Reckless Gamble for Profit That Placed Indian Cotton Farmers in Corporate Noose – Colin Todhunter

Editor’s Note

IT was in the last quarter of the last century that in after 2020. They contend, citing the phenom- concern about the problem of climate change crys- enal economic growth of China in recent years, tallised into an international issue. It soon became that the concept of ‘common but differentiated apparent that the issue could best be tackled un- responsibilities’ can no longer be meaningfully der the auspices of the United Nations. applied. The first major step taken to address this is- In the face of the stiffening of the developed sue was the establishment in 1988 of the Inter- countries’ positions in the post-Paris period, governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), progress in translating the Paris Agreement into the UN body for providing policymakers with the concrete rules has not been easy. This was the most scientific assessment of the current state of cli- critical task facing the COP 24 meeting that took mate change. place on 2-15 December 2018 in Katowice, Po- This was followed by the emergence in 1992 land. of the UN Framework Convention on Climate The choice of Katowice as the venue for a Change (UNFCCC), which sets an overall frame- UN climate conference was not fortuitous. It is a work for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the major coal-mining town and the conference hosts challenge posed by climate change. may have wanted to remind the over 20,000 peo- The other major development was the adop- ple who attended the conference that the transition in 1997 of the Kyoto Protocol to the tion to a carbon-free world is no easy walk. It was UNFCCC, an international treaty which, under the also a statement by the Polish hosts that, although principle of ‘common but differentiated responsi- they were signatories to the Paris Agreement, they bilities’, imposed on the developed countries, while were not prepared to close down their coalmines exempting the developing countries from, the bur- overnight. This is a dilemma facing many other den of reducing the carbon emissions responsible countries endowed with fossil fuel resources and for global warming. it remains to be seen how, in the face of such in- Even before the coming into force of the transigence, the goal of limiting global warming Kyoto Protocol, the UN had begun convening to 1.5°C can be attained. annual climate change conferences. The first such Nevertheless, after a rocky and fractious two conference (the first session of the Conference of weeks of talks at COP 24, member states man- the Parties to the UNFCCC or COP 1) was held aged to find enough common ground to approve in Berlin in 1995. Despite its strong affirmation a set of rules – called the Katowice Climate Pack- on the need for joint action to tackle this problem, age – for implementing the Paris Agreement, which it was to take another 20 years before such delib- sets the world’s climate policy for years to come. eration and debate finally bore fruit in the form In our cover story for this issue, we focus on of a truly global climate treaty. the climate conference held in the Silesian mining However, the landmark treaty signed in Paris town and the Paris Agreement ‘rulebook’ it pro- in 2015 does bristle with some serious weaknesses. duced. While the rich countries have not yet The Paris Agreement’s use of non-binding ‘nation- evinced any genuine intention to take the neces- ally determined contributions’ as the means of sary measures to limit global warming within the tackling climate change raises the question of how margin of 1.5°C, the hope is they will wake up to effective it can be. There are no sanctions for non- their responsibilities. compliance. To top it all, one of the major polluters of the planet – the United States – has since begun the process of withdrawing from the Paris Agree- ment. Furthermore, many developed countries have refused to endorse a fresh round of commit- – The Editors ments under the Kyoto Protocol which would be effective until the Paris Agreement’s provisions kick Visit the Third World Network website at: www.twn.my

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 Third World RESURGENCE www.twn.my No 335/336 2018 ISSN 0128-357X ECOLOGY

2 Nigeria: Crude injustice – Orji Sunday 7 Reckless gamble for profit that placed Indian cotton farmers in corporate noose – Colin Todhunter

ECONOMICS

10 China, India respond robustly to US paper on ‘differentiation’ – D Ravi Kanth 13 Agribusiness is the problem, not the solution – Jomo Michal Kurtyka, President of the UN climate change conference held

Kwame Sundaram in Katowice, Poland, in December, leaps in celebration of the adoption (enb.iisd.org/climate/cop24/enb/15dec.html) Worth Photo by IISD/Kiara 15 5G: The battle for the future of the ‘Katowice Climate Package’. However, it remains to be seen – Humberto Campodonico whether the compromises that enabled approval of this set of rules for implementing the landmark Paris Agreement will hold. 17 COVER 40 Landmark report on 56 Mass protests in Haiti, like Fleshing out the implementa- Himalayan mountains raises France’s Yellow Vests, tion of the Paris Agreement dire climate change warnings threaten modern oligarchic – Prerna Bomzan structure – Whitney Webb 17 UN climate change confer- 42 Reclaiming control of ence ushers in ‘Katowice Indonesia’s oceans – Salena HUMAN RIGHTS Climate Package’ – Meena Tramel Raman and Evelyn Teh 44 Climate change in Africa: Is 58 ‘Disaster’ as Indian Supreme 19 Decisions for implementa- my house on fire? – Sindi- Court orders eviction of Leigh McBride tion of Paris Agreement millions of tribespeople adopted – Meena Raman 46 When the vessel is sinking – Federico Mayor Zaragoza 23 The key decisions on the WOMEN Paris Agreement implemen- WORLD AFFAIRS tation rules – Meena Raman 59 India: 5.5 million women 27 Important finance decisions 48 The war on Venezuela is built build their wall – Vijay adopted at climate talks – on lies – John Pilger Prashad Indrajit Bose and Meena 51 Former UN rapporteur: US Raman sanctions against Venezuela VIEWPOINT 32 The importance of equity causing economic and 61 Why transformation of the and finance for more climate humanitarian crisis global food system is an ambition – Prerna Bomzan Western media fall in 53 imperative 35 COP 24: An Indigenous lockstep for cheap Venezuela Peoples’ view – Andrea aid PR stunt – Adam Johnson POETRY Carmen 55 ICJ urges UK to end rule 38 Remembering a champion of over Chagos Islands – Brett 64 The dove orchid – Kumaran climate justice – Vice Yu Wilkins Asan

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE is pub- THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE is pub- Publisher and Chief Editor: S.M. lished by the Third World Network, an in- lished monthly by Third World Network, 131 Mohamed Idris; Managing Editor: Chee ternational network of groups and individu- Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Yoke Ling; Editors: T Rajamoorthy, Lean als involved in efforts to bring about a Tel: 60-4-2266728 Fax: 60-4-2264505. Ka-Min, Evelyne Hong; Contributing Edi- greater articulation of the needs and rights Email: [email protected] tors: Roberto Bissio (Uruguay), Charles of peoples in the Third World; a fair distri- Printed by Jutaprint, No. 2, Solok Sungai Abugre (Ghana); Staff: Linda Ooi (Design), bution of world resources; and forms of de- Pinang 3, 11600 Penang, Malaysia. velopment which are ecologically sustain- Cover Design: Lim Jee Yuan Lim Jee Yuan (Art Consultant), Lim Beng able and fulfil human needs. Cover photos by IISD/Kiara Worth Tuan (Marketing), Yap Bing Nyi (Editorial) (enb.iisd.org/climate/cop24/enb) Copyright © Third World Network E C O L O G Y Crude injustice Six decades on, the resource curse continues to wreak destruction in the Niger Delta.

Orji Sunday

STANDING by the River Goi, Eric Dooh’s face shines with sweat. It is wet season in the Niger Delta’s Ogoniland region and the humidity is brutal. The surface of the river shines as well – with a veil of slick crude oil. ‘My parents were great farmers,’ Dooh says, pointing towards the large swath of land, now overgrown with weeds, by the edge of the river where he once worked with his parents to produce yam, water yam, maize, cassava and groundnuts. ‘Whenever the A fisherman from Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta showing oil slick on his palm. The farm was harvested we had enough Niger Delta is considered one of the most severely oil-damaged environments in the to eat, sell and store in the barn for world. another planting season.’ Dooh grew up in Goi – a tiny traditional village in this tidal region, named after the river it is located by. the region, it became impossible to peaceful mass protest against Shell’s Like most other communities in the ignore the growing impact of the fre- widespread pollution, forcing it to 404-square-mile area that the half-a- quent oil spills from its network of shut down 30 wells in the area. The million-strong Ogoni ethnic group pipelines that criss-cross the Delta, protests would spur the Nigerian gov- calls home, the residents of Goi were and corrosive fumes from gas flaring ernment to unleash a campaign of mostly smallholder farmers and fish- at wellheads. (According to indepen- appalling violence against the Ogo- ermen who depended mainly on their dent records, from 1982 to 1992 ni, the impact of which resonates in immediate environment for subsis- alone, 1,626,000 gallons of oil were the region to this day. (Saro-Wiwa and tence. He recalls life in the village spilled from Shell’s operations in Ni- eight Ogoni leaders of the Movement before the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Roy- geria.) Eric says birds in the poultry for the Survival of the Ogoni People al Dutch Shell first discovered oil in operation started dying, as did the fish were tried on a trumped-up murder the 1950s, roughly 70 miles from his in the ponds and rivers. charge and executed in 1995, caus- village. Back then ‘the land was rich Meanwhile, the Nigerian govern- ing international outcry.) The Ogoni and farmers were never poor,’ he says. ment began forcing Delta residents to never allowed Shell to resume drill- Apart from their farm, which had abandon their land, turning it over to ing in their lands, but many of the been in the family for several genera- oil companies without consultation company’s pipelines still run across tions, Dooh’s father, Barrisa Tete and offering negligible compensation. their territory. These pipelines often Dooh, who used to be Goi’s chief, had They based this takeover on the Land leak or are vandalized, causing oil also set up a small fishery, a poultry Use Act adopted in 1979, which gave spills. farm, a bakery and a vocational train- it full ownership and rights to all Ni- In 2004 and 2005, massive oil ing centre in the village. These en- gerian territory and also declared that spills from Shell’s Trans-Niger pipe- deavours employed nearly 80 people. eminent domain compensation for line caught fire, incinerating some 15 ‘I had a lot of hope about life. My seized land would ‘be based on the hectares of mangrove forest. The father had a lot of investments … But value of the crops on the land at the fires, which lasted for days, spread in the early 1980s we started seeing time of its acquisition, not on the val- into Goi where they burned down oil on our lands,’ he says. ‘We did not ue of the land itself’. farmlands and contaminated fisheries know what it meant. Nobody com- In March 1993, villagers from and creeks. In 2007, a new spill oc- plained because the decline in yield Goi were among the 300,000 Ogoni curred, further escalating damage to was small and slow.’ who, led by well-known writer and the waterways and the mangrove. But as Shell expanded drilling in leader Ken Saro-Wiwa, staged a The village had gradually emp-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 2 E C O L O G Y

tied out by this time. With no fish left islands, mangroves, freshwater vironments in the world. in the creeks or fishponds and no land swamps and rainforests, along with In 2011, the United Nations En- left fit for farming, villagers had no the rich coastal waters it merges into, vironment Programme (UNEP) re- way to make a living. Those who once made it among the most biodi- leased the first (and to date, only) could afford it, like Dooh’s family, verse regions on Earth. It is home to large-scale scientific study of pollu- moved to neighbouring villages that several International Union for the tion in the Delta. And even that study, were in a relatively better state, or to Conservation of Nature’s Red List which identified 41 sites where oil Port Harcourt, the capital of River species including some endemic or had entered wells and underground State. Others, who lacked resources, near-endemic animals, such as water supplies, focused only on lingered on as long as they could even Home’s hinge-back tortoise, the Ni- Ogoniland, though many other areas though it cost them their health. Dooh ger Delta red colobus monkey and the across the vast region have been se- says many villagers started dying of Niger Delta or Heslop’s pygmy hip- verely impacted as well. Based on a mysterious coughs, cancers and lung popotamus. It is also home to nearly two-year investigation, the report diseases, and suffered blindness and 30 million people of more than 40 found widespread soil and water con- strange illnesses. ethnic groups, including the Ogoni, tamination, sometimes more than 40 In 2009, yet another large spill making it one of the most densely years after oil was spilled. forced the last remaining families to populated regions of Nigeria. Sixty Recurrent oil spills – due to leaks flee. ‘There is only one home and that percent of the Delta residents are sub- during processing, from corroded is Goi, but it is death to stay back,’ sistence farmers and fishermen. transport pipelines, poor maintenance says Dooh, who now lives in the Oil was first discovered in the of infrastructure, and from vandalism neighbouring village of Mogho with Niger Delta in the small community and widespread oil theft known lo- his wife and four children and earns of Oloibiri in Bayelsa State in 1956 cally as ‘bunkering’ – are the main a living teaching at a secondary by a joint Shell-British Petroleum drivers of this pollution. While there school there. operation. (Nigeria was a British pro- are no consistent figures available, in Goi is a ghost village now. The tectorate at the time.) Nigeria joined 2013 researchers estimated that nearly bakery-cum-training centre that was the ranks of oil producers in 1958 546 million gallons of oil spilled into once the pride of the village is now a when its first oil field in Oloibiri be- the Niger Delta over five decades, rundown building with a government- gan pumping out 5,100 barrels of oil equivalent to nearly 11 million gal- issued signboard outside that reads: per day. Soon other international oil lons every year, of which only a neg- ‘Prohibition! Contaminated Area. companies, including ExxonMobil, ligible amount was ever cleaned up. Please Keep Off’. But former resi- Chevron, Elf from France, Agip This estimate does not include many dents like Dooh continue to visit the Group from Italy and the state-owned other spills that have gone unreport- area from time to time, to show re- Nigerian National Petroleum Corpo- ed. By comparison, BP’s 2010 Deep- porters and researchers around, or ration (NNPC), joined the fray. To- water Horizon disaster, which made even to try their luck casting a net in day, the Delta is pockmarked with headlines across the world for the fishponds. over 600 oil fields. With some 28.2 months, spilled 2.10 million gallons Despite six decades of environ- billion barrels of crude reserves and into the Gulf of Mexico. mental destruction that set off a cycle a production capacity of 2.5 million The UNEP report said the Ogoni- of poverty, corruption, citizen’s up- barrels per day, the Delta’s oil makes land spills alone would take up to 30 risings and violence in the Niger Del- Nigeria one of the largest oil produc- years and $1 billion to clean up. But ta, many locals still hold out hope that ers in Africa and the sixth largest in that assessment is already seven years they will be able to return to their the world. According to NNPC, oil old, and spills continue to occur at homes one day. Currently, this hope production and export accounts for alarming rates in the Delta to this day. is pinned on a billion-dollar Ogoni- 90% of Nigeria’s gross earnings of A 2018 Amnesty International report land cleanup project announced by $375.8 billion (as of 2017). shows that two of the largest compa- the Nigerian government in 2016. But But as the fate of Goi shows, this nies operating in the Delta, Shell and two years on, as of November 2018, oil money – which has long flowed Eni of Italy, reported over 1,800 oil the so-called Hydrocarbon Pollution into the coffers of multinationals and spills in the region between 2011 and Remediation Project was yet to kick the Nigerian government, but rarely 2017. And rising rates of bunkering off. into local Delta communities – has – which involves breaking into a pipe- come at a heavy ecological and so- line, causing oil to spew out under Oil-damaged Delta cial cost. More than half a century of pressure – and ‘artisanal’ backyard poorly regulated extraction has left refining by locals to turn the crude The Niger Delta is the third larg- the Delta’s waterways, land, vegeta- into cheap diesel and kerosene have est wetland in the world and the larg- tion and air so polluted with crude oil, further despoiled an already degrad- est river delta and mangrove ecosys- drilling wastes and noxious gases that ed environment. The refining process tem in Africa. Spread over 30,000 the Niger Delta is now considered one leaves a residual toxic sludge that is square miles, the Delta’s network of of the most severely oil-damaged en- usually dumped into the creeks. Ac-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 3 E C O L O G Y

Delta is far below the national average of $1,661.41, with nearly half of the population here making between $0.20 and $4 a day. The pollution has also had acute and long-term effects on human health. Illnesses ranging from skin diseases to asthma to cancer are common. And studies have shown a significant drop in farm yields. The crops that do grow absorb some of the crude oil, and the small number of fish that remain in these oil-slicked waters smell of crude as well. Still, people feed on these crops and fish, and drink the contaminated water, because they have no other alternative. ‘Anybody that lives in those deeply polluted Niger Delta commu- There are about 100 continuously burning flares in the Niger Delta. Gas flaring from nities can be sure that at least 20 years oil production wells – a cheap method of burning off natural gas – emits greenhouse have dropped from their lifespan. The gases and brings about acid rain. hazard is great,’ says Best Ordinoha, professor of community medicine and public health at the University of Port cidental fires in bunkered areas often have been burning since the 1960s. Harcourt, Nigeria. Average life ex- incinerate vast areas of forest and According to Nigeria’s environment pectancy in the Delta is 40 to 43 years, mangrove, while the military’s tactic ministry, oil companies in Nigeria way below the national average of of blowing up the informal refineries flare over 313 million standard cubic mid-60s. it finds creates yet more damage. feet of gas annually, which results in The unborn and infants haven’t Stealing crude, however, is now the emission of 16.5 million tons of been spared either. A 2017 study a complex $9 billion business that carbon dioxide. As a result of indus- found that infants born to women who employs around 26,000 people and try pressure, the federal government lived within six miles of oil spills involves armed militia, international has continued to push back the dead- were twice as likely to die early, and cartels and payoffs to the security line for an end to gas flaring. the ones who survived were more forces, says a report by the Niger likely to have impaired health. The Delta Environment and Relief Foun- Devastating impact researchers found that even spills that dation. The report found that only had happened five years before con- 20% of the stolen oil goes into local The impact of this hellish pollu- ception doubled the neonatal mortal- illegal refining; the rest is exported. tion has been devastating on wildlife ity rate from 38 deaths to 76 deaths ‘Those who export 80% of the stolen and local communities that can no for every 1,000 births. oil are not poor people, they are con- longer depend on the land to sustain For Friday Belief of Bodo, one nected to the political and military them or even keep them healthy. Ala- of the largest villages in Ogoniland, establishment as well as the oil bu- goa Morris of Environmental Rights these numbers are more than statis- reaucracy,’ it notes. According to Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria tics. When the 30-year-old – who 2018 estimates, Nigeria loses about says the loss of arable land and clean makes a living gathering and selling 10-15% of its oil, about 200,000 bar- water has escalated hunger, depriva- periwinkle snails from the local rels per day, to theft each year. tion and poverty, and contributed to creeks – got pregnant in 2016, she Meanwhile, gas flaring from pro- high rates of disease and physical, feared her baby would die. ‘There duction wells – a cheap method of mental and social malaise among were many other women also in our burning off natural gas, which is a Delta communities. job who have lost many of their ba- byproduct of drilling – spews millions In a textbook example of the re- bies that way,’ she says. Many of the of tons of greenhouse gases into the source curse, more than 70% of the women, including Belief, who wade air and brings about acid rain. Though Delta people live below the poverty through the creeks in search of the flaring was made illegal in Nigeria in line. Less than 50% of the communi- snails suffer from various ailments 1984, there are still about 100 con- ties here have electricity, running including rashes, itchy eyes, breath- tinuously burning flares in the Delta, water, clean drinking water, sanita- ing issues, coughs, fevers and severe according to Friends of the Earth tion, or access to healthcare and stomach aches. Concerned about the Netherlands. Some of these flares schools. Per capita income in the health of her baby, Belief went to a

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 4 E C O L O G Y

doctor, who warned her to stay away effect and has ended up creating a worse and the family business col- from the creeks. With several mouths new class of wealthy young men who lapsed. In 2012, Dooh’s father and to feed at home, including her older have captured the development three other Ogoni villagers, together children, that wasn’t an option. Even schemes. Meanwhile, the stipends with Friends of the Earth Netherlands, the doctor requires money from you, have turned into an unsustainable filed a separate suit against Shell for she says. On 20 April 2017, Belief cash-for-peace bargain. In 2016, the damage caused by the Trans-Ni- gave birth to an underweight boy who when stipends were not paid for sev- ger pipeline spills between 2004 and died within six hours. ‘The doctor told eral months due to a recession follow- 2009 at a civil court in The Hague, me … he could not cope with all I ing a crash in global oil prices, and where the company has its joint glo- have been inhaling from the creek,’ Nigerian President Muhammadu Bu- bal headquarters. A few months later, she says, her eyes brimming up. hari hinted at winding the scheme troubled by blindness, a persistent ‘I was told by a doctor that a lot down, many of the ex-rebels began cough and lung diseases – illnesses of people in the area are dying of oil to reassemble in new groups, such as that had become common in the re- pollution,’ says Hilde Brontsema, the Niger Delta Avengers, Red Scor- gion – Dooh’s father passed away and communications officer of Friends of pions and the Niger Delta Greenland Dooh took up his father’s role in the the Earth Netherlands, who visited the Justice Movement, and resumed their appeal. Delta in September. ‘First, because attacks on oil installations. The In January 2013, the court found they are drinking polluted water, eat- groups scaled back their activities af- Shell guilty of causing pollution on ing polluted food, and everything is ter the government granted arrears the land of one plaintiff, Friday Al- toxic. But it’s not just that. It’s also and resumed payments. fred Akpan, and rejected the demands because there is no free healthcare More than a decade of militancy of the remaining three farmers. Shell and they have no money to buy med- in the region, though born of the gen- appealed this decision, while Friends icines. So if people fall ill, they just uine suffering of the people, has done of the Earth Netherlands and the Ni- lie at home quietly and hope it will little to improve the lives of the gen- gerians appealed the rejection of the pass.’ eral populace. In fact, the state of the demands of the remaining three farm- environment as well as that of the ers. The ruling for Akpan was unique, Pushback people is worse than before. ‘It’s cer- and Friends of the Earth hopes the tainly not a place that’s moving for- case will open the door to more com- Since the early 1990s, many Del- ward in a good way,’ says Scott Pegg, pensation claims against multination- ta communities, especially the Ogoni a politics professor at Indiana Univer- al corporations. In December 2015, and the Ijaw, have tried time and again sity who has been following the Ogo- the appeals court in The Hague re- to push back against the exploitation ni rights movement for 20 years. ‘A jected Shell’s appeal and allowed of their land by the government and lot of kids are being born and have Friends of the Earth and the four vil- the oil companies and demand a nothing much to look forward to.’ lagers to proceed with their suit. cleanup of the land and more equita- The courts have offered some ‘The case is starting again in ble distribution of oil revenues. These recourse, but not much. Hundreds of 2019, maybe sometime in April,’ says protests, which were at times violent, minor cases regarding oil spills and Brontsema of Friends of the Earth were brutally suppressed by state se- pollution are brought each year in Netherlands, explaining that the de- curity forces. By 2006, these tensions Nigerian courts. More than 1,000 lays were caused by the deaths of two led to armed revolt and the militari- court cases have been filed against of the plaintiffs, including Dooh’s sation of nearly the entire region as Shell alone since the 1980s, since it father, and a report the environmen- ethnic militias – loosely grouped to- is the largest oil and gas company in tal group was writing about the state gether as the Movement for the Eman- Nigeria. But almost all these cases are of Shell’s pipelines in Ogoniland. cipation of the Niger Delta – fought either thrown out, settled for small Friends of the Earth expects Shell against Nigerian military and police sums or remain stuck in the legal sys- to make its usual argument that most forces. tem for years. Even when the courts of the spills are caused by sabotage In 2009, the Nigerian govern- rule against the companies and order and oil thieves and that cleanups are ment reached a ceasefire with the hefty fines, the companies file appeals hindered by violence in the region. militant groups demanding resource that can drag on and on, and more ‘For us it doesn’t really matter if the control and environmental justice. often than not, the compensation spills are caused directly by Shell or The peace deal included monthly sti- money never reaches the impacted not,’ Brontsema says. ‘We think that pends for some 30,000 former fight- communities. the fact that the rebels are there is also ers, job training and lucrative securi- Dooh’s father took Shell to a Ni- the fault of the oil industry. If you take ty contracts to protect pipelines. But gerian court in 1997 to demand com- away the people’s land, if you take environmental and human rights pensation and a cleanup of Goi’s away their fish, they have no income groups allege that the true aim of the farms and rivers. Much like other cas- anymore. Can you really blame them deal was to coopt the young militia es, that one has been dragging on for for doing anything to keep their fam- leaders. It has had little trickle-down 21 years. Meanwhile, the spills got ily alive? We don’t approve of vio-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 5 E C O L O G Y

the World Health Organisation guidelines, and conducting a comprehensive medical examination of everyone who has consumed contaminated water – have not yet been implemented. ‘It’s a large-scale, complicated endeavour,’ says Pegg. The delay ‘could be because there are many bid- ders offering very different bids, it could be due to political infighting within Shell or the Nigerian government, or within the communities, or probably all of the above. There are a lot of people who want a piece of the action. More generally, Nigeria is not the easiest environment to do anything in.’ Like many others, Pegg is scep- tical that HYPREP will achieve its intended goals. ‘I’m relatively confi- Oil pipelines snaking across a part of the Niger Delta. Nigeria is one of the largest oil dent that some contracts will be producers in Africa and the sixth largest in the world. awarded and some money will be spent. I think what is extremely highly in question is how good a job [will lence, but Shell should accept the fact mediation Project (HYPREP) in be] done, and how close to anything that this is the result of their own do- Ogoniland, devised by UN engineers, like international standards it will be,’ ing.’ oil companies and the Nigerian gov- he says. ‘The political leadership of The case against Shell in The ernment, and paid for by the share- the Niger Delta are culpable: very Hague received an additional boost holders of the Shell Petroleum Devel- selfish, busy expanding their private in 2015 when the company accepted opment Corporation Joint Venture, estates at the expense of the people, liability in a separate lawsuit filed in will involve mopping oil up from communities, region and environ- London in 2011 by 15,000 Ogoni vil- water bodies, building a soil management,’ adds Morris of Environmental lagers from the Bodo community. ment centre to process and clean tens Rights Action. That case involved oil spills from the of thousands of tons of contaminated Back in Goi, Dooh is gearing up same pipeline that caused over soil, and replanting mangroves. The for the next round of his legal battle 100,000 barrels of crude oil to spill project, which will take about three with Shell in The Hague. He says he’s into Bodo’s creeks and surrounding decades to complete, is supposed to fighting not just for his family but for swamps in 2008. Shell agreed to pay serve as a blueprint for remediating all the people of the Delta. the Bodo villagers $83 million to other oil-damaged areas in the Delta ‘Look at me: The son of a wealthy man has now inherited pov- clean up their lands and creeks. After and to kickstart development in the erty. A job creator turned a job seek- years of delays, the cleanup is current- region by creating a trained cleanup er. I find it very difficult sending the ly underway, under the auspices of the taskforce comprising Ogoni people. kids to school and feeding my fami- internationally recognised Bodo Me- However, implementing the ly,’ he says, standing inside his aban- diation Initiative (BMI). The Bodo project has proved politically, fiscal- doned bakery, tapping the rusted cleanup, however, covers only about ly and administratively challenging dough mixer. ‘My father fought for four square miles of Ogoniland. A for the Nigerian government. Human this all his life but he died without larger, one-billion-dollar Ogoniland- and environmental rights groups say seeing justice. I have been on this wide cleanup, based on the recom- that seven years after publication of fight after him and I won’t lose hope. mendations of the 2011 UNEP report, UNEP’s report, very little meaning- Even if I die, my children would take was officially launched by President ful progress has been made to im- up the fight.’ ◆ Buhari in 2016 and, after years of prove the situation on the ground. delay, was scheduled to begin in Au- Even the few immediate emergency Orji Sunday, who contributes to Al Jazeera, gust 2018. At the time of writing, it measures that UNEP had recom- The Guardian and many other local and in- has been pushed back to December, mended – such as providing clean and ternational publications, is a Nigeria-based and it isn’t clear yet whether work will safe drinking water for the Ogale peo- freelance journalist who covers global health, the environment, development and actually begin then. ple who have been consuming water politics. This article was first published in The Hydrocarbon Pollution Re- with benzene at more than 900 times Earth Island Journal (Winter 2019).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 6 E C O L O G Y Reckless gamble for profit that placed Indian cotton farmers in corporate noose The dubious performance (failure) of Bt cotton, officially India’s only genetically modified (GM) crop, should serve as a warning as the push within the country to adopt GM across a wide range of food crops continues. This article provides an outline of some key reports and papers that have appeared in the last few years on Bt cotton in India.

