $3.4m goes to improve irrigation and install solar power for pumps in drought-prone regions, reaching about 16,000 farmers.

In the Peruvian Amazon, $1m has been sent to help indigenous communities manage their forests. The funding is managed by the Peruvian Trust Fund for National Parks and Protected Areas (PROFONANPE), whose CEO Alberto Paniagua said: “The area of the project covers an important part of the world where peatlands remain almost intact. We must protect the Amazon, as the life of the planet depends on this ecosystem.”

Meanwhile in the Pacific, $296,000 went to Vanuatu for “readiness support”, essentially a programme that allows the country to develop its capacity to accept full-scale climate assistance in the future. Managing large projects requires expertise often lacking in the developing world.

Report: Green Climate Fund urged to embrace development links

In May, Mongolia’s XacBank got $500,000 (out of a total $20m) to train entrepreneurs who will start renewable energy and energy efficiency businesses. Lack of access to electricity means many Mongolians cook on kerosene-fired indoor cookstoves, which makes the air in the capital Ulaanbaatar five times more polluted than Beijing.

XacBank is one of the country’s biggest private lenders. Anand Batsukh, a senior project development officer at the bank said: “Increasingly, Mongolian people are drawing the link between climate change and air pollution. People are becoming more concerned as the air quality here has been particularly bad this year.”

Most of the disbursements are the initial tranche of larger grants. But the amount of money remains tiny compared to the size of the fund and the scale of the problem. By 2020, under UN agreements, the Green Climate Fund is supposed to be administering a sizeable portion of a promised $100bn in climate finance every year.

At the last board meeting, a member from the Democratic Republic of Congo called the fund a “laughing stock” for failing to meet the expectations of the developing world. He later retracted the comment after another delegate objected.

In 2016, the fund missed its target of approving $2.5bn worth of projects – that’s a stage long before funds are actually released – by $1.2bn.

But in the US, the fund has been reviled for the opposite reasons. The White House has called it a “slush fund”, underwritten by American taxpayers. President Donald Trump has vowed to end all further payments to the GCF. The US has not yet sent $2bn out of a $3bn pledge made under former president Barack Obama in 2015.

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Peru’s reconstruction from the tragic events of recent weeks can help to prepare for this new reality.

More than 100 people have died and over 150,000 are homeless across vast swaths of the country. Thousands of kilometres of roads and over 240 bridges have been destroyed. The cost of reconstruction is said to be around $6 billion, more than 3% of Peru’s GDP.

The unprecedented scale and destruction of the rains surprised many. Peru had been preparing for a big El Niño last year which never came. The phenomenon which brings warm currents across the Pacific to the Americas instead manifested itself as a localised version called a coastal El Niño.

A cocktail of factors has ensured the floods caused maximum damage. The rapid growth of urban areas in recent decades has increased their vulnerability to floods. Whole neighbourhoods have often been built illegally in highly vulnerable areas close to rivers and streams. Drainage and sewage systems in many places have failed to keep up with the rising population.

Climate change is expected to make El Niño events more frequent and intense. The World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Risks Report ranks environment-related risks including extreme weather events, climate change and water crises among its top five global risks with extreme weather events emerging as the single most important global risk. For Peru these extreme weather events are becoming routine.

The Peruvian government has set up a fund of $770 million to help victims and begin reconstruction, which follows a stimulus package worth 5.5 billion soles ($1.7 billion) focusing on building infrastructure. Peru is set to begin a three-year rebuilding program that includes the construction of thousands of earthquake-proof houses in areas less prone to flooding. Kuczynski said that the plan may include 150,000 new homes for low and middle income families, and a major expansion of water and sanitation systems.

Peru’s Private Investment Promotion Agency (ProInversion) also recently announced a new legal framework for public-private partnerships which is intended to accelerate the reconstruction of some of the worst hit areas.

The reconstruction effort comes at a very testing moment as prosecutors investigate a corruption scandal which has ensnared the Brazilian construction giant, Odebrecht, which secured billions of dollars worth of public contracts in Peru in recent decades.

However, extreme weather won’t wait. Investment in energy, buildings, and sanitation infrastructure must now factor in climate risk including more floods. The role of natural infrastructure such as forests and the ecosystem services they provide including preventing mudslides by stabilising the soil with their roots also requires greater attention.

To increase resilience against extreme weather events, deliver on the sustainable development goals and Peru’s commitments to the Paris Agreement, and to secure private sector investment required to boost growth, the government must prioritise sustainable infrastructure.

Investment is needed to modernise Peru’s waste, sanitation, energy and transport systems. Maintaining and upgrading city drainage systems can ensure heavy rains flow safely out of urban areas instead of forming rivers which cascade through streets and houses.

The benefits of sustainable infrastructure are impressive. The focus on sustainability means ensuring that infrastructure is compatible with social and environmental goals, such as reducing air and water pollution. Alternatively shoddy infrastructure can cause fatal respiratory illnesses from air pollution or simply get washed away.

The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate says that low-carbon investments in the building, transport and waste sectors can generate massive global savings with a current value of US$16.6 trillion in the period to 2050. With 70% of the forecast increase in emissions from developing countries such as Peru likely to come from infrastructure that is still to be built, decisions taken now will determine whether the Paris climate agreement’s goal of staying below 2C remains viable.

To secure the necessary levels of finance Peru’s government needs the private sector, yet it may struggle to get its backing. Given the long life of infrastructure assets, including roads and bridges, investors are wary that projects that fail to factor in climate risks could be end up being damaged or destroyed resulting in substantial losses.

The recommendations created by the G20 Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures are timely as Peru seeks to use public-private-partnerships to spur investments. The recommendations aim to support companies to disclose information needed by investors and insures to assess and price climate-related risks. These recommendations are essential to ensure investments are consistent with preventing dangerous levels of global warming.

The Peruvian government, with international support, must protect its citizens from the increasing number of climate-related disasters. Prioritising sustainable infrastructure is critical to build that resilience which can both save lives and bring significant economic benefits.

Guy Edwards is a co-director of the Climate and Development Lab at Brown University.

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Although Brazil, the world’s biggest coffee producer and exporter, is expecting a record harvest  this year, its coffee crop − like that of 70 other producer countries − is now being threatened by climate change.

A report by the independent Climate Institute concludes that, by 2050, the world’s present growing area will have been halved by global warming.

It warns: “Climate change is already putting production and cost pressures on the supply of coffee in significant parts of the world’s ‘bean belt’ of coffee-producing countries.

“Increasing temperatures and extreme weather events will cut the area suitable for production by up to 50%, erode coffee quality, and increase coffee prices for consumers.”

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John Connor, CEO of the Sydney-based Climate Institute, says: “Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed around the world every day. World coffee production has more than trebled since the 1960s to supply the $US19 billion trade that continues to deliver a 5% increase in consumption annually.

“Yet between 80% and 90% of the world’s 25 million coffee farmers are smallholders, who are among those most exposed to climate change.

“They generally live and work in the ‘bean belt’, which comprises around 70 mostly developing countries, including Guatemala, Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Ethiopia and Indonesia. Climate change threatens their world.”

The best temperature for coffee bushes is 18-22°C. Above this, the plant grows more quickly and bears fruit too early, damaging the quality of the bean.

In the Central American countries of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, average temperatures have already increased by 1°C since the 1960s, while the average volume of rainfall has dropped by 15%.

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In Ethiopia, home of the Arabica bean, where coffee exports are a major part of the economy, the average temperature increased by 1.3°C between 1960 and 2006.

This has raised temperatures in the highland area where coffee is grown to as high as 23°C − leading to the proliferation of pests such as the coffee berry borer beetle.

In Brazil, the number and intensity of heatwaves in the coffee-growing areas of Minas Gerais has risen significantly, while extreme cold spells have decreased.

Higher temperatures and rainfall have increased the incidence of disease and pests, affecting yields and quality.

In already-hot countries, more warming will also increase the physical and mental health burdens on producers, labourers and communities – with consequences for productivity, says the report, which was commissioned by Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand.

Report: Brazil set for ‘environmental civil war’, warns minister

The Fairtrade Foundation, which works with small farmers round the world, is already providing technical and financial support for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

About half of the 1.6 million farmers and workers involved in Fairtrade are small-scale coffee farmers in 30 countries, with 80% of Fairtrade coffee coming from the Latin American countries Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Other farmers live in African countries such as Uganda and Tanzania, or Asian countries such as Indonesia.

Fairtrade farmers cultivate both the more expensive Arabica, which is more sensitive to temperature fluctuations, and the stronger and less expensive Robusta coffee beans.

In Brazil, experts say the country is ready for the challenges of climate change. Antonio Fernando Guerra, a research director at the Brazilian government research agency Embrapa Café, says the continental size of the country, with so many different micro-climates, means that losses in one area are compensated for by increased production in others.

Plants that are more resistant to pests and drought are also being developed. So, for the time being at least, it looks like there will continue to be a lot of coffee in Brazil.

This article was produced by the Climate News Network

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Lliuya’s village of Huaraz in the Andes is in the path of a potential floodwave. A chunk of glacier could break off at any time and fall into Palcacocha meltwater lake, which has grown fourfold since 2003 under global warming.

He was seeking €17,000 from RWE towards a dam to protect up to 50,000 people at risk, in light of the utility’s historic contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

But the judge ruled that while there was “scientific causality”, his lawyer Roda Verheyen had not demonstrated “legal causality”. In other words, the court was not convinced RWE was legally responsible for protecting Huaraz, despite evidence that its activities had contributed to the town’s predicament.

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Undeterred, Verheyen said her client would “most likely appeal” to Hamm regional court, subject to scrutinising the written verdict.

Lliuya was philosophical: “As mountain guides we are used to travelling up long and rocky roads. Obstacles like this shouldn’t discourage us. This is about safety and justice for my family and thousands of other people in Huaraz. I’m still hopeful that a German court will give us the chance to show that RWE has contributed to this dangerous situation.”

The compensation sought is symbolic. It represents 0.47% of the estimated cost of flood defences for the town – RWE’s share of global emissions from 1751 to 2010.

Foundation for Sustainability has already paid €80,000 worth of legal costs and is prepared to raise more, according to the chair of NGO Germanwatch, which is providing advice and support.

“The question here is whether the main contributors to climate change can get out of their responsibility because there are many other contributors,” said Klaus Milke.

“That would mean that people affected by climate change cannot receive support and have no rights. It would be an argument for collective irresponsibility.”

The legal challenge, launched in December 2015, tests the boundaries of the “polluter pays” principle. If successful on appeal, it could inspire a wave of similar claims.

A spokesperson for RWE said Thursday’s judgment vindicated the company’s arguments: “Due to a world-wide variety of greenhouse gas emissions from natural and anthropological sources, the complexity of the climate as well as its natural variability, in RWE’s opinion it is not possible to attribute specific effects of change in the climate to just one emitter.”

The company also highlighted its moves to reduce emissions by modernising its fossil fuel power fleet and investing in renewable energy.

The post Peruvian climate lawsuit against German coal giant dismissed appeared first on Climate Home News.

We see the indigenous leader mimic bird calls, paddle a canoe and quip about Tarzan. We see him climb out of a window to escape arrest. We see him return from exile to a crowd shouting “murderer”.

If Pizango is the hero, the villain is Alan Garcia, president of Peru at the time. In his eagerness to attract US investment, he has opened up swathes of the Amazon for oil and gas exploration. A pond gleams with crude; villagers complain of headaches and dizziness.

As a political standoff over territorial rights escalates into the “Baguazo” conflict, which leaves 23 police officers and at least 10 civilians dead, the moral high ground too is contested.

This documentary raises questions about the balance between indigenous rights, environmental protection and economic development that reverberate globally.

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Directors Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel were fresh out of the University of Wales, Newport, when they started investigating in 2007.

Their interest was piqued by an article about the trade agreement under negotiation with the US, says Brandenburg, who is half-Peruvian: “The entire Peruvian Amazon was covered in oil and gas concessions… It was just kind of shocking.”

They made contact with indigenous protesters, getting to know Pizango months before the violent confrontation in 2009.

It put them at the heart of events. “When Baguazo happened, we were right in the middle of the conflict, we had exclusive access to Pizango’s story,” says Orzel.

Indigenous protest against resource exploitation in the Peruvian Amazon (Pic: Yachaywasi Films)

The filmmakers’ closeness to the ringleader – from the authorities’ point of view – also drew the attention of the secret service. “We were basically threatened with deportation and the potential of being classed as terrorists.”

After that, they kept a low profile as they gathered interviews with everyone up to Yehude Simon, the former prime minister who resigned over the crisis. President Garcia declined to talk.

Their relationship with Pizango notwithstanding, Brandenburg and Orzel agree their sympathies shifted in the course of making the film.

Report: Record number of environmental activists murdered in 2015

The indigenous activists have a principled argument: by UN convention, people have rights to the territory they have traditionally occupied. President Garcia rode roughshod over that, handing out concessions to private interests without so much as a by-your-leave.

As their tactics harden, blockading a critical road and pipeline, it becomes apparent public sentiment is not on their side. In a TV clip, Pizango is berated by the presenter for jeopardising Lima’s energy supply. Addressing a crowd, Garcia doubles down, saying 400,000 rainforest-dwellers should not dictate to 28 million Peruvians. The objectors are characterised as “backwards” and against development.

“We started off wanting to make a film about the indigenous people fighting for their rights, but we realised it was not just about indigenous people, it was about every Peruvian,” says Brandenburg.

The turning point for her was the funeral of Commandante Montenegro, one of the police officers killed in Bagua. His widow made a moving speech, forgiving the perpetrators and appealing for peace.

Report: Peruvian relatives of murdered forest defenders win land title

“It is not a black and white story, for sure. Ultimately, we wanted to show what was happening to the Amazon,” says Orzel.

“The question the Peruvians have is: if we can’t exploit our natural resources, how are we going to develop as a country? So the question is what are the alternatives.”

Brandenburg adds: “One of the biggest problems is that corporate law is clashing with human rights and indigenous rights. We need to start talking about how the economic system is set.”

That is a conversation producer Taira Akbar says is just beginning. The film has been on the festival circuit since January, picking up five awards along the way, and reached Lima last month.

“It was very emotional,” says Akbar of the Lima screening. “A lot of people didn’t really know the in-depth of the story, they didn’t really see the other side. They were very moved by it.”

UNDP: Land rights crucial to save tropical forests

The story continues. Pizango is facing charges of rebellion, sedition and conspiracy against the state, which could carry a lengthy prison sentence. Another 51 people are awaiting verdicts related to the killings of police in Bagua.

Meanwhile, the laws that sparked the protest have been repealed, yet people on the ground say forest clearances continue, as deals are struck on the sly.