Colin Todhunter

IN a December 2018 paper in the journal Current Science, P C Kesav- an and M S Swaminathan cited research findings to support the view that Bt insecticidal cotton has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers. This paper was important not just because of its content but also because Swaminathan is considered to be the father of the Green Revolution in India. The two authors provided evidence that indicates Bt crops are unsustainable and have not decreased the need for toxic chemical pesticides, the reason for these GM crops in the Genetically modified Bt cotton crops in India have not decreased the need for toxic first place. chemical pesticides as promised. The authors cited the views of Dr K R Kranthi, former Director of the In effect, levels of insecticide use related to Bt cotton has had disastrous Central Institute for Cotton Research are now back to the pre-Bt era, as is consequences for farmers. In a 2015 in Nagpur. Based on his research, he productivity, due to pest resistance paper, Professor Andrew Paul Guti- concluded in December 2016: ‘Bt- and crop failures. errez and his colleagues say: ‘Bt cot- cotton plus higher fertilisers plus in- Following on from this, an April ton may be economic in irrigated cot- creased irrigation also received a pro- 2018 paper in the journal Pest Sci- ton, whereas costs of Bt seed and in- tective cover from the seed treatment ence Management indicates that the secticide increase the risk of farmer of neonicotinoid insecticides such as bollworm pest has developed progres- bankruptcy in low-yield rainfed cot- imidacloprid, without which majori- sive resistance to Bt cotton in India ton. Inability to use saved seed and ty of the Bt-cotton hybrids which over a seven-year period. The authors inadequate agronomic information were susceptible to sucking pests conclude: ‘High PBW [pink boll- trap cotton farmers on biotechnology would have yielded far less. It can worm] larval recovery on Bt-II in con- and insecticide treadmills. Annual safely be said that yield increase in junction with high LC50 values for suicide rates in rainfed areas are in- India would not have happened with Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab in major cotton- versely related to farm size and yield, Bt-cotton alone without enhanced fer- growing districts of central and south- and directly related to increases in Bt tiliser usage, without increased irri- ern India provides evidence of field- cotton adoption (i.e., costs).’ gation, without seed treatment chem- evolved resistance in PBW to Bt-I and In a new December 2018 paper, icals, and the absence of drought-free Bt-II cotton.’ Gutierrez sends a warning to those decade.’ This alongside other problems considering rolling out GM food

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 7 E C O L O G Y crops in India: ‘… recent calls by in- ulating GM is the order of the day. evidence and when the hard data said dustry and its clients to extend imple- This is a reckless approach. We the opposite.’ mentation of the hybrid technology in need only look at Indian cotton farm- In the rush to grow these ‘magic aubergine (brinjal, eggplant) and ers whose lives and livelihoods have beans’, the area planted under Bt cot- mustard and likely other crops in In- been devastated due to the ill-thought- ton has often displaced vital food dia will only mirror the disastrous out rollout of Bt technology. crops at a time when India should implementation of the failed hybrid Kesavan and Swaminathan criti- surely have been looking to achieve Bt technology in Indian cotton and cise the organisations charged with food security and self-sufficiency. will only serve to tighten the econom- regulating GM organisms (GMOs) in Writing in India’s The Statesman ic hybrid technology noose on still India for a lack of competency and newspaper in 2015, Bharat Dogra more subsistence farmers for the sake endemic conflicts of interest and a drew attention to the knife-edge ex- of profits.’ lack of expertise in GMO risk assess- istence led by the people from whom He concludes that Bt cotton has ment protocols, including food safe- rich agribusiness corporations profit. placed many resource-poor farmers in ty assessment and the assessment of Dogra highlighted the case of Babu a stranglehold. Bt cotton prevents environmental impacts. Many of Lal and his wife Mirdi Bai, who had seed saving and farmers must pur- these issues have been a common been traditionally cultivating wheat, chase costly seed, which leads to sub- thread in five high-level official re- maize and millet on their farmland in optimal planting densities. Stagnant/ ports in India that have advised Rajasthan. Their crops provided food low yields have followed, insecticide against the commercialisation of GM for several months a year to their 10- use has grown and new pests resis- crops: member family as well as fodder for tant to insecticide/Bt toxins have • ‘Jairam Ramesh Report’ im- farm and dairy animals integral to the emerged. posing an indefinite moratorium on mixed farming system employed. Gutierrez says that leading Indi- Bt brinjal (February 2010); Company agents (unspecified – an agronomists have proposed adop- • Sopory Committee report but Monsanto and its subsidiaries tion of pure-line high density short- (August 2012); dominate the GM cotton industry in season varieties of rainfed cotton • Parliamentary Standing India) approached the family with the which could more than double cur- Committee report on GM crops (Au- promise of a lump-sum payment to rent yields and avoid heavy infesta- gust 2012); plant Bt cotton seeds in two of their tions of pink bollworm, thus reduc- • Technical Expert Committee fields. Lal purchased pesticides to ing insecticide use and pesticide dis- final report (June-July 2013); and help grow the seeds in the hope of ruption. This cotton is not a new tech- • Parliamentary Standing receiving the payment, which never nology and predates Bt cotton. Committee on Science & Technolo- materialised because the company Given what Gutierrez says, it is gy, Environment and Forests report agent said the seeds produced had quite timely that Kesavan and Swa- (August 2017). ‘failed’ in tests. minathan question regulators’ failure In her numerous submissions to The family faced economic ruin, in India to carry out a socio-econom- India’s Supreme Court, prominent not least because the food harvest was ic assessment of GM crops’ impacts campaigner Aruna Rodrigues has much lower than normal as the best on resource-poor small and marginal been scathing. She recently told me: fields and most labour and resources farmers. They call for ‘able econo- ‘It is proven in copious evidence in had been devoted to Bt cotton. This mists who are familiar with and will the Supreme Court in the last 13 years resulted in Lal borrowing from pri- prioritise rural livelihoods and the that our regulators are seriously con- vate moneylenders at a high interest interests of resource-poor small and flicted: they promote GMOs openly, rate to meet food and fodder needs. marginal farmers rather than serve fund them (as with herbicide-tolerant On top of this, the company’s corporate interests and their profits’. mustard and other public sector agent allegedly started harassing Lal This mirrors the statement by GMOs) and then regulate them. Truth for a payment of about 10,000 rupees Gutierrez and his colleagues in 2015 is a massive casualty. This is not light- in lieu of the fertilisers and pesticides that policy makers need holistic anal- ly stated.’ provided to him. Several other tribal ysis before new technologies are im- She added that ‘failed hybrid Bt farmers in the area also fell into this plemented in agricultural develop- cotton in India’ has put farmers on a trap. ment. pesticide treadmill as increasing lev- The promise of a lump-sum cash Naturally, corporations and many els of pest resistance become mani- payment can be very enticing to poor pro-GM scientists wish to avoid such fest. farmers, and when companies co-opt things as much as possible. They try Prior to this, in 2017, Rodrigues influential villagers to promote plant- to convince policy makers that as long had said: ‘Never has an agri-tech been ing of Bt cotton, farmers are reluc- as the science on GM is sound (which sold as a “magic bean” to farmers like tant to decline the offer. When pro- it isn’t, despite what they proclaim), Bt cotton, with opprobrium attaching duction is subsequently declared – GM should be rolled out regardless. to our regulators and ministries of solely at the company’s discretion, it They regard regulators and regula- governance who supported and con- seems – as having failed, a family be- tions as a hindrance that is prevent- tinue to support this technology-cas- comes indebted. ing GM from helping farmers. Dereg- tle built on sand, in the absence of According to Dogra’s article,

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 8 E C O L O G Y there was growing evidence that the now witnessing with Bt cotton? It Colin Todhunter was named in August 2018 trend of experimenting with Bt cot- serves as a timely warning in light of by Transcend Media Services as one of 400 Living Peace and Justice Leaders and Mod- ton had disrupted food security in attempts to implement a widespread els in recognition of his journalism. This certain areas and introduced various GMO food crop regime in India. The article is reproduced from health hazards and damaged soil due writing is on the wall. ◆ Countercurrents.org. to the use of chemical inputs. Also worth noting is Stone and Katowice News Updates and Climate Briefings Flachs’s 2017 paper on how certain (December 2018) interests within and beyond India are attempting to break traditional cotton This is a compilation of 15 News Updates, an cultivation practices in order to place overview and a briefing paper prepared by the farmers on yet another corporate Third World Network for and during the recent treadmill. This time, the aim appears United Nations Climate Change Talks – the twenty- to be to introduce herbicide-tolerant fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (HT) cotton in India on the back of (COP 24), the fourteenth session of the Conference Bt cotton. The authors indicate just of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties how financially lucrative for corpo- to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 14), the third part of rations the relatively ‘undeveloped’ the first session of the Conference of the Parties herbicide market is in India. HT cot- serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris ton seeds have now appeared illegal- Agreement (CMA 1-3), the forty-ninth sessions of ly on the market. the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 49) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Ultimately, as Gutierrez implies, Technological Advice (SBSTA 49), as well as the the bottom line is cynical corporate ISBN: 978-967-0747-29-3 seventh part of the first session of the Ad Hoc interest and profit – not helping Indi- Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA 1-7) – in Katowice, Poland from 2 to an farmers or some high-minded no- 15 December 2018. tion about feeding the world. Just ask Babu Lal and thousands like him! Price Postage Of course, given the track record Malaysia RM10.00 RM2.00 of HT crops, it is another disaster in Developing countries US$6.00 US$3.00 (air) Others US$8.00 US$4.00 (air) the making for Indian farmers and the environment. This warning has al- Orders from Malaysia – please pay by credit card/crossed cheque or postal order. ready been made clear by a Supreme Orders from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Court-appointed Technical Expert UK, USA – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order Committee, which regards HT crops in own currency, US$ or Euro.If paying in own currency or Euro, please calculate as being wholly inappropriate for In- equivalent of US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. dia. With various GM crops waiting Rest of the world – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order in US$ or Euro. If paying in Euro, please calculate equivalent of in the wings, India should continue US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the to adopt a precautionary approach USA. towards GMOs as advocated by Jair- All payments should be made in favour of: THIRD WORLD NETWORK am Ramesh and not implement anoth- BHD., 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-2266728/ er reckless gamble with farmers’ live- 2266159; Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: [email protected] Website: www.twn.my lihoods, the nation’s health and the I would like to order ...... copy/copies of Katowice News Updates and Climate environment. The then environment Briefings (December 2018). minister Ramesh pronounced a mor- I enclose the amount of ...... by cheque/bank draft/IMO. atorium on Bt brinjal in February 2010 founded on what he called ‘a Please charge the amount of US$/Euro/RM ...... to my credit card: cautious, precautionary principle- Visa Mastercard based approach’. The decision was reached following consultations with, A/c No.: Expiry date: among others, international scientific experts regarding the commercial- Signature: isation of Bt brinjal. One of those experts, David Andow, had concluded Name: that without any management of re- Address: sistance evolution, Bt brinjal would fail in 4-12 years. Isn’t such failure what we are

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 9 E C O N O M I C S China, India respond robustly to US paper on ‘differentiation’ China and India have offered a robust response to the United States over its attempts to ‘differentiate’ among developing countries on which of them could avail of special and differential treatment (S&DT) at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

D Ravi Kanth

IN a joint draft paper, China and In- dia have outlined why no one among the developing countries must be left behind in continuing to avail of S&DT, particularly given the ‘development divide’ between the developing countries of the South and the developed countries of the North. Over the last two years, the US has stepped up its multi-pronged assault on central pillars of the WTO multilateral trading system: on the ‘most-favoured nation’ (MFN) clause, A meeting in progress at WTO headquarters in Geneva. The US has sought to ‘differentiate’ among developing countries in the provision of flexibilities under the WTO by imposing unilateral and selective rules. import duties; on the Appellate Body in the WTO’s dispute settlement sys- per, argued that ‘there is a huge de- lute “reciprocity” or superficial “fair- tem, by blocking the filling of vacan- velopment divide between the devel- ness”, essentially depriving the devel- cies on the body; and on the multilat- oping and developed Members of the oping Members of their right to de- eral negotiating function based on the WTO, not only in aspects of econom- velop’. principle of consensus, by selective- ic development level, industrial struc- Contrary to the repeated US ly pushing plurilateral agreements in ture and competitiveness, regional claims that China’s accession to the the areas of services trade and now balance, but also in education, social WTO has made it a powerhouse with electronic commerce. security and the ability to effectively huge trade surpluses, ‘the WTO rules- Now the US has, in a paper cir- participate in international gover- based system has helped the growth culated at the WTO on 16 January, nance’. of trade but has not made it equita- launched its latest attack on the core Notwithstanding the significant ble’, China and India maintained. WTO pillar of S&DT, so as to ensure progress achieved by developing- At the WTO and in the global that the likes of China, India, Brazil, country members since the creation trading system, including at forums South Africa and Indonesia are re- of the WTO in 1995, China and India such as the G20, the developing coun- moved from the S&DT bracket. said ‘the old divides have not been tries are confronted by ‘capacity con- In its 45-page paper, the US has fully bridged or even have been wid- straints’ since they lack ‘human recalled for ‘differentiation’ among de- ened, while new divides, such as those sources with capable negotiation veloping countries because of the in the digital and technological areas, skills, a well-functioning intra-gov- ‘economic tides’ and ‘great strides’ continue to emerge’. ernmental coordination mechanism, made in the years since 1995 when Without naming the US, China and sufficient social participation in the WTO was established. The US has and India have argued in their draft and support to trade negotiations’, the claimed that the WTO remains stuck paper that ‘it is inappropriate, if not joint paper suggested. in an outdated construct of ‘North- inhumane, to measure a member’s Consequently, the developing South division, developed and devel- development level with select gross countries are unable to overcome oping countries’, that fails to reflect economic and trade statistics, so as these deficiencies that ‘diminish not the realities of 2019. to deny the divide between develop- only the ability of developing Mem- In response to this, China and ing and developed Members, and to bers to negotiate, but also the efficien- India have, in their 38-page draft pa- request the former to abide by abso- cy and effectiveness of translating

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 10 E C O N O M I C S negotiation outcomes into their domestic economic growth’. It is against this backdrop, China and India argued, that S&DT was made one of the ‘cornerstone’ principles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It was meant to be ‘the main instrument for addressing the development divide and capacity constraint of developing Members, to help them achieve growth, expand employment and re- A soybean farmer in the US state of North Dakota. Per-farmer domestic agricultural duce poverty through trade’. subsidies in the US were 70 times those in China, 176 times those in Brazil and 267 Moreover, ‘the current S&DT times those in India. provisions in the WTO agreements are rules formulated through negoti- strate ‘the constraints and thresholds veloping countries is manifested in ations and compromises, not charities that divide developed and developing two ways. ‘First, with reference to an granted by developed Members’, Chi- Members’. Further, the rationale indicator, the difference in value be- na and India maintained. adopted by the United Nations and tween the developed and developing Besides, the S&DT provisions various intergovernmental organisa- Members widens over time; and sec- remain only best-endeavour clauses. tions clearly suggests that ‘there are ond, even if the difference in value The developing countries, led by In- structural features behind the UN does not widen over time, the gap dia and South Africa among others, classification that distinguish coun- between the developed and develop- have called for making these provi- tries in terms of their development ing Members during a time period is sions effective and binding as part of challenges’ and ‘these features form substantial.’ the implementation issues in the Doha the basis on which countries classify China and India pointed to a Development Agenda. themselves and are adapted to the number of indicators which suggest However, after agreeing to the various mandates, functions and sta- that ‘the gap between the developed implementation issues, the developed tistical work of the International Or- and developing Members has re- countries led by the US and the Eu- ganisations’. mained substantially high’ while ‘in ropean Union vehemently opposed In sharp contrast, ‘for the WTO, many cases the gap has considerably discussing any improvements for the status of developed and develop- widened’. making S&DT provisions effective. ing Members are reflected in the bar- ‘Besides, the essence of develop- ‘In contrast, it is developed Mem- gaining process, and incorporated ment is the human being,’ China and bers that have reaped substantial ben- into the final rules themselves’. India maintained. ‘Hence, per capita efits by taking advantage of the “re- Therefore, ‘the self-declaration indicators must be given the top pri- verse S&DT”,’ China and India main- approach has proved to be the most ority when assessing the development tained. appropriate for the WTO, which best level of a country.’ Worse still, the developing coun- serves the WTO objectives’, China ‘In WTO agreements, all the in- tries which acceded to the WTO since and India maintained. dicators used to assess development 1995, including China, had made ‘tre- The joint paper said that ‘the gap are based on per capita calculation. mendous efforts, significantly con- between the developed and develop- For example, in Article 8.2(b)(iii) of tributed to upholding the core values ing Members appears to have actual- the Agreement on Subsidies and of the WTO including free trade, ly widened over time, instead of get- Countervailing Measures, “income openness and non-discrimination; ting reduced’. per capita”, “household income per supporting the rules-based multilater- Arguably, ‘the development di- capita” and “GDP per capita” are al trading system; and maintaining a vide, which was taken note of in mid- mentioned for the purpose of measur- transparent, stable and predictable 1960s in Part IV of the GATT, con- ing the economic development of a global trade environment’, the joint tinues to remain relevant today – per- member.’ paper pointed out. haps even more relevant’. The joint paper offered figures of China and India reminded the US ‘Attempts at ignoring the need various indicators for the developed that ‘the dichotomy of developed and for S&DT provisions, or diluting it, and developing countries, particular- developing Members is frequently [are] fraught with the risk of making ly China, India, South Africa, Indo- used by almost all International Or- future negotiations in the WTO even nesia and Brazil, to bolster its argu- ganisations to describe the structure more difficult than today,’ China and ment that the development divide had of today’s global economy’. The un- India warned. widened since 1995. derlying rationale behind the classi- According to their joint paper, the The joint paper also cited cases fication methodologies is to demon- gap between the developed and de- of ‘reverse S&DT’ in the agriculture

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 11 E C O N O M I C S sector, particularly with regard to sub- gies and tactics accordingly. dards of living in less-developed sidy payments in the developed coun- ‘In a word, the fact is that, for the countries and in other countries’. tries. It gave the figures for domestic multilateral trade negotiations, devel- Paragraph 3 of the article speci- support per farmer in the US oped Members are usually “well and fied: ‘There is need for positive ef- ($60,586), Canada ($16,562), Japan proactively prepared”, while develop- forts designed to ensure that less-de- ($10,149), the EU ($6,762), China ing Members often “rush to respond veloped contracting parties secure a ($863), Brazil ($345) and India in a reactive manner”,’ China and In- share in the growth in international ($227). The per-farmer subsidy in the dia argued. Hence, ‘there is a big trade commensurate with the needs US was 70 times that in China, 176 asymmetry between the two in formu- of their economic development.’ times that in Brazil and 267 times that lating multilateral trade rules due to What could constitute ‘positive in India. the capacity constraint.’ efforts’ was specified in paragraph 8 In a similar vein, China and In- ‘The formal “de jure” equality of the article, which stated: ‘The de- dia revealed that there is a substan- cannot mask the “de facto” inequali- veloped contracting parties do not tial divide between developed and ty in reality,’ said China and India. expect reciprocity for commitments developing countries in the areas of The two countries said that made by them in trade negotiations trade in services, intellectual proper- S&DT is an integral part of the WTO to reduce or remove tariffs and other ty rights, global value chains and val- agreement. barriers to the trade of less-developed ue-added. The developing countries They pointed out that in 1947, 11 contracting parties.’ also lag far behind in relation to per developing members acceded to the The China-India joint paper also capita use of energy, the role of banks GATT based on the same conditions refuted the US argument that ‘all rules in the financial system, research and and obligations as developed mem- apply to a few (developed countries)’, development capacity, digital divide, bers. ‘To help developing Members saying it ‘totally ignores the 70 plus company efficiency and benefits from better benefit from the multilateral year history of GATT/WTO’. The globalisation. trading system, the concepts of “less paper offered concrete examples of In addition, China and India than full reciprocity” and “non-reci- how reverse S&DT works for the de- showed how the developing countries procity” gradually emerged during the veloped countries. continue to suffer from capacity con- 1960s, which gave birth to Part IV of In conclusion, China and India straints due to the lack of negotiating the GATT.’ In short, ‘the issue of de- maintained that ‘the real threats to the capacity at human resource level. velopment was explicitly addressed in relevance, legitimacy and efficacy of From the GATT to the WTO, devel- that part for the first time in history’. the WTO are raging protectionism oped countries have been in a domi- Subsequently, the Decision on and unilateralism, the blockage of nant position in the initiation of ne- Differential and More Favourable Appellate Body member selection gotiations, the design of rules, the Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller process and the impasse of the Doha assertion of rights and even the ‘flex- Participation of Developing Coun- Development Round, not the self-de- ible use of rules’. The developing tries (also known as the Enabling clared development status of devel- countries, due to lack of resources, are Clause) adopted in 1979 ‘provided a oping Members’. usually short of negotiators (especial- permanent legal basis for S&DT The two developing countries ly experienced ones) and thus unable Clause 12’, according to the joint pa- asserted that ‘S&DT is an integral to achieve their objectives in the ne- per. part of the multilateral trading system, gotiations as well as manage negoti- In 1986, the Uruguay Round of and self-declaration appears to be the ation outcomes. multilateral trade negotiations was fairest classification approach in the The problem is further com- launched and the S&DT-related con- WTO’. pounded because of limited budget- tent was stated in the Ministerial Dec- The battle lines have thus been ary resources in developing countries. laration. ‘However, the negotiation drawn on the issue of continuation of Consequently, it is often the case that outcomes were far less than expect- S&DT for all developing countries. negotiating officials are not able to ed,’ China and India said, citing a The paper by China and India has re- participate in a systematic way, said prominent expert who observed that vealed the divide between the coun- China and India. ‘most of the concessions and commit- tries of the North on the one side, and Also, due to the lack of coordi- ments have come from developing the developing countries in the South nating capacity at institutional level countries and very few from indus- on the other. It remains to be seen how nationally, developing countries usu- trialised countries’. the developing countries close ranks ally lack a unified policy across dif- In 1994, all developing members to launch a united fight to retain ferent government departments and of the GATT joined the WTO, adopt- S&DT. ◆ have difficulties in fully assessing and ing the results of the Uruguay Round accurately analysing the impacts of as a single undertaking. But in Arti- D Ravi Kanth writes for the South-North multilateral trade negotiations on the cle XXXVI:1(c) of the GATT 1994, Development Monitor (SUNS) published by the Third World Network. This article first economic system, and in formulating the Contracting Parties noted that appeared in SUNS (No. 8846, 14 February the national trade negotiation strate- ‘there is a wide gap between stan- 2019).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 12 E C O N O M I C S Agribusiness is the problem, not the solution Agribusiness advocates insist that food production must double by 2050 to feed the exponential rise of the global population to 9.7 billion and that high-yielding industrial agriculture is the only answer. Jomo Kwame Sundaram questions this claim.