These human struggles affect global efforts to combat climate change. The Amazon rainforest is hugely important for absorbing carbon dioxide. Peru is relying on reduced deforestation to deliver on its emissions pledge to the UN.

Akbar says: “The main thing we want people to take away is the rainforest and that is what is really at stake – and what we as citizens of the world are going to do to protect it.”

When Two Worlds Collide is released in UK cinemas on 9 September 2016

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Repeated drought and tree loss mean that there is increasing risk that the forest may one day cease to be a “sink” for atmospheric carbon released by the combustion of fossil fuels.

But even as climate scientists shake their heads in distress, plant taxonomists may be holding their heads in despair. They have just been told that so rich and various are the trees of the great Brazilian rainforest that another three centuries may pass before they can all be identified.

Both reports are the product of prolonged and careful study by generations of botanists, ecologists and foresters.

Scientists who monitor the Amazon Basin have for years been pointing out that loss of tree canopy is contributing to imminent climate disaster, and that extreme weather events associated with climate change can only make things worse.

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They have also explained that the forest’s role as a carbon sink that right now holds 100 billion tonnes of carbon in the form of roots, wood and foliage is not just threatened.

In a severe and prolonged drought, the forest is actually likely to release more carbon into the atmosphere, to stoke up further warming.

So the latest study, published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles journal is just another confirmation of some alarming portents.

Researchers looked at two dramatic droughts, in 2005 and 2010.

They gathered measurements across nearly 100 locations and observed that, while both severe droughts killed trees, the second of the two slowed the growth rates of the survivors in the years that followed. The implication is that what didn’t kill trees made them weaker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynUC_BqI90A

Study leader Ted Feldpausch, senior lecturer in geography at of the University of Exeter in the UK, says: “The first large-scale, direct demonstration of tropical drought slowing tree growth is extremely important.

“It tells us that climate changes not only increase the rate of loss of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, by killing trees, but also slow down the rate of uptake.

“And yet the Amazon clearly has resilience, because in the years between the droughts the whole system returned to being a carbon sink, with growth outstripping mortality.”

His co-author, Oliver Phillips, professor in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds in the UK, says that “the Amazon has been providing a tremendous service, taking up hundreds of millions more tonnes of carbon every year in tree growth than it loses through tree death. But both the 2005 and 2010 droughts eliminated those gains.”

Scientists have now been observing measured plots of primary forest in the region for decades, but the sheer richness and variety of the forest remains a puzzle.

An international team of scientists write in Scientific Reports journal that they examined all the tree data from the region – more than half a million inventories made in Amazonia between the years 1707 and 2015 – and began a species count.

Altogether they arrived at a checklist of 11,676 species of tree grouped into 1,225 different genera and 150 families.

After 300 Years of Collecting, Nearly 12,000 Amazon Tree Species Are Found https://t.co/MxuVeyL83j pic.twitter.com/2zXLQXT6XC

— Amazon Watch (@amazonwatch) July 19, 2016

But the best estimates of those plant species more than 10cm in thickness at breast height – a rough and ready definition of a tree – in the whole region is now 16,000. That means that around 4,000 species remain to be discovered and identified.

One of the report’s authors, Nigel Pitman, senior conservation ecologist at theField Museum in Chicago, says: “Since 1900, between 50 and 250 new trees have been discovered in the Amazon every year. Our analysis suggests we won’t be done discovering new tree species for three more centuries.”

Research such as this may be essentially academic – it is based on available data assembled in university and research laboratory libraries over centuries – but it has practical value.

People who wish to conserve forests have to begin with a better understanding of why some species are rare and some well-represented, and how the population patterns of tree species change with distance and time.

“We’re trying to give people tools so they are not just labouring in the dark,” says the study’s lead author, Hans ter Steege, biodiversity dynamics group leader at theNaturalis Biodiversity Centre in the Netherlands, who has been mapping the rates of loss in the forest.

“The checklist gives scientists a better idea of what’s actually growing in the Amazon Basin, and that helps conservation efforts.”

This article was produced by the Climate News Network

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(Pic: UN Photos)

By Megan Darby

Climate pledges by Latin America’s major economies do not go far enough to hold warming below 2C, analysts warned on Thursday.

Climate Action Tracker awarded Brazil and Peru a “medium” rating for their targets, being at the weaker end of a “fair” contribution to global efforts. That is the same category as the EU, US and China.

Offers from Chile and Argentina were branded “inadequate”, in line with 3-4C of temperature rise from pre-industrial levels.

“None of these countries will be immune to the effects of climate change. An increase in warming of 2C would have severe impacts on all four of them, and on the rest of the continent,” said Marcia Rocha, head of climate policy at Climate Analytics.

“Yet instead of taking action commensurate with the size of the threat, these governments are largely sticking with their current policies, which are heading in the wrong direction.”

Paris tracker: Who has pledged what for 2015 UN climate pact?

To date, 155 countries have submitted national contributions to a UN climate deal to be finalised in Paris this December.

CAT, an alliance of four European research institutes, estimates the aggregate effect is to limit warming to 2.7C. That is an improvement on the 3.6C under business as usual, but far from the ultimate goal.

It judges only four countries to be making sufficient efforts: Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Morocco and the tiny mountain kingdom of Bhutan.

The latest assessments suggest Latin America needs to up its game on clean energy, saving forests and preparing for the impacts of climate change.

Brazil, the continent’s biggest emitter, made much of its hard target to cut greenhouse gases 37% from 2005 levels by 2025 and 43% by 2030.

It was the only developing country to propose absolute reductions from a historical year, rather than taking a business-as-usual baseline.

Report: Brazil minister calls out emerging economies over weak climate pledges
Report: Fracktivists ‘win’ as Brazil shale gas auction flops

But this actually represents a slight increase from the latest emissions figures, which tumbled in recent years due to a crackdown on deforestation.

The main source of pollution has flipped to energy, where rising demand is set to outweigh plans to get 45% from renewable sources by 2030.

“Brazil needs to be careful it doesn’t recarbonise its electricity sector,” said Rocha.

In Peru, rapid expansion of mining, agriculture and illegal logging jeopardise a goal to reach zero deforestation by 2021.

“With its current deforestation rates, it is difficult to see how Peru is going to meet its climate target,” said Juan Pablo Osornio, researcher at Ecofys.

Even if global warming is held to 2C, Peru is expected to lose 90% of its glaciers, raising the risk of water shortages.

Report: Peru climate pledge hinges on forests wager
Crowdsourcing the climate: Chile’s CO2 cutting plan nears fruition

Chile trumpeted its democratic approach to developing a climate plan, involving a broad grassroots consultation.

That appears to have resulted in a watered down plan, however. Its 30% emissions intensity cut by 2030 is weaker than options in a 2014 draft and “far from a 2C pathway”, CAT said.

As for Argentina, its 15% cut from business as usual in 2030 will allow absolute emissions to rise by a quarter. CAT projects it can meet the target without any further action.

What is more, Buenos Aires reserved the right to change its mind, raising uncertainty over its commitment going into Paris.

Report: Ecuador seeks to unite Latin America behind climate justice crusade

Experts on a webcast panel discussion from Brown University said the lack of green ambition was symptomatic of a wider economic malaise.

Kevin Gallagher, professor of global development policy at Boston University, said: “The fundamental economic model for Latin America is inherently unsustainable and there is no real sign of that shifting.”

The region is overly reliant on commodities, financial services and low-skilled work, he argued. Meanwhile it is not investing enough in innovation, structural transformation and natural capital.

“They are vulnerable to boom and bust cycles in the south related to commodity prices and in the north to manufacturing demand. Social and environmental conflict is at an all time high.”

Isabel Cavelier, a Colombian envoy to the UN, agreed: “We need an economy that is more diversified – that is the main challenge.”

She was more upbeat about the national climate plans, welcoming them as a better way for the UN to drive action than the previous top-down approach. “They are more owned by governments, they are more inclusive,” Cavelier said.

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UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, French President François Hollande and Peruvian President Ollanta Humala summarise the outcome of a working lunch attended by a ‘small but representative group of world leaders’ (credit: UN photo)

By Alex Pashley

Support is building behind the radical concept of global decarbonisation.

Severing the link between fossil fuels and economic development is the contentious next step in holding warming to the agreed limit of 2C.

A broad coalition of countries moved to translate that goal into action at an informal meeting on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York on Sunday.

Thirty heads of state including Chinese president Xi Jinping, his German counterpart Angela Merkel and Brazilian premier Dilma Rousseff, reaffirmed the 2C temperature threshold must be the objective of a Paris climate summit in December.

At a working lunch headed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, and France and Peru’s presidents, they proposed ways to convert that into more tangible targets.

“The progressive decarbonisation of the global economy over the course of the century, or the shift towards 100% clean energy systems, or green low carbon transition during the course of this century,” were the three options set out in a statement.

Report: G7 buoys climate talks with support for zero carbon goal

In June, the G7 declared support for a net zero carbon goal, driven by the European Union and summit host Merkel. The German chancellor scored similar consensus on a visit with Brazil’s Rousseff in August.

The outcome of Sunday’s New York meeting showed global opinion was catching up, said Liz Gallagher, analyst at London think tank E3G.

“The consensus emerging on expectations for Paris as building an enduring regime to keep us on track for 2C, echoes the EU’s own decision a few weeks back,” she said.

There was also agreement on a need to increase ambition over time, with “many” supporting progress reviews every five years. And leaders emphasised Paris must set out how a promised US$100 billion a year by 2020 of climate finance will flow from rich to poor countries.

It remains to be seen how the high-level discussion will feed into the text of a Paris deal, still the subject of fierce technical negotiations.

The summary of the meeting stressed the goal was to “reach a shared political understanding” and not substitute for UN climate talks.

Report: Brazil backs long term zero carbon goal as Merkel visits

Despite national pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions up to 2030, the planet is on course for levels of warming deemed dangerous.

To stay within atmospheric capacities for carbon dioxide pollution, emissions have to fall to net zero in the next half of the century, scientists say.

Yet countries continue to rely on fossil fuels for most of their energy, which pump out warming gases.

Energy generated from coal, oil or gas accounted for 85% of primary consumption in 2014, according to BP’s statistical review. Renewable energy excluding hydropower still represents a small fraction at an estimated 6%.

Jennifer Morgan at the US-based World Resources Institute was upbeat about the progress made in New York.

“After years of pushing, we are approaching a real turning point on global climate action,” she said. “Change is in the air.”

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The widows of murdered forest defenders travelled to Lima to demand justice (Facebook/If not us then who?)

By Megan Darby

The Asheninka people have been campaigning for land rights to their ancestral homelands in the Peruvian Amazon for more than a decade.

Their case shot to the world’s attention last September, when four of their number were killed, allegedly by illegal loggers: Edwin Chota, Jorge Ríos Pérez, Leoncio Quinticima and Francisco Pinedo.

The men’s widows took the fight to Peru’s capital Lima, while it was hosting the last round of UN climate talks.

With the media spotlight on, they accused the government of failing to support their efforts to protect the rainforest – a crucial part of the climate agenda.

Report: Peru climate pledge hinges on forests wager

Last week, they won the legal title to the 200,000-acre (809-sqkm) territory of Saweto.

Diana Rios, daughter of Jorge Ríos Pérez, was triumphant: “They thought they could treat us badly forever. But no! We are human beings!

“We don’t want more bloodshed… We ask the State to support us and to support other communities too. It’s not just Saweto – there are other communities that don’t have titles.”

Indeed, more than 1,600 communities have outstanding claims, according to indigenous rights network Aidesep.

Hailing the “great success” for the Asheninka, Tom Bewick of Rainforest Foundation US, added: “We hope this action will push the State to recognize the land rights of all indigenous communities in Peru.”

Never believe a few caring people can’t change the world-indeed, that’s all who ever have-Margaret Mead #landrights pic.twitter.com/t1P8TzCKdA

— RainforestFoundation (@RainforestUS) August 21, 2015

Many of these ethnic minority groups live in remote parts of the rainforest, where tree-cutting outlaws threaten their way of life.

For Chota, land rights were essential to confront the armed loggers who pillaged with impunity, days’ travel from the nearest enforcement outpost.

“As long as we don’t have title, the loggers don’t respect native ownership,” he told National Geographic in the year before his murder. “They threaten us. They intimidate. They have the guns.”

Up to 80% of Peru’s timber exports are harvested illegally, according to a 2012 World Bank report.

It is a major driver of climate change, with deforestation responsible for some 40% of Peru’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Across the Amazon, researchers have calculated a third of the carbon stored in trees sits in indigenous territories.

Legal rights helped to defend those areas from commercial pressures to clear space for agriculture, hydropower generation or extractive sectors, they argued.

The government put deforestation front and centre of a draft climate pledge in June, with policies including land rights for indigenous people.

But critics questioned whether Lima would see the strategy through.

Andrew Miller, campaigner at Amazon Watch, told RTCC the authorities had weakened environmental and human rights protections under the guise of encouraging investment.

“The titling of Saweto is one small step in the right direction, but it doesn’t bode well for other communities that this required years of effort, the assassination of four leaders, and an international outcry to finally happen,” he said.

“Expanding indigenous land recognition is not expensive, but the political will is often lacking in favor of extractive industries like oil and mining.”

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The scales of justice are weighing the evidence for climate action (Flickr/James Cridland)

By Megan Darby

When a Dutch district court ordered the Netherlands government to up its climate game, campaigners were overjoyed.

For the first time ever, last month judges accepted human rights arguments for demanding a country make deeper greenhouse gas emissions cuts.

“The State must do more to avert the imminent danger caused by climate change,” read the verdict.

The case, brought by pressure group Urgenda, does not set a binding precedent for any other jurisdiction. But it has emboldened environmental lawyers around the world in drawing up their own lawsuits.

“The legal arguments that we used in the case… are not unique to the Netherlands,” lawyer Dennis van Berkel told RTCC.

Top legal experts from around the world in March inked the Oslo Principles on climate change, setting out clear obligations on states and businesses.

“Avoiding severe global catastrophe is a moral and legal imperative,” they declared.

Here are five legal battles to watch.

1) Klimaatzaak, Belgium

Launched by 11 leading lights in December 2014, the Klimaatzaak (literally “climate case”) campaign has signed up 9,000 citizens as co-plaintiffs. That’s ten times the number behind Urgenda’s bid.

They are calling for a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. That is the deeper end of the range Urgenda demanded. The Dutch court only went as far as 25%.

With its champions including well-known figures from the worlds of TV, art and business, the launch got plenty of coverage domestically – not all supportive.

Sarah van Riel, the campaign’s only paid employee on two days a week, told RTCC the Dutch ruling made a “huge difference”.

“We feel that people who were critical about it now believe that it is not stupid,” she said.