FOR two centuries, all too many discussions about hunger and resource scarcity have been haunted by the ghost of Parson Thomas Malthus. Malthus warned that rising populations would exhaust resources, especially those needed for food production. Exponential population growth would outstrip food output. Humanity now faces a major challenge as global warming is expected to frustrate the production of enough food as the world population rises to 9.7 billion by 2050. A new book by Timothy Wise, Eating To- morrow: Agribusiness, Family Farm- ers, and the Battle for the Future of Signage of agribusiness giant Monsanto displayed at a farm trade exhibition in the Food (New Press, 2019), argues that US. In Malawi, Monsanto took over the government seed company, favouring its own most solutions currently put forward patented seeds at the expense of productive local varieties. by government, philanthropic and private sector luminaries are misleading. stead, Reuters has observed a ‘global ernise those left behind. grain glut’, with surplus cereal stocks But producing more food, by it- Malthus’s ghost returns piling up. self, does not enable the hungry to eat. Meanwhile, poor production, Thus, agribusiness and its philan- The early 2008 food price crisis processing and storage facilities cause thropic promoters are often the prob- has often been wrongly associated food losses of an average of about a lem, not the solution, in feeding the with the 2008-09 global financial cri- third of developing countries’ output. world. sis. The number of hungry in the A similar share is believed lost in rich world was said to have risen to over a countries due to wasteful food stor- Family farmers lack power billion, feeding a resurgence of neo- age, marketing and consumption be- Malthusianism. haviour. Eating Tomorrow addresses relat- Agribusiness advocates fed such Nevertheless, despite grain abun- ed questions such as: Why doesn’t fears, insisting that food production dance, the 2018 State of Food Inse- rising global food production feed the must double by 2050 and that high- curity report – by the Rome-based hungry? How can we ‘feed the world’ yielding industrial agriculture, under United Nations food agencies led by of rising populations and unsustain- the auspices of agribusiness, is the the Food and Agriculture Organisa- able pressure on land, water and oth- only solution. In fact, however, the tion (FAO) – reported rising chronic er natural resources that farmers need world is mainly fed by hundreds of and severe hunger or undernourish- to grow food? millions of small-scale, often called ment involving more than 800 mil- Drawing on five years of exten- family farmers who produce over lion. sive fieldwork in Southern Africa, two-thirds of developing countries’ Political, philanthropic and cor- Mexico, India and the US Midwest, food. porate leaders have promised to help Wise concludes that the problem is Contrary to conventional wis- struggling African and other countries essentially one of power. He shows dom, neither food scarcity nor poor grow more food by offering to im- how powerful business interests in- physical access are the main causes prove farming practices. New seed fluence government food and agricul- of food insecurity and hunger. In- and other technologies would mod- tural policies to favour large farms.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 13 E C O N O M I C S

sion. Yet, Wise remains optimistic, emphasising that the world can feed the hungry, many of whom are family farmers. Despite the challenges they face, many family farmers are finding innovative and effective ways to grow more and better food. Hun- gry farmers are nourishing their life- giving soils using more ecologically sound practices to plant a diversity of native crops, instead of using costly chemicals for export-oriented monocultures. Wise advocates support for farmers’ efforts to improve their soil, output and well-being. Family farmers grow most of the world’s food. Unfortunately, most national governments and international institutions still favour large-scale, high- This is typically at the expense and fertilisers from agribusiness tri- input, industrial agriculture, neglect- of ‘family’ farmers, who grow most pled maize production without reducing more sustainable solutions offered of the world’s food, but also involves ing the country’s very high rates of by family farmers and the need to putting consumers and others at risk, poverty and malnutrition. Meanwhile, improve the well-being of poor farm- e.g., due to agrochemical use. His as the government provides 250,000- ers. acre ‘farm blocks’ to foreign inves- many examples detail not only the Undoubtedly, many new agricul- tors, family farmers struggle for title many problems small-scale farmers tural techniques offer the prospect of face, but also their typically construc- to farm land. • In Mozambique too, the gov- improving the welfare of farmers, not tive responses despite lack of support, only by increasing productivity and if not worse, from most governments: ernment gives away vast tracts of farm land to foreign investors. Meanwhile, output, but also by limiting costs, us- • In Mexico, trade liberalisation ing scarce resources more effective- following the 1994 North American women-led cooperatives successfully run their own native maize seed ly, and reducing the drudgery of farm Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) work. swamped the country with cheap, sub- banks. • The US state of Iowa promotes But the world must recognise that sidised US maize and pork, acceler- farming may no longer be viable for ating migration from the countryside. vast monocultures of maize and soybean to feed hogs and bioethanol pro- many who face land, water and other Apparently, this was actively encour- duction rather than ‘feed the world’. resource constraints, unless they get aged by transnational pork producers • A large Mexican farmer coop- better access to such resources. Mean- employing ‘undocumented’ and un- erative launched an ‘agro-ecological while, malnutrition of various types unionised Mexican workers willing to revolution’, while the old government affects well over two billion people accept low wages and poor working kept trying to legalise Monsanto’s in the world, and industrial agricul- conditions. controversial genetically modified ture contributes about 30% of green- • In Malawi, large government (GM) maize. Farmers have thus far house gas emissions. subsidies encouraged farmers to buy halted the Monsanto plan, arguing Going forward, it will be impor- commercial fertilisers and seeds from that GM corn threatens the rich di- tant to ensure affordable, healthy and US agribusinesses such as Monsanto versity of native Mexican varieties. nutritious food supplies for all, mind- (now Bayer-owned), but to little ef- ful not only of food and water safety, fect, as their productivity and food Eating better but also of various pollution threats. security stagnated or even deteriorat- A related challenge will be to enhance ed. Meanwhile, Monsanto took over Much of the research for the book dietary diversity affordably to over- the government seed company, was done in 2014-15, when Barack come micronutrient deficiencies and favouring its own patented seeds at Obama was US president, although diet-related non-communicable dis- the expense of productive local vari- the narrative begins with develop- eases for all. – IPS ◆ eties, while a former senior Monsan- ments and policies following the 2008 to official co-authored the national food price crisis, during George W Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a former econom- seed policy that threatens to crimina- Bush’s last year in the White House. ics professor, was United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Develop- lise farmers who save, exchange and The book tells a story of US big busi- sell seeds instead! ment, and received the Wassily Leontief Prize ness’ influence on policies enabling for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic • In Zambia, greater use of seeds more aggressive transnational expan- Thought.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 14 E C O N O M I C S 5G: The battle for the future The meteoric rise of Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company which has outstripped its competitors in the 5G network race, has set alarm bells ringing in Washington. Alleging that Huawei is not a truly private company and its 5G technology can be used for espionage, Washington has used the full force of its legal system to cripple it.

Humberto Campodonico

TELECOMMUNICATIONS net- works are changing again. First we had the analogue first generation of mobile technology or 1G, then the digital 2G followed by 3G, which achieved speeds of several megabits per second. With the current 4G, you can reach several gigabits per second. Now here comes 5G, which will not only be 1,000 times faster than 4G (that’s right: 1,000 times) but also open new fronts in the fight for digi- The advent of 5G mobile technology will open new fronts in the fight for digital hege- tal hegemony in the 21st century. mony in the 21st century. Telecommunication companies of the major world powers are geared up for battle, with all the weapons they have general, reportedly having the most system ‘out of service’. at hand. advanced 5G equipment available.3 This position has supporters and The 5G network allows for mil- Many analysts say that, in this detractors. Huawei says it is a private lisecond latency and gigabit speeds field, Huawei not only is ‘nearing’ the company and the Chinese govern- for the masses, in addition to open- technological frontier (reaching the ment has nothing to do with it. Crit- ing up ‘a new mine of raw material vanguard platoon of countries), but ics say that in China nothing is done more precious than gold: data from has already surpassed them. Now the without the approval of the Commu- countless machines chattering inces- other telecom companies have to nist Party and that the risk is always santly among them, apart from human catch up with Huawei. present. consumers’. The point of having 5G This has been sounding alarms This battle went beyond the con- is not to stream movies better, but to for some time in the United States, fines of commercial competition enable new applications that make use which has begun exerting pressure on when, in December, Canada, at the of instantaneous, zero-error connec- other countries to opt against using request of the US, arrested Meng tivity, such as remote surgery, preci- Huawei’s 5G equipment. According Wanzhou, the chief financial officer sion manufacture by robots and driv- to reports, the ‘Five Eyes’ network of of Huawei and daughter of Huawei erless cars.1 intelligence agencies from the Unit- founder Ren Zhengfei. Meng has Meanwhile Huawei, a Chinese ed States, Canada, Australia, New been charged by US authorities with private company, has been overtak- Zealand and the United Kingdom violating US sanctions against Iran. ing the competition in the telecom- have declared Huawei non grata and The administration of US Presi- munication sector. In 2011, Samsung are lobbying countries, especially dent Donald Trump also argues that and Apple sold 100 million cell- Europeans, to adopt the same policy.4 Huawei – and Chinese companies in phones each; Huawei sold only 20 The central argument is that the general – have been able to advance million. In 2018, Samsung sold 220 possessor and operator of 5G technol- on the back of ‘bad practices’ and by million and the surprise is that Apple ogy can spy on the countries that forcing US companies that invest in and Huawei were now tied at 150 adopt it, at both the government and China to ‘share’ their technology. In- million each.2 Significantly, in 2018 citizen level. In addition, it could hack dependently of the validity of the al- Huawei became the world’s largest cybernetic systems, intervene in elec- legations about Chinese behaviour, provider of telecoms equipment in tions and, if necessary, put the entire this bashing also points to what

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 15 E C O N O M I C S

more advanced. If the lights go out in the West, the East will still shine. And if the North goes dark, there is still the South. America doesn’t represent the world. America only represents a portion of the world.’7 The battle over 5G technology is not only a battle between companies. It involves countries and their particular interests in this time of evolving hegemonic power. Let us not forget this. ◆

Humberto Campodonico is Principal Profes- sor at the Economics Faculty of the Univer- sity of San Marcos (Lima), former President of Petroperu and former Senior Advisor to the Economic Commission for Latin Ameri- ca and the Caribbean. He is a columnist at In 2018 Huawei became the world’s largest provider of telecoms equipment in gener- Peruvian daily La Republica, which pub- al, reportedly having the most advanced 5G equipment available. lished an earlier version of this article on 13 February 2019.

focus on the weak- Notes nesses of the Chinese system – the empha- 1 ‘5G, strategic edge, not just tele- sis on tests and com’, 2 August 2018, https:// economictimes.indiatimes.com/ memorisation, the po- blogs/et-editorials/5g-strategic- litical constraints, the edge-not-just-telecom/ discrimination against 2 ‘Huawei “crashes party” to become rural students. But largest telecoms kit supplier’, 5 De- mainland China now cember 2018, https://www.ft.com/ produces more gradu- content/7f37b73c-f962-11e8- ates in science and en- 8b7c-6fa24bd5409c gineering every year 3 ‘From launch in 2020, we forecast than the United that Chinese 5G connections will States, Japan, South scale rapidly over time, to reach Korea and Taiwan 428 million by 2025.’ Source: GSMA Intelligence, China Acade- Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei: ‘If the lights go out in the combined. In cities West, the East will still shine.’ my of Information and Communi- like Shanghai, Chi- cations Technology (CAICT), nese schoolchildren 2017, ‘5G in China: Outlook and French economist Robert Boyer de- outperform peers around the world.’6 regional comparisons’, https:// scribed as the West’s unjustified ‘self- The United States political elite www.gsmaintelligence.com/re- sufficiency pride’: it is not possible believed that by bringing China into search/?file=67a750f6114580b86 for ‘others’ to be better than us. the ambit of the West-shaped rules of 045a6a0f9587ea0&download Duncan Clark, founder of BDA, the World Trade Organisation 4 “‘Five Eyes” spy chiefs agreed to a Beijing-based technology consul- (WTO), at some point its economic contain Huawei’s global reach at and political situation would ‘make meeting in July: Report’, 16 De- tancy, is quoted by the Financial cember 2018, https:// Times as saying: ‘[Huawei] crashed it fall’. That has not happened. They gizmodo.com/five-eyes-spy- the party of vendors and operators, look at the world through ideological chiefs-agreed-to-contain-huaweis- those golf club relationships. They did blinders and they are wrong. There global-r-1831131906 that by moving faster and offering are economic models, different from 5 ‘Huawei “crashes party” to become good quality stuff cheaper. And in that the neoliberal ones, where the mix be- largest telecoms kit supplier’, op. process, they have been throwing a tween state and market can prevail. cit. Finally, it is also worth taking into 6 ‘The land that failed to fail’, 18 No- light on the inefficiencies of the US vember 2018, https://www.nytimes. account the words of Huawei founder economy, and posing systemic chal- com/interactive/2018/11/18/world/ lenges to US tech businesses.’5 Ren Zhengfei. In a February 2019 in- asia/china-rules.html And why not? As an article in The terview with the BBC, he said: ‘The 7 https://www.bbc.com/news/busi- New York Times put it: ‘Many critics world cannot leave us because we are ness-47274679

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 16 C O V E R UN climate change conference ushers in ‘Katowice Climate Package’ The annual UN climate talks, held in the Polish mining town of Katowice in December, had as the main agenda item the drawing up of the rules for the implementation of the Paris climate treaty. Although the negotiations proved acri- monious, in the end they succeeded in producing these rules, which have now been dubbed the ‘Katowice Climate Package’.

AFTER the momentous adoption of article ‘The key decisions on the Par- the Paris Agreement (PA) in 2015, the Meena Raman and is Agreement implementation rules’ United Nations Framework Conven- Evelyn Teh in this issue.) tion on Climate Change (UNFCCC)’s The decisions under the PAWP 24th session (known as COP 24), held were finally delivered on 15 Decem- in the coal city of Katowice, Poland, the development and transfer of tech- ber (except for guidelines on cooper- on 2-15 December, set another mile- nology. ative approaches relating to the use stone in climate negotiations with the The drawing up of these rules in of markets and non-market approach- approval of the rules for the imple- the three years leading up to COP 24 es) in what was the most significant mentation of the PA, dubbed the ‘Ka- had been mired in a battle of inter- outcome of COP 24. The adoption of towice Climate Package’. pretation between developed and de- the decision was greeted with cheers Once the PA was ratified and en- veloping countries over the agreement of jubilation in the plenary hall and a tered into force in record time in 2016, reached in Paris. giant leap of joy by Kurtyka. Howev- the clock began to tick for govern- Developing countries viewed er, when the government representa- ments to agree on the rules for imple- developed countries as trying to un- tives delivered their statements, the mentation by COP 24, under what dermine the fine and delicate balance reactions were somewhat mixed. was known as the Paris Agreement reached in Paris in respect of their The Group of 77 and China, Work Programme (PAWP). respective obligations under the PA, which represented the developing These rules, among other matters, through the push by the latter for world, in its assessment of the over- spell out the guidelines for govern- guidelines and processes that were all package of decisions, said that it ments on what information to provide mitigation-centric and that diluted ‘did not see a level of balance’, as it when they communicate their intend- differences between developed and saw ‘a mitigation regime in the mak- ed climate actions, known as nation- developing countries on how the rules ing, with urgent adaptation needs rel- ally determined contributions are to be applied; the developed coun- egated to second-class status’. It also (NDCs); what they will report on in tries’ refusal to acknowledge their expressed fear that the regime ignores the implementation of these contribu- historical responsibility for climate the principle of ‘common but differ- tions, including on the financial and change; and their resistance to hav- entiated responsibilities’ (CBDR) be- technology resources provided to de- ing processes in place for enhancing tween developed and developing veloping countries; and how these financial and technology support to countries. actions will be reviewed at the inter- developing countries in meeting their On the other hand, developed national level. NDCs. countries such as the European The package of decisions adopt- This deep North-South political Union and the Umbrella Group ed also includes guidelines that relate divide over the years was somehow (which includes the United States) to: bridged with some compromises dur- were more upbeat, stressing that clear • the process for establishing new ing the final hours of COP 24, after guidance is now in place on the in- targets on finance by 2025, from the almost two weeks of gruelling tech- formation to be provided for their fu- current target of mobilising $100 bil- nical and political negotiations among ture actions, with a robust framework lion per year from 2020 to support governments and behind-the-scenes that would allow Parties to track developing countries; diplomacy under the leadership of the progress of their actions. (For more • the conduct of the global stock- COP 24 President Michal Kurtyka, on this, see the article ‘Decisions for take in 2023 to assess the collective the Secretary of State for the Polish implementation of Paris Agreement progress of governments in achieving Ministry of Environment. (For further adopted’ in this issue.) the goals of the PA; and details on the areas of divergences and On the decisions on finance, a • the assessment of progress on the final decisions adopted, see the senior developing-country negotiator

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 17 C O V E R involved in the process told the Third not increased before 2030, exceeding on how governments could not wel- World Network that ‘there were wins the 1.5°C goal can no longer be avoid- come the IPCC’s 1.5°C special report, and there were losses for developing ed’. given objections raised by the US, countries’, but was of the view that Key developing countries such as Russia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The ‘developing countries got more wins China and India made clear that the US said explicitly that it could not than losses’. (For more, see the arti- gap in mitigation ambition of devel- endorse the findings of the report. cle ‘Important finance decisions oped countries in the pre-2020 peri- In the decision adopted in the fi- adopted at climate talks’ in this issue.) od must not be passed on to develop- nal hours, the COP only managed to While there was relief in the con- ing countries in the post-2020 time- ‘welcome the timely completion’ of ference hall that the Paris Agreement frame of the PA, adding that this was the special report. rulebook had been finally agreed to, the responsibility of developed coun- Several groups of countries, es- there was much frustration among tries. pecially from the Alliance of Small developing countries and many civil In a stocktake session on pre- Island States, highlighted important society groups at the inability of de- 2020 actions during the Katowice cli- findings of the special report during veloped countries in particular to ur- mate talks, Xie Zhenhua, China’s the course of the COP, including that gently raise their mitigation targets (as Special Representative for Climate ‘impacts at 1.5°C, such as on global the NDCs only take effect from 2021 Change Affairs, said that govern- sea level rise, biodiversity and eco- onwards). ments were ‘still a long way before systems, ocean temperature, and ad- Notably, the Doha Amendment to achieving our [climate] objectives’, aptation needs, will be lower com- the Kyoto Protocol (KP) has yet to and added that the emissions gap (cre- pared to 2°C’. The report also states be ratified and enter into force, hence ated by developed countries) should that ‘limiting global warming requires the lack of a second commitment pe- not be shifted to the post-2020 peri- limiting the total cumulative global riod (2CP) for emission reductions by od. anthropogenic emissions of carbon developed countries which are Par- Ravi Prasad from the Indian Min- dioxide (CO2) since the preindustri- ties to the KP. istry of Environment, Forests and Cli- al period, i.e. staying within a total Governments had agreed in 2012 mate Change expressed similar sen- carbon budget’. for the 2CP to ensure that developed timents and stressed that many reports The UN Secretary-General’s ini- countries would cut emissions by at – including a recent special report by tiative to convene a Climate Summit least 18% below 1990 levels by 2020, the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli- in 2019 (to be held in September) was and that they would revisit their com- mate Change (IPCC) on the impacts also welcomed by governments at mitments by 2014 with a view to in- of global warming of 1.5°C – indi- creasing their ambition. This was the cate ‘significant gaps in pre-2020 ac- COP 24, whose decision calls on Par- political understanding reached that tion even amounting to up to 40-50% ties ‘to participate in the Summit and allowed for negotiations that eventu- and called for emissions reductions to demonstrate, through such partici- ally led to the PA. by about 25-40% by developed coun- pation, their enhanced ambition in However, just before COP 24 tries in this period’. The Indian dele- addressing climate change’. began, only 122 Parties, including the gate asserted further that ‘any emis- Whether governments, especial- European Union, had ratified the sions gap which was part of the pre- ly in the developed world, will indeed Doha Amendment, when 144 Parties 2020 period must be carried over and step up to more ambition remains to are required for the amendment to fulfilled in the post-2020 period and be seen, despite the sounding of alarm enter into force. Developed countries countries which were responsible for bells through scientific reports and such as Canada, Japan and Russia them must take that responsibility’. rising incidences of heatwaves, for- have not ratified and the US is not a With nothing to show especially est fires, droughts and extreme weath- party to the KP. In addition, no de- on the part of developed countries in er events around the globe. veloped country has revised or raised raising their pre-2020 emission reduc- As pointed out by well-known its pre-2020 mitigation targets, thus tion targets, the COP 24 decision nature broadcaster Sir David Atten- reneging on their 2012 promise. could only underscore the urgent need borough at the opening ceremony of The UN Environment Pro- for the entry into force of the Doha the COP, ‘time is running out’ and gramme (UNEP)’s Emissions Gap Amendment and emphasised that ‘en- decision-makers have to act now, by Report released prior to the COP hanced pre-2020 ambition can lay a making the tough decisions and sac- showed that ‘current commitments solid foundation for enhanced post- rifices to help make the changes the expressed in the NDCs [for emission 2020 ambition’. Another stocktake on world needs – ‘the continuation of our cuts from 2021 to 2030] are inade- pre-2020 implementation and ambi- civilisations and the natural world’ is ◆ quate to bridge the emissions gap in tion will take place at the next COP, in the hands of world leaders. 2030’, and that ‘technically, it is still which is expected to be held in Santi- possible to bridge the gap to ensure ago, Chile, this year. Meena Raman is senior legal adviser and coordinator of the climate change pro- global warming stays well below 2°C Meanwhile, world media cover- gramme of the Third World Network. Evelyn and 1.5°C, but if NDC ambitions are age of the Katowice talks was mainly Teh is a senior researcher with TWN.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 18 C O V E R Decisions for implementation of Paris Agreement adopted Decisions for the implementation of the Paris Agreement (PA) were adopted as a package by the Conference of the Parties meeting as the Parties to the PA (CMA) late on 15 December, a day later than initially scheduled for the closure of the United Nations climate change conference in Katowice. Meena Raman reports.

THE decisions for the PA implementation, known as the PA work programme (PAWP), had been forward- ed to the CMA by the 24th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Cli- mate Change (COP 24), which had been conducting the work on the PAWP under the Ad Hoc Working Group on the PA and the Subsidiary Bodies of the Convention. In its assessment of the overall PAWP package of decisions, the developing-country Group of 77 and China said that it ‘did not see a level of balance’, as it saw ‘a mitigation regime in the making, with urgent adaptation needs relegated to second- (enb.iisd.org/climate/cop24/enb/15dec.html) Worth Photo by IISD/Kiara class status’. It also expressed fear Heads of delegation at the UN climate change conference in Katowice pose on the that the regime ignores the principle podium to celebrate the adoption of the Katowice Climate Package on 15 December. of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ (CBDR) between developed input, the technical assessment as well depending on the duration of their and developing countries. as the output, including its consider- NDCs.) The decision also states that The Like-Minded Developing ations throughout the GST process’. the guidance on information neces- Countries (LMDC) grouping ex- Developed countries on the oth- sary for CTU is without prejudice to pressed ‘disappointment that devel- er hand, such as the European Union the inclusion of components other oped countries resisted any attempt and the Umbrella Group, in welcom- than mitigation. This is viewed by to include equity as a holistic consid- ing the PAWP decisions, stressed that developing countries as a major win eration in the global stocktake (GST), clear guidance is now in place to Par- on the scope of NDCs, which not only which would form the basis for en- ties on the information to be provid- relate to mitigation contributions but hancing action’. (Article 14.1 of the ed for their future actions, as well as may include an adaptation compo- PA stipulates that the GST – which is a robust transparency framework that nent, along with the means of imple- an assessment of the collective would allow Parties to track progress mentation necessary. progress of Parties towards achieving of their actions. In the transparency framework the purpose of the Agreement and its In the decision on the informa- decision, flexibility is provided for long-term goals, and is to take place tion to be provided for the nationally developing countries that need it in in 2023 – has to be carried out in light determined contributions (NDCs), the light of their capacities and this is of equity.) Parties are required to provide the to be self-determined. This includes India also made a statement ex- information necessary for clarity, flexibilities in the scope, frequency pressing its reservation that the deci- transparency and understanding and level of reporting, and in the sion on the GST did not operationa- (CTU) in relation to their second and scope of the review that is to be un- lise equity and was not in accordance subsequent NDCs. (Parties have al- dertaken. with the mandate and relevant provi- ready provided their information for As regards the decision on fi- sions of the PA, adding that ‘equity the first set of NDCs, which will take nance, on the ex ante information to must be considered and be part of the effect from 2020 to 2025 or 2030, be provided on the projected levels

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 19 C O V E R

of public financial resources to devel- negotiator from the Philippines who the CMA. At the CMA, the PAWP oping countries under Article 9.5, had passed away on 14 December. package was adopted to applause and developed countries are requested to The COP 24 President said that Di- a standing ovation, with Kurtyka, who provide the information starting in tas, as she was popularly known, was also served as President of the CMA, 2020. On setting a new collective a ‘pillar of climate change negotia- calling it a ‘historic moment’. quantified goal on finance, Parties tions, with her passion, kindness, The UNFCCC Executive Secre- agreed to initiate in November 2020 friendly disposition and mentorship tary Patricia Espinosa then read out a deliberations on the goal from a floor of all’, and that she would be remem- message from the UN Secretary-Gen- of $100 billion per year. Developed bered with profound admiration. Del- eral, who said that a ‘solid roadmap countries were reluctant to make egates rose to observe a minute of si- for climate action’ had been put in progress on the finance issues until lence in her honour. Kurtyka also in- place, adding that the science had they had a clearer view of where de- formed delegates that the book of shown the need for enhanced ambi- veloping countries stood on the other condolences would be sent to her tion and that ‘ambition will be in the matters related to the PAWP, especial- family. centre of the UN Summit to be held ly on NDCs and the transparency (At a eulogy session held [in 2019]’ and that Parties had ‘a duty framework. throughout the day on 15 December, to reach for more’. Apart from the PAWP decisions, numerous delegates from developing the COP decision (1/CP.24) also in- and developed countries alike paid Closing statements of Parties cludes decisions on the following emotional tribute to the ‘giant’, matters: high-level ministerial dia- ‘champion’ and ‘mentor’, with so At the joint closing plenary of the logue on climate finance; implemen- many unable to control their grief and COP, the Conference of the Parties tation and ambition (covering the pre- tears in what was a very moving gath- serving as the meeting of the Parties 2020 and post-2020 timeframes); the ering. They also signed the book of to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate condolences.) CMA, groups of Parties expressed Change (IPCC)’s 1.5ºC Special Re- In paving the way for the adop- their views. port; the Talanoa Dialogue; and the tion of the PAWP decisions, Kurtyka Speaking for the G77 and Chi- UN Climate Summit in 2019. said that it had been a ‘long road’ with na, Egypt expressed congratulations Parties had been expecting clean delegates working for three years on for the tireless efforts of the COP texts of the draft decisions to become the ‘package’, on which it had not Presidency in helping to overcome the available on 13 December under the been easy to find agreement, given the obstacles at the talks. It said that the authority of COP 24 President, specifics and technical details. He Group was happy with the outcome. Michal Kurtyka. However, given the said that the COP Presidency did its However, in assessing the overall divergent positions on various mat- best to listen to Parties and to leave package, it did not see a level of bal- ters, the COP President continued to no one behind, in what was a ‘hard ance. It said the group saw a mitiga- consult groups of Parties behind and daunting’ task. He described the tion regime in the making, with ur- closed doors, similar to the process deal as being ‘in fragile balance’ and gent adaptation needs relegated to adopted in Paris, in order to arrive at that ‘all Parties had to give and gain’, second-class status. compromises. adding that the ‘overall interest of all It also expressed fear that the re- Delegates waited patiently was balanced in a fair manner’. gime ignores the principle of CBDR throughout 14 December for the clean When the COP President invited between developed and developing texts, but none arrived until the morn- Parties to adopt decision 1/CP.24, countries. It underscored the impor- ing of 15 December. The closing ple- which includes the PAWP package of tance of CBDR and equity in imple- nary was finally convened at around decisions, India requested the floor menting the outcomes of the deci- 9 pm on 15 December and went on and there was pin-drop silence at the sions, and that given the different ca- till close to midnight. plenary, with delegates wondering pacities between developed and de- what was about to happen. veloping countries, differences could COP and CMA plenary India said that it had reservations not be glossed over. It also said that as regards the decision on the global developing countries would do their Kurtyka, in his opening remarks stocktake but that, in a ‘constructive fair share of the lifting and that they at the COP 24 plenary, said that the spirit to ensure the process moves for- would show ambition but that this ‘night was long and it took a day to ward’, it would express its reserva- was not a zero-sum game and all put together the PAWP [decisions]’ tions later (after the decisions were should benefit. It also hoped that a and that this was a ‘big responsibili- gavelled). path could be found for the well-be- ty’. The COP then adopted the deci- ing of the planet. Prior to the forwarding of the sion to forward the PAWP package In remembering Madame Ditas, decisions to the CMA for adoption, of decisions to the CMA for consid- the G77 spokesman, Egyptian Am- the COP paid tribute to Bernarditas eration and adoption. The COP was bassador Wael Aboulmagd, described Mueller, a veteran climate change then suspended for the convening of her as a genuinely compassionate and

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 20 C O V E R

this did not stop her from participat- ing in the process, lending her expertise to the G77 and particularly the LMDC. ‘Even as she approached her final hour and could no longer hold and read the messages, she asked her daughter to read to her the reports of our present proceedings, daily,’ said the LMDC spokesperson. Malaysia recalled her comments made almost a decade ago where she had said that ‘There is so much at stake. Get it right, and the world has the chance to both halt catastrophic climate change and find a better path ‘The cumulative historical emissions of developed countries with historically one- to develop. Get it wrong and all the sixth of the world’s population account for more than three-fourths of the carbon injustices and disadvantages that de- dioxide emissions.’ veloping countries now face will be magnified 1,000 times in the coming caring friend and a mentor to many, world’s population. Therein lies the years.’ and said that the world had lost a de- inequity of ignoring the historical In conclusion, the LMDC said voted warrior who fought for future cumulative emissions in the GST that ‘we hear reports that the city generations, leaving a legacy of love when requiring countries to plan their where this agreement was born is ex- and compassion. ambitions. Else you put an unequal periencing extraordinary turbulence Speaking for the LMDC, Malay- burden on us for what developed [in reference to the “yellow vest” ri- sia underlined the principle of equity countries are responsible for.’ ots on the streets of Paris]. If we get and CBDR: ‘It is crucial to recall why The LMDC expressed ‘disap- it right, we insulate the PA from any developed countries are developed pointment that developed countries such impact’. and we are developing. Historically, resisted any attempt to include equi- Ethiopia, speaking for the Least the largest share of the carbon/emis- ty as a holistic consideration in the Developed Countries (LDCs), said sions space has been used by devel- GST, which would form the basis for that ‘science is not up for negotiation’ oped countries in Western Europe and enhancing action’. Regardless, it said and welcomed the IPCC Special Re- North America as they industrialised, that ‘it is our understanding that eq- port. It said that there is a good basis fuelled by the use of fossil fuel – and uity must be considered in the GST: for all Parties to implement the PA but their economies prospered. This was the input, the technical assessment regretted that work on Article 6 (on the genesis of climate change. Devel- and the output. This is how equity is cooperative approaches, including oping countries are also entitled to operationalised to fulfil the mandate market mechanisms) could not be develop and grow sustainably. For in Article 14.1 of the PA’. It also add- completed as this could incentivise this, the remaining carbon space must ed that it was a matter of public record more ambitious NDCs. (The Article be shared equitably. This is the which was disclosed in Paris that the 6 negotiations could not be finalised premise of the Convention and its pre-2020 pledges of developing coun- in Katowice due to differences be- progeny, the PA. We owe this to the tries as well as their NDCs were more tween Parties on the details of the poor and vulnerable who are paying ambitious than those of the developed mechanisms.) – sometimes with their lives – in our countries. The Maldives, speaking for the parts of the world. This is why equity Malaysia said that the LMDC, Alliance of Small Island States (AO- assumes a major and central role in although pained by some of the pro- SIS), said that Madame Ditas ‘was a meeting the climate change challeng- visions (in the decisions), will work giant in this process and a tireless es. This is why equity must be opera- constructively to move forward in a champion for climate justice and de- tionalised, and meaningfully.’ spirit of compromise and in interpret- veloping countries’ and that ‘she will Said the LMDC further, ‘The ing the decision in the context of pre- be missed greatly by our small islands cumulative historical emissions of serving its fundamental elements and family’. developed countries with historically ethos. On the decisions adopted, it said one-sixth of the world’s population Referring to the passing of Ma- the texts reflected ‘balance’, and account for more than three-fourths dame Ditas, the LMDC said that she though AOSIS was not fully satisfied, of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emis- was one of the Convention’s founders it recognised that ‘compromises need- sions. The developing world account- and its greatest stalwarts; in the meet- ed to be made to move forward’. On ed for one-fourth of CO2 emissions ings leading up to the adoption of the the IPCC Special Report, it said that with historically five-sixths of the PA in 2015, she had been ailing, but it ‘represents the best available sci-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 21 C O V E R ence on climate change and the find- the light of different national circum- political opportunity to take stock of ings are unsettling, to say the least. stances to ensure climate justice to the the global progress and that there was Unless we dramatically change how poor and vulnerable people across the strong evidence that financial flows the world generates and consumes globe. It added that the COP decisions were shifting to the low-emissions energy in about the next decade, the rightly signify the importance of en- economy. opportunity to hold global warming hanced pre-2020 action and wel- On the PAWP, which it called the to 1.5°C may irretrievably slip away’. comed the conclusion of the Talanoa ‘rulebook’, the EU said that a univer- It expressed disappointment that Par- Dialogue and remained certain that its sal transparency framework was now ties were unable to agree to welcome spirit will continue to inspire in fu- in place, where Parties improve and the report and its findings. ture. The BASIC countries also un- progress over time and communicate clear and comparable terms in their On ambition, AOSIS urged lead- derscored they have chosen a path of actions. It said that the decisions pre- ers to build on the progress made dur- progress and non-regression in cli- served the notion of ‘contemporary ing the Talanoa Dialogue, ‘by explor- mate actions. India, in its national capacity, pre- differentiation’, recognising the eco- ing how existing solutions can pro- nomic and social evolution of Parties. vide avenues for them to immediate- sented its reservation on the PAWP outcome as follows: ‘Article 14.1 of The results of the GST could be con- ly ramp up climate action’. It was also the PA mandates that the GST pro- sidered as a central innovation and pleased to see ‘binding language’ in cess has to be conducted in the light feature of the PA which ensures pro- the PAWP decision on the need to of equity and best available science. gression over time, the EU said, not- provide information for CTU with a The decision paragraph in its current ing that all the current NDCs fell well clear focus on mitigation. It was how- form does not operationalise equity short (of what was needed to limit ever concerned that the review of in- and is not in accordance with the temperature rise). formation would only be in 2028, and mandate and relevant provisions of Switzerland, speaking for the believed that this was too late. the PA. Equity must be considered Environmental Integrity Group, wel- On finance, it said that climate and be part of the input, the technical comed the encompassing ‘rulebook’ change is already fast outpacing our assessment as well as the output, in- which it said managed to secure de- ability to respond and we will keep cluding its considerations throughout tails and robust guidance for collec- falling behind unless developed coun- the GST process. Reference of Arti- tive and national actions. It noted that tries deliver on the commitments they cle 2 in its entirety in the paragraph some rules were legally binding while made in Paris, adding that real 6(b) of this decision is an essential others were less so, and regretted that progress on adaptation demands scal- requirement for operationalising eq- the work on Article 6 could not be ing up finance, commensurate with uity.’ completed, rendering the ‘package’ incomplete. the increasingly severe challenges we Saudi Arabia, speaking for the Australia, on behalf of the Um- face. Arab Group, said that it was commit- brella Group, welcomed the decisions It also saw progress on ‘loss and ted to the PA in the context of the adopted, which it said brought the PA damage’, particularly the explicit lan- CBDR principle and in furthering ‘to life’, adding that it provided clear guage in transparency and the GST, sustainable development. It said that guidance to Parties on the informa- stating further that real support to it had many concerns with the out- tion to be provided for future actions address it still needs to be delivered come but demonstrated flexibility in and accounting guidance for their tar- soon. arriving at the decisions. gets. It also highlighted the robust Speaking on behalf of the Afri- On behalf of the Independent transparency framework that would can Group, Gabon, in acknowledg- Alliance of Latin America and the allow Parties to track progress of their ing the Katowice outcome on the Caribbean (AILAC), Colombia un- actions. The decisions on the means PAWP, called for commitments to be derscored the importance of the in- of implementation provided a strong shown on the flow of adequate and tense technical work done to enable basis to support the implementation enhanced provision of the means of the implementation of the PA. of the PA, it said further, welcoming implementation on finance, technol- China said that great flexibility the GST to secure strong climate ac- ogy transfer and capacity building for was demonstrated to arrive at the tions. developing countries to unlock the PAWP, which was comprehensive, The Philippines, in a tribute to potential to combat climate change balanced and robust, consistent with Madame Ditas, recalled that she was and enable adaptation efforts. the principle of CBDR-RC in the light a prime mover of the Convention and was referred to as the ‘dragon lady’ India, speaking for the BASIC of national circumstances. This, it and ‘lioness of developing countries’, countries (Brazil, South Africa, India said, was a victory for multilateralism. loved by many and feared by some as and China), said it was happy that the The European Union (EU) said she spoke for climate justice and men- guidelines for the implementation of that the target for limiting tempera- tored negotiators. It said that the the PA have been formulated. It also ture rise under the PA was still within world had lost a great citizen and recalled its commitment to the prin- reach and that Parties were heading asked that she be honoured by mak- ciples of equity and CBDR and re- in the right direction. It said that the ing the Convention and the PA work spective capabilities (CBDR-RC) in Talanoa Dialogue provided the first for all humanity. ◆

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 22 C O V E R The key decisions on the Paris Agreement implementation rules At Katowice, the familiar North-South divide resurfaced with regard to the rules for implementation of the Paris Agreement. The following article provides a brief analysis of some of the key decisions of the conference and the fights that went on prior to their adoption.

FOLLOWING the adoption of the Meena Raman cy and understanding’ (CTU) in com- Paris Agreement (PA) in 2015 and its municating their NDCs. ratification the following year, devel- The mandate from Paris was for oped and developing Parties to agree on the countries had been en- guidance for the infor- gaged in a battle of in- mation to be provided terpretation over the to facilitate CTU of the rules for implementa- NDCs. Parties were tion of the agreement. also required to agree This battle finally on the guidance on ‘fea- got settled in Katow- tures’ as well as the ice, Poland, with the guidance on accounting decisions adopted by of their NDCs. the Conference of the Parties meeting as the Features of NDCs Parties to the PA One issue that (CMA) on 15 Decem- arose was over the guid- ber. ance on ‘features’ of The decisions un- (enb.iisd-org/climate/cop24/enb/ Worth Photo by IISD/Kiara 15dec.html) NDCs, which revolved der the Paris Agree- COP 24 President Michal Kurtyka (pic) described the Katowice decisions around what the fea- ment Work Pro- as being ‘in fragile balance’ and ‘all Parties had to give and gain’. tures ought to be, which gramme (PAWP) cov- features were reflected ered such issues as nationally deter- of the key decisions and the fights that in the PA and whether new features mined contributions (NDCs) (ad- went on prior to their adoption. (For could be agreed to beyond the PA. A dressed in Article 4 of the PA); adap- an analysis of the finance-related de- related matter was the scope of NDCs, tation (Article 7); finance (Article 9); cisions adopted by the CMA and the as regards what the features of the technology transfer (Article 10); COP, see the article ‘Important fi- contributions are. During the course transparency framework (Article 13); nance decisions adopted at climate of negotiations, the only feature that global stocktake (GST) (Article 14); talks’ in this issue.) saw consensus among Parties was facilitating implementation and com- that an NDC is ‘nationally deter- pliance (Article 15); and some fi- Nationally determined mined’. nance-related decisions. The work on contributions In the decision that was finally Article 6 relating to cooperative ap- adopted, Parties noted that ‘features proaches (which include market The heart of the PA is the obliga- of NDCs are outlined in the relevant mechanisms and non-market ap- tion in Article 4 that states that ‘Each provisions of the PA’, and also decid- proaches) could not be completed Party shall prepare, communicate and ed to ‘continue consideration of fur- owing to divergences among Parties maintain successive nationally deter- ther guidance on features’ of NDCs on many technical and substantive mined contributions that it intends to in 2024. The can has therefore been issues; work on this will continue in achieve.’ The Article goes on to state kicked down the road for another bat- 2019. that ‘Parties shall pursue domestic tle on the features of NDCs in 2024. The 24th meeting of the Confer- mitigation measures, with the aim of Two further issues that saw di- ence of the Parties to the UNFCCC achieving the objectives of such con- vergences between developed and (COP 24) in Katowice also adopted tributions.’ developing countries were on: (i) how several important decisions on fi- Article 4.8 of the PA provides that differentiation would be reflected be- nance which are relevant to the PA. ‘all Parties shall provide the informa- tween developed and developing Below is a brief analysis on some tion necessary for clarity, transparen- countries in relation to the guidance

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 23 C O V E R on the information for CTU, given the different nature of their NDCs; and (ii) the scope of the NDCs (whether it is only about mitigation contributions or if it also includes adaptation efforts, as well as the means of implementation related to finance, technology transfer and capacity-building especially for developing countries to implement their climate actions).

Differentiation Led by the United States, developed countries were not prepared to reflect differentiation among developed and developing countries in the guidance to be developed on NDCs, which was the preferred option of a large bloc of developing countries led The president of the 2015 Paris climate conference, Laurent Fabius, declaring the especially by the Like-Minded Devel- Paris Agreement adopted. Developed and developing countries had since been en- oping Countries (LMDC). gaged in a battle of interpretation over the rules for implementation of the agreement. In relation to information to facilitate CTU of Parties’ NDCs, the view of developed countries was that also recalls Article 4.4 of the PA quent NDCs. Most NDCs of Parties, all Parties would provide information which differentiates the type of miti- with the exception of the US and on a certain set of elements. In con- gation efforts between developed and Marshall Islands, are for a 10-year trast, the LMDC and some other de- developing countries, and ‘provides time frame from 2021-30. Hence, the veloping countries were of the view that developed country Parties should guidance for most countries will ap- that developed countries would pro- continue taking the lead by undertak- ply to NDCs from 2031 onwards. vide a certain set of information, ing economy-wide absolute emission while developing countries could reduction targets, and that develop- Scope of NDCs choose the information to be providing country Parties should continue On the scope of NDCs, devel- ed as appropriate to them. enhancing their mitigation efforts and oped countries, during the negotia- The position of the Umbrella are encouraged to move over time tions, were of the view that Article 4 Group, of which the US is a member, towards economy wide emission re- of the PA only referred to mitigation was that such a bifurcated approach duction or limitation targets in the actions, while some developing coun- between developed and developing light of different national circum- tries, including the LMDC, held that countries was inconsistent with the stances’. NDCs as defined under Article 3 en- PA and would ‘hinder rather than Hence, the information to be pro- compass the full scope of contribu- build trust among Parties’. They vided will be ‘as applicable’ to the tions, which includes adaptation and stressed that the information to be different nature of the NDCs between the means of implementation, and are provided cannot be differentiated be- developed and developing countries. not limited to mitigation only. This tween one set of rules for developed Annex I of the decision deals had been the subject of a fierce battle countries and another for developing with information primarily relevant to in Paris which led to a final compro- countries. a mitigation contribution and covers, mise in an ambiguously worded Arti- In the decision adopted, in para- among others, matters that relate to cle 4. graph 10, it was agreed that ‘in com- quantifiable information on the ref- Developed countries in Katowice municating their second and subse- erence point (including, as appropri- continued to resist reference to Arti- quent NDCs, Parties shall provide the ate, a base year); how the Party’s prep- cle 3 in the operative part of the NDC information necessary for CTU con- aration of its NDC has been informed decision as pushed for by the LMDC. tained in annex I as applicable to their by the outcomes of the GST; and how In the decision adopted, Article 3 is NDCs’ (emphasis added). Parties a Party considers that its NDC is fair, recalled in the preamble. were also ‘strongly encourage[d]’ to including reflecting on equity. It is also important to note that in ‘provide this information in relation The issue of the scope of NDCs the overarching COP 24 decision, to their first NDC, including when is addressed below. paragraph 3 reaffirms that ‘in the con- communicating or updating it by It is also important to note that text of NDCs … all Parties are to un- 2020’. the information guidance for CTU is dertake ambitious efforts defined in’ The decision (in paragraph 8) mandatory for the second and subse- the various articles of the PA which

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 24 C O V E R include mitigation, adaptation and the ing whether to have a five- or ten-year cannot be without restrictions. Devel- means of implementation, and as re- time frame. oping countries, on the other hand, flected in Article 3 of the PA. In the decision adopted, it was opposed such restrictions or limita- The full scope of NDCs is also decided that Parties ‘shall apply com- tions and argued that it is up to them reflected in paragraph 11 of the NDC mon time frames to their NDCs to be to nationally determine the flexibili- decision, which states as follows in implemented from 2031 onward’. The ties needed, without a top-down im- relation to the information to be pro- decision also requests the Subsidiary position of who can and who cannot vided: ‘Emphasises that the guidance Body for Implementation (SBI) to have those flexibilities. on information necessary for clarity, continue consideration of the issue of Another issue was when the ex- transparency and understanding is common time frames at its June ses- isting transparency system under the without prejudice to the inclusion of sion in 2019, with a view to making a UNFCCC would be superseded by components other than mitigation in recommendation to the CMA. the new MPGs of the ETF. a nationally determined contribution, In Katowice, the MPGs for the notes that Parties may provide other Transparency framework ETF were adopted and are contained information when submitting their in a lengthy annex which comprises nationally determined contributions, Article 13.1 of the PA provides the following chapters: and in particular that, as provided in that ‘in order to build mutual trust and • Chapter I covers the purpose of Article 7.11 … an adaptation commu- confidence and to promote effective the framework; guiding principles; nication referred to in Article 7.10 … implementation, an enhanced trans- flexibility to those developing coun- may be submitted as a component of parency framework [ETF] for action tries that need it; facilitating improved or in conjunction with a nationally and support, with built-in flexibility reporting and transparency over time; determined contribution as referred to which takes into account Parties’ dif- and reporting format. in Article 4.2…, and also notes the ferent capacities and builds upon col- • Chapter II covers, among other further guidance in relation to the lective experience is hereby estab- matters, the ‘national inventory report adaptation communication…’ lished’. of emissions and removals’. Since an NDC is nationally de- Article 13.2 provides that ‘The • Chapter III covers information termined, apart from providing infor- transparency framework shall provide necessary to track progress made in mation on the mitigation efforts, Par- flexibility in the implementation of implementing and achieving NDCs ties can also include an adaptation the provisions of this Article to those under Article 4. component, and for developing coun- developing country Parties that need • Chapter IV covers information tries, the reference to ‘other informa- it in the light of their capacities,’ and related to adaptation, including loss tion’ can also include their finance, that ‘The modalities, procedures and and damage. technology transfer and capacity- guidelines [MPGs] … shall reflect • Chapter V covers information building needs. such flexibility.’ on financial, technology development As regards the accounting guid- During the negotiations, con- and transfer and capacity-building ance for NDCs, the decision in para- cerns were expressed by developing support provided and mobilised by graph 16 provides that ‘in account- countries that the proposed transpar- developed countries. ing for anthropogenic emissions and ency guidelines enhance the obliga- • Chapter VI covers information removals corresponding to their tions of developing countries, with no on the support needed and received NDCs, … Parties shall account for enhancement of the same by devel- by developing countries. their NDCs in accordance with the oped countries. Some developing • Chapter VII covers technical guidance contained in annex II’. countries were of the view that there expert review, including about what This accounting guidance is mit- cannot be common reporting guide- the technical expert review teams can igation-related and Annex II contains lines for both developed and devel- do and cannot do. various items, including an explana- oping countries in relation to their • Chapter VIII covers the facili- tion of why any categories of emis- climate actions as they have different tative, multilateral consideration of sions or removals are excluded from capacities. progress (FMCP). being accounted for by a Party. Developing countries also want- It was also decided that Parties ed stronger rules on reporting and re- shall submit their first biennial trans- Common time frames view in relation to the provision of parency report (BTR) and national Another issue that saw wrangling the means of implementation by de- inventory report, in accordance with related to the matter of the common veloped countries, while this was re- the MPGs, at the latest by 31 Decem- time frame for NDCs. Developed sisted by developed countries. ber 2024. This replaces the current countries preferred the option of hav- While developed countries were biennial reports (BRs) for developed ing a common time frame for all prepared to accommodate ‘flexibili- countries and biennial update reports NDCs, while some developing coun- ties’ for developing countries that (BURs) for developing countries un- tries were of the view that countries need them, they insisted that the flex- der the UNFCCC. should have the flexibility of decid- ibilities have to be ‘bounded’, i.e., Parties agreed that the BTRs, the