The court hearing is expected towards the end of 2016.

Saul Luciano Lliuya fears for his home in Peru (Pic: Germanwatch)

2) Peruvian farmer v RWE

Urgenda merely asked the Dutch government to take more action in future. Saul Luciano Lliuya is arguing that German energy firm RWE should pay compensation for its historic activities.

The Peruvian farmer lives in the floodpath of a glacial lake that is on the verge of bursting its banks as greenhouse gases heat up the climate.

He is asking RWE – one of the EU’s top historical emitters – to pay €20,000 towards work to protect the valley. That is 0.47% of the estimated project cost, based on RWE’s 0.47% share of global emissions between 1751 and 2010.

While the sum is modest, a victory would open the floodgates for thousands if not millions of claims.

In May, RWE rejected the claim, denying responsibility for the risks faced by Luciano Lliuya.

Roda Verheyen, his German lawyer, said her client was “very disappointed” and “taking steps to assess the prospects of success of filing a lawsuit against RWE”. Watch this space.

3) Washington teens

From the geographically vulnerable to the younger generation, those who will feel the effects of climate change most are getting active.

In Washington, US, eight teenagers last month won a case to force the state to consider science-based emissions regulations.

It was the first victory for campaign group Our Children’s Trust, which is bringing similar actions across the country.

The children, aged 11 to 15, wrote in the petition of their concern for the northwestern state’s rugged wilderness.

Aji Piper worried about wildfires and Gabriel Mandell about disappearing beaches, while for Zoe Foster a longer mosquito season and allergies kept her from going camping.

Being too young to vote, they called on the courts to make policymakers protect them from the worsening effects of climate change. The Seattle government must decide by 8 July how to respond.

4) Philippines petition

In a similar vein to Peru v RWE, Greenpeace is looking at ways to sue fossil fuel majors for harm to the world’s most vulnerable to climate change.

Along with local campaign groups, it is drumming up a petition to get the Philippines Commission on Human Rights to investigate.

The Philippines is hit hard by increasingly intense tropical storms such as Typhoon Haiyan, for example, and has limited resources to protect its people.

Greenpeace will argue the likes of Gazprom, Glencore Xstrata and Exxon Mobil are violating the human rights of Filipinos by profiting from climate-polluting energy.

While the Commission cannot directly order those companies to pay compensation to those at the sharp end of global warming, a strong ruling could give leverage for further action.

Pacific island leaders last month declared their intention to challenge these carbon giants in the courts.

Kristin Caspar, legal counsel for Greenpeace, told RTCC: “The courts, as we have seen, are a powerful platform to hear the concerns about climate harm.

“We really feel that this is the time to use the power of the law to hold these companies to account. This is just the start.”

5) Australia action?

Directly inspired by the Urgenda victory, Environmental Justice Australia is canvassing support for a similar lawsuit.

“Although most Australians think the government should take action on climate change, there’s a vast chasm between citizens expectations and reality,” the NGO wrote.

Australia has yet to reveal its contribution to a UN climate deal. Analysts warn the government is considering an emissions target linked to “disastrous” levels of warming.

Prime minister Tony Abbott, who notoriously scrapped the country’s carbon tax, shows little appetite for the climate agenda.

Opportunities to challenge this legally in Australia are different and “probably more limited” than in the Netherlands, Environmental Justice said.

But the campaigners promised to explore all options “as the issue is too urgent to sit idle”.

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Madre de Dios, a region in the Peruvian Amazon contains up to 15% of the world’s biodiversity  (Flickr/ Richard Vignola)

By Alex Pashley

Peru, a country three-fifths covered by Amazon jungle, is setting itself up for a fall in staking its UN climate pledge on exacting aims to tackle deforestation, according to experts.

The Andean nation has put four options to slash greenhouse gas emissions – ranging from a 4-42% cut by 2030 on current projections – up for public consultation until mid-July.

In the draft proposal the environment ministry favoured the third scenario of a 31% reduction, which “optimises” the contribution of several carbon-sucking projects already underway and improves its “socio-environmental performance”.

That target gives a prospectus of 58 “mitigation options” in sectors ranging from waste to electricity. Emissions would still rise 10% from 2010 levels, but be 82 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year lower by 2030 than under business as usual.

Peru’s Environment Ministry has indicated it will adopt a 31% cut in its contribution to a global warming agreement (credit: Minam)

Zero deforestation

Two-thirds of the emissions cut relate to forests, from awarding land rights to indigenous people to coffee and cacao projects. Peru has vowed to halt deforestation by 2021 as a condition of funding from European donors for REDD+ programs.

The South American country has lost an average 113,000 hectares (560 square miles) a year since 2001, which widened to 145,000 hectares in 2013, according to the environment ministry. Those are low compared with neighbouring Brazil where 3,360 square miles were hacked down in 2013.

Analysis: Can Latin America blaze a trail towards a Paris climate deal?

“It’s a big advance, which you have to applaud as it wouldn’t have happened ten years ago, but you have to question how they will implement the outcome,” Julia Urrunaga, Peru director at the Environmental Investigation Agency told RTCC from Lima.

While acknowledging the preliminary nature of the proposals, Urrunaga said the document failed to outline how the country defined deforestation.

Agribusiness often reclassify rainforest as arable land in a ruse to clear the way for plantations of palm oil and papaya for example, she said. While logging mafias linked to regional governments and cumbersome bureaucracy in applying the forestry code had seen little progress on tree loss.

Pablo Pena at the Peruvian Society of Environmental Law said forest protection initiatives like the UN-backed REDD+ hadn’t always worked, and said faster emissions reductions could be achieved elsewhere.

Report: Chile’s CO2 cutting plan nears fruition

“I’m not sure it’s going to be easy or cheap to get to 31%. It’s justifiable that they tackle deforestation which makes up half of emissions, but will they comply? I’m not sure,” he told RTCC.

Donor pitch

Others hailed the county with the fourth largest tropical rainforest for its transparency in the submission.

“Laying out the intended mitigation actions is especially helpful when Peru hopefully pitches them to potential supporters such as the Inter-American Development Bank and European donor countries for example,” Guy Edwards, at Brown University’s Climate and Development Lab said.

Though Peru should use the INDC process to engage national debate, after focusing mainly on the international side, he added.

Peru’s environment minister Manuel Pulgar Vidal and chair of last December’s climate talks in Lima won plaudits for brokering a eleventh-hour deal when talks were on the edge of collapse.

But that esteem is not shared throughout a government whose economy is heavily reliant on minerals and hydrocarbons extraction.

CAN international, a coalition of NGOs said unless Peru’s president and ministries commit to a ministerial commission venture started by Pulgar-Vidal, “the chances of success diminish”.

Caroline Herrera at the National Resources Defense Council said the consultation, which involved workshops and meetings with civil society, helped NGOs to hold the government to account.

Ministry battle

But Pena questioned its reach: “The COP (Conference of the Parties) helped awareness of the environment but it’s generally very low.”

In Peru, a global exporter of copper, silver and zinc, economic growth tends to trump concern for the environment.

Last July, lawmakers pledged to speed up environmental impact study times to kickstart investment in its stalling economy.

“Promoting investment doesn’t have to be risky for the environment, but historically every time they speak of it standards drop very low. The environment ministry usually loses the battle against the energy and mines ministry,” said Urrunaga.

Peru’s consultation follows a similar four-month exercise in Chile, leading observers to praise the countries for leading the region on climate.

The draft INDC also sought to expand renewables, and reduce human and economic losses from the El Nino weather phenomenon which wiped $3.5 million off Peru’s economy in 1997-98, it said.

With elections to choose a new leader next year, Urrunaga doesn’t expect a radical change in policy.

Whoever is in power, he stressed, they need to see the plans through: “If they don’t implement the laws, it doesn’t matter if they write them.”

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President Barack Obama greets Costa Rica President Oscar Arias during a reception at the 2009 Summit of the Americas (Pic; White House/Flickr)

By Guy Edwards and Timmons Roberts

The Summit of the Americas in Panama this week could produce public performances worthy of an Academy award nomination. 

Following recent efforts to re-establish diplomatic ties between the US and Cuba, presidents Obama and Castro may stage a carefully choreographed handshake.

This eagerly anticipated moment could usher in a new chapter of US – Latin American relations as leaders south of the Rio Grande have repeatedly called for an end to US aggression against Cuba.

However, Venezuelan President Maduro could upset the party by criticising recent US sanctions against Venezuela, which have been unanimously rejected by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

Paris tracker: Who has pledged what for 2015 UN climate pact? 

Yet beyond the theatrics, there could be very important diplomatic exchanges behind the scenes, which could prove pivotal for the world’s response to global climate change.

The United Nations climate change negotiations are headed towards a major deadline this December in Paris to create a new global agreement.

The summit presents an ideal place for the US and Latin American and Caribbean leaders to candidly and privately discuss the issue.

Many governments in the Western Hemisphere are taking proactive steps on climate change.

Several Latin American countries including Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Ecuador are adopting national climate policies and legislation to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate impacts.

The US has followed suit with President Obama steering his agencies to reduce emissions from power generation and improve vehicle fuel efficiency.

But what can the US and Latin America and the Caribbean do together? In 2009 the U.S. launched its Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) with the vision to make progress on the deployment of clean energy and reduce energy poverty across the hemisphere.

Analysis: Seven radical ideas for a 2015 climate change deal

The ECPA has conducted scores of workshops and technical exchanges involving most countries in the hemisphere.

But until late last month, there was little to come from the ECPA’s important yet modest results. President Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto changed that when they announced plans to launch a clean energy and climate policy task force.

These significant efforts at the national and regional level present useful conditions from which to have constructive conversations on climate change at the Summit of the Americas.

Climate change has become a high-level issue for President Obama who has been working quietly for months in the attempt to build progress toward a new climate agreement in Paris. Similarly, Latin American countries are committed to the UN climate talks.

Yet despite consensus between the U.S. and Latin America and Caribbean that climate change is a grave threat, there are important differences about how the problem should be tackled.

At the UN climate talks the US and Latin American and Caribbean countries tend to adopt distinct positions given the negotiations have traditionally been split between the global North and South.

Latin America and the Caribbean favour a “legally binding agreement” on climate, whereas the US is only willing to back an “agreement,” given the hostility of a Republican-led Congress to a new global treaty.

They are also are demanding that rich countries including the US support them with climate finance and technology transfer in order to make the transition to low-carbon economies and adapt to climate impacts.

Since developing countries will have to act on climate change without the benefit of cheap fossil fuels and achieve prosperity even as the climate becomes less predictable, such funding is well-justified.

Report: Venezuela climate summit calls for end to “green economy” 

However, despite these difficulties at the UN climate negotiations, the US – China Joint Announcement on Climate Change last November and the recent formation of the US – Mexico task force demonstrates that climate diplomacy between the North and South can achieve results.

It could also yield a new affinity grouping for the US in the negotiations—other nations seeking to focus on “benefit sharing, not just burden-sharing.”

Latin American leaders such as Chile’s Michelle Bachelet and Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto could bring together leaders from the US, Brazil, Peru and others to discuss these issues.

A private gathering could prove constructive for building trust and discussing areas of consensus and cooperation, given most of the world’s leaders will likely attend the Paris conference.

The US and Latin American and Caribbean countries can discuss progress on their nation’s national contributions on climate change which are being submitted to the UN this year and whether they are sufficiently ambitious and based on a transparent and participatory process.

Talks can also address how these contributions can become more ambitious in the coming decades to keep the world on a trajectory to stay below 2 degrees of warming.

The US can build on the advances of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas during President Obama’s remaining time in office. Hemispheric action could focus on capitalizing on the enormous potential of renewable energy in the Americas and building cleaner and more sustainable cities.

Both can contribute to building prosperity while delivering important benefits for development, health and security.

President Obama views progress on combating climate change as an important part of his legacy. Latin American and Caribbean leaders are also advancing national climate policies and demanding strong global action.

The Summit of the Americas is an excellent setting to bring these voices together to build further progress. A successful outcome in Paris this December could depend on it.

Guy Edwards is research fellow and co-director of the Climate and Development Lab, Institute for Environment and Society, Brown University. Timmons Roberts is Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at Brown University and co-director of the Climate and Development Lab. 

All opinions expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the authors.  This article was originally published on AQ Online.

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Potatoes are the staple food crop in the high Andes (Pic: Fabiola Ortiz)

By Fabíola Ortiz

A silent threat has emerged on the last twenty years in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, 3,000 meters high above the sea level on the Andean plateau.

The rise of temperature in the remote part of the country has endangered the survival of over 2,000 Quechua indigenous families who have been traditionally growing potatoes for centuries.

Abrupt climate variation and shortage of rainfall patterns over the last three decades are the core of this change.

In December 2014, Peru hosted the UN climate talks, COP20. For two weeks the world’s specialists, activists, civil society and international leaders and negotiators gathered to discuss ways of tackling climate change and to reach a draft for Paris this year.

Meanwhile  in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the Quechua “potato guardians” – Papa Arariwa – assembled to report about how high temperatures and scarce rainfall regime have directly affected their crops.

“Pachamama [Mother Earth] is nervous from what we are doing to her”, a fifty-year old Papa Arariwa named Mamani Huarka told RTCC. He lives in the Sacred Valley near a mountain range called Kinsa Cocha.

“Growing potatoes has everything to do with our life style, with our traditional food, culture and spirituality. Potatoes are sacred and we should treat them well as they are essential to our living. We thank to our Gods for safeguarding this region and the potatoes,” he said.

“We are being pushed further up the mountains and the cliffs to grow our potatoes. All the crops are moving up the hills due to the change of the temperatures. There shall be a time with no more space in the mountain to plant.”

Potato farmers must trek ever higher up the mountains to find suitable growing conditions (Pic: Fabiola Ortiz)

Before he goes trekking through the high and steep mountains, Huarka takes a few sips of coca tea to help with the altitude and murmurs a prayer asking for protection and blessing of the entities that live in the mountains – the Apus. He says that the real effects of climate change can be seen and felt there.

The Potato Park is a biocultural conservation unity located around 3,000 meters high and has 9,200 hectares of area in the Pisac district part of Cusco region. There are 6,000 indigenous people spread through five small villages – Amaru, Paru Paru, Pampallaqta, Sacaca and Chawaytire.

The creation of the Potato Park dates back from 1997 when an NGO called Andes Association promoted the conservation of the indigenous heritage regarding local rights, livelihoods and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity.

The huge number of 1,400 varieties of native potatoes are being grown in the Sacred Valley –  one of the world’s major food crops that has been protected for centuries by the deeply rooted local food systems maintained by the Quechua communities.