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 25 C O V E R technical expert review and the ed, and how it has been determined stocktake’ (emphasis added). FMCP prepared and conducted in that such resources are new and ad- Parties also agreed in paragraph accordance with the MPGs shall re- ditional’. Also required is informa- 3 that the GST ‘will consist of the place the BRs, BURs, the internation- tion on ‘how the information provid- following components: (a) Informa- al assessment and review (for devel- ed reflects a progression from previ- tion collection and preparation…; (b) oped countries) and international con- ous levels in the provision and mo- Technical assessment…; (c) Consid- sultation and analysis (for developing bilisation of finance under the PA’. eration of outputs, focusing on dis- countries), following the submissions This is a clear win for develop- cussing the implications of the find- of the final BRs/BURs, which is ing countries, as they have lamented ings of the technical assessment with 2022/2024 respectively. that the financial information provid- a view to achieving the outcome of ed by developed countries in their re- the GST of informing Parties in up- Flexibilities to developing ports is not clear on what is new and dating and enhancing, in a nationally determined manner, their actions and countries additional over and above official support, in accordance with relevant Although the ETF is common for development assistance. provisions of the PA, as well as in both developed and developing coun- The wrangling between devel- enhancing international cooperation tries after 2024, flexibilities are ac- oped and developing countries in re- for climate action’. corded to developing countries in relation to what they should report as In the final decision adopted, on lation to the reporting and review. The reflected in the MPGs took place in the ‘sources of input’ for the GST, the flexibilities for developing countries the discussions on Article 9.7, which proposals of the G77 and China on can be viewed as operationalising dif- has now been incorporated in Chap- operationalising ‘equity’ through in- ferentiation. ter V of the MPGs. formation on ‘equitable access to sus- Paragraph 5 provides that ‘These tainable development, historical re- MPGs specify the flexibility that is Global stocktake: Attempts to sponsibilities, development gaps be- available to those developing coun- sideline issue of equity tween North and South, sustainable try Parties that need it in the light of development, including Sustainable their capacities…, reflecting flexibil- The PA stipulates that the global Development Goals, and leadership ity, including in the scope, frequency stocktake (GST), which is an assess- by developed countries in achieving and level of detail of reporting, and ment of the collective progress of low-emission and climate resilient in the scope of the review…’. Parties towards achieving the purpose development’ were not considered According to paragraph 6, ‘The of the PA and its long-term goals and and were replaced with the following: application of flexibility provided for will take place in 2023, has to be car- ‘Fairness considerations, including in the provisions of these MPGs for ried out in light of equity. equity, as communicated by Parties in their NDCs’ [see paragraph 36(h)]. those developing country Parties that There was agreement among de- However, there are references to need it in the light of their capacities veloping countries, led by the G77 is to be self-determined. The devel- equity in the decision where in the and China, that the guidance to oper- technical assessment, ‘equity consid- oping country Party shall clearly in- ationalise equity needs to be designed dicate the provision to which flexi- erations and the best available sci- in the modalities of the GST. ence’ are to be taken into account (see bility is applied…, and provide self- Developing countries also called paragraph 27), and also in the provi- determined estimated time frames for for equity to be captured in the decision that the ‘co-facilitators of the improvements in relation to those ca- technical dialogue will summarise its pacity constraints’ (emphasis added). sion not just as an overarching but also as a cross-cutting issue in all the outputs in summary reports, taking Further, that paragraph states further into account equity and the best avail- that ‘when a developing country Par- elements of the GST. They also proposed having several indicators to able science’ (see paragraph 31). ty applies flexibility provided for in Given the US opposition to ‘eq- measure equity, such as historical re- these MPGs, the technical expert re- uity’, the fact that the term ap- view teams shall not review the Par- sponsibility, equitable access to sus- pears in several parts of the GST de- ty’s determination to apply such flex- tainable development and carbon cision is significant and will mean that ibility or whether the Party possesses space etc. However, developed coun- developing countries will continue the capacity to implement that spe- tries from the Umbrella Group were their fight in the future work to en- cific provision without flexibility.’ strongly opposed to this approach. sure that the full understanding of The US in fact wanted a reference to equity is taken on board in the GST Transparency of support the term ‘equity’ only in the pream- process and outcomes. In relation to transparency of sup- ble of the decision. Overall, in view of the above, port, developed countries ‘shall’ pro- Paragraph 2 of the decision on the decisions arrived at were, as vide information listed in Chapter V the GST provides that ‘equity and the expressed by the COP 24 Presi- of the MPGs, including ‘an indica- best available science will be consid- dent Michal Kurtyka, ‘in fragile bal- tion of what new and additional fi- ered in a Party-driven and cross-cut- ance’ and ‘all Parties had to give and nancial resources have been provid- ting manner, throughout the global gain’. ◆

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 26 C O V E R Important finance decisions adopted at climate talks The Katowice UN climate change conference also adopted several important decisions on finance. The article below presents highlights of the decisions adopted, along with some of the contentious issues raised.

Indrajit Bose and Meena Raman

A HOST of decisions on finance-related matters were adopted on 15 De- cember at the 24th session of the UN- FCCC’s Conference of the Parties (COP 24) as well as the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) in Katowice. Nearly all the finance issues were the subject of contention between developed and developing countries, with developed countries reluctant to make progress on them until they had a clearer view of the final package of (enb.iisd.org/climate/cop24/enb/10dec.html) Worth Photo by IISD/Kiara decisions under the Paris Agreement A high-level ministerial dialogue on finance was held on 10 December during the climate talks in Katowice. Work Programme (PAWP). Devel- oped countries wanted to assess where developing countries stood on cle 9.7 of the PA; setting a new col- 2017, developed countries had re- other matters of the PAWP, especial- lective quantified goal on finance; and fused to be drawn into a discussion ly as regards decisions on nationally the future of the Adaptation Fund. on ‘modalities’ for the communica- determined contributions (NDCs) and There were also several decisions tion of such information under Arti- the transparency framework, before on finance matters adopted under the cle 9.5, which was a key demand from making progress on the finance mat- COP, including on: matters related to developing countries led by the Afri- ters. the Standing Committee on Finance can Group, the Like-Minded Devel- Speaking to the Third World Net- (SCF); guidance of the COP to the oping Countries (LMDC) and the work about the finance decisions Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Arab Group. Discussions on the is- adopted in Katowice, a senior devel- Global Environment Facility (GEF); sue remained deadlocked, with developing-country negotiator said ‘there and long-term finance (LTF). oped countries refusing to go beyond were wins and there were losses for This article presents highlights of discussing the types of information or developing countries’, adding that the decisions adopted, along with how the information would be useful ‘this is the nature of negotiations’. some of the contentious issues raised. to developing countries. However, on the whole, according to In what some called a ‘break- the negotiator, ‘developing countries Finance issues under the through’ during a meeting of heads got more wins than losses in the fi- PAWP of delegation at COP 24, developed nance-related decisions’. countries relented somewhat and The decisions adopted included Information to be provided agreed to discuss some ‘procedural items related to the PAWP such as: under Article 9.5 of the PA aspects’ in relation to the information the identification of ex ante informa- Article 9.5 mandates developed to be provided. tion to be provided by developed countries to biennially communicate Even then, the developed coun- countries in accordance with Article ex ante information on the projected tries wanted to restrict the scope of 9.5 of the Paris Agreement (PA); ex levels of public financial resources to the procedural aspects to when the post information on financial support developing countries. information would be communicated provided and mobilised under Arti- Since the start of negotiations in and where it would be housed. De-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 27 C O V E R veloping countries wanted a process to assess the information as well. The decision adopted reflects the timing of the communication; where the information will be housed (which would be a dedicated online portal on the UNFCCC website); a synthesis of the information to feed into the global stocktake (GST) in 2023; the conduct of biennial in-session workshops and high-level ministerial dialogue as well as the consideration of the compilations and syntheses of the information by the CMA. The types of information to be provided are contained in an annex. The Katowice conference adopted a host of decisions on finance-related matters, Prior to the adoption of the decision, including with regard to the Green Climate Fund. there was huge resistance from developed countries to indicating what In paragraph 4, developed coun- ly addresses the needs and priorities ‘new and additional’ resources would tries are requested to submit the in- of developing country Parties and be provided, but this is now clearly formation ‘as specified in the annex, supports country-driven strategies; required by the decision. starting in 2020’. The annex lists the • efforts to integrate climate Some developing countries were types of information to be provided, change considerations, including re- unhappy with the reference to ‘pro- including information on: silience, into their development sup- viders of climate finance’ in the an- • projected levels of public finan- port; and nex in relation to ‘information on the cial resources to be provided to de- • how support to be provided to factors that providers of climate fi- veloping countries, as available; developing country Parties enhances nance look for in evaluating propos- • indicative quantitative and qual- their capacities. als, in order to help to inform devel- itative information on programmes, The decision in paragraph 6 re- oping countries’, as they viewed the including projected levels, channels quests the secretariat ‘to establish a term to be too general and not con- and instruments, as available; dedicated online portal for posting fined to developed countries which • policies and priorities, includ- and recording the biennial communi- had the obligation under the PA to ing regions and geography, recipient cations’. The secretariat (in paragraph provide climate finance. countries, beneficiaries, targeted 7) is also requested ‘to prepare a com- Developed countries also insist- groups, sectors and gender respon- pilation and synthesis of the informa- ed that ‘other Parties providing re- siveness; tion included in the biennial commu- sources’ be required to provide the • purposes and types of support: nications … starting in 2021 … with information on the projected levels of mitigation, adaptation, cross-cutting a view to informing the global stock- public financial resources to be pro- activities, technology transfer and take’. The secretariat has also been vided to developing countries. In the capacity-building; requested ‘to organise biennial in-ses- decision adopted, ‘other Parties pro- • factors that providers of climate sion workshops beginning the year viding resources’ are ‘encouraged’ to finance look for in evaluating propos- after the submission of the first bien- do so, while developed countries are als, in order to help to inform devel- nial communications and to prepare mandatorily required to provide oping countries; a summary report on each workshop’ (‘shall biennially communicate’) the • an indication of new and addi- (paragraph 8). information as per Article 9.5. tional resources to be provided, and It was also decided that Parties In the decision adopted, Parties how Parties determine such resourc- will ‘consider the compilation and recognised the ‘importance of predict- es as new and additional; syntheses’ of the information con- ability and clarity of information on • relevant methodologies and as- tained in the biennial communications financial support for the implemen- sumptions; and ‘the summary report on the in- tation of the PA’ and reiterated that • challenges and barriers; session workshops’ starting in No- developed countries ‘shall biennially • how Parties are aiming to en- vember 2021 (see paragraph 9). Par- communicate indicative quantitative sure a balance between adaptation ties also decided ‘to convene a bien- and qualitative information’, includ- and mitigation, taking into account nial high-level ministerial dialogue on ing ‘projected levels of public finan- the country-driven strategies and the climate finance beginning in 2021, to cial resources to be provided’ to de- needs and priorities of developing be informed, inter alia, by the sum- veloping countries (paragraphs 1 country Parties; mary reports on the in-session work- and 2 of the decision). • how financial support effective- shops’ (paragraph 10). In paragraph

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 28 C O V E R

11, Parties also requested the ‘Presi- texts, as a replacement for ‘developed New collective quantified goal dent of the CMA to summarise the country Parties’ and ‘developing on finance deliberations of the [high-level min- country Parties’. This was vehemently Discussions on the new collec- isterial] dialogue … for consideration objected to by developing countries tive goal on finance were difficult. by the CMA at its succeeding ses- which said that there was no basis for Developing countries wanted a pro- sion’. using such terms, as the PA had clear cess on setting a new collective quan- The CMA is also invited to ‘con- obligations for developed countries to tified goal on finance that takes into sider the compilations and syntheses report information on the finance pro- account their needs and priorities and the summary reports on the in- vided and it only encouraged other from a floor of $100 billion per year, session workshops’ (paragraph 12). Parties that provide support to pro- as mandated by a decision agreed to Parties decided also ‘to consider up- vide such information. in Paris in 2015. The Paris decision dating the types of information con- The outcome of the discussions mandated that the goal be set prior to tained in the annex … in 2023 on the under Article 9.7 was incorporated 2025 by the CMA. basis of the experiences and lessons into the MPGs adopted under the Developed countries led by the learned’ (paragraph 13). transparency framework under Arti- US, Canada, the European Union, cle 13 of the PA. Japan, Norway, Switzerland and Aus- Information to be provided In the decision adopted, in para- tralia refused to determine a process under Article 9.7 of the PA graph 118, it is stated clearly that ‘De- for setting a new collective goal on Under Article 9.7 of the PA, developed country Parties shall provide finance, claiming that it was too ear- veloped countries are required ‘to pro- the information … in accordance with ly to deal with this. They were also vide transparent and consistent infor- the MPGs contained in this chapter. opposed to any mention of ‘needs and mation on support for developing Other Parties that provide support priorities’ of developing countries. country Parties provided and mobil- should provide such information and, In the decision adopted, Parties ised through public interventions bi- in doing so, are encouraged to use the agreed to initiate in November 2020 ennially in accordance with the mo- MPGs contained in this chapter’. ‘deliberations on setting a new col- dalities, procedures and guidelines’ The MPGs comprise information lective quantified goal from a floor (MPGs) under the transparency on: of $100 billion per year, in the con- framework in Article 13 of the PA. • national circumstances and in- text of meaningful mitigation actions stitutional arrangements relevant to During the negotiations, develop- and transparency of implementation reporting on the provision and mobil- ing countries wanted information on and taking into account the needs and isation of support; how the support provided and mobil- • underlying assumptions, defini- priorities of developing countries’ ised represented a progression from tions and methodologies, as applica- (paragraph 1). Parties also agreed to previous levels provided to develop- ble, used to identify consider in their deliberations ‘the ing countries, including on how the • financial support provided and aim to strengthen the global response finance provided is new and addition- mobilised. to the threat of climate change in the al. They also wanted the reporting to On underlying assumptions, def- context of sustainable development include information on the grant initions and methodologies, the infor- and efforts to eradicate poverty, in- equivalency of the financial instru- mation required includes: (financial) cluding by making finance flows con- ments used and the loan repayments instruments (e.g., grant, concession- sistent with a pathway towards low by developing countries, in order to al loan, non-concessional loan etc.) greenhouse gas emissions and cli- ensure that this was not counted as and funding sources reported, includ- mate-resilient development’ (para- climate finance. Developed countries ing how a Party has determined fi- graph 2). however were opposed to these de- nance to be concessional and/or offi- mands. cial development assistance, includ- Adaptation Fund Long and protracted discussions ing by using information such as grant In relation to the Adaptation Fund ensued and eventually, the develop- equivalency, institution and/or instru- (AF), the contentious issues were ing-country demands on information ment-based approaches; how double mainly on the timing of when the on progression, what is new and ad- counting among multiple Parties in- Fund would serve the PA; whether the ditional and the grant equivalence of volved in the provision of support was AF would serve exclusively the PA the instruments used were in the de- avoided; an indication of what new or both the PA and the Kyoto Proto- cision as part of reporting arrange- and additional financial resources col (KP) at the same time; and the ments under the transparency frame- have been provided, and how it has sources of funding for the AF. work. What they did not manage to been determined that such resources Developing countries wanted the get is information on the loan repay- are new and additional; and how the AF to start serving the PA as soon as ments by developing countries. information provided reflects a pro- possible. Developed countries were During the negotiations, devel- gression from previous levels in the of the view that the AF could not serve oped countries introduced new terms provision and mobilisation of finance both the KP and the PA at the same such as ‘reporting Parties’ in the draft under the PA, among others. time. In relation to sources of fund-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 29 C O V E R

ing for the AF, developed countries One of the functions of the SCF annexed the summary and recommen- wanted ‘innovative’ sources of fund- of the UNFCCC is to assist the COP dations of the report to the decision ing, which some developing countries with measurement, reporting and ver- (see paragraph 3). were opposed to. Developing coun- ification (MRV) of support provided Also at issue was the matter of tries also did not want to change the to developing countries. As part of giving a mandate to the SCF to work governance structure of the AF Board, this function, one of the activities the on needs assessment of developing while the developed countries were SCF undertakes is preparation of a countries, which the developed coun- in favour of doing so. (The AF serves BA. A BA comprises a summary and tries were opposed to. the KP at present and the AF Board recommendations, and a technical Another issue was over referenc- comprises 16 members and 16 alter- report. While the technical report is es to Article 2.1(c) of the PA, which nates representing Parties to the KP.) prepared by external consultants, the refers to making ‘finance flows con- In the decision adopted, it was summary and recommendations are sistent with a pathway towards low decided under the CMA that the AF prepared by SCF members. greenhouse gas emissions and cli- shall serve the PA from 1 January The adoption of the summary and mate-resilient development’. Devel- 2019, subject to the decision by the recommendations itself had been rid- oping countries did not want a selec- Conference of the Parties serving as dled with difficulties. Discussions on tive reference to only a part of Arti- the meeting of the Parties to the KP the summary and recommendations cle 2 and were of the view that the (CMP) on this. saw divergences at the 19th meeting entire Article 2 should be reflected, On the sources of funding, Par- of the SCF in October 2018 follow- as it makes clear that the PA is ‘about ties agreed that ‘a variety of volun- ing a proposal from the US for a foot- enhancing the implementation of the tary public and private sources’ be- note that read: ‘The usage of certain Convention … in the context of sus- sides ‘the share of proceeds from the terms [e.g. developed, developing, tainable development and efforts to Article 6.4 mechanism of the PA’ South-South] herein does not imply eradicate poverty’ (Article 2.1) and would finance the AF. (Article 6.4 of consensus on the meaning of these that the PA ‘will be implemented to the PA refers to a mechanism to pro- terms amongst nor prejudice the reflect equity and the principle of mote mitigation and support sustain- views of Parties.’ There could be no common but differentiated responsi- able development.) agreement among the committee bilities and respective capabilities, in In the decision adopted by the members to reflect the footnote, and light of different national circum- CMP, it was decided that the AF ‘shall even though several attempts were stances’ (Article 2.2). exclusively serve the PA and shall no made to resolve the matter, the US did The decision adopted in Katow- longer serve the KP once the share of not agree on the mention of developed ice encourages the SCF ‘to take into proceeds under Article 6.4 of the PA and developing countries in the sum- account the best available science in becomes available’. Parties also de- mary and recommendations. Follow- future biennial assessment and over- cided that the AF ‘shall continue to ing the 19th meeting, the impasse was views of climate finance flows’ and receive the share of proceeds, if avail- resolved inter-sessionally. According requests the SCF to use in the BA ‘the able, from activities under … the KP’. to sources, the US and other devel- established terminology in the provi- It was also decided that both de- oped countries insisted on the use of sions of the Convention and the PA veloping and developed countries the term ‘climate finance providers’ in relation to climate finance, where which are Party to the Paris Agree- instead of developed and developing applicable’. (This is to ensure that no ment are eligible for membership on countries. new terminologies are used that de- the AF Board, and the Subsidiary Besides these, the 2018 BA also part from the Convention and the PA.) Body for Implementation (SBI) was states that trends in climate finance (See paragraphs 4 and 5.) requested to consider the matter in point to increasing flows towards ben- Parties also welcomed the deci- June 2019. eficiary countries, while outlining the sion of the SCF to host its 2019 fo- challenges and limitations in the mak- rum on ‘climate finance and sustain- Decisions adopted under the ing of the BA. These include the lack able cities’ (see paragraph 9). COP of an agreed definition of climate fi- The decision also requested the nance, data uncertainty and data gaps, SCF ‘to map, every four years, as part Standing Committee on Fi- making data difficult to compare. of its biennial assessment and over- nance In Katowice, when developed view of climate finance flows, the Several issues surfaced during countries wanted to selectively intro- available information relevant to Ar- the discussions on the SCF. These duce some of the findings into the ticle 2.1(c), of the PA, including its included how to reflect the summary decision text, developing countries reference to Article 9 thereof’ (see and recommendations of the 2018 objected to it, and recalled the chal- paragraph 10). This can be seen as a ‘Biennial Assessment and Overview lenges and limitations of the report. compromise accommodating both of Climate Finance Flows’ (BA) in the In the decision adopted, Parties wel- developed- and developing-country decision. comed ‘with appreciation’ the BA and demands. Article 9 refers to the pro-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 30 C O V E R vision of support by developed coun- Board’s decisions on the inputs and Long-term finance tries to developing countries, while processes related to the Fund’s replen- In the decision adopted on the Article 2.1(c) refers to ‘finance ishment, which take into account the matter, developed countries were flows’. needs of developing countries’. De- urged ‘to continue their efforts to The SCF was also requested ‘to veloped countries were against any channel a substantial share of public prepare, every four years, a report on references to the ‘needs of develop- climate funds to adaptation activities the determination of the needs of de- ing countries’ in the text during the and to strive to achieve a greater bal- veloping country Parties related to discussions in Katowice. ance between finance for mitigation implementing the Convention and the and for adaptation, recognising the PA, for consideration by the COP … Guidance by the COP to the importance of adaptation finance and and CMA’ starting in November 2020 Global Environment Facility the need for public and grant-based (see paragraph 13). During the closing plenary of resources for adaptation’ (see para- The SCF is also encouraged ‘to COP 24, when the proposed decision graph 4). provide input into the technical pa- on the guidance to the GEF was put Parties also decided in paragraph per of the Executive Committee of the up for adoption by the COP Presiden- 9 that ‘the in-session workshops on Warsaw International Mechanism for cy, the US raised an objection and long-term climate finance in 2019 and Loss and Damage associated with cli- wanted amendments to paragraph 7 2020 will focus on (a) the effective- mate change impacts on the sources of the decision, which initially read ness of climate finance, including the of financial support’ (see paragraph as follows: ‘Requests the GEF, in ful- results and impacts of finance provid- 11). The provision of financial re- filling its mandate to ensure access ed and mobilised; (b) the provision sources for loss and damage has been to its resources by all eligible devel- of financial and technical support to a demand of many developing coun- oping country Parties, to support developing country Parties for their tries, especially from the small island these developing countries in fulfill- adaptation and mitigation actions in developing states, while developed ing their commitments under the Con- relation to holding the increase in the countries, especially the US, are op- vention.’ global average temperature to well posed to advancing discussions on According to the US, the para- below 2ºC above pre-industrial lev- this matter. graph was ‘outside the mandate of els and pursuing efforts to limit the guidance as established in the mem- temperature increase to 1.5ºC above Guidance by the COP to the orandum of understanding between pre-industrial levels’. Green Climate Fund the COP and the GEF’. The US pro- It was also decided, in paragraph The decision adopted in Katow- posed the following amendment: ‘Re- 13, that the ‘fourth biennial high-lev- ice urges the GCF Board ‘to address quests the GEF, as appropriate, to el ministerial dialogue on climate fi- the remaining policy gaps, including ensure that its policies and procedures nance, to be convened in 2020 … will on … policies relating to the approv- related to the consideration and re- be informed by the reports on the in- al of funding proposals, including view of funding proposals be duly session workshops on long-term climate finance and the 2020 Biennial project and programme eligibility and followed in an efficient manner.’ The Assessment and Overview of Climate selection criteria, incremental costs, decision was adopted with the said Finance Flows’. co-financing, concessionality…; re- amendment. (A high-level ministerial dialogue view of the accreditation frame- The US objection caught many on finance was held on 10 December work…’ (see paragraph 3). developing countries off-guard. during the climate talks in Katowice. In paragraph 4, it urges the GCF Clearly, the US intention is to limit Developing countries underscored the Board ‘to continue its consideration some developing countries in having need for clarity and predictability on of procedures for adopting decisions access to the GEF’s resources. the sources of climate finance for de- in the event that all efforts at reach- Further, the decision in paragraph cision-makers to ensure that climate ing consensus have been exhaust- 3 recognised ‘with concern the de- considerations are mainstreamed into ed…’. (Decision-making in the ab- crease in allocation to the climate national development plans and poli- sence of consensus has been a sticky change focal area … compared with cies.) issue in the GCF and despite several the sixth replenishment’ of the GEF, The finance decisions in Katow- attempts, the Board has not been able and urged ‘all Parties that have not ice are indeed critical in advancing to adopt a decision on the issue. The made pledges for the seventh replen- further progress in ensuring adequate Board has in particular not been able ishment of the Global Environment and predictable climate finance for to agree on a voting mechanism. The Facility to do so as soon as possible’. developing countries in the coming issue was discussed at the 21st meet- (At the seventh replenishment meet- years. ◆ ing of the Board in Bahrain in Octo- ing of the GEF, of the total of $4.1 ber 2018.) billion pledged, only $3.3 billion is Indrajit Bose is a senior researcher on cli- The decision in paragraph 5 wel- actually new funding, an aggregate mate change with the Third World Network. comes ‘the launching of the first for- 37% decrease compared with the Meena Raman is senior legal adviser and coordinator of the climate change pro- mal replenishment process and the GEF’s sixth replenishment.) gramme of TWN.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 31 C O V E R The importance of equity and finance for more climate ambition Finance has always been a contentious issue at climate change talks, with developed countries failing to deliver on their commitments. Speakers at a side-event at Katowice highlighted the linkage between finance and climate ambition, stressing that developing countries will only dare commit themselves to greater emission cuts when they are assured that the monies pledged will come through. Prerna Bomzan reports.

‘EQUITY is the gateway to climate ambition,’ was the key message reiterated by developing-country negotiators and civil society at a side-event organised by the Third World Net- work (TWN) and the South Centre on 4 December during the climate talks in Katowice. The side-event, which had an attendance of around 150, was moder- ated by Vicente Yu with panel members comprising Zaheer Fakir of South Africa, who is the G77 and Chi- na’s coordinator on finance issues; Walter Schuldt of Ecuador, who was Ravi Prasad, Chief Negotiator and Joint Secretary of the Indian Ministry of Environ- the preceding Chair of the G77 and ment, Forests and Climate Change. Speaking at a side-event in the Katowice confer- China; Ravi Prasad, the Chief Nego- ence, Prasad said climate action and support should be based on the realities faced tiator and Joint Secretary from the by developing countries. (enb.iisd.org/climate/cop24/enb/15dec.html) Worth Photo by IISD/Kiara Indian Ministry of Environment, For- ests and Climate Change; and Meena notes. to implement climate action. Raman of Malaysia, who is TWN’s Fakir added that in the Global Fakir also pointed out that in the Climate Change Programme Coordi- Environment Facility (GEF), the al- past, all developing countries had ac- nator. location of funds for climate change cess to financing, while now, new el- Fakir emphasised that it was im- had been reduced by 40%, and this igibility criteria are being adopted portant to understand the current state was in an era where enhancing ambi- unilaterally by some developed coun- of play on finance in the climate ne- tion was being talked about. In rela- tries which are looking at the income gotiations. He gave an elaborate in- tion to the financial instruments, Fa- levels of countries. Middle-income sight into the difference between fi- kir explained that in the past, the countries, he said, are viewed as not nance pledges and what actually ma- multilateral financing was mostly being eligible for grants but only terialises, citing the example of the grant-based, while today, it was most- loans. Green Climate Fund (GCF), where ly concessional finance in the form Another serious problem that has $10 billion was initially pledged but of loans, and this shaped not only the arisen, said Fakir, is the questioning only about $7 billion has actually nature and kind of projects but also of projects as to whether they are ad- materialised, with a $2 billion short- the type of countries that would be aptation projects or development-re- fall due to the United States not meet- eligible to undertake those projects. lated. There is also the shifting of the ing its pledge and another $1 billion He added further that concessional burden to the private sector for pro- being lost not merely in foreign ex- loans, even if the interest rates were viding finance when developed coun- change fluctuations but also due to the low, were still debts and more and tries clearly have the obligation to do nature of pledges being made in more developing countries were be- so, he stressed further. grants, loans, capital and promissory ing asked to take on debt instruments The G77 finance coordinator said

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 32 C O V E R that in view of this, when one looks began in 2015 with the PA, referring developing countries, then it is the at Article 9.5 of the Paris Agreement to the PA Work Programme which outcomes and actions which represent (PA) (which provides for ex ante in- was expected to be adopted in Katow- an equitable kind of end result in the formation on public financial resourc- ice. process. Then there is the aspect of es from developed countries), the is- He also called for more ambition equity in terms of the outcome for sue is really about knowing what fi- in the delivery of finance, emphasis- individuals in different parts of the nance is available to stimulate devel- ing that finance was one of the core world, especially looking at per capi- oping countries to undertake more elements that had to be finalised in ta emissions and different consump- ambition on the assumption that mon- Katowice given both the unfulfilled tion patterns. So, equity means dif- ey will be received. Reporting of ex pre-2020 commitments by developed ferent things to different people, and therefore, it is important in this pro- ante information on finance is also countries as well as fresh commitments for the implementation of the cess to talk in the same language and very important for better planning of PA. Schuldt expressed concern that understand the same thing, Prasad actions, said Fakir further. ‘new narratives’ were coming from said, emphasising equity-oriented He added that in essence, the PA developed countries about ‘financial outcomes in terms of actions and re- did not lead to additional money for flows and the enabling environment’ sults for individuals. developing countries as the decision as if it would begin only from 2020 The Indian delegate also drew adopted shifted the goal of mobilis- onwards under the PA, despite cur- attention to different studies high- ing $100 billion by 2020 by another rent unfulfilled commitments in fi- lighting correlations between energy five years to 2025. By 2025, a new nance to developing countries. He consumption and growth, and corre- long-term goal on finance is expect- lamented that some developed coun- lations between the human developed to be reached but there is no dis- tries could not agree to a simple deci- ment index and development, empha- cussion on how that new goal would sion for the Adaptation Fund (AF) to sising that the focus of countries come about, he said; even the initial serve the PA and were pushing pro- which are not yet developed is there- $100 billion goal was decided by a posals to change the existing gover- fore on trying to achieve those goals, few heads of state, with no analysis nance of the Fund so that donor coun- which are essential for them to pro- of the needs of developing countries. tries could make decisions over how vide basic amenities to their citizens. Fakir clarified the difference be- funds could be accessed. Hence, whatever climate action or tween the terms ‘mobilisation’ and Schuldt also touched upon anoth- support is being discussed in the ‘provision’ of finance. He explained er key aspect of the negotiations on UNFCCC process needs to be based that in the GEF, for every $1 provid- ‘transparency of action’ taken by both on these realities being faced by deed by developed countries, develop- developed and developing countries, veloping countries, he said. ing countries have to provide co-fi- which he said was significantly relat- He added that equitable actions nancing with a ratio of 7:1, and that ed to equity. He said that developing would translate as greater actions by for a middle-income country, the ra- countries were already reporting developed countries in terms of both tio is 12:1, which is expected to ap- through different tools their climate mitigation and the provision of supply to all developing countries in the actions, and that adding more details port. On the other hand, when look- future. It is therefore important, said and complexity to the existing rules ing at what developing countries are Fakir, to read the fine print in negoti- of reporting without sufficient finance required to do, they have to also ad- ations where developed countries and capacity building would be bur- dress the issues of sustainable devel- only provide a small portion of the densome for developing countries. opment, poverty eradication, provi- resources while a much larger amount He also stressed that the final sion of energy access, health for all is reported as having been mobilised. agreement in Katowice should have and all limiting factors that they want Fakir concluded that in the cur- a clear relationship with local com- to overcome. It is in this context that rent negotiations, there has been a munities and indigenous peoples as the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) has reluctance on the part of developed well as human rights, but was con- been anchored in both the Conven- countries to discuss the process of cerned that there were attempts to tion and the PA, he emphasised fur- determining the new long-term goal sideline them, which was contrary to a just transition as well as the broad- ther. on finance by 2025, or how to guide er concept of climate justice. Prasad said that there has been a the replenishment of the GCF, the is- Prasad gave an elaboration of lack of ambition and undermining of sue being whether it should be based how Parties are looking at equity dif- equity by developed countries when only on what developed countries can ferently. He said that some are artic- looking at the pre-2020 period, since provide or on the needs of develop- ulating equity in terms of the process there was a requirement for them to ing countries. by saying that adequate participation enhance their ambition both on miti- Schuldt began his presentation by from developing countries is a mani- gation as well as on support to de- expressing commitment to the com- festation of equity. There are others veloping countries. He stressed on the mon goal and common vision to ad- who are looking at equity in terms of historical emissions and historical re- dress the global threat of climate outcomes: if developed countries are sponsibility of developed countries change and to finalise the work that sharing greater responsibilities than which translate into a historical debt

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 33 C O V E R owed by developed countries. He also Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology for Food said that developing countries are doing their share in terms of increas- Security and for Climate Change Mitigation and ing ambition with regard to their na- Adaptation: Potential and Risks tionally appropriate mitigation actions in the pre-2020 period as well as their By Jack A Heinemann nationally determined contributions which are no less ambitious than those of any developed country. He said that World hunger is a multifaceted problem that this is therefore the context to realise cannot be solved by technological changes the concept of equity. alone. Meanwhile industrial agriculture is He concluded that all pre-2020 unsustainable, and technological adjust- commitments by developed countries ments based on genetic engineering have not must be completed by 2023 by carry- been able to achieve the relevant Millenni- ing them forward because any pre- um Development Goals; instead, they have 2020 gap will be a burden for the rest introduced products that restrict farmer- of the world. He also stressed that the based innovation, in situ conservation and raising of ambition is for the here and access to the best locally adapted germ- now and cannot be delayed for the PA plasm. Alternative agricultural models, such as to kick in late in 2021. Biotechnology & Biosafety Series no. 17 agroecology, demonstrate potential to re- Raman said equity was central to ISBN: 978-967-5412-92-9 32pp climate ambition, recalling its long duce poverty, increase food security and history from when the Convention reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint because they increase agroeco- was born in 1992 premised upon the system resilience, lower external inputs, boost farmers’ incomes and are based fundamental principle of equity and on technologies that, for the most part, can be understood, implemented and CBDR. Parties have a common re- further modified by poor and subsistence farmers. sponsibility for addressing climate Price Postage change but how it is to be done needs Malaysia RM7.00 RM1.00 to be differentiated between the de- Developing countries US$4.00 US$2.00 (air) veloped and developing countries, Others US$6.00 US$3.00 (air) given that the former became rich in Orders from Malaysia – please pay by credit card/crossed cheque or postal order. an unconstrained carbon world, with Orders from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, historical emissions since the indus- UK, USA – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order trial revolution and the huge con- in own currency, US$ or Euro.If paying in own currency or Euro, please calculate sumption of natural resources since equivalent of US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is then. located in the USA. She stressed that the CBDR prin- Rest of the world – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money ciple was heavily negotiated in Paris order in US$ or Euro. If paying in Euro, please calculate equivalent of US$ rate. If and was finally anchored in Article paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. 2.2 of the PA. However, attempts All payments should be made in favour of: THIRD WORLD NETWORK BHD., were being made by developed coun- 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; tries to water it down by changing to Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.twn.my a principle of common and shared Visit our online bookstore at www.twnshop.com ot order. responsibility, thus diluting the differ- I would like to order ...... copy/copies of Genetic Engineering and ence between the developed and de- Biotechnology for Food Security and for Climate Change Mitigation and veloping countries. This was unac- Adaption: Potential and Risks. ceptable, she said, since both worlds I enclose the amount of ...... by cheque/bank draft/IMO. were not at the same starting point. Please charge the amount of US$/Euro/RM ...... to my credit card: Raman said that an ambitious and equitable outcome in Katowice must Visa Mastercard be premised upon climate justice as defined by CBDR and equity, and A/c No.: Expiry date: expressed deep concern about attempts by developed countries to shift Signature: responsibilities to the developing countries, which she said were im- Name: moral and unethical. ◆ Address: Prerna Bomzan is a researcher with the Third World Network.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 34 C O V E R COP 24: An Indigenous Peoples’ view Indigenous Peoples from around the world, including tribal nations and organisations whose traditional lands are within the current boundaries of the United States, participated in the Katowice climate change conference. Andrea Carmen, who wrote the following piece, attended the conference as Executive Director of the International Indian Treaty Council. Andrea Carmen/www.culturalsurvival.org

Indigenous Peoples and State representatives at COP 24 celebrate agreement on the final text regarding the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform.

‘I FEAR for my future. I fear for my el came down for a final time, con- large, the entire UN system), the over community.’ These words were spo- cluding two weeks of intense debate 100 Indigenous delegates represent- ken by Ryan Schaefer, a 17-year-old at the 24th Conference of the Parties ing all regions of the world stood unit- from the Dene Nation in Canada, dur- to the United Nations Framework ed to insist on formal participation in ing the first meeting of the Indigenous Convention on Climate Change (UN- this process that impacts us so direct- Peoples Caucus at COP 24. He shared FCCC COP 24) in Katowice, Poland. ly and to ensure that our rights and the reality of diminishing traditional Indigenous Peoples from around traditional knowledge are respected food and water sources and disturb- the world, including Tribal Nations in national and global efforts to coming weather changes that are affect- and organisations whose traditional bat climate change. ing his Peoples. lands are within the current political In Katowice the Indigenous Peo- ‘Indigenous youth of the world boundaries of the United States, par- ples Caucus at the UNFCCC, known stand before you today to affirm that ticipated. Except for a few Indigenous as the International Indigenous Peo- we share his fears for our future,’ stat- representatives who were creden- ples Forum on Climate Change ed the International Indigenous Peo- tialled by States, most were designat- (IIPFCC), met in a weekend prepara- ples Forum on Climate Change opened as ‘observers’ in this UN process, tory meeting, and met at least once a ing plenary statement at COP 24, pre- which is led and controlled by the day during the COP to discuss strate- sented on 2 December by Ruth Kav- ‘State Parties’, the 195 countries that gies and reaffirm our collective posi- iok from the National Inuit Youth signed on to the Paris Agreement tions in the face of new developments Council of Canada. adopted in December 2015 at COP and State proposals. It was close to midnight on 15 21. Despite this power imbalance Indigenous Peoples began the December when the President’s gav- within the UNFCCC (and, by and session by calling on States to meet

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 35 C O V E R their commitments to reduce emissions and reverse their fatal addiction to fossil fuel energy development, which is the primary source of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. The IIPFCC opening statement referenced the recent UN study which reported that emissions increased in the last year with a projected 3°C rise at the current rate, which will mean 2 to 3 times higher in the Arctic. The statement admon- ished the States for their lack of real action: ‘Having committed to the Par- is Agreement but ignoring the actions it demands is a failure of all States.’ The most significant and positive victory for Indigenous Peoples at (enb.iisd.org/climate/cop24/enb/11dec.html) Worth Photo by IISD/Kiara COP 24 was the formal establishment Demonstration by Indigenous Peoples’ representatives at COP 24 calling for the rights of the Facilitative Working Group of Indigenous Peoples to be included in the Paris Agreement rulebook. (FWG) to develop a workplan for the ‘Local Communities and Indigenous en each. Additional places will be ‘You have set an example of part- Peoples Platform’. The Platform is held open for the future participation nership through this process, work- intended to strengthen and exchange of ‘Local Communities’ when they ing together in intense negotiations, traditional knowledge for mitigating are better defined and decide to be- overcoming many challenges and dif- and adapting to climate change, based come engaged. ficulties over the last three years to on operative paragraph 135 of the In an historic advance for Indig- find common ground and successful Paris Agreement. Difficult issues un- enous Peoples’ right to participate in conclusion at this COP,’ Shafiepour der debate over the past three years decision making as affirmed in Arti- said. and up until the final negotiating ses- cle 18 of the UN Declaration, this is The FWG will begin its work in sion in Katowice included equal par- the first time that a UN body will pro- 2019. Priorities will include develop- ticipation between States and Indige- vide for direct and equal participation, ment of a workplan and structure for nous Peoples in the FWG; protection contrasting with how Indigenous Peo- the Platform, adoption of rights safe- of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and tra- ples’ participation has been organised guards to protect traditional knowl- ditional knowledge in this process; in other UN bodies. For example, fi- edge and practices, and development the definition and identity of ‘Local nal selection of the eight Indigenous of a budget to ensure support for the Communities’; and the concerns of experts on the UN Permanent Forum participation of Indigenous tradition- some States that their ‘territorial in- on Indigenous Issues is done by the al knowledge holders and practitio- tegrity’ might somehow be impacted President of the UN Economic and ners if they so choose. At least one in these discussions regarding tradi- Social Council. Likewise, the mem- activity for the Platform itself is tional knowledge and climate change. bers of the Expert Mechanism on the planned for 2019. Possible discussion Throughout the negotiations, In- Rights of Indigenous Peoples can be themes proposed by Indigenous Peo- digenous Peoples, accompanied by nominated by Indigenous Peoples but ples include oceans, land and water, key State allies, held firm on the core are selected by the President of the food sovereignty and forests reflect- issues of rights protection and equal UN Human Rights Council. ing key eco- and knowledge systems participation. The final resolution After the adoption of the resolu- impacted by climate change. adopted unanimously by the COP 24 tion, many State representatives made Despite the mood of celebration plenary on 8 December reflected this statements recognising the historic for Indigenous Peoples at COP 24 unwavering commitment, emphasis- advance this decision represented. For after the adoption of the Platform de- ing, ‘in its entirety, the United Nations example, Majid Shafiepour from Iran, cision, there were some serious dis- Declaration on the Rights of Indige- Vice President of the COP and Co- appointments as well. Another key nous Peoples in the context of the facilitator of the COP’s Subsidiary priority for Indigenous Peoples was implementation of the functions of the Body for Scientific and Technologi- the inclusion of human rights and Local Communities and Indigenous cal Advice (SBSTA), welcomed the rights of indigenous peoples in the Peoples Platform involving Indige- adoption and recognised the hard ‘Paris rulebook’ which had to be nous Peoples’. It also established the work it took to reach an agreement adopted at COP 24 to determine the FWG with an equal number of Indig- between the State Parties and Indige- framework and guidelines for imple- enous and State representatives, sev- nous Peoples. menting the Paris Agreement. Unlike

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 36 C O V E R with the negotiating sessions that the commitment in the Paris Agree- report. The language finally agreed were held throughout the first week ment Preamble that in all climate ac- upon was ‘expresses its appreciation for States and Indigenous Peoples to tions, the rights of Indigenous Peo- and gratitude’ to the IPCC for provid- engage on the Platform decision text, ples and human rights generally are ing the report. Many States took the Indigenous Peoples had very little to be respected and promoted, got lost floor to express their outrage at the opportunity to participate directly in in the adoption of the Paris rulebook US and the other States that refused the development of the rulebook. in Katowice. The references to rights to acknowledge the urgency of tak- Strategy meetings and side dis- were consciously removed. This ing dramatic action to bring the rate cussions were held with human rights shows that we still have a lot of work of global warming under control. In- organisations, the Office of the UN to do … to explain the importance of digenous Peoples also restated their High Commissioner for Human a rights-based approach for address- firm support for a 1.5ºC maximum Rights, and States during the sessions ing climate change. We will continue goal in their closing statement to the to discuss how to pressure States to to raise these issues at COP 25 in plenary. include strong human and Indigenous Chile, and beyond.’ In the Indigenous Peoples Cau- rights language. But the rulebook was cus closing plenary statement, Micha- finally adopted by consensus with IPCC report el Charles, a youth delegate from the seven references using the terms ‘In- Dine’ Nation in the US, began by indigenous’ or ‘Indigenous Peoples’ (in- Indigenous Peoples, especially troducing himself traditionally in the cluding a footnote recognising the those from the US, took note that the Dine’ language. ‘We are deeply dis- adoption of the new Platform) but United States government delegation appointed to see the language of hu- making no specific references to hu- was highly engaged in the discussions man rights missing from the outcome man rights or the rights of Indigenous and decision-making at COP 24, de- of the rulebook text,’ Charles said, Peoples. spite the US President’s declaration addressing both the advances and Disappointingly, several refer- in 2017 that the US intends to with- shortfalls of COP 24. ‘We believe that ences to human rights in the Presi- draw from the Paris Agreement. a rights-based approach is necessary dent’s draft going into the COP were Although the US was supportive to guide an implementation that pro- removed in the negotiations that took during the Platform negotiations, they tects us. This text is incomplete with- place among the States during the were one of only four States that took out human rights, and specifically COP. The final adopted text called on the floor during the final plenary of Indigenous rights. We do appreciate States to develop and report on their the first week to oppose acknowledg- the commitment of the parties, the ‘Voluntary National Contributions’ to ing the dire warning of the Intergov- SBSTA chair, and the UNFCCC Sec- reduce climate change with the input ernmental Panel on Climate Change retariat to the operationalisation of the of Indigenous Peoples ‘as appropri- (IPCC)’s ‘Global Warming of 1.5ºC’ Local Communities and Indigenous ate’, far weaker than assurance of full report and its call for immediate, de- Peoples Platform. We will now em- and effective participation as called cisive action by States to reduce their bark on a process to breathe life into for by Indigenous Peoples. greenhouse gas emissions. the Platform using our resilience, Frank Ettawageshik from Little The IPCC had been invited by the knowledge and rights with equal rep- Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indi- Paris decision to issue a report on the resentation between States and Indig- ans in Michigan represented the Na- effects of a 1.5ºC increase in global enous Peoples.’ ◆ tional Congress of American Indians temperatures over pre-industrial lev- at COP 24. He expressed the mixed els. It released its report in October With thanks to Kim Gottschalk (Native Amer- reactions of Indigenous Peoples re- 2018, confirming the critical need to ican Rights Fund) and Frank Ettawageshik garding the outcomes. ‘We are grati- maintain the strongest commitment to (National Congress of American Indians) for their assistance in the development of this fied that an important milestone was the Paris Agreement’s aims of limit- article, and to all the members of the Indig- reached in the formation of the Local ing global warming to well below 2ºC enous Peoples Caucus at COP 24 for their Communities and Indigenous Peoples and pursuing efforts towards 1.5ºC. dedication, hard work and commitment to Platform and we express our appre- The report detailed the devastating their Peoples, future generations and Moth- er Earth. ciation to Indigenous Peoples and effects an increase would have on States from all the regions who ecosystems, health, food security and Andrea Carmen is Executive Director of the worked so hard for this achievement,’ the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples International Indian Treaty Council (IITC). Ettawageshik said. around the world. Since 2010, she has been one of two members from the North America region on the ‘It is especially important that Most States agreed that the COP Indigenous Peoples Global Steering Commit- Indigenous Peoples from each region, should adopt language ‘welcoming’ tee for the International Indigenous Peoples using their own procedures, will se- the report as a basis for global climate Forum on Climate Change which coordinates lect their representative on the Facil- action. However, the United States, Indigenous Peoples’ work at the UNFCCC. She attended COP 24 as a representative of itative Work Group which will draw Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait stat- IITC. The above article is reproduced from up the work plan for the Platform. But ed their firm opposition to this, pre- the Cultural Survival website we are extremely disappointed that ferring to merely ‘take note’ of the (www.culturalsurvival.org).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 37 C O V E R Remembering a champion of climate justice As the Katowice climate talks were ongoing, news came through that veteran climate negotiator Bernarditas Mueller had passed away in Geneva on 14 December 2018. Mueller, or Ditas as she was fondly known, had represented her country the Philippines and developing countries in various capacities in the UN climate negotiations over the years. The following is the text of a eulogy delivered at her funeral on 21 December by Vice Yu of the South Centre, the intergovernmental developing-country think-tank where Ditas had served as Special Adviser on Climate Change.

THANK you, Vera, Mr. Muel- Paris Agreement, always ler, for inviting me to be here speaking impeccable and to represent Ditas’s other fam- grammatically correct English. ily, her climate change family, Above all, we remember her and to say a few words about passion for people and planet, that aspect of her life. for climate justice. We remem- Ditas was well known and ber Ditas for her generosity, es- well loved in the climate pecially in mentoring young change negotiations. She will Filipino and developing coun- be deeply missed; yet her spir- try negotiators. With her pass- it, strength, determination and ing the Philippines has lost a commitment continue to live on dear colleague, developing in those of us, like myself, that countries lost a champion of had the fortune to have been their interests, and the world taught by and to have learnt lost a great citizen.’ from her and her work. Another colleague, Martin Many of us met Ditas in the Bernarditas Mueller, or fondly known as Ditas. Khor of Malaysia, who had course of our work in the cli- taken Ditas on as our special mate change negotiations. I remem- voice of the Philippines in the climate adviser on climate change when he ber the first time I sat down with her change negotiations. She was also was the Executive Director of the at the South Centre to learn about the very happy to have also had the priv- South Centre, wrote of Ditas: Convention 11 years ago … what was ilege and honour of representing oth- ‘Never have we known someone supposed to be a one-hour meeting er developing countries like Bolivia so totally deeply committed, indeed in the beginning of the afternoon and Sudan in the climate change ne- so fully in love with the Convention, stretched to the entire afternoon! Even gotiations. with its faithful interpretation and after that, since then, I have contin- In the Philippines’ official clos- implementation, with the rights and ued to learn from her. ing statement on 15 December at the interests of the developing countries If there is one lesson about cli- climate change conference in Poland, that she came to symbolise so much, mate change and international coop- the Philippines said this of Ditas: for the climate, for Mother Earth and eration that was at the heart of what ‘Ditas was once described by The for the people of the world, South or Ditas taught us, it is that we are all Guardian in an article as the dragon North, East or West, old or young. interdependent, and that such inter- lady of the climate negotiations. For ‘Those are her finest legacies to dependence carries with it common others, she was the fearless warrior us … the formidable spirit of defend- but differentiated responsibilities for for developing countries. But we were ing the Convention and what is right, our actions. always awed by this magnificent the spirit of taking part despite diffi- But let me now read out to you woman, dressed in the colours of Eu- culties and pain, the generosity of how others in our climate change fam- rope and Asia, pulling everywhere her sharing, the love for her friends. And ily knew and loved Ditas: roll-on luggage full of COP decisions, in the climate change negotiations, the Ditas was always very proud of recalling every article of the Conven- need for developing countries to unite having been, for a very long time, the tion and the Kyoto Protocol and the positions and to put text on the table.’

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 38 C O V E R

the ancient Egyptians was the idea of the immortality of the soul. Ditas’s soul will be immortalised in the so many whose spirits she revived, whose courage she inspired and whose self-esteem and dignity she personified. ‘Indeed, if Mother Earth were to be renamed, the new name would be Ditas; if it were to have a future, the path to it must be Ditas’s path, armed with encyclopaedic knowledge of issues and indefatigable determination, iron will manifested with exemplary integrity, zeal for justice and endur- ing compassion for the poor, and in- domitable faith in the sanctity of hu-

Photo by IISD/Kiara Worth (enb.iisd.org/climate/cop24/enb/15dec.html) Worth Photo by IISD/Kiara manity. COP 24 delegates remembering Ditas after learning of her passing. ‘Ditas has been, and always will be, a tributary of the River of Light, which in the words of the poet Gib- What motivated Ditas to be so what we will leave the world.’ ran Khalil Gibran “flows from ex- passionate and committed to the cli- Clearly, Ditas not only loved the eternity to eternity”. May she illumi- mate change negotiations? negotiations and regaled us with sto- nate the darkness of our world. We Ditas once said, in an article in ries of negotiations past; she even belong to God, and into His fold is The Guardian nine years ago, that cli- more so loved her family, and would our final return.’ mate change is the most complex and regale us with stories of the antics and As we say our goodbyes to Ditas satisfying of all the diplomacy she has affection of her grandchildren. For and she returns to the fold of God, done because there is so much at her, her work in the climate negotia- permit me to share with you this poem stake. Get it right, she said, and the tions was all about leaving behind a from Zaheer Fakir from South Afri- world has the chance to both halt cat- better world for her grandchildren to ca, with whom Ditas worked on cli- astrophic climate change and find a grow up in. mate finance issues and who was a better path to develop. Get it wrong I think the words of Omar El Ari- Chair of the Green Climate Fund and all the injustices and disadvan- ni of Egypt, another of Ditas’s con- Board: tages that developing countries now temporaries and who worked hand in In Loving Memory of Our Ditas! face will be magnified 1,000 times in hand with her in creating the Green the coming years. She said that ‘I am Climate Fund several years ago, can You never said you were leaving not working for developing countries speak for us all: us but for our children’s children and ‘The legacy left to the world by You never said goodbye You were gone before we knew it And only God knew why

A million times we needed you A million times we’ll cry If love alone could save you You would never have died

In life we all loved you dearly In death we love you still In our hearts you hold a place That no one could ever fill.