The Potato Park represents a new model of protected area in the Andes that allies sustainable management of the landscape, cultural heritage and indigenous cosmovision. With the help of Andes Association, the Park is run by the Quechua communities without the interference of local government.

“The Potato Park designed a pioneer model of a protected area without being dependant on public resources and is managed by local indigenous communities. The Park has already been recognized by the Peruvian government and was awarded several times from conciliating food security, traditional knowledge and biodiversity”, said Alejandro Argumedo, director of Andes Association.

The Potato Park was developed to sustain the 1,400 varieties of potato native to the region (Pic: Fabiola Ortiz)

However potatoes that used to be grown 3,200 meters high in the past are now growing only above the mark of 4,000 meters up in the mountains that are no higher than 4,500 meters. The Quechua people make an appeal for their survival.

“Nature used to tell us the best time of the year to work on the land but now forests are confused and are not talking to us anymore. We are losing our natural references from plants and animals. We need help to adapt to those new weather conditions that we are facing,” said Huarka.

Without really understanding what climate change is and possible consequences, this new expression is on the tip of the Quechua’s tongue. They are having to deal with a different time for their food production.

“I keep wondering what would be my family’s future and how life would be from now on. Will we be able to grow our food in the future?” asks Huarka.

The agronomist René Gómez, who represents the gene bank of the International Potato Center, estimates that in 40 years there will be nowhere to grow potatoes. This could be the end of the Potato Park and the food sovereignty of this ancient crop and conservation of Andean biodiversity.

“For the tubers to keep their nutritional properties they need a cold temperature. The native potatoes require temperatures between 4° and 8°C, some reach up to 12°C,” said Gomez.

But some action has been taken to help the indigenous communities settled in the Sacred Valley to survive. According to Gomez, the only way out to adapt and overcome scarcity is based on scientific research. The answer is in the genes.

“We’ve identified at least 11 different crops resistant to very dry conditions (of up to 200 mm a year), as well as high temperatures and heladas, periods of sudden drop in temperature that freeze crops and usually happen after long days of dry,” he explained.

The post Climate change threatens staple potato crop in high Andes appeared first on Climate Home News.

Protecting the Amazon is central to addressing climate change – around 15% of emissions come from deforestation (Pic: Global Water Forum)

By Ed King

Latin America’s remaining indigenous peoples are “under siege” from rapacious mining, ranching and energy companies, actress turned human rights activist Bianca Jagger has warned.

Earlier this month eight leaders from across the continent announced plans to replant 20 million hectares of forests by 2020, a sign they said of their commitment to protect the region’s precious rainforests from further degradation.

But Jagger said recent history indicated these were likely to be “empty promises”, and would not protect the rights or the future of the 385 indigenous Amazon tribes who rely on the health of their traditional lands to survive.

“My problem is that many of these leaders are talking the talk but not walking the walk. There are a lot of empty promises,” Jagger told RTCC in an interview.

“What I’m seeing in Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil and Nicaragua, it is not a response from Latin American leaders towards their indigenous people. What I see is an irrational course to get more drilling, mining and hydroelectric.”

Tropical deforestation is a huge climate problem, accounting for an estimated 6-17% greenhouse gas emissions, say scientists. Between 2000-2012 it increased by 2100 squared kilometres.

Halting it would increase to 65% the chance of limiting warming to below 2C, a level deemed safe by government officials.

But for Amazon tribes, the issue is personal. Some tribes, like the 51,000 strong Guarani in Brazil, have had their villages and forests divided up by ranchers and loggers, leaving them with a fraction of their ancestral lands.

In November one of the group’s most vocal leaders, Marinalva Manoel, was found stabbed to death on the side of a road.

Pitched against these abuses and warnings from scientists are the undoubted huge reserves of timber, minerals and fossil fuels above and beneath the Amazon, home to what are rumoured to be “super giant oil and gas fields” according to a senior oil executive.

Ecuador tried to resist the lure of black gold in 2007 by asking rich countries to donate $3.7 billion for it not to drill in an ecologically sensitive part of the rainforest called Yasuni, but in 2013 President Rafael Correa ditched the plans and authorised limited drilling.

Last week the government in Quito said it had suspended a $53 million aid package from Germany after legislators from Berlin tried to visit Yasuni and see the effects of oil exploitation on local communities.

Growing rage

A recent round of UN climate change talks in Lima, Peru, was meant to offer hope to small tribal groups living in the Amazon rainforest, which is shared by Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and five other countries.

But negotiations on a forest protection framework known as REDD+ broke down in Peru, due to continued disagreement between governments over the status of safeguards which are meant to ensure the protection of basic human rights.

“They don’t want to come to terms with the provisions to protect indigenous peoples,” said Jagger.

Where Lima did succeed was in highlighting the desperate plight of these communities, many of who lack legal documents proving they own land their families have farmed for generations.

On the second week of the UN conference over 15,000 people marched through the streets of Lima calling for a global climate change agreement that respected “human rights for all” and protected their natural resources.

Their anger was sparked by a series of deaths of indigenous leaders in the past two months, first four Peruvian anti-logging campaigners in September, and then the suspected murder of José Isidro Tendetza Antún of the Shuar people in Ecuador.

These are the latest in a series of murky killings linked to illegal logging and extractive industries in the Amazon.

According to the charity Global Witness 57 environmental activists were killed between 2002 and 2014 in Peru, the majority over land rights disputes.

A veteran of campaigns for indigenous tribes, Jagger described herself as “shocked” at the lack of progress during the Lima talks on protecting the rights of forest dwellers.

“Are we really seeing as decision from Latin American leaders to come forward, demarcate the land, give them the title?” she said.

“I truly don’t see that. But if they’re not capable to agree on the safeguards in 2014 for REDD+, then when are we going to see that?”

Hydro dilemma

Jagger also pointed to the 242 planned dams in the Amazon, adding to what she said are 412 mega damns in the region, “harmful to indigenous people, which will threaten their livelihood, survival and culture.”

Of those, the vast 11,233MW, 18 turbine hydroelectric plant at Belo Monte on the Xingu river is emblematic of the change sweeping the Amazon.

After three decades of vigorous opposition to the dam, the Juruna tribe has been largely defeated by a mixture of bribes, threats and economic realities as the forest they lived in disappears.

When it comes online in 2015, the dammed river will flood 478 square kilometres, affecting the flow and temperature of the Xingu and its tributaries, potentially wiping out some species of fish and turtle that thrive in its waters.

For Brazil’s government, the dam is a necessary evil to ensure the lights and TVs stay on across the rapidly developing country, while keeping the country’s carbon emissions in check.

But evidence is clear that to win the battle against climate change, huge rainforests like the Amazon need to be protected – and the best way to do that is to empower local communities.

Local protection

According to a scientific study in the journal Carbon Management published in Lima during the UN talks, designated indigenous areas in the Amazon store an estimated 28,000 megatons of carbon.

That’s more than Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo combined, and “sufficient to irreversibly alter continental-scale rainfall and climate regimes if released” write the authors.

These account for 52% of Amazonia’s tropical ecosystems across nine countries, but of this 20% is under threat from planned developments.

But where local groups are offered legal protection and remain in control of their lands, they continue to live in a “largely sustainable” way, said the study.

“The inextricable relationship between Amazonian indigenous cultural identity and tropical forest ecosystems, including their flora and fauna, forms the basis of indigenous peoples’ ongoing political struggle for recognition of their land and resource rights and the extant indigenous territories.”

For Jagger, who at times could barely contain her anger at the lack of protection afforded vulnerable communities in her home continent, the solution is simple. But it requires political will from leaders who rarely fail to disappoint.

“In order to protect and safeguard the rainforest we need indigenous people. We cannot achieve that without them, and if we are not able to understand that I don’t really see how we will be able to tackle climate change,” she said.

“On the one hand I don’t know we will really have a legally binding treaty leading up to Paris, and if we’re not able top have some concrete policies to protect those people I don’t know how we will address the issue of the most important challenge we face in our life today.”

The post Bianca Jagger: Amazon tribes “under siege” from developers appeared first on Climate Home News.

Pic: Sophie Yeo

By Sophie Yeo

Living on artificial floating islands on Lake Titicaca, Peru’s Uros people lead simple lives of fishing and craftsmanship.

Some say that this indigenous race dates back some 3,700 years to when the central Andes were first settled.

Forced onto the islands of totora reeds by colonising Incas, they have since spent their days rebuilding and replacing the spongy foundations of their homes.

Separated from the mainland, the Uros people have retained many of the habits of their ancestors. But when it came to solar technology, they were early adopters.

Victor Vilca, who lives on Uros Khantati, one of more than 50 floating islands in the lake, says that the islanders started using solar panels to provide electricity around 25 years ago.

He has now installed six solar panels on his own island, where he lives with his wife, children and three other families.

And the inhabitants of the other islands have also turned to the technology, he says.

While the use of solar panels around the world has boomed in the past two decades, the sun in Peru is still only responsible for around 0.02% of domestic energy supply, according to the International Energy Agency.

This could change. Earlier this year the government issued plans for 500,000 new panels in remote areas, part of a strategy to boost electrification from 90 to 95% in rural areas.

Vulnerable Peru

Vilca spoke to RTCC one week after the UN’s climate conference had concluded in Lima, putting Peru’s own carbon footprint – and its vulnerabilities – into the spotlight.

Lake Titicaca, which at over 12,000 feet is the world’s highest navigable lake, is already vulnerable to climate change.

In 2009, the Lake Titicaca authorities said that the lake was at its lowest level since 1949 due to evaporation caused by global warming.

Diminished rainfall and a rise in solar radiation had led to four years of critically low water levels were threatening fish spawning and water levels, they said.

A 2010 academic paper suggested that Lake Titicaca could shrink by as much as 85% if temperatures rise more than 2C. This is the limit set by world governments, but current emission rates mean this will be far exceeded by the end of the century.

Images from NASA satellites illustrate that the edges of the lake are already receding. This spells trouble for the 2.6 million people who depend on the lake for sustenance through irrigation and fishing.

Co-benefits

But the popularity of the technology among some of Peru’s remotest communities illustrates how clean energy has advantages beyond a mere replacement for fossil fuels.

The incentive for Peru’s remote islanders to use solar power is less about reducing their negligible greenhouse gas emissions, and more about the co-benefits that they offer.

Solar panel catches the last of the light at dusk on Uros Khantati (Pic: Sophie Yeo)

As the Uros islands are only accessible by boat, transporting barrels of diesel or coal to be ignited on highly flammable islands of dried reeds was never a practical solution to the islanders’ energy requirements.

Before solar power become possible, islanders relied on candles for light, says Vilca.

Now each house on his island has an electric bulb, and occupants are able to charge their mobile phones.

These modern amenities make a night on the island more attractive for Peru’s plugged-in visitors, keen to get a glimpse at the unusual sight of these reed homes bobbing on top of the lake.

With 80% of the islanders now catering for tourists, it has become key to sustaining the lives and culture of these fragile communities.

The post Peru’s indigenous Uros people turn to solar power appeared first on Climate Home News.

Ergilia Rengifo, Julia Pérez, Adelina Santillàn and Lita Rojas are in Lima to demand justice for their murdered husbands
(Pic: Facebook/If not us then who?)

By Megan Darby in Lima

Edwin Chota, Jorge Rios, Francisco Pinedo, and Leoncio Quinticima were travelling to visit their kinsmen in Brazil early September when they were ambushed and killed.

Leaders of the Ashéninka people of Saweto, they were known for defending the Amazon rainforest. Illegal loggers are believed to be responsible for their murders.

Deforestation is on the rise in Peru, accounting for some 40% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

As Peru hosts international climate talks, the widows of these four men are in Lima to demand justice and state protection.

“Our community is aware of global concerns about climate change and agree with the need for solutions to protect the world’s forests,” says Ergilia Rengifo, widow of Rios.

But the Saweto people’s efforts to save their own lands from deforestation have not been supported by the Peruvian government, she says.

The widows want the state to recognise their title to the land their husbands died for – rights their fellow Ashéninka across the border in Brazil won in 1992.

Three months after the tragedy, all they have are promises. Back home, a 6-8 day canoe ride from regional capital Pucallpa, their people are still under threat.

Our Fight from Handcrafted Films on Vimeo.

Two of the women nurse young babies as they brief journalists at a hotel in Lima.

They are not welcome in the UN climate conference centre, an infant-free zone 45 minutes away by bus.

In that temporary village, a government official insists they are speeding up the process to give the Ashéninka their title – an US$80 million programme due to start next year.

“We are awfully sorry for what happened in Saweto,” says Gabriel Quijandria, deputy minister of strategic development.

Two suspects have been arrested and are under investigation. The widows are not satisfied; they say the murderers were part of a wider criminal network that is going unpunished.

Illegal trade

A 2012 World Bank report estimated up to 80% of Peru’s timber exports were harvested illegally.

According to Global Witness, there have been 57 assassinations of land defenders in Peru since 2002.

A study published in Carbon Management found that across the Amazon, 20% of forest is under threat.

It also found indigenous lands cover one third of the carbon locked in the forest

“We have never been under so much pressure, as this study demonstrates,” said Edwin Vásquez, co-author and president of indigenous people’s network COICA.

“Yet we now have evidence that where there are strong rights, there are standing forests.”

International recognition of indigenous rights is “essential” to secure the forests’ contribution to global climate stability, added co-author Richard Chase Smith.

Forest destruction

Quijandria says the government has initiatives to halt the rise in deforestation.

Last year 145,000 hectares of forest was destroyed, environment official Gustavo Suarez de Freitas revealed earlier in the week. The figure was 80,000 hectares in 2001.

When trees are burned or rot, they release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.

In September, Germany and Norway announced funds to help protect Peru’s forests – and the carbon stored in them.

Welcoming the support, Peru’s president Ollanta Humala said it would go towards placing the country on a path to sustainability.

“We have a lot of work to do to protect Peruvian forests, to formalise the rights of Peruvian indigenous peoples,” he said.

For Rengifo’s husband this will come too late, but she hopes that her story will inspire delegates at the Lima climate conference to take forest protection initiatives more seriously.

“We ask that the governments and other groups participating in COP20 listen to our demands, and realise that the people of Saweto can do much to help, but we need their support.”

The post Widows of murdered Peruvian forest defenders demand justice appeared first on Climate Home News.

Pic: mariusz kluzniak/Flickr

By Paul Brown

Preserving forests is a vital step in preventing climate change, but people who defend them against illegal logging and land grabs are being murdered in increasing numbers.

And one of the worst recent examples is in Peru, the country hosting the United Nations climate change conference that opens in the capital, Lima, on December 1.

Four indigenous leaders from the Ashéninka people from the Peruvian Amazon − including Edwin Chota, a prominent anti-logging campaigner − were killed attempting to defend their lands in the Ucayali region in September.

The killings were highlighted yesterday in a report, titled Peru’s Deadly Environment, by the independent environmental investigation agency, Global Witness.

The report calls into question “the commitments of Peru to protect its carbon-rich forests and the people who live in them, in light of unfettered illegal logging, disregard for indigenous land claims, and new laws that favour industrial exploitation over environmental protection”.

Tragic reminders

Patrick Alley, co-founder of Global Witness, said: “The murders of Edwin Chota and his colleagues are tragic reminders of a paradox at work in the climate negotiations. While Peru’s government chairs negotiations on how to solve our climate crisis, it is failing to protect the people on the frontline of environmental protection.

“Environmental defenders embody the resolve we need to halt global warming. The message is clear: if you want to save the environment, then stop people killing environmental defenders.”

The report follows a wider Global Witness investigation of the escalating number of people killed trying to defend the environment. Between 2002 and 2013, it says, 908 campaigners were killed in 35 countries. Brazil was the worst offender, with 448 killings, Honduras second with 109, and the Philippines with 67.

The recent killings in Peru makes it the fourth most dangerous place to be a defender of the environment, with 57 people killed − 60% of them in the last four years. This is mostly in disputes over land rights, mining and logging. Over 20 million hectares of land claims of indigenous communities have not been processed.

Edwin Chota had received numerous death threats for his resistance to the loggers who were gutting his community’s forests, but his appeals to the authorities were ignored. There was speculation that there was collusion between the loggers and the authorities.

Before he died, Chota sent local police photographs of the illegal loggers and the sites they were exploiting. It is these loggers who have now charged with his murder.

In an attempt to make it worthwhile for Peru to leave the country’s forests standing, Norway and Germany have offered a $300 million partnership deal to support Peru’s efforts at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the country’s Amazon region.

Ironically, the deal was announced in September − the same time as the four activists were murdered.

The money was to cover the period up to 2020, and Peru would get the cash from Norway if it recognised indigenous people’s land claims, and so preserved the forest. At the same time, Germany would continue its extensive support for Peru on climate and forest issues.

At the time of the deal, the President of the Peru, Ollanta Humala, said: “There is growing evidence that economic growth and environmental protection can be combined. The Letter of Intent with Norway is a major step forward in realising the vision of deforestation-free development, and we are firmly committed to implement its provisions faithfully. We do this because it is in the self-interest of Peru.

“Our indigenous peoples’ groups have traditionally been the best guardians of our forests. By embarking on this path of deforestation-free development, we hope also to reach out to our indigenous peoples and move together towards a more harmonious future.”

Weak government

All three countries accepted that there were serious problems in implementing the agreement because of weak government and pressure from miners, loggers and small farmers. There are 68 million hectares of forest, with 350,000 indigenous people living in it − including several uncontacted tribes.

Despite the president’s words, Peru had already invoked a new law in July 2014 that grants extended land use rights to investors for the expansion of large-scale agriculture, mining, logging and infrastructure projects.

At an award ceremony in New York yesterday, the four dead activists were honoured as Diana Rios Rengifo, daughter of one of the murdered men, Jorge Rios, accepted an environmental award from the Alexander Soros Foundation on behalf of her father and their Ashéninka community.

“They may have killed my father and his friends, but I am still here,” she said. “And I will continue to fight for the rights to our territories and for the rights of the other indigenous peoples of Peru.”

David Salisbury, associate professor of geography at the University of Richmond in the US, has spent time with Edwin Chota’s community. He says: “Peru’s credibility as a forest protector hinges upon providing land and resource rights to the country’s indigenous and rural populations.

“The government should recognise there are people in the forests, and give them rights to them. How can you maintain standing forest, and mitigate climate change, if the defenders of the forest are being assassinated?”

This article was produced by the Climate News Network

The post Activist murders raise doubts over Peru’s deforestation goals appeared first on Climate Home News.

The next UN climate conference will be held in Lima, Peru (Pic: Martin Garcia/Flickr)

By Sophie Yeo

Peru and Djibouti have formally agreed to extend the Kyoto Protocol up to 2020.

The Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce emissions prior to 2020, when a new UN agreement is set to come into force. But until an amendment is signed off by at least three quarters of the parties, the protocol only applies to the years 2008-12. In the interim, that leaves the world without an international framework binding them to emissions reductions.

So far only 17 of the 144 countries needed to bring the amendment into force have officially accepted the extension, despite all parties agreeing to do so at the Doha climate talks in 2012. The signatories include China, Norway and Mexico, along with the EU.

The protocol only demands CO2 cuts from developed countries, so Peru and Djibouti are not bound to new targets as a result of their ratification. Their agreement does mean that the revised treaty is one step closer to coming into force.

The UN has urged member states to ratify the amendment as a matter of urgency.

“Governments that committed themselves to honour legally binding limits on their emissions have already taken measures to ensure that they will meet these obligations,” said Christiana Figueres, head of the UN’s climate body.

“For this international legal framework to enter into force, governments need to complete their ratification process as soon as possible. This will provide an important positive political signal of the ambition of nations to step up crucial climate action.”

Observers say that ratification of the treaty will provide some of the political momentum needed in the run up to Paris 2015, when its replacement will be negotiated.

Peru and Djibouti submitted their acceptance as world leaders gathered in New York to pledge new action to combat climate change.  Peru will host the UN’s forthcoming climate conference in Lima.

The post Peru ratifies Kyoto Protocol extension to 2020 appeared first on Climate Home News.

Pic: mariusz kluzniak/Flickr

By Sophie Yeo

Forest protection efforts could “stagnate or decline” unless governments back UN-led efforts to stop loggers, farmers and mining companies.

That’s the message from associations representing over 160 international companies and members of civil society, who have released a declaration demanding more political support for deforestation efforts.

In a statement released on Tuesday they say the UN-backed Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Land Degradation (REDD+) programme is the most effective tool for governments who want to cut their emissions by preserving forests, but warn it needs financial backing.

Two things are critical, it says: “policy signals which clearly outline the intention to create a regulated market for REDD+ as part of a broader climate change agreement; and interim incentives to stimulate financing for REDD+ activities during the critical 2015 – 2020 period.”

REDD+ works by enabling rich nations to effectively reduce their own emissions by paying for forests to be maintained in other countries. Deforestation is one of the largest causes of climate change, as it releases carbon stored in trees into the atmosphere.

Report: Scale of Amazon rainforest carbon loss revealed

While the UN is working to incorporate REDD+ into its climate treaty, set to be signed off in Paris 2015, more work needs to be done and quickly if the opportunities to preserve forests are to be maximised.

Without these, investment in forests through REDD is likely to “stagnate or decline”, says the statement.

Signatories include the Environmental Defense Fund, Global Canopy Programme, the International Emissions Trading Association, Climate Markets and Investment Association (CMIA).

Rachel Mountain, from the Global Canopy Programme, told RTCC that she hoped progress would be made at the UN’s forthcoming conference in Lima, Peru – a country that is over 50% in the Amazon Basin.

“I think it’s very poignant that it’s in Lima,” she said. “I think there’s a great focus and a real opportunity to outline what progress can be made and taken forward into a Paris agreement.”

Report: Lima can deliver on forests says environment minister

REDD+ initiatives have so far resulted in 22 million toones of CO2 being reduced annually, while preserving 14 million hectares of threatened forests.

But the message of the Declaration contrasts with the Margarita Declaration, issued yesterday by 130 civil society groups in Venezuela, which claimed the market-based scheme to preserve forests was “dangerous and unethical”.

VIDEO: Josefina Brana-Varela, WWF Forest Initiative

The post Rainforest protection could “stagnate or decline” without support appeared first on Climate Home News.

Pic: carlos cerulla/Flickr

By Sophie Yeo

Peru has slashed environmental regulation in an effort to boost the economy, raising questions about its credibility as host of this year’s UN climate talks.

A law introduced this week is designed to revive the country’s flagging economic growth by promoting the mining industry.

Critics of the law say that it will weaken Peru’s environment ministry and set a bad example when negotiators from other countries arrive in Lima this December for a UN climate conference (COP20). It is the last major climate conference before Paris in 2015, when parties hope a new global treaty will be signed.

Manuel Pulgar Vidal, Peru’s environment minister and COP20 president, voted against the bill, which he described as a major setback for the country on climate change.

The law fast-tracks environmental impact studies to a maximum period of 45 days, reduces fines by the country’s environmental regulator, and removes the Environment Ministry’s authority over protected areas.

Over 100 environmental organisations, including WWF, the Sierra Club and Oxfam, wrote to Peruvian president Ollanta Humala Tasso protesting the law, which they said “rewards those parties who do not comply with current environmental rules in Peru”.

Indigenous rights

More than half of Peru sits within the Amazon basin. The rainforest reduces the impacts of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and is home to many indigenous communities.

The new law makes it easier for mining companies to exploit resources in this sensitive environment, which observers fear will lead to deforestation and damage local ways of life.

The extraction industries in Peru, which include mining for oil, gas, copper and gold, were responsible for 75% of Peru’s exports in the first half of 2012, and accounted for 5% of its GDP.

“The aim of this law is to stimulate economic growth. For Peru, that means the hydrocarbon sector,” said Helen Bellfield from the Global Canopy Programme, a group working on the protection of forests.

Much of this extraction takes place within Peru’s Amazon basin, of which about three quarters is divided up into oil and gas concessions.

Gladis Vila Pihue, president of the National Organisation of Indigenous Andean and Amazonian Women of Peru, told RTCC that that the new law would make it easier to displace their communities.

“Before this law, we had all the right criteria for companies to follow and there were still violations – to people and the environment. Now it will be worse,” she said.

“To give one example, when a mining company came to Huancavelica, many people came into the community to profit, and the money changed our lifestyle – we saw things we had not seen before, like prostitution and alcoholism.”

The UN has also expressed concern over the law, with resident coordinator Rebeca Arias stating in a letter that, for climate-vulnerable Peru, “a growth model driven by environmentally friendly investments is the only viable option for sustainable development”.

COP presidency

Peru’s Environment Ministry, established in 2008, has so far set a progressive agenda on climate change.

But observers worry that the dismantling of its environmental legislation suggests that it is still regarded as antagonistic to Peru’s development agenda. The government passed the new law as an emergency measure after growth in 2013 sunk to 5%, compared with 6.3% in 2012.

This attitude could prompt concerns that this year’s climate talks in Peru are not backed by the whole government, says Guy Edwards from Brown University’s Climate and Development Lab.

“In order to run a successful conference, the Peruvian presidency has to be a good host, demonstrate strong domestic climate action, facilitate the process and set the level of expectations for the conference,” he said.

“If we consider those four elements highly important for successful leadership, Peru, according to the detractors of this new law, has undermined its credibility on domestic leadership and damaged its ability to facilitate the negotiations.”

Valuing forests

While the law has now been passed, activists hope to limit the damage.

“NGOs have been protesting and making several activities to bring this issue to the presidential level itself, which is in their view the person who can push back the package. But at this stage, it doesn’t seem to be a likely outcome,” said Enrique Maurtua Konstantinidis from the Climate Action Network’s Latin American branch.

In the long term, Peru’s forests are only likely to receive adequate protection if they are valued according to the benefits they provide to the planet and communities, says Rachel Mountain from the Global Canopy Programme.

REDD [Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Degradation] is one UN-backed scheme designed to get rich countries to pay forest nations to preserve these natural resource. It has been slow to take off, due to a lack of finance and concerns over corruption and indigenous rights.

“If there was a functioning market for REDD and forests were valued then you wouldn’t get this issue around hydrocarbons and resources being seen as a premium,” said Mountain.

“It’s really dependent on the donor governments, the operationalisation of climate finance.”

The Peruvian government did not respond to a request for comment.

The post Environmental concerns as Peru cuts red tape for mining appeared first on Climate Home News.

Peru’s environment minister calls on delegates  to “avoid stress and anguish” and cooperate closely

Peru Environment Minister and UN 2014 climate summit president Manuel Pulgar-Vidal

By Ed King

UN climate negotiators are on track to deliver the framework for an international emissions reduction deal by December, according to Peru’s environment minister.

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, who will chair the UN’s 2014 climate summit in Lima later this year, said he has received “good signals” that a draft text will be ready later this year.

“We have received a good signals and strong political support,” he told delegates at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, an annual meeting of environment ministers in Berlin hosted by the German government.

“Our main goal is to have a strong focus and draft agreement, it’s the only way to move towards a strong COP [Conference of the Parties] in Paris,” he added.

Paris is the 2015 venue for countries to sign off a global agreement to limit warming to below 2C above pre-industrial levels, a ceiling deemed safe by some scientists and politicians.

Last week the two UN officials tasked with guiding negotiations presented a rough outline of what the draft text could look like.

The Dialogue, which brings together ministers from developed and developing countries, is often seen as a useful barometer on the state of international climate talks.

This year’s meeting has an added urgency given the tight timelines negotiators are working against.

Major economies are expected to deliver their emission reduction and financial contributions to a global deal by the first quarter of next year, although it is still unclear what form these ‘Intended Nationally Determined Contributions’ (INDCs) will take.

Also speaking at the meeting, Germany’s environment minister Barbara Hendricks said the prospect of an international deal should be seen as an economic opportunity rather than a cost.

“Climate action and jobs in the field of renewable energy have been the stabilising factors that helped Germany progress though the financial crisis relatively smoothly,” she said.

“We have to stop the Mikado game that has so long shaped the negotiating process.”

The post Pulgar Vidal: UN on course to deliver draft climate text appeared first on Climate Home News.

A Kyrgyz family in front of their yurt in the Tchonkymyn Valley in the Tien Shan Mountains. (Pic: UN Photo/F Charton)

By Sophie Yeo

A network of 25 indigenous communities from 10 countries has come together to share traditional knowledge on how to adapt to climate change.

Countries in the network include China, Peru, Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Tajikistan and Papua New Guinea.

Seed sharing between the groups will ensure that farmers grow crops that are resilient and diverse enough to withstand major damage in the face of unusual weather.

“We are from different communities but we have similar problems relating to climate change,” said Akylbek Kasymov, an economist at Kyrgyz National Agrarian University, and leader of the Kyrgyz delegation at a workshop for indigenous people in Bhutan.

The International Network of Mountain Indigenous People was created by communities from mountainous regions, speaking 22 languages between them, to swap ideas, information, and even seeds, so they can be resilient in the face of a changing climate.

These mountainous regions will face similar problems as the impacts of climate change become more severe, threatening the livelihoods and traditions of their indigenous communities.

These problems include melting glaciers, changes in rainfall patters, failing crops and more pests and diseases.

For instance, in Papua New Guinea, agriculture is the largest economic activity, and its natural climate means that most of its crops are fed by the rain.