It breaks our heart to lose you But you did not go alone A part of us goes with you The day God took you home. ‘With her passing the Philippines has lost a dear colleague, developing countries lost a champion of their interests, and the world lost a great citizen.’ Goodbye Ditas. Amen. ◆

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 39 C O V E R Landmark report on Himalayan mountains raises dire climate change warnings A new report on the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, which forms the origin of 10 major river basins and sustains the livelihood of 240 million people, warns that global warming will have detrimental effects on the timing and magnitude of streamflows and hence water supplies in the region. Prerna Bomzan elaborates.

A LANDMARK assessment report on the Hindu Kush Hi- malaya mountains released in February contains gravely alarming findings. The report, entitled The Hindu Kush Himalaya As- sessment: Mountains, Cli- mate Change, Sustainability and People, covers the eight countries in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region: Af- ghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhu- tan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. The assessment report is the first flagship publication of the Hindu Kush Himalay- an Monitoring and Assess- ment Programme (HIMAP), an initiative coordinated by Glacier volumes in the Hindu Kush Himalaya mountains are projected to decline by up to 90% the International Centre for through the 21st century. Integrated Mountain Devel- opment (ICIMOD), a regional intergovernmental organisation of the Significant warming It states further that the observed eight HKH countries based in Kath- and projected changes in the cryo- mandu, Nepal. The report warns of significant sphere (snow, ice and permafrost) – a According to the report, the HKH warming in the region – greater than key freshwater resource – will have is regarded as ‘a critically important the global average – with a projected detrimental effect on the timing and geo-ecological asset’ and forms the temperature change of 2.5 ± 1.5°C for magnitude of streamflows and hence origin of 10 major river basins (Amu the moderate scenario, and 5.5 ± water supply in the region. The mas- Darya, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, 1.5°C for the more extreme scenario, sive decline in glacier volumes is a Irrawaddy, Mekong, Salween, Tarim, by the end of the century. result of decreased snowfall, in- Yangtze, Yellow River). The region It reveals that ‘glacier volumes creased snowline elevations and long- provides ecosystem services that di- are projected to decline by up to 90% er melt seasons. rectly sustain the livelihoods of 240 through the 21st century’, and states ‘More than half the basins in the million people in the mountains and that ‘even if warming can be limited extended HKH are expected to have hills. Its resources directly and indi- to the ambitious target of 1.5°C, vol- reduced glacier melt contributions by rectly benefit almost 1.9 billion peo- ume losses of more than one-third are 2100,’ which would mean a direct ple living in the 10 river basins, with projected for extended HKH glaciers, bearing on both the ecology and econ- more than 3 billion people dependent with more than half of glacier ice lost omy of the region as ‘industry, agri- on food produced in the river basins. in the eastern Himalaya’. culture and hydroelectric power gen-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 40 C O V E R

portant to the rest of the world; (v) address contemporary policy ques-

ICIMOD tions; and (vi) influence policy processes with robust evidence for sustainable mountain development. ‘Global assessments and programmes like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) can now benefit from an important knowledge source about this region,’ writes ICIMOD Director General David Molden in the report’s foreword. The report states: ‘In spite of the vast expanse of mountains and their importance in the world, as a unique and exclusive land form, they have been largely ignored within better known environmental assessments such as the IPCC and Millennium Settlements along the Indus River. The Hindu Kush Himalayan region forms the ori- Ecosystem Assessment. In those as- gin of the Indus and nine other major river basins. sessments, mountains are not exam- ined in detail: scientific knowledge is scattered and traditional indigenous eration rely on timely and sufficient North and South Poles and is thus knowledge systems are mostly absent. delivery of water in major river sys- often referred to as the ‘Third Pole’. This assessment intends to fill these tems’, says the report. It is home to four global biodiversity gaps and provide information for im- The impacts of climate change hotspots, 330 important bird areas and proved decision making in and for the are recognised in the majority of the hundreds of mountain peaks over HKH.’ key findings, such as increased biodi- 6,000 m. The assessment, which ‘focuses versity loss, food and nutrition inse- The per capita fossil fuel CO2 on various drivers of change all of curity, rural-to-urban migration, and emission from the HKH is one-sixth which are influenced by impacts of vulnerability of mountain livelihoods of the global average, but the region climate change’, states that ‘mountain and, ultimately, of mountain sustain- ‘immensely suffers from the impact people and ecosystems tend to expe- ability in the HKH region. of climate change’, underlines the rience change more rapidly and with The report reveals that ‘changes report. greater intensity. Mountain regions in the cryospheric system may also ‘The HKH is sensitive to climate are no longer isolated from globali- pose challenges for disaster risk re- change – air pollutants originating sation. The HKH’s biodiverse reduction in the extended HKH region’, within and near the HKH amplify the sources, rich indigenous knowledge given the projected higher risk of gla- effects of greenhouse gases and ac- systems, and enormous reservoirs of cial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Of celerate the melting of the cryosphere water provide vibrancy to the region 8,790 glacial lakes covering a total of through deposition of black carbon and beyond. Understanding how 801.83 sq km in the HKH, 203 lakes and dust, the circulation of the mon- these features may change over time are potentially dangerous in terms of soon, and the distribution of rainfall is extremely important.’ posing a future GLOF threat. over Asia.’ The report comprises 16 chapters With regard to the estimated cost that consider status, trends and sce- of adaptation to climate change, the Important knowledge source narios on environmental, economic assessment says the region would re- and social systems of the HKH require $3.2 billion to $4.6 billion per The assessment report aims to: (i) gion, and comes up with recommen- year by 2030, increasing to $5.5 bil- establish the global significance of the dations that build into key policy lion to $7.8 billion per year by 2050. HKH; (ii) reduce scientific uncertain- messages. The extended HKH region de- ty on various mountain issues; (iii) lay More than 300 researchers, prac- fined by the comprehensive study out practical and up-to-date solutions titioners, experts and policy makers covers the Hindu Kush-Karakoram- and offer new insights for develop- were engaged for this assessment. Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau-Pamir ment of this region; (iv) value and The report is available at https:/ mountains as well as the Tien Shan conserve existing ecosystems, cul- /link.springer.com/content/pdf/ ranges. The region is the largest area tures, societies, knowledge and dis- 10.1007%2F978-3-319-92288-1.pdf of permanent ice cover outside of the tinctive HKH solutions that are im- ◆

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 41 C O V E R Reclaiming control of Indonesia’s oceans Indonesia, a country with more than 17,500 islands straddling two oceans, is confronted with the problems of the ocean fast becoming neoliberalism’s last frontier. Indonesian activists are helping to build a global movement to resist the financialisation and privatisation of the world’s oceans.

Salena Tramel

INDONESIA, the largest archipelago in the world, holds some stunning coastal and deep-water resources. For a country with more than 17,500 islands straddling two oceans, the sea is not only a way of life, but also a source of it. Fisheries account for a significant part of Indonesia’s trillion-dollar economy, the largest in South-East Asia. More than 30% of global maritime trade finds its way through the Strait of Malacca, which is among the Small-scale fishers in Indonesia. ‘Policies on marine issues cannot be addressed in busiest of international shipping the absence of fishing communities who have direct linkages to the ocean.’ lanes. Tourist havens are seemingly everywhere, from the palm-fringed beaches of Bali to the abundant shal- (NASA) and National Oceanic and the Our Ocean conference, which low-water reefs of the Coral Triangle. Atmospheric Administration took place in late October in Bali. The Managing marine ecosystems is (NOAA) show that the five hottest meeting brought together a large num- therefore an unsurprising priority for years ever have occurred in the 2010s. ber of powerful actors to debate some the vast number of actors that have a For many, marine ecosystem of the most pressing oceanic issues: stake in Indonesia’s coastal economy. management, fisheries management climate change, fisheries, the blue At once unexplored and overexploit- and climate change mitigation strate- economy, pollution, maritime securi- ed, the oceans represent neoliberal gy are embodied in a redoubled com- ty and marine protected areas. development’s final frontier. The twin mitment to the blue economy – the As is the case in many top deci- processes of ocean acidification and idea that the financialisation of oceans sion-making spaces, representatives global warming, and related interna- can reap economic profit and save the of governments, corporations and in- tional political responses further com- environment at once. tergovernmental institutions were giv- plicate matters. But what kind of development en a seat at the table. Notably absent, New analysis was recently pub- does the blue economy seek, and for however, were those closest to the sea lished in the journal Science indicat- whom? In Indonesia, small-scale fish- – fishers. ing that oceans are heating up 40% ers and their communities are hold- Marthin Hadiwinata, Chief Exec- faster than a United Nations panel of ing fast to various manifestations of utive of the Indonesia Traditional experts predicted in a study carried traditional knowledge that they see as Fisherfolk’s Union (KNTI), said: out five years ago. The study further key to ensuring the survival of the ‘Policies on marine issues cannot be concluded that in 2018, seawater tem- seas and of future generations. addressed in the absence of fishing peratures reached an all-time high and The Indonesian islands have long communities who have direct linkag- were expected to escalate further in been at the forefront of oceanic poli- es to the ocean.’ the coming years. These studies mir- cy and development discourse, in Hadiwinata explained that the ror those on land, where combined large part because of their sheer num- issue of marine pollution, for in- data from the US National Aeronau- ber and strategic location. One such stance, most deeply affects people liv- tics and Space Administration high-level process held recently was ing around the coastal areas and small

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 42 C O V E R

islands. ‘Rather than inviting fishers This task is done at scale, targeting Conference and related gatherings of to share their solutions,’ he added, national and transnational political people’s movements are attempting to ‘companies who are involved in min- dynamics. shut down. Ibu Rofi’ah, a represen- ing and other forms of extractive in- When word of the Our Ocean tative of a peasant organisation in East dustry that dump their waste into the conference and its lack of grassroots Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia’s southern- sea are regarded as corporate partners representation reached KNTI’s mem- most province, said: ‘We are not look- in cleaning up dirty waters.’ bers, they were quick to clap back by ing for money, but for means to spread organising their own participatory our knowledge.’ Blue Carbon meeting: the Ocean’s People Confer- Ibu Rofi’ah travelled to Jakarta ence. Unlike its ‘official’ counterpart, to explain how she played a leader- Likewise, climate change mitiga- the parallel meeting reflected the di- ship role when her community put an tion and adaptation projects often turn versity of Indonesia’s small-scale fish- end to an iron-mining operation. To- to the problems that caused the envi- eries sector. day she is working with fisheries co- ronmental crisis in the first place as a The gathering strategically took operatives that find themselves in way of responding to it. Take, for ex- place in Jakarta – not just to make it standoffs with corporations in the ample, Blue Carbon, where, as with more accessible, but also to shed light mining and tourism sectors. other carbon sequestration pro- on marine mega-projects encroaching Members of KNTI recognise that grammes such as REDD+ (reducing on the busy capital. The most notori- their struggles reflect those of fish- emissions from deforestation and for- ous of these has been a land reclama- ing communities elsewhere. To this est degradation), polluters are allowed tion project supported by Indonesia’s end, the movement is an active mem- to continue their practices so long as former colonisers, the Dutch. ber of the World Forum of Fisher Peo- they purchase ‘offsets’ in ecosystems This project has been centred on ples (WFFP), a transnational social elsewhere. protecting Jakarta from floods by injustice movement dedicated to serv- Most often, the burden falls on stalling a network of fake islands and ing the unique needs of fishers and the shoulders of peasant and indige- a giant seawall in Jakarta Bay. While fishworkers. nous rural working communities, con- the Governor of Jakarta finally re- Since the issues affecting fishers verting their crops and gathering voked some of the permits necessary have become increasingly entangled spaces into monocultures such as in- to complete the project – thanks, in – for instance, when climate change dustrial tree plantations. large part, to a strategic battle fought adaptation policies meet big capital Blue Carbon applies this logic to at the hands of social movements like – WFFP has doubled down on its at- mangrove, coral and seagrass ecosys- KNTI – much of the damage has been tack strategies to protect the commu- tems, while small-scale fishers who done. nities it represents. work in these areas are treated as nui- Ipah Saripah, a fishworker from A key part of that is actively pro- sances and prohibited from future North Jakarta, explained that the rec- moting the Small Scale Fisheries access to their fishing grounds. lamation issue has profoundly impact- Guidelines, which is the only com- Blue Carbon has been champi- ed her family’s livelihood. ‘Even prehensive global governance instru- oned in high-level policy spaces such though the reclamation stopped, ment intended to protect fishers and as the United Nations Framework they’ve already constructed four is- traditional fisheries. KNTI has been Convention on Climate Change (UN- lands,’ she said, ‘and that develop- doing this work across Indonesia, and FCCC) processes, as well as through ment is right in the middle of our fish- making its demands global through ‘big green’ organisations like The ing areas.’ social movement gatherings and even Nature Conservancy. It is currently ‘We have been bribed, intimidat- United Nations processes. being pioneered in Indonesia. ed, displaced and even tortured to Marthin Hadiwinata said: ‘Here Indonesian social movements make way for this reclamation,’ she in Indonesia, we are pushing the gov- and grassroots organisations have added. ernment to immediately recognise and long been in the business of carefully Saripah and other activists from protect fishers’ rights. And at the same protecting the islands’ cornucopia of the fishing communities feel that big time, we are building the global natural resources. In the rapidly reclamation projects like the one movement to resist financialisation evolving marine sector, fishers are stalled in Jakarta Bay serve as a blue- and privatisation of the world’s forced to be quick on their feet when print for coastal development in In- oceans.’ ◆ putting their solutions on the nation- donesia. Similar mega-projects are al agenda. being rolled out in other parts of the Salena Tramel is a journalist and PhD researcher at the International Institute of So- KNTI, the small-scale fishers’ country, and they are woven together cial Studies (ISS) in The Hague, where her movement that is present in nearly all with the common thread of replacing work is centred on the intersections of re- of Indonesia’s 34 provinces, is play- traditional fishing practices with prof- source grabs, climate change mitigation, and ing a leadership role in turning the tide it-seeking industries backed by big the intertwining of (trans)national agrarian/ social justice movements. This article is re- of both discourse and policy towards Asian and European capital. produced from the Ecologist website justice and sovereignty for fishers. That’s what the Ocean’s People (theecologist.org).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 43 C O V E R Climate change in Africa: Is my house on fire? A South African writer reflects on some of the problems of combatting climate change in Africa.

SIXTEEN-year-old climate activist Sindi-Leigh McBride This was the first time South Af- Greta Thunberg first grabbed the lo- rica’s courts have had to decide on a cal spotlight in August 2018 case like this, and the impli- after skipping school to stage cations are promising. For ‘school strikes for the cli- one, proper consideration of mate’, protesting in front of GHG emissions and other the Swedish parliament. Glo- environmental risks (like im- bal attention followed in De- pacts on scarce water resourc- cember after a fiery speech at es) is becoming entrenched. COP 24, the UN climate talks The ruling has already led to in Poland, and peaked at the closer scrutiny of the CBIPP- World Economic Forum in PP specifications, subse- Davos in January. quently revealed to be GHG Her speech in Davos pro- emission-inefficient. In other claimed, ‘Our house is on words, meaningful reduction fire,’ silencing a room of glo- Much of the research on climate change in Africa is con- of GHG emissions by these bal leaders as she demanded ducted and funded by non-Africans. new power plants is largely that economists tackle global unfeasible. warming by panicking, stressing that bon tax on entities emitting GHGs I wouldn’t have been paying at- ‘the climate crisis has never once been above a permissible limit. The bill tention to any of this before spotting treated as a crisis’. The evidence of isn’t perfect, but it is a start. Thunberg’s speech on social media. this crisis, according to the Intergov- When I mentioned the Carbon As striking as her passionate call to ernmental Panel on Climate Change Tax Act to South African comedian stop GHG emissions was her request (IPCC), is that we are less than 12 Loyiso Gola, he replied, ‘McBride, for everyone with insight into this cri- years away from being able to undo does the state even have the capacity sis to ‘speak out in clear language, no environmental mistakes. to enforce something like this?’ I was matter how uncomfortable and un- According to Thunberg, ‘no oth- pleased to inform him of a landmark profitable that may be’. A quick in- er current challenge can match the ruling, dubbed ‘SA’s first climate ventory revealed that my own insights importance of establishing a wide, change court case’. In summary, in seemed sorely sparse, and that’s when public awareness and understanding 2017 Earthlife Africa Johannesburg my journalistic jaunt to learn about of our rapidly disappearing carbon (ELA) successfully challenged the climate change began in earnest. budget, that should and must become Department of Environmental Affairs I now know that last year the our new global currency and the very (DEA) and Thabametsi Power Com- DEA published a document outlining heart of our future and present eco- pany after Thabametsi had been se- the national position on climate nomics.’ lected as one of two ‘preferred bid- change. In the same month, two South That is quite an economically ders’ in the first bidding round of the African activists won a prestigious sophisticated assertion and had me government’s plan to support the con- environmental honour for exposing scurrying to suss out the situation in struction of several privately owned the government’s ‘secret and corrupt’ my own country South Africa’s eco- coal-fired power stations, known as nuclear energy deal. Makoma Le- nomic planning for climate change. the Coal Baseload Independent Pow- kalakala (director of ELA) and Liz The South African government er Producer Procurement Programme McDaid (from the Southern African recently introduced new legislation in (CBIPPPP). ELA challenged the ‘en- Faith Communities Environment In- response to the rapid climate risks vironmental authorisation’ given to stitute) were awarded the Goldman heightened by large emitters of green- Thabametsi by the DEA allowing the Environmental Prize for their work house gases (GHGs). The Carbon Tax company to build a power station uncovering the state’s unlawful nu- Act becomes effective on 1 June without adequately considering the clear energy deal with Russia. The 2019, applies over and above the cor- climate change impacts that this prize is awarded every year to six in- porate income tax, and imposes a car- project will have. dividuals spanning six continents for

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 44 C O V E R their grassroots environmental activ- Proposed solutions include port on climate change. That one of ism. funders pursuing grant proposals in the world’s largest and most respect- I also know that, like many issues non-Anglophone African countries ed news organisations is clarifying its in South Africa, environmental activ- and those that are less politically stance, and expecting its journalists ism is beleaguered by race relations. open; or funding English translations to stick to it, is not nothing. For many, This is explained by the ‘green ceil- of African academic outputs. One ar- journalists included, how climate-re- ing’ or lack of transformation and ticle asks, ‘What if we talk about this lated events are interpreted and pri- workforce diversity in mainstream hurtling climate devastation just to oritised is influenced by a complex environmental organisations; and share the burden of that heavy knowl- combination of beliefs and world- common misconceptions about envi- edge?’ In this regard, the importance views, personal experience and place, ronmental activism as a ‘whites-only of indigenous activism on climate whether marine or mountain, urban issue’ since black South Africans change in Africa cannot be stressed or desert. Some people fear climate champion issues like labour condi- enough: their projects and advocacy change, some deny it, some don’t tions and socio-economic equality in should be integrated into academia, know what to believe and many don’t more demonstrative ways. The polar- activism and news media to better want to talk about it at all. Under- isation of environmental and social inform public discourse. standing how social identities like activism in South Africa is an inter- Despite being increasingly recog- race, class and gender shape climate esting prism for reflecting on the dif- nised as a critical issue in human his- change communication, as well as the ficulty of balancing tangible solutions tory, climate change is paradoxically different strategies used in climate (social justice) with relatively esoter- difficult for us to communicate. Gen- change action, is increasingly impor- ic goals (mitigating against scientific erating conversations that suggest estimates on more complicated spa- urgency and inspire change is not an tant. tio-temporal scales). easy task, beleaguered as we are by For instance, research into youth Surprisingly though, what I can’t emotions that we are only now for- dissent as expressed through climate get a handle on is climate change in mulating into words. Like the emerg- activism suggests three types of ac- the rest of Africa. I know that devel- ing condition of eco-anxiety, defined tivism: dutiful, disruptive and danger- oping regions dependent on rain-fed as the dread that attends ‘watching the ous dissent. Not all forms of dissent agriculture and coastal livelihoods are slow and seemingly irrevocable im- are equally challenging to the status disproportionately vulnerable, so ref- pacts of climate change unfold, and quo and not all can be interpreted in erences to Africa as contributing least worrying about the future for oneself, a positive light. Some dissent arises to but affected most by climate children, and later generations’. from failed expectations and frustra- change have become a spurious tru- This is surely the visceral vein tion and, without constructive outlets, ism. that Thunberg wants to needle: some is at risk of moving towards with- What I didn’t know was that re- of us, in our safe spaces and temper- drawal, inaction or angry violence, in search into climate change in Africa ate climates, are fortunate to enjoy the turn directed against other margina- is skewed towards countries that: a) (temporary) luxury of contemplating lised people, like migrants fleeing are former British colonies, b) have climate change intellectually without environmental degradation. stronger protections for civil liberties, confronting it materially. But ‘climate I understand now that what Thun- and c) have more stable political in- change can seem abstract even in the berg referred to as ‘a disaster of un- stitutions. In a perfect example of the middle of a hurricane’. Fully con- spoken sufferings for enormous ‘streetlight effect’ – a drunk loses his fronting the immensity of it demands amounts of people’ is worse than a keys in the park but looks for them a total package of emotion evocation drought, flood or heatwave. It’s not under a streetlight because that’s – apprehension, sorrow, shock, rage, treating climate change like wildfire, where it’s easier to see – internation- compassion … and panic. Not tear- and casually burning down the house al scholars are going to the countries your-hair-out panic, but a perspective in the process. ◆ that are most convenient for them to change for new experiments in prag- visit and study. As a result, as much matism. Like a recent interplanetary Sindi-Leigh McBride is a researcher and is known about Kenya and South Af- assessment of possible outcomes for writer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. 1 This article is reproduced from rica (combined population: 99 mil- our planet under different scenarios, TowardFreedom.org. lion) as 29 other African countries which treats the climate crisis like the (combined population: 280 million). wars on cancer or poverty – less en- Notes This is explained by underfunded vironmental wrong to be set right, African education systems resulting more emerging source of risk in need 1. See Adam Frank, ‘How do aliens in African climate change research of lifelong commitment girded by solve climate change?’, The Atlan- being conducted and funded by non- both urgency and patience. tic, 30 May 2018, https:// Africans, vulnerable to the biases of Less galactically, but no less im- www.theatlantic.com/science/ar- those researchers and their funding portant or innovative, the BBC has chive/2018/05/how-do-aliens- agencies. issued formal guidance on how to resolve-climate-change/561479/

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 45 C O V E R When the vessel is sinking Climate change has become an undeniable truth and if the earth is, figuratively speaking, like a sinking vessel, it is because we have not paid any attention to any of the recommendations made during the last decade, says a former Director-General of UNESCO.