At a recent meeting in Bhutan, Papuan farmers highlighted how changing rainfall patterns mean that the islanders have a growing need for irrigation to keep their crops alive. Local knowledge of this system is lacking. Through the network, indigenous communities will be able to help each other by sharing this kind of information.

According to the UN’s science report from the IPCC, indigenous knowledge can be a valuable asset in helping small farmers figure out how to adapt to climate change.  It also warns that the impacts of warming increase with altitude, putting mountainous communities at particular risk.

This means that these traditions need to be preserved as well as shared, says Kasymov, who says that some local indigenous knowledge was lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when large-scale immigration interrupted the transmission of information between old and young generations.

“Kyrgyz people, our parents, they somehow lived in harmony with nature,” he said. “Farmers and custodians of traditional knowledge, they have very rich experience even now.”

At the workshop in Bhutan, which took place last month, indigenous communities signed a Bhutan Declaration, calling on governments to support adaptation based on traditional knowledge, since “The survival of our knowledge systems is critical for the survival of humanity.”

The next meeting is scheduled to take place next year in Taiwan, around six months before the UN signs a global climate change treaty in Paris.

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Talks in Peru’s capital Lima are expected to deliver a draft text for a global climate change deal (Pic: Geraint Rowland/Flickr)

By Guy Edwards and Jakob Skovgaard

Christiana Figueres, the head of the UN body on climate change, visited Lima last week as Peru prepares to host the annual UN climate talks in December.

Figueres was vocal in her comments that the Lima conference needs to secure a draft agreement before the deadline summit in Paris next year to create a new climate agreement.

The chief of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change commented that government efforts to confront climate change are woefully inadequate.

She also cited recent research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which affirms that the window of opportunity to keep global temperature within 2C and avoid dangerous climate impacts is rapidly closing.

This reminds us of the relentless pressure facing presidents of the annual UN climate Conference of the Parties (COP).

COP presidents walk a tightrope as they attempt to shepherd over 190 countries of the UN Climate Change Convention towards the pen of progress.

They are frequently criticized for doing too much or too little. Peru as host of the twentieth COP or “COP20” is attempting to pull off an extraordinarily difficult balancing act.

The warm-up

With a vast gulf between country positions and with trust so low, achieving an ambitious and equitable climate agreement acceptable to all countries has proven elusive for decades.

However, decisive leadership by a COP president can secure the support of enough countries to build progress.

The role of successful COP presidents focuses on setting the level of expectations for the conference, successfully facilitating the process, demonstrating strong domestic climate action, and being a good host.

An essential starting point is setting the level of expectations for the COP.

Peru is cautiously vocal that Lima should produce a draft agreement for the text. COP20 President and Peruvian Minister of the Environment Manuel Pulgar-Vidal said at a Brown University conference that COP20 needs to provide a solid basis for a strong agreement in Paris.

High poverty levels and reliance on natural resources mean Peru is acutely vulnerable to climate change (Pic: Geraint Rowland/Flickr)

Yet he warned against viewing the next two years of negotiations as a final push, rather than the beginning of a new chapter in global climate cooperation.
Raising the bar of expectation for the COP too high can prove disastrous.

Prior to the COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009, expectations were unachievably high which led in part to the unravelling of the process and the bitter ending.

Although Peru promotes has high expectations, circumstances also play a role.

The alarming findings of the IPCC reports, the 2015 deadline, and Peru’s acute vulnerability to climate impacts is helping to persuade Peru to take a big gamble.

This increases the risk of COP20, however, being perceived as a failure if it cannot deliver.

Conveniently, climate change presents a useful legacy issue for the Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, who is constitutionally barred from re-election in 2016.

The participation of president Humala at the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s Leaders’ Summit on climate change in New York this September will be an important indicator of how seriously the Humala administration is taking COP20.

Orchestrating the big show

The COP president facilitates the negotiation process before and during the COP which usually falls into two categories: a bold or reluctant approach.

Reluctant facilitators take a backseat and emphasize that the process is “party-driven” and inclusive to all countries.

A bold facilitator publically recognizes that all countries need a seat at the table but acts assertively in addressing tough issues and finding compromises and solutions on the negotiating texts.

This approach may focus on informal consultations between smaller groups of countries and the COP president – an approach which worked well for Mexico in 2010 at COP16.

Trust-building is essential to this facilitator role. COP presidents must reach out to the largest emitters, the least developed or most vulnerable countries and those which are either in favour or against a legally binding agreement for all countries.

The support of these game-changers is required if the negotiations go down to the wire and Peru needs to deal with dissenting countries blocking progress.

Peru is using COP20 to bolster its own domestic climate action which in turn reinforces the credibility of its presidency.

In 2008, Peru announced an impressive voluntary emission reduction pledge by offering to reduce to zero the net deforestation of primary forests by 2021.

However, the implementation of its climate policies remains a challenge due to substantial oil and gas concessions in the Amazon.

Huge swathes of the Amazon are under threat from logging and mining operations (Pic: Fabiola Ortiz)

With negotiators – especially from developing countries with smaller delegations – surviving on unhealthily low levels of sleep during the conference, putting on a well-managed event is essential.

A logistically sound and cleverly choreographed COP is crucial as exhaustion and fraying tempers inevitably kick-in.

Peru’s careful yet laudable gamble of raising expectations stems from the urgency at the global level, its strong domestic climate agenda and its concern about Peru’s vulnerability to climate impacts.

With seven months remaining before COP20, Peru’s top challenges will be to boldly facilitate the process and ensure a well-managed conference.

Peru’s COP20 slogan says: “Don’t come to Peru if you don’t want to change the world”. Only by achieving a great diplomatic feat, can Peru bring about that change and cross the tightrope.

Guy Edwards is research fellow and co-director of the Climate and Development Lab at the Center for Environmental Studies, Brown University. Jakob Skovgaard is a lecturer at the Department of Political Science at Lund University. The opinions in this article are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the views of Brown University or Lund University.

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Protecting the Amazon is central to addressing climate change – around 15% of emissions come from deforestation (Pic: Global Water Forum)

By Ed King

The Peruvian President of the UN’s main climate change summit in Lima later this year hopes progress will be made on smaller ‘cross cutting issues’ during the two week gathering.

Manuel Pulgar Vidal, Peru’s Environment Minister, says he wants to focus on topics that countries are keen to work on together, like adaptating to climate impacts and reducing deforestation.

“We need innovative ways to unblock discussion and get the process to move,” he told a meeting of climate experts at Brown University, Rhode Island.

“We can’t continue on same discussion where we think like players and no cross cutting … That’s the only way we can move forward, on smaller issues like REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) and adaptation.”

Pulgar Vidal said he hoped agreement on less contentious aspects of the UN climate negotiations could make progress on meatier factors like national mitigation commitments easier.

He also cautioned against viewing the upcoming Lima meeting and next year’s gathering in Paris as the culmination of climate action, saying it was just the start of larger efforts to cut climate warming gases.

The Lima summit, known as the 20th Conference of the Parties (COP), is expected to lay the final groundwork before a global emissions reduction treaty is signed in Paris next year.

.@CFigueres to #BrownCC: “If we do not have a strong draft in Lima then we stand very little chance of having a meaningful agrmnt in Paris”

— Lisa Friedman (@LFFriedman) April 16, 2014

Climate envoys have been tasked with presenting a draft negotiating text to the COP before it starts in November, outlining how the deal could work, and the level of carbon cuts required.

Heads of state will also feed into this process during a specially convened gathering on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, hosted by Ban Ki-moon.

But clear divisions still remain between some developed and developing countries, notably over the level of financial support being offered to poorer parts of the world to invest in clean energy.

In 2010, countries agreed that $100 billion a year by 2020 was needed to fund low carbon projects in these regions, but progress towards this total has been slow.

The UN’s Green Climate Fund, scheduled to be operational later this year, is supposed to lubricate the flow of cash, but Pulgar Vidal said a successful launch would not necessarily silence funding rows.

“How much does the capitalisation of the GCF this year solve the debate? Not much. But it will provide a political signal and moment for discussion,” he said.

He added discussions in Lima would focus on how much responsibility various countries had in addressing climate change, but stressed the ultimate goal was “obligation for all”.

Legal framework

Speaking at the same event Luis Alfonso De Alba, Mexico’s former special representative on climate change and a key figure at the 2010 UN summit in Cancun, warned the legal nature of the 2015 agreement could yet derail the talks.

Tough targets under international law could “lower the ambition” of the final deal, he said, alluding to the US, which seems unlikely to accept any binding carbon restrictions.

Instead he said the Peru talks should focus on securing “obligations by groups of countries” such as the EU or G77, avoiding lengthy discussion over what the ‘legal form’ of a deal could be.

“Something that is often forgotten is that the majority at the UN is usually silent,” he said. “Those that are noisy are often the ones who are pushing back on the agenda.”

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Source: mjmonty

1 – Google’s acquisition of Nest will speed along smart grids
Google is buying Nest, the maker of a smart thermostat for homes, for $3.2 billion in cash. According to the Quartz website, the detailed data that the company collects about power consumption, when backed by the ambitious tech company, could accelerate development of a more efficient “smart grid” that’s responsive to actual demand for electricity. Google has already invested more than $300 million in distributed solar companies.

2 – Peru ignores UN calls to abandon Amazon drilling
The Peruvian government is pushing ahead with plans to expand gas operations in a supposedly protected reserve in the Amazon despite calls by the United Nations to suspend them. According to the Guardian, energy company Pluspetrol’s plans include drilling 18 wells and conducting seismic tests in an “intangible” reserve for indigenous peoples living in “voluntary isolation”.

3 – Global warming forces plants up mountains
Swiss researchers taking a close look at the effect of global warming say that plants, birds and butterflies sprinted uphill by anywhere from eight to 42 meters between 2003 and 2010 — a significant shift in a very short time, according to the study published in Plos One. Summit County Voice reports that, on top of this, European bird and butterfly communities have moved on average 37 and 114 kilometers to the north, respectively.

4 – Saharan oil drilling threatens to stir up political conflict
Oil firms stepping up plans to drill off the coast of disputed Western Sahara could be diving into murky legal waters and risk exacerbating one of Africa’s oldest territorial disputes, says the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Morocco has issued exploration licenses for blocks in the Atlantic waters off Western Sahara, a desert tract that it mostly controls but that is also claimed by an Algerian-backed independence movement that deems those contracts illegal.

5 – South Korea cuts use of nuclear power
South Korea has revised down its future reliance on nuclear power, although growing energy demand and the shutdown of aging reactors mean it is still likely to need more nuclear-fired plants over the coming two decades, reports Reuters. The energy ministry said on Tuesday it has changed its energy policy to reduce the country’s reliance on nuclear power to 29% of total power supply by 2035, down from a planned 41% by 2030 and in line with a draft proposal.

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By Alex Kirby

Peru is the country chosen to host the 2014 UN climate conference, a key meeting for trying to advance an ambitious plan to rein in greenhouse emissions which is planned for agreement in 2015.

But the country has recently earned a rather more dubious distinction. In 2012, for the first time, the Peruvian Amazon became a net emitter of carbon dioxide rather than oxygen, according to the latest human development country report of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The Amazon rainforest usually acts as a carbon sink, absorbing atmospheric CO2 rather than releasing it. Scientists think this reversal of its normal behaviour results from the droughts in the western Amazon in 2005 and 2010 and say it shows Peru’s vulnerability to climate change.

Peru has more than halved its poverty rate in the last decade, from 48.5% in 2004 to 25.8% in 2012. But the 2013 UNDP report said its vulnerability to a warming climate could cancel the progress it has made in directing economic growth into sustained poverty reduction.

Glaciers going

One of the UNDP report’s authors, Maria Eugenia Mujica, said: “If we disregard [environmental] sustainability, whatever progress we have made in poverty reduction or improvement of human development will just be erased due to climate change”.

With a temperature rise in the Andes of 0.7°C between 1939 and 2006, Peru has already lost 39% of its tropical glaciers. Temperature rises of up to 6°C are expected in many parts of the Andes by the end of this century.

Peru’s economic success is in some cases directly linked to activities which contribute to climate change, for example illegal gold mining and logging, and the cocaine trade – all of them environmentally destructive, but lucrative.

“The growth does not come from education or health, but from predatory activities, like [resource] extraction and mining”, said Francisco Santa Cruz, another of the report’s authors.

Peru is trying to protect itself against the ravages of a warmer world, but the odds are against it. It recently announced plans to invest US $6 bn in renewable energy projects: around the same time came predictions that climate change could cost between 8% and 34% of its GDP.

A report by the Inter-American Development Bank has said the entire Latin American and Caribbean region will face annual damages from global warming of about $100 bn by 2050.

Taken for granted

The Global Canopy Programme and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, describing climate change as “a threat multiplier”, called in a report this month for a new security agenda for Amazonia and the countries of the region.

Manuel Pulgar, Peru’s environment minister, said at the report’s launch: “Climate change is a global problem, but one that will multiply local and regional problems in unforeseeable ways.

“In Latin America, we have taken Amazonia and its seemingly limitless water and forests as a given. But recent unprecedented droughts have shown us just what happens when that water security falters.

“it impacts food and energy production, it affects the wellbeing of entire populations, and it leaves governments and businesses with a big bill to pay. The science is clear, so we cannot afford to miss the opportunity for positive action now.”

This article was produced by the Climate News Network

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The Yasuni ITT initiative was hailed as the ‘future of conservation’ when it was launched in 2007 (Pic: Geoff Gallice/Flickr)

By Paul Brown

The continued destruction of the Amazon to exploit its resources for mining, agriculture and hydro-power is threatening the future of the South American continent, according to a report by campaigning groups using the latest scientific data.

Five countries – Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru – share the Amazon, and for all of them the forest area occupies more than 40% of their territory. All face threats to their water supply, energy production, food and health.

In addition, the report says, because of the over-exploitation of the region rainfall will fall by 20% over a heavily-populated area far to the south of Amazonia known as the La Plata basin, covering parts of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Last month it was reported that deforestation in Amazonia had increased by almost a third in the past year, with an area equal to 50 football pitches destroyed every minute since 2000.

The report, the Amazonia Security Agenda, authored by the Global Canopy Programme  and CIAT, the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, says the prosperity of the region is based on the abundance of water.

There always seemed to be an endless supply of water, but the combination of industrial and agricultural pollution and droughts is creating a once unthinkable vulnerability for the five countries of Amazonia.

Profits syphoned off

The huge wealth being generated from the forests comes with large-scale environmental and social costs. Local people do not benefit, and the profits from minerals, mining and agriculture are syphoned out of the region.

The large-scale economic development of the region causes deforestation. That in turn is threatening not only the wellbeing of the local people but the economic stability of the industries themselves.

Climate change is adding to both the uncertainty and the instability. Increasing temperatures, as much as 3.5°C in the near future, changing rainfall patterns and more intense and frequent extreme weather events will have further impacts on the health and well-being of the population. Energy supply from hydro-electric dams will decline.

Big bill coming

Among those welcoming the report is Manuel Pulgar, Peru’s environment minister.  He will play a leading part when the country’s capital, Lima, hosts the 20th summit of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2014.

He said: “Climate change is a global problem, but one that will multiply local and regional problems in unforeseeable ways. In Latin America, we have taken Amazonia and its seemingly limitless water and forests as a given. But recent unprecedented droughts have shown us just what happens when that water security falters…”

The report says the impacts of environmental degradation that have so far been felt in other parts of the world are now likely to be felt in Amazonia, threatening economic development and security.

Governments in the region, it says, need to recognize that development cannot continue without recognising the damage caused to the water supply and the climate both globally and locally.  Policy makers need scientists to monitor changes to conditions and the economic risks they pose.

Trillions of tons of water

These findings must be shared between academic institutions and governments so that they can decide how to remedy the problem. Annual reviews of dangerous hotspots are also needed, and cross-border groups of experts who could help both national and regional development plans to be worked out.

Carlos Klink, Brazil’s national secretary for climate change and environmental quality, endorsed these findings. “We are understanding more and more how interdependent water, food, energy and health security are across our continent.

“There is also interdependence between the countries that share the Amazon, which recycles trillions of tons of water that all our people and economies rely on.

“The challenge that we are just beginning to recognise and act upon is one of transitioning to a more sustainable economy – one that values the role of a healthy Amazonia in underpinning long-term security and prosperity.”

This article was produced by the Climate News Network

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Source: Flickr/weaver

By Guy Edwards and Timmons Roberts

As delegates begin to reflect on the limited success of the UN Climate Change negotiations in Warsaw which ended last week, eyes are now turning optimistically to Peru as the incoming president of COP20 in 2014.

Poland, as host of COP19, has now taken three bites at the apple of leading UN climate negotiations, and a number of observers believe the country is too compromised with its coal dependency and drive for economic growth to guide the world to a low-carbon future requiring tough choices.

Although the conference in Warsaw managed to secure some progress on a range of issues, Peru will have to do some very heavy lifting to ensure the delicate timetable of agreeing a new climate deal in Paris in 2015 is kept on track.

This is all sounds slightly familiar. After the train wreck in 2009 at the COP15 in Copenhagen, Mexico  rode to the rescue of multilateralism the following year at COP16 in Cancún.

Mexico created a Special Representative for Climate Change and dispatched one of its top diplomats, Luis Alfonso de Alba, to rebuild confidence in the process. De Alba spent roughly 250 days in 2010 travelling around the world, listening to countries rich and poor. Mexico lowered expectations and adopted a pragmatic approach that served to rebuild trust and encourage consensus.

Mexico’s position as a middle-income country helped to build consensus. Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón and his foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa, put climate change at the top of the political agenda and were committed to a successful outcome at COP16.

Calderón decided that the process needed extensive multilateral experience, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took responsibility instead of the Ministry of Environment. At COP16 considerable attention was placed on the process of inclusion as much as the content.

Consequently, nearly all countries had only praise for Mexico’s stewardship (Bolivia was a lone resistor).

Peru is next up and has great potential to secure progress in the global climate negotiations at COP20 in Lima in 2014.

Peru is a bridge builder between developing and developed countries and is considered a leading actor on climate change. In 2008, it was the first developing country to announce a voluntary emission reduction pledge, offering to reduce the net deforestation of primary forests to 0 by 2021 and produce 33 percent of its total energy use from renewable sources by 2020.

In 2010 Peru’s Ministry of Environment published its Plan of Action for Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change (Plan CC). However, according to the Latin American Platform on Climate, the low level of implementation of its domestic climate policies still needs urgent attention.

At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Peru is part of the Association of Independent Latin American and Caribbean States (in Spanish, AILAC) alongside Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama.

AILAC attempts to build consensus between developed and developing countries on the need for all to take ambitious action on climate change, and on the importance of there being a legally binding agreement holding countries to account. However, AILAC countries at times come under fire for their domestic policies, which seem to clash with their progressive rhetoric at the UNFCCC.

Alongside its AILAC partners and others—including the United Kingdom and Bangladesh—Peru also participates in the Cartagena Dialogue for Progressive Action. The Dialogue is an informal space, open to countries working towards an ambitious, comprehensive and legally binding regime, and committed domestically to becoming or remaining low-carbon economies. The Dialogue has been able to achieve progress at the negotiations by seeking collective ambition from all countries, particularly at COP16 and COP17.

Strategies

En route to COP20, Peru has a year to make a vital contribution to restore confidence and ratchet up global climate action. Otherwise, the goal of producing a draft text in Lima to be decided in Paris at COP21 in 2015 will be simply unreachable.

Peru could focus on three key strategies. First, Mexico’s extensive and tireless preparations and management of COP16 should serve as a template. Mexico’s participation in the Cartagena Dialogue as COP16 president was also crucial.  This experience shows that Peru can be more active in the Dialogue without undermining its neutrality.

Peru’s climate diplomacy in 2014 could focus on the following key players. A major step is to reach across to the major emitters – including the U.S., Japan, Australia and Canada.

Peru and the EU share similar views on the need for ambitious action to increase progress in the negotiations. Discussions surrounding an increase in ambition by the EU and Peru and its AILAC partners could increase confidence. As Venezuela will be hosting the pre-COP20 event, close collaboration between Peru and Venezuela and the other ALBA countries (e.g., Ecuador and Bolivia, the group is the Bolivarian Alliance for Our Americas) will be essential in ensuring a strong regional voice calling for progress in Lima.

Peru can also attempt to facilitate dialogue between the U.S. and the BASIC group—Brazil, China, India and South Africa. Finally, Peru’s diplomacy with the least developed countries (LDCs) and the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS) is paramount in ensuring that the most vulnerable are actively involved.

Equity

Second, Peru’s flexible interpretation of the critical phrase “Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities”, and its view that all countries need to act to varying degrees to reduce emissions, will be essential. So will driving forward discussions on equity, which again arose this year in Warsaw.

Peru’s membership in AILAC and the idea of the “beautiful middle” can help put medium-sized countries at the center of the climate debate. A focus on reducing emissions by all—which is contingent on developed country support on climate finance, adaptation and capacity building—can help establish a more holistic narrative tying together the myriad threads of the negotiations.

As a medium-sized country, Peru can develop and drive forward this narrative and avoid the polarizing debates between the North and South that undermine the talks.

Third, when Peru put forward its voluntary pledge, it established a new climate discourse. This discourse needs a boost and a major platform to test its utility. COP20 can be that space.  Peru, alongside its AILAC partners, can put ambition front and center by promoting their collective pledges. AILAC may also consider increasing their own pledges and activities in the interest of generating confidence in the process and promoting low-carbon growth.

Combining these strategies could revitalise the UNFCCC process following the modest results in in  Warsaw. As a country very vulnerable to climate impacts, Peru can promote urgency, ambition and equity. Lima will be a decisive battleground to ensure the 2015 deadline for a new deal is not missed. Peru must start this daunting task now in earnest.

Guy Edwards is Research Fellow at the Center for Environmental Studies at Brown University.

Timmons Roberts is Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at Brown University.

An earlier version of this article was originally published on the Brookings Institution website. 

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(Pic: El C)

Australia: Australia may face more intense and frequent bouts of extreme weather in the future as global warming “energises” the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, the dominant climate system over the Pacific, according to an Australian-led team of researchers. (Sydney Morning Herald)

Australia: One third of articles in Australia’s major newspapers rejected or cast doubt on the overwhelming findings of climate science, with climate sceptic Andrew Bolt monopolising coverage of the topic in several high-circulation News Corporation titles, according to a new analysis. (Guardian)

Peru: The area affected by illegal gold mining in Peru’s south-eastern Amazon region increased by 400% from 1999 to 2012, according to researchers using state-of-the-art mapping technology. (Guardian)

China: US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said in Beijing on Wednesday that the United States and China can collaborate on renewable technology for green growth and that water-based technology can be a new focus area for partnership. (People Daily)

US: Former US vice-president Al Gore has today backed a report highlighting the risks to investors of owning carbon-intensive assets. Gore, who served under Bill Clinton, has stressed the need for investors to consider the carbon risks inherent in their investment portfolios, suggesting that investors “divest from carbon-intensive fossil fuel assets”. (Financial Times)

China: The first phase of a coal gasification project in north China is complete and will start to supply gas to Beijing at the end of this year. The first phase is ready for production after successful tests, said Li Zhichun, director of the recycling industrial park in Hexigten Qi, Chifeng City in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where the project is located. (Xinhua)

EU: EU car emissions fell 2.6% percent in 2012 from 2011, official figures showed on Wednesday, adding to a fierce Brussels debate on how quickly automakers can improve vehicle fuel efficiency. (Reuters)

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Pic: Flickr / Cesar Aponte

By Sophie Yeo

Peru’s cloud forests could face near extinction as their fragile ecology means they are ill equipped to deal with the changing climate.

The forests, home to a third of Peru’s mammal, bird and frog species, are highly sensitive to changes in the temperature.

Scientists say those species could lose between 53-96% of their populations.

This is the conclusion of a study by researchers at Wake Forest University, North Carolina, who published their findings this week in PLoS ONE.

The habitats of most of the plants in the Andes – and therefore of the animals that live off them – are determined largely by temperature.

But the steep terrain means that temperature can change rapidly on the mountains’ slopes, and therefore the majority of tree and plant varieties can only live in an area extending a few hundred metres.

“I could be standing among a group of one tree species and throw a rock completely across their ranges,” says David Lutz, the paper’s lead author.

Cloud forest seedlings have so far coped with the problem by sprouting at higher elevations. But the rapid levels of projected change over the course of the century means that the plants will have to migrate faster than ever before.

This means they need to be at around 3,000 feet by 2100 if they are to remain in equilibrium with the climate if it continues to warm at its current rate.

The problem is, the grasslands at the highest elevations on the mountains act as a barrier, preventing the trees from moving further upslope.

The transition between trees and grassland, called an ecotone, has so far been stationery over most of the landscape, even where temperature changes mean that it should have moved 200m higher.

“Previous work we’ve done shows that the trees in the forest are migrating upwards, but this work shows the ecotone isn’t,” says Miles Silman, professor of Biology at Wake Forest University. “The ecotone presents a wall to species migration.”

While conservationists conventionally stay away from an interventionist approach, a hands on approach may be required if the cloud forests are to remain into the next century, says Lutz.

“Intervention is a strategy conservationists seldom use in this ecosystem but it may be the only way to save it,” he says.

“Our next step is working with local, and international conservationists to come up a plan to help cloud forests keep moving upslope.”

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Latin American leaders are building on the Rio+20 earth summit in their search for green growth (Pic: UN)

By Gilberto Arias and Guy Edwards

In a bid to protect future prosperity from serious climate change impacts, Latin American countries are attempting to balance climate action with economic growth, through domestic policy and at the UN climate talks.

Latin American countries are challenging the conventional wisdom that confronting climate change undermines economic growth by arguing that climate action provides an opportunity to leapfrog traditional development, while delivering low carbon, sustainable development.

Following the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change’s principal conclusion that taking action now to reduce emissions is cheaper than dealing with climate impacts later, these countries strongly back an ambitious global regime to avoid these future costs.

The Inter-American Development Bank says these costs could reach US$100 billion annually in the region by 2050, even under a 2˚C average global temperature increase.

Examples from Brazil, Mexico and the Dominican Republic suggest that climate policies do not necessarily undermine economic growth, while an example from Ecuador reveals how climate-related policies run the risk of being sidelined by the need to use natural resources.

Brazil has established a national greenhouse gas reduction target of roughly 36 percent of projected emissions by 2020. Brazil’s greenhouse-gas emissions fell nearly 39%, with a 76% drop in cumulative emissions from deforestation, between 2005 and 2010.

Brazil attributes the dramatic improvements in forestry protection to a raft of policies implemented in 2004. However, research also points out that decreasing prices for agricultural products also led to a reduction in deforestation.

As Viola suggests reducing emissions does not necessarily mean compromising economic growth. From 2005-09 Brazil dramatically reduced its carbon emissions while maintaining economic growth at 3.5% annually.

New legislation

Mexico was the first developing country to create a comprehensive climate change law in 2012 with targets to reduce GHG emissions by 30% by 2020 and 50% by 2050.

The law also states that 35% of energy should come from renewable sources by 2024. Investments in renewable energy in Mexico grew from US$352 million in 2011 to US$1.9 billion in 2012, highlighting the opportunity to combine clean energy and job creation.

The Dominican Republic recently presented a voluntary pledge to reduce 25% of absolute 2010 emissions by 2030. The plan, protected by law, is projected to add 100,000 permanent jobs while expanding the DR’s renewable energy capacity and integrating low-carbon development in the tourism sector.

Climate-related policies can be undermined by the need to use natural resources for economic growth. Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Initiative seeks compensation for roughly half the estimated value of certain untapped oil deposits, in order to leave these resources untouched.

The funds are earmarked to protect national parks and promote renewable energy. However, the plan has so far raised less than US$500 million, leading President Correa to announce a re-evaluation of the initiative and its limits on oil extraction.

Competitive edge

Latin American countries are fast growing economies with growing middle classes with substantial development and infrastructure goals. They can take advantage of the opportunities and competitive advantages arising in a future carbon constrained world through the early introduction of climate policies for carbon-efficient economies.

The region will be required to almost double its installed power capacity to roughly 600 GW by 2030, yet the Inter-American Development Bank says Latin America can meet its future energy needs through renewable sources including solar and wind, which are sufficient to cover its projected 2050 electricity needs 22 times over.

Investments in sustainable development in the region are increasing, delivering climate-resilient economies while avoiding emissions. This drive has led to the introduction of cross-ministerial policies, but climate policy across the region suffers from weak implementation.

Trade-offs between climate action and economic interests are inevitable, however, these trade-offs appear less significant than the major economic costs associated with climate impacts.

Climate policy is becoming a fixture on Latin American political agendas, including the recognition of vulnerability to climate impacts and that early action on reducing emissions will avoid greater costs later.

Latin American countries are attempting to promote a new narrative that early climate action is compatible with low-carbon, sustainable prosperity. Successful experiences in Latin America can also positively feed into the UN climate change negotiations and help push for higher ambition and strengthen the discourse that climate change action is compatible with economic growth.

This article first appeared on Intercambio Climatico

The post Can Latin America’s leaders balance climate and growth? appeared first on Climate Home News.

The government hopes to bring free electricity to rural communities by 2016. (Source: blperk)

By Nilima Choudhury 

Peru has launched an electrification programme offering free energy to rural communities through solar power to bring electricity to 95% of the population by 2016.

The National Photovoltaic Household Electrification Programme, costing around US$200 million, is expected to benefit more than two million people in Peru, the Energy and Mining Minister Jorge Merino told the Latin Herald.

More than six million people in Peru currently lack access to electricity. The country has some of the highest levels of solar energy in the world, but solar power plants have expensive upfront cost which have halted the development of solar power in the country leading to an installation capacity of less than 100MW.

“I would say it’s one of the most ambitious programmes in Latin America in terms of rural electrification,” Josefin Berg, senior analyst at IHS told RTCC. “The current initiative is a good start especially since they do have the financing in place.”

The energy minister inaugurated the first phase of the project on Monday in Contumaza, a province in the north-eastern region of Cajamarca, which is expected to provide enough solar panels for 500,000 households.

Currently Peru has just under 100MW installed, but the rural programme could double what they already have, said Berg.

However, Berg questions whether the funding set aside for this programme also includes storage.

“Is it going to be PV systems combined with batteries, which of course would bring the cost up radically, but it will still be cheaper than burning kerosene? But if you have a budget of US$200 million how much can you get from that?”

With an inexperienced domestic solar industry, analysts like vice president of market research company Solarbuzz’s Finlay Colville believes the success of this programme lies with foreign developers, which the Peruvian government is hoping to woo through a bidding process as part of the programme.

“Market development is contingent on foreign firms that have strong expertise, can execute on projects, and have the ability to construct bankable projects,” he said.

“The market is expected to grow slowly in the next few years, but still lag somewhat behind the key countries in the region (Brazil, Chile and Mexico).”

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Enrique Maurtua Konstantinidis, regional coordinator for the CAN-Latin America coalition of environmental NGOs, welcomed the decision to nominate Peru.

Latin American countries met during the UN talks in Bonn and decided unanimously to nominate Peru with Venezuela hosting the pre-COP meeting.

The post Video: why Peru is a great choice for the 2014 UN climate summit appeared first on Climate Home News.

Latin American civil society organizations are backing Peru’s bid to host COP20 in 2014.

The launch of the joint declaration, signed by more than 60 organisations,coincides with a pending decision about who will host COP20 at the latest meeting of the UNFCCC currently underway in Bonn, Germany.

Palacio de Gobierno in Lima, Peru which could be the host of the 2014 UN climate talks (Source: Flickr/martintoy)

According to the declaration:

The Government of Peru presents a very promising candidacy to host COP20 in 2014, of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Peru has been a progressive voice in the formal and informal discussions on climate change and has demonstrated a willingness to listen and offer counsel in the international negotiations on climate change.

The country was one of the first developing countries to make a voluntary emission reduction pledge in 2008. Its flexible interpretation of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities; and that all countries need to act to varying degrees to reduce emissions, places it in a solid position to host COP20.

1. The signatories to this declaration support the candidacy of the Peruvian government in hosting the 20th meeting of the Parties (“COP20”).

2. Peru’s offer to host COP20 presents a positive step forward for the creation of a draft negotiating text in 2014 to be later agreed in 2015 at COP21.

3. The signatories offer their support and expertise to the Peruvian government in its planning and running of the COP20, to contribute to an inclusive, transparent, equitable and ambitious process.

4. We call on the friends of Peru to contribute their expertise and resources to the Peruvian government if requested.

5. COP20 in Peru could put in motion some positive areas of collaboration between Peru and national, regional and international non-state actors.

6. We assert that the preparations to host COP20 could generate greater interest in the creation and implementation of climate policies in Peru and its neighbours. This could send a positive signal to the private sector that Peru is a destination for clean technologies and renewable energy. In addition, it could drive interest in the media and research centres in Peru and Latin America on the crucial issue of climate change.

7. We believe that Peru’s climate diplomacy offers the possibility to represent in a balanced fashion the interests and concerns of all participating countries and find workable and constructive compromises.

8. Peru’s pledge to reduce the net rate of deforestation of primary forests to zero by 2021 provides a constructive platform for countries to come to Peru to negotiate an ambitious and equitable draft text for 2015.

Organizations signed up:

Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental (SPDA), Perú

Movimiento Ciudadano frente al Cambio Climático (MOCICC), Perú

Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (AIDA)

Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G), UK

Centro Mesoamericano de Estudios sobre Tecnología Apropiada (CEMAT), Guatemala

Mesa Nacional para la Gestión de Riesgo, Nicaragua

Mesa Nacional de Cambio Climático, Guatemala

Asociación Nacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza, República de Panamá

Proética, capítulo peruano de Transparencia Internacional

Plataforma Climática Latinoamericana

CTS EMBARQ, México

Instituto de Políticas para el Transporte y el Desarrollo (ITDP), México

Foro Del Buen Ayre, Argentina

Comisión Interdisciplinaria de Medio Ambiente (CIMA), Argentina

Fundación Centro Estudios de Ecológico de la Republica Argentina (FUCEERA)

Fundación Proyectos Ambientales (PROA)

Asociación Ambientalista Ecolapaz, Argentina

Asociación Ambientalista del Sur, Argentina

Asociación Ambientalista Mayu Sumaj, Argentina

Asociación Amigos de los Parques Nacionales, Argentina

Asociación Argentina de Abogados Ambientalistas, Argentina

Asociación Civil de Ecología Social (A.C.E.S), Argentina

Asociación Civil Red Ambiental, Argentina

Asociación Civil Tierra XXI, Argentina

Asociación de Protección al Ambiente Serrano – Calamuchita Aproas, Argentina

Asociación Ecologista Piuke, Argentina

Asociación Eco Raíces, Argentina

Asociación Lihue, Argentina

Asociación Ecologista Rio Mocoreta, Argentina

Asociación Vecinal Moronense (AVM), Argentina

Bios Argentina

Centro Ambiental Argentino (CAMBIAR)

Centro Andino de Desarrollo e Investigación Ambiental (CADIANDINO), Sede Central, Argentina

Centro Argentino de Meteorólogos (CAM), Argentina

Centro de Protección a la Naturaleza, Argentina

Centro Uruguayo de Tecnologías Apropiadas (CEUTA)

Comisión Ecológica Ituzaingó, Argentina

Continental Nea, Argentina

Federación Amigos de la Tierra Argentina, Amigos de la Tierra

Foro de los Ríos, Argentina

Fundación Agreste, Argentina

Fundación Ambiente Ecológico (FAE), Argentina

Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN), Argentina

Fundación Arandu, Argentina

Fundación Argentina de Energías Alternativas y Renovables (FADEAR), Argentina

Fundación Argentina de Etoecologia (FAE)

Fundación Cullunche Para la Conservación del Ambiente la Flora y la Fauna, Argentina

Fundación del Sur, Argentina

Fundación Inti Cuyum, Argentina

Fundación Norte Ecológico, Argentina

Fundación Orden Ecológica (FOE), Argentina

Fundación Pacha Mama para el Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo, Argentina

Fundación para el Desarrollo Sustentable de Eco Regiones (FUNDESER), Argentina

Fundación Pasos, Argentina

Fundación Península Raulí, Argentina

Fundación Red Informática Ecologista (RIE), Argentina

Grupo Ambiental para el Desarrollo (GADE), Argentina

Grupo Ecológico Bolívar (GEB), Argentina

Greenpeace Argentina

Iniciativa Radial, Argentina

Instituto de Estudios e investigaciones sobre Medio Ambiente. Fundación Jorge Esteban Roulet, Argentina

Karst, Organización Argentina de Investigaciones Espeleológicas

Movimiento Transfronterizo de ONG Ambientalistas de La Triple Frontera (AR, BR, UY), Argentina

Multimedios Ambiente Ecológico (MAE), Argentina

Observatorio de Políticas Sociales y Ambientales, Argentina

Red Eco-Ambiental de Jujuy, Argentina

Taller Ecologista, Argentina

Rótary Internacional. Distrito 4825. Rótary Victoria, Argentina

The joint declaration is still open. If your organization wishes to sign it please get in contact with guy_edwards[at]brown.edu.

This article first appeared on Intercambio Climatico and has been reproduced with the author’s permission.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald said advertising’s contribution to humanity was “exactly minus zero”. That may not be the case any longer.

The world’s first water producing billboard has turned out almost 100 litres of water a day in the first six months since its launch in Peru.

Clear Channel Peru and the University of Engineering and Technology in Lima developed the $32,600 billboard to trap humidity from the air.

The water vapour is then condensed, filtered and stored. It is available by tap to anyone who passes by.

The billboard generates almost 100 litres of drinking water in one of the most arid regions of the world (Source: UTEC)

Melting glaciers in the Andes are reducing the volume of water stored into the melting season and decreasing the river levels. Many parts of the country on the lee side of the Andes are natural deserts making Peru one of the driest places on the planet.

The billboard, which is just south of Lima serves around 15 families every day as well as children from the local school.

There are a number of schemes to address water shortages in Peru from small traditional, unlined cocha reservoirs to larger foreign aid funded irrigation projects.

Climate change is increasing the variability of rainfall boosting the frequency and severity of droughts and floods.

Areas suffering land degradation are less able to cope to with heavy rainfall that washes away any existing soils, exacerbating the problem. They are also less able to store any moisture that is available making them more vulnerable to periods of drought.

In 2011 a drought in the Horn of Africa affected 13m people.

Luc Gnacadja, executive secretary of the UN’s drought and land degradation agency said that disaster should serve as a call to arms.

“We experienced, once again, that the costs of disaster relief far outweigh the costs of risk management and preparedness,” he told delegates at a UNCCD event earlier this year.

“What we need now is a clear political commitment, with a roadmap, to shift from crisis management to drought preparedness, risk management and resilience building.”

Video: The story behind the water producing billboard

Clear Channel Peru: World’s first water-making billboard from Clear Channel International on Vimeo.

The post Meet the world’s first water producing billboard appeared first on Climate Home News.

Next year a Latin American and the Caribbean country will host the annual UN climate change negotiations or ‘COP20’ of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Rumours are circulating that Peru and Venezuela are interested in hosting COP20. As the 2015 deadline to create a new global climate change treaty looms closer, Peru appears to be the stronger candidate.

The Climate Action Network argues that hosting a COP requires considerable work to get a credible outcome based on environmental integrity and adept diplomacy.

COP presidents need to set aside national interests to address the concerns of all countries and find workable and constructive compromises.

Domestic action is also critical for the global fight against climate change, as the UNFCCC chief, Christiana Figueres, suggests it “opens the political space for international agreements and facilitates overall ambition.”

Venezuela’s lead climate negotiator Claudia Salerno embodies the country’s approach to the climate talks. (Source: Flickr/IISD Reporting)

Previous COP presidents show how difficult it is to get the balance right.  Yet with three COPs left before the 2015 deadline, effective climate diplomacy emphasizing urgency, ambition and equity has never been more important.

In 2009, the Danish presidency of COP15 turned into a fiasco when a draft negotiating text was leaked leading to uproar and acrimony among developing countries which had not been consulted.

A year later at COP16, Mexico’s diplomatic triumph for rescuing the negotiations offers important lessons on how pivotal a proactive and diplomatic a COP president can be.

In 2011 at COP17, South Africa was also credited for its careful management of the proceedings, while last year at COP18, Qatar was criticized for its lack of leadership and dragging its feet on domestic climate action.

Venezuela is a critical voice at the climate talks demanding climate justice and ambitious emission reductions from developed countries.

But at the national and international levels, Venezuela’s vehement discourse on climate justice is not backed up by strong action at home or high ambition for all countries at the UN talks, which undermine its bid to host COP20.

Venezuela has announced plans to create a national mitigation plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions but ruled out imposing reduction targets or removing fossil fuel subsidies.

Critics comment that Venezuela’s national plan lacks detail and that the government has shown little real interest in tackling the issue.

Mediator’s role

Venezuela has a dubious record on encouraging dialogue between developed and developing countries, which is urgently required to achieve a 2 degree temperature limit.

Its tendency to bash the rich countries for failing to do more to reduce emissions is justified but inappropriate for a COP president in a process where diplomacy, consensus and compromise are crucial.

Venezuela has recently begun to participate in the Like Minded Group alongside China, India, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Bolivia. The group was formed to maintain the North versus South divide and respect for the important concepts of equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities.

However, even though the Like-Minded countries are part of the G77, they can no longer assume the support of other G77 countries at the climate talks.

Lima leadership?

Peru offers a different reality. In 2008 at COP14, it became the first developing country to offer a voluntary emissions reduction target. Peru’s 2020 pledge includes reducing the net rate of deforestation of primary forests to zero by 2021.

Alongside Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala and Panama, Peru emerged at COP18 as part of a new group, the Association of Independent Latin American and Caribbean states (AILAC).

The group is attempting to build bridges and break down the North-South firewall and promote the case for all countries to take on binding obligations.

Peru also participates in the Cartagena Dialogue for Progressive Action alongside its AILAC partners and various countries including Australia and the United Kingdom. The Dialogue is not an official group, but serves as an informal space to hold discussions on how to build consensus at the negotiations.

Peru’s flexible interpretation of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities and that all countries – developed and developing – need to act to varying degrees to reduce emissions places it in a stronger position to host COP20.

In 2010 Peru’s Ministry of Environment published the Plan of Action for Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change (Plan CC). According to the Adaptation Partnership report 2011 Peru is a leader in South America on mainstreaming adaptation into policies.

Following a process of decentralisation, regional governments in Peru have responsibility for managing the environment, but climate change legislation is driven at the national level. The decentralization process has not been smooth and the level of implementation of the National Plan of Reforestation has been very low.

Latin ambition

For both Venezuela and Peru, climate change is more of a foreign policy concern than a national priority. Hosting COP20 could substantially increase government action, investment, media attention and civil society participation in climate-related activities for the successful candidate.

Venezuela may occupy the moral high ground on issues such as deep emission cuts for developed countries but its reluctance to offer voluntary emission reduction targets and its membership in the Like-Minded Group weaken its candidacy.

Peru’s willingness to put forward a voluntary emission reduction pledge, its membership in AILAC and in the Cartagena Dialogue suggest it is more likely to push for deep emission cuts and consensus among all countries.

No COP president can expect to save the planet singlehanded.

Urgency, ambition, equity and diplomacy are all required to help establish the conditions for a successful treaty negotiation. En route to 2015 to create a new treaty, Peru’s offer to host COP20 is a step in the right direction.

This article first appeared on Intercambio Climatico and has been reproduced with the author’s permission.

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