Federico Mayor Zaragoza

SUDDENLY– said Leonardo da Vin- ci – there are no poor and rich, no young and old, no white and black on board ... only a bunch of passengers toiling, working together to sur- vive, to avoid a shipwreck. This is the advice we should convey today through all media so that the ‘peoples’ become aware of the situation humanity is facing for the first time in history. In recent years a series of global threats have been rec- Melting Arctic ice. Climate change has been recognised as one of the global threats ognised as potentially irreversible that need to be dealt with before it is too late. processes that need to be confronted and dealt with on time before it is too late. President Trump’s discretionary pow- an efficient multilateralism on a plan- Climate change has become an er which no one dares confront. etary scale; the time for genuine de- undeniable truth. The Arctic Ocean The most disturbing consequence mocracy. Otherwise devastation will has nearly disappeared and the Ant- is the way supremacism, racism, fa- be the irremediable consequence. arctic is starting to crack. We have not naticism and dogmatism are sprout- The time has come for the mass succeeded in our effort to reduce the ing everywhere, without anyone media to convey accurate information emissions of ‘greenhouse’ gases, and seeming to recall what happened in about the Earth’s sustainability and to the habitability of Earth is experienc- 1933 and 1939. The vast majority of alert the world, and to keep away from ing a consistent deterioration. The im- citizens are stunned and obsessed sup- ill-meaning commercial and political plementation of the Sustainable De- porters of football teams, and are only news that urges them to do the oppo- velopment Goals (SDGs) – wisely es- concerned with their immediate past site. tablished by the United Nations Gen- and their present life. Their demands The time has come for major fi- eral Assembly in October 2015 ‘to – which are mainly based on the mis- nancial corporations to become aware transform our world’ – has not been takes made by those who have ruled that it is their historical responsibili- carried out because it is not efficient- on one side and another – would be ty, in situations of no return, to pro- ly supported by big countries, and cit- reasonable in less pressing situations, mote and encourage awareness in- izens are under the pressure of the but they do not realise that today the stead of favouring confusion and gigantic media power that makes young and future generations are the them confused and turns them into overacting. only ones who deserve our attention impassive spectators instead of re- For peoples – ‘We the peoples’, sponsible actors. if we want to keep the world afloat as we were so wisely referred to at Neoliberalism, stubbornly led by and bequeath these generations a dig- the beginning of the UN Charter – to the United States Republican Party, nified life. take control, now that we are aware has weakened the nation-state and Despite the fact that there is rea- of what is going on and we can freely replaced the democratic multilateral- son to dream and fight for new ways express ourselves, now that we have ism of the United Nations with the of governance, that we are about to become men and women of a com- governance of a few plutocratic, oli- conquer at last what always seemed mon destiny. garchic groups (G6, G7, G8, G20) an impossible quest, the only true The vessel is sinking because we responsible for the current drift that thing is that the time has come to join have not paid attention to any of the has placed GDP and international our hands and voices, instead of recommendations made during the trade in the forefront... together with breaking up; the time has come for last decades. As in da Vinci’s tale, it

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 46 C O V E R is now essential and urgent for all of Ecological Agriculture, Climate Resilience and a us to react, because we are all concerned; otherwise we will not succeed Roadmap to Get There in our intent of keeping safe in all its Doreen Stabinsky and Lim Li Ching fullness the mystery of human exist- ence. ‘Everything is still possible … but who will do it if not all of us?’ THE phenomenon of climate change poses a serious threat to agricultural pro- said Miquel Martí i Pol. duction and, therefore, to the lives and I quote, because reading them livelihoods of the hundreds of millions was a crucial experience for me, the who are dependent on agriculture. Ad- lines of José Ángel Valente’s poem aptation to the increased variability in ‘On the present time’: weather patterns requires the adoption I am writing from a wrecked ves- of ecological farming practices which sel, are climate-resilient as well as productive. I am writing about the latitude This paper looks at how ecological of pain, agriculture, by building healthy soils, about everything we have de- cultivating biological diversity and im- stroyed proving water harvesting and manage- above all within ourselves... ment, can strengthen farmers’ capacity to adapt to climate change. Accordingly, Environment & Development Series no. 14 I am writing in the midst of the ISBN: 978-967-5412-67-7 48 pp night, the authors call for a reorientation of policy, funding and research priorities Instead, facing the vagaries of climate in the midst of the roar of the change demands a concerted effort by hungry and the dead, from the dominant industrial agriculture model to ecological agriculture. At the governments, multilateral agencies, re- with the perspective of a hand same time, recourse to carbon markets searchers and farmers to support the that becomes a gloomy fist to finance adaptation efforts through transition to ecological agriculture. To- ...with the eyes of infinitely dead trade in soil carbon credits is rejected wards this end, this paper outlines a children as an unsustainable, wrong-headed ap- roadmap of measures for promoting ...with the pain of a tree with proach to meeting the climate challenge. truly climate-resilient farming systems. wounded roots... But I also write in the midst of life, Price Postage Malaysia RM7.00 RM1.00 with its powerful cry Developing countries US$4.00 US$2.00 (air) ...with the voice of the suffering Others US$6.00 US$2.00 (air) crowd... Orders from Malaysia – please pay by credit card/crossed cheque or postal order. I am writing, my brother, about Orders from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, a time to come. UK, USA – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order Let’s find inspiration in Leonar- in own currency, US$ or Euro.If paying in own currency or Euro, please calculate do da Vinci, Miquel Martí i Pol and equivalent of US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is José Ángel Valente, and let’s aban- located in the USA. Rest of the world – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money don all hostile attitudes against an order in US$ or Euro. If paying in Euro, please calculate equivalent of US$ rate. If adequate and peaceful navigation. In paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. the new age, what will prevail will not All payments should be made in favour of: THIRD WORLD NETWORK BHD., be the power of force but rather the 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; power of reason, not weapons but Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.twn.my I would like to order ...... copy/copies of Ecological Agriculture, Climate words, not herd instinct but the ca- Resilience and a Roadmap to Get There. pacity of each human being to create, I enclose the amount of ...... by cheque/bank draft/IMO. to think and to take his own decisions. Please charge the amount of US$/Euro/RM ...... to my credit card: If we manage to keep the ship afloat with all passengers, humanity Visa Mastercard will have the opportunity to usher in a new era. ◆ A/c No.: Expiry date:

Federico Mayor Zaragoza, a Spanish scien- Signature: tist, scholar, politician, diplomat and poet, is Chairman of the Foundation for a Culture Name: of Peace. He served as Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific Address: and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) from 1987 to 1999. The above is reproduced from his blog (federicomayor-eng.blogspot.com).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 47 W O R L D A F F A I R S The war on Venezuela is built on lies A war has been declared on Venezuela, of which the truth is ‘too difficult’ to report, says award-winning journalist John Pilger.

TRAVELLING with Hugo Chavez, I soon understood the threat of Vene- zuela. At a farming cooperative in Lara state, people waited patiently and with good humour in the heat. Jugs of water and melon juice were passed around. A guitar was played; a woman, Katarina, stood and sang with a husky contralto. ‘What did her words say?’ I asked. ‘That we are proud,’ was the re- ply. The applause for her merged with the arrival of Chavez. Under one arm he carried a satchel bursting with The then Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez greeting supporters. Chavez was elec- books. He wore his big red shirt and torally the most popular head of state in the Western Hemisphere, probably in the greeted people by name, stopping to world. listen. What struck me was his capacity to listen. But now he read. For almost two on coming to power, that his every toric contempt by Chavez’s immedi- hours he read into the microphone move would be subject to the will of ate predecessors and by those who from the stack of books beside him: the people. In eight years, Chavez today live far from the barrios, in the Orwell, Dickens, Tolstoy, Zola, Hem- won eight elections and referendums: mansions and penthouses of East ingway, Chomsky, Neruda: a page a world record. He was electorally the Caracas, who commute to Miami here, a line or two there. People most popular head of state in the where their banks are and who regard clapped and whistled as he moved Western Hemisphere, probably in the themselves as ‘white’. They are the from author to author. world. powerful core of what the media calls Then farmers took the micro- Every major chavista reform was ‘the opposition’. phone and told him what they knew, voted on, notably a new constitution When I met this class, in suburbs and what they needed; one ancient of which 71% of the people approved called Country Club, in homes ap- face, carved it seemed from a nearby each of the 396 articles that enshrined pointed with low chandeliers and bad banyan, made a long, critical speech unheard-of freedoms, such as Article portraits, I recognised them. They on the subject of irrigation; Chavez 123, which for the first time recogn- could be white South Africans, the took notes. ised the human rights of mixed-race petite bourgeoisie of Constantia and Wine is grown here, a dark Syr- and black people, of whom Chavez Sandton, pillars of the cruelties of ah type grape. ‘John, John, come up was one. apartheid. here,’ said El Presidente, having One of his tutorials on the road Cartoonists in the Venezuelan watched me fall asleep in the heat and quoted a feminist writer: ‘Love and press, most of which are owned by the depths of Oliver Twist. solidarity are the same.’ His audienc- an oligarchy and oppose the govern- ‘He likes red wine,’ Chavez told es understood this well and expressed ment, portrayed Chavez as an ape. A the cheering, whistling audience, and themselves with dignity, seldom with radio host referred to ‘the monkey’. presented me with a bottle of ‘vino deference. Ordinary people regarded In the private universities, the verbal de la gente’ (the people’s wine). My Chavez and his government as their currency of the children of the well- few words in bad Spanish brought first champions: as theirs. off is often racist abuse of those whistles and laughter. This was especially true of the whose shacks are just visible through Watching Chavez with la gente indigenous, mestizos and Afro-Ven- the pollution. made sense of a man who promised, ezuelans, who had been held in his- Although identity politics are all

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 48 W O R L D A F F A I R S the rage in the pages of liberal newspapers in the West, race and class are two words almost never uttered in the mendacious ‘coverage’ of Washing- ton’s latest, most naked attempt to grab the world’s greatest source of oil and reclaim its ‘backyard’. For all the chavistas’ faults – such as allowing the Venezuelan economy to become hostage to the fortunes of oil and never seriously challenging big capital and corruption – they brought social justice and pride to millions of people and they did it with unprecedented democracy. ‘Of the 92 elections that we’ve monitored,’ said former US President Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Centre A graduate of Venezuela’s Mision Robinson literacy programme shows her certifi- is a respected monitor of elections cate. The programme was designed for adults and teenagers previously denied an around the world, ‘I would say the education because of poverty. election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.’ By way of contrast, Once, none of them could read and Chavez. said Carter, the US election system, write; now they were studying math- ‘The people rescued me,’ Chavez with its emphasis on campaign mon- ematics. For the first time in its histo- told me. ‘They did it with the media ey, ‘is one of the worst’. ry, Venezuela has almost 100% liter- against me, preventing even the ba- In extending the franchise to a acy. sic facts of what happened. For pop- parallel people’s state of communal This is the work of Mision Rob- ular democracy in heroic action, I authority, based in the poorest barri- inson, which was designed for adults suggest you look no further.’ os, Chavez described Venezuelan de- and teenagers previously denied an Since Chavez’s death in 2013, his mocracy as ‘our version of Rous- education because of poverty. Mision successor Nicolas Maduro has shed seau’s idea of popular sovereignty’. Ribas gives everyone the opportuni- his derisory label in the Western press In Barrio La Linea, seated in her ty of a secondary education, called a as a ‘former bus driver’ and become tiny kitchen, Beatrice Balazo told me bachillerato. (The names Robinson Saddam Hussein incarnate. His me- her children were the first generation and Ribas refer to Venezuelan inde- dia abuse is ridiculous. On his watch, of the poor to attend a full day’s pendence leaders from the 19th cen- the slide in the price of oil has caused school and be given a hot meal and tury.) hyperinflation and played havoc with to learn music, art and dance. ‘I have In her 95 years, Mavis Mendez prices in a society that imports almost seen their confidence blossom like had seen a parade of governments, all its food; yet, as the journalist and flowers,’ she said. mostly vassals of Washington, preside filmmaker Pablo Navarrete reported In Barrio La Vega, I listened to a over the theft of billions of dollars in in February, Venezuela is not the ca- nurse, Mariella Machado, a black oil spoils, much of it flown to Miami. tastrophe it has been painted as. woman of 45 with a wicked laugh, ‘We didn’t matter in a human sense,’ ‘There is food everywhere,’ he wrote. address an urban land council on sub- she told me. ‘We lived and died with- ‘I have filmed lots of videos of food jects ranging from homelessness to out real education and running wa- in markets [all over Caracas] ... it’s illegal war. That day, they were ter, and food we couldn’t afford. Friday night and the restaurants are launching Mision Madres de Barrio, When we fell ill, the weakest died. full.’ a programme aimed at poverty among Now I can read and write my name In 2018, Maduro was re-elected single mothers. Under the constitu- and so much more; and whatever the President. A section of the opposition tion, women have the right to be paid rich and the media say, we have plant- boycotted the election, a tactic tried as carers, and can borrow from a speed the seeds of true democracy and I against Chavez. The boycott failed: cial women’s bank. Now the poorest have the joy of seeing it happen.’ 9,389,056 people voted; 16 parties housewives get the equivalent of $200 In 2002, during a Washington- participated and six candidates stood a month. backed coup, Mavis’s sons and for the presidency. Maduro won In a room lit by a single fluores- daughters and grandchildren and 6,248,864 votes, or 67.84%. cent tube, I met Ana Lucia Ferandez, great-grandchildren joined hundreds On election day, I spoke to one aged 86, and Mavis Mendez, aged 95. of thousands who swept down from of the 150 foreign election observers. A mere 33-year-old, Sonia Alvarez, the barrios on the hillsides and de- ‘It was entirely fair,’ he said. ‘There had come with her two children. manded the army remain loyal to was no fraud; none of the lurid media

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 49 W O R L D A F F A I R S

It is too difficult to report the col- lapse of oil prices since 2014 as largely the result of criminal machinations by Wall Street. It is too difficult to report the blocking of Venezuela’s access to the US-dominated international financial system as sabotage. It is too difficult to report Washing- ton’s ‘sanctions’ against Venezuela – which have caused the loss of at least $6 billion in Venezuela’s revenue since 2017, including $2 billion worth of imported medicines – as illegal, or the Bank of England’s refusal to return Venezuela’s gold reserves as an Nicolas Maduro was re-elected President in 2018. Despite a boycott by a section of act of piracy. the opposition, more than 9 million Venezuelans voted and six candidates stood for The former United Nations Spe- the presidency, which was won by Maduro with over two-thirds of the votes. cial Rapporteur, Alfred de Zayas, has likened this to a ‘medieval siege’ de- claims stood up. Zero. Amazing real- Jon Snow bellowed at the Labour MP signed ‘to bring countries to their ly.’ Chris Williamson, ‘Look, you and Mr knees’. It is a criminal assault, he says. Like a page from Alice’s tea par- Corbyn are in a very nasty corner [on It is similar to that faced by Salvador ty, the Trump administration has pre- Venezuela]!’ When Williamson tried Allende in 1970 when President Ri- sented Juan Guaido, a pop-up cre- to explain why threatening a sover- chard Nixon and his equivalent of ation of the CIA-front National En- eign country was wrong, Snow cut John Bolton, Henry Kissinger, set out dowment for Democracy, as the ‘le- him off. ‘You’ve had a good go!’ to ‘make the economy [of Chile] gitimate President of Venezuela’. In 2006, Channel 4 News effec- scream’. The long dark night of Pi- Unheard of by 81% of the Venezue- tively accused Chavez of plotting to nochet followed. lan people, according to The Nation, make nuclear weapons with Iran: a The Guardian correspondent Guaido has been elected by no one. fantasy. The then Washington corre- Tom Phillips has tweeted a picture of Maduro is ‘illegitimate’, says spondent, Jonathan Rugman, allowed a cap on which the words in Spanish Trump (who won the US presidency a war criminal, Donald Rumsfeld, to mean in local slang: ‘Make Venezue- with three million fewer votes than liken Chavez to Hitler, unchallenged. la fucking cool again.’ The reporter his opponent); a ‘dictator’, says de- Researchers at the University of as clown may be the final stage of monstrably unhinged vice-president the West of England studied the much of mainstream journalism’s de- Mike Pence; and an oil trophy-in- BBC’s reporting of Venezuela over a generation. waiting, says ‘national security’ ad- 10-year period. They looked at 304 Should the CIA stooge Guaido viser John Bolton (who when I inter- reports and found that only three of and his white supremacists grab pow- viewed him in 2003 said, ‘Hey, are these referred to any of the positive er, it will be the 68th overthrow of a you a communist, maybe even La- policies of the government. For the sovereign government by the United bour?’). BBC, Venezuela’s democratic record, States, most of them democracies. A As his ‘special envoy to Venezu- human rights legislation, food pro- firesale of Venezuela’s utilities and ela’ (coup master), Trump has ap- grammes, healthcare initiatives and mineral wealth will surely follow, pointed a convicted felon, Elliot poverty reduction did not happen. along with the theft of the country’s Abrams, whose intrigues in the ser- The greatest literacy programme in oil, as outlined by John Bolton. vice of Presidents Reagan and George human history did not happen, just as Under the last Washington-con- W Bush helped produce the Iran-Con- the millions who march in support of trolled government in Caracas, pov- tra scandal in the 1980s and plunge Maduro and in memory of Chavez do erty reached historic proportions. Central America into years of blood- not exist. There was no healthcare for those soaked misery. When asked why she filmed only who could not pay. There was no uni- Putting Lewis Carroll aside, these an opposition march, the BBC report- versal education; Mavis Mendez, and ‘crazies’ belong in newsreels from the er Orla Guerin tweeted that it was ‘too millions like her, could not read or 1930s. And yet their lies about Vene- difficult’ to be on two marches in one ◆ zuela have been taken up with enthu- day. write. How cool is that, Tom? siasm by those paid to keep the record A war has been declared on Ven- John Pilger is a journalist and documentary straight. ezuela, of which the truth is ‘too dif- filmmaker. This article is reproduced from his On Britain’s Channel 4 News, ficult’ to report. website JohnPilger.com.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 50 W O R L D A F F A I R S Former UN rapporteur: US sanctions against Venezuela causing economic and humanitarian crisis A former United Nations rapporteur has criticised the US for engaging in ‘economic warfare’ against Venezuela, which he claimed was the real reason for the economic and humanitarian crisis facing the country.

ALFRED de Zayas, who last year became the first UN rapporteur to visit Venezuela for 21 years, also suggested in his recently published UN report that US sanctions on the country are illegal and could amount to ‘crimes against humanity’ under international law. De Zayas, an American lawyer, writer, historian and former secretary of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), presented his Venezuela report to the HRC in September. In the report, de Zayas recommended, among other actions, that the International Criminal Court investi- gate economic sanctions against Ven- ezuela as possible crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Rights expert and former UN rapporteur Alfred de Zayas. Statute. In the report conclusions, de Za- yas, who is an expert in the fields of dieval sieges of towns. ‘Twenty-first the country’s economic crisis has so human rights and international law, century sanctions attempt to bring not far largely been ignored. ‘When I went on to say the solution to the Ven- just a town, but sovereign countries come and I say the emigration is partly ezuelan crisis lay in ‘good faith ne- to their knees.’ attributable to the economic war gotiations between the Government Since 2015 around 1.9 million waged against Venezuela and is part- and the opposition, an end to the eco- people have fled Venezuela and in- ly attributable to the sanctions, peo- nomic war, and the lifting of sanc- flation has reached 60,324%. ple don’t like to hear that. They just tions’. want the simple narrative that social- The US-imposed sanctions ‘Twenty-first century ism failed and it failed the Venezue- against Venezuela began in 2015 un- lan people,’ he told The Independent. der President Barack Obama and have sanctions attempt to De Zayas went on to suggest that intensified under Donald Trump. The bring not just a town, the sanctions are part of a US effort sanctions prohibit dealing in curren- to overthrow the Venezuelan govern- cies and stop US-based companies or but sovereign countries ment and install a friendlier regime. people from buying and selling new to their knees.’ ‘I’ve seen that happen in the Hu- debt issued by the state-run oil body man Rights Council, how the United PDVSA or the government. States twists arms and convinces In his report, de Zayas said mod- Speaking to The Independent countries to vote the way they want ern-day economic sanctions and (UK) in January, de Zayas also sug- them to vote, or there will be econom- blockades are comparable with me- gested his research into the causes of ic consequences, and these things are

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 51 W O R L D A F F A I R S

not reflected in the press,’ he told The Independent. Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change Venezuela has the largest oil re- through Ecological Agriculture serves in the world and other abundant natural resources including gold, By Lim Li Ching bauxite and coltan. ‘If you crush this government and While agricultural productivity is adversely affected by climate change, agriculture is you bring in a neoliberal government itself a significant contributor to global that is going to privatise everything warming. Agricultural activities have been and is going to sell out, a lot of identified as a major source of the transnational corporations stand to greenhouse gas emissions responsible for gain enormous profits and the United climate change. However, as this paper explains, States is driven by the transnational agriculture also has considerable potential corporations,’ the former UN special for climate change mitigation. In particular, rapporteur told The Independent. the adoption of “ecological agriculture”, ‘The business of the United which integrates natural regenerative States is business. And that’s what the processes, minimizes non-renewable inputs and fosters biological diversity, can have United States is interested in. And tremendous scope for reducing emissions they can’t [currently] do business with and enhancing soil carbon sequestration. At Venezuela.’ the same time, many ecological agricultural Environment & Development Series no. 11 In his report, de Zayas expressed practices also constitute effective strategies ISBN: 978-967-5412-42-4 24pp concern that those calling the situa- for adapting to climate change, which is a priority for developing countries. calls for more investment and tion a ‘humanitarian crisis’ are being This paper looks at the various ways in policy support to be devoted to ‘weaponised’ to discredit the govern- which ecological agriculture integrates this productive and sustainable ment and make violent overthrow mitigation and adaptation capacities, and form of farming. more ‘palatable’. Amnesty, for example, have said Price Postage the government of President Nicolas Malaysia RM7.00 RM1.00 Maduro is responsible for ‘the worst Third World countries US$4.00 US$2.00 (air) Other foreign countries US$6.00 US$2.00 (air) human rights crisis in the country’s history’. Orders from Malaysia – please pay by credit card/crossed cheque or postal order. ‘There is nothing more undemo- Orders from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, cratic than a coup d’état and nothing UK, USA – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order more corrosive to the rule of law and in own currency, US$ or Euro.If paying in own currency or Euro, please calculate to international stability when foreign equivalent of US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is governments meddle in the internal located in the USA. affairs of other states,’ de Zayas told Rest of the world – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money The Independent. order in US$ or Euro. If paying in Euro, please calculate equivalent of US$ rate. If ‘Only the Venezuelans have a paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. right to decide, not the United States, All payments should be made in favour of: THIRD WORLD NETWORK BHD., not the United Kingdom ... What is 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; urgent is to help the Venezuelan peo- Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.twn.my ple through international solidarity – genuine humanitarian aid and a lift- I would like to order ...... copy/copies of Mitigating and Adapting to Climate ing of the financial blockade so that Change through Ecological Agriculture. I enclose the amount of ...... by cheque/bank draft/IMO. Venezuela can buy and sell like any other country in the world – the prob- Please charge the amount of US$/Euro/RM ...... to my credit card: lems can be solved with good faith Visa Mastercard and common sense.’ De Zayas is one of the signato- A/c No.: Expiry date: ries of an open letter, along with Noam Chomsky and some 70 other Signature: academics and experts, condemning what they described as a US-backed Name: coup attempt against the Venezuelan government. – Digital Desk, Irish Ex- Address: aminer (www.irishexaminer.com, 28 January 2019) ◆

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 52 W O R L D A F F A I R S Western media fall in lockstep for cheap Venezuela aid PR stunt The Western media, says Adam Johnson, has slavishly echoed the US narrative on the situation in Venezuela which has portrayed President Maduro as a heartless dictator blocking aid for his starving people.

THE Trump administration’s now completely overt effort to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Ma- duro had a very successful public relations move in early February, as major Western media outlets uniform- ly echoed its simplistic, pre-packaged claim that the Venezuelan government was heartlessly withholding foreign aid: • ‘Tensions Rise as Venezuela Blocks Border Bridge in Standoff Over Aid’ (CNN, 7 February) • ‘Maduro Blocks Critical Aid Sent to Venezuela’ (CNN, 7 Febru- ary) • ‘Aid Arrives at Venezuela Bor- der as US Demands Maduro Let It In’ (ABC News, 7 February) Boxes of aid from the US stored in a warehouse in Colombia near the border with • ‘Venezuela Crisis: Pompeo De- Venezuela. The UN has warned against using aid ‘as a pawn’ in Venezuela. mands Aid Corridor Opened’ (BBC, 7 February) engage in this aid PR stunt. Risks of Sending Aid to Venezuela’ • ‘The US Says Maduro Is Block- (2) The bridge in question is a (PBS NewsHour, 1 February): ‘The ing Aid to Starving People. The Ven- visual metaphor contrived by the International Committee of the Red ezuelan Says His People Aren’t Beg- Trump administration of little practi- Cross has warned the United States gars.’ (Washington Post, 8 February) cal relevance. about the risks of delivering humani- • ‘Humanitarian Aid Arrives for (3) The person in charge of US tarian aid to Venezuela without the Venezuela – But Maduro Blocks It’ operations in Venezuela has a history approval of security forces loyal to (NPR, 8 February) of using aid as a cover to deliver President Nicolas Maduro…’ All of the above articles – and weapons to right-wing mercenaries. • ‘UN Warns Against Politicizing scores more like them – repeated the Humanitarian Aid in Venezuela’ (Re- same script: Maduro was blocking aid PR stunt uters, 6 February): ‘The United Na- from the US ‘out of refusal to relin- tions warned on Wednesday against quish power’, preferring to starve ‘his (1) Not only has the internation- using aid as a pawn in Venezuela af- own people’ rather than feed them. It’s al aid community not asked for the ter the United States sent food and a simple case of good and evil – of a ‘aid’, both the International Red medicine to the country’s border and tyrannical, paranoid dictator not let- Cross and the UN had in the first accused President Nicolas Maduro of ting in aid to feed a starving popula- week of February warned the US to blocking its delivery with trucks and tion. not engage in these types of PR stunts. shipping containers…’ Except three pieces of key con- The transparent cynicism of these ef- Indeed, as Bevins also noted, the text are missing. Context that, when forts was preemptively warned about Red Cross has long been working presented to a neutral observer, would by the groups actually charged with with local authorities inside Venezu- severely undermine the cartoonish keeping starving people fed, as Wash- ela to deliver relief, and in early Feb- narrative being advanced by US me- ington Post contributor Vincent Bev- ruary doubled its budget to do so. We dia: ins pointed out, drawing attention to have ample evidence the Maduro gov- (1) Both the Red Cross and the the following news reports: ernment is more than willing to work United Nations warned the US not to • ‘Red Cross Warns US About with international aid when it’s of-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 53 W O R L D A F F A I R S fered in good faith, not when it’s a thinly veiled mechanism to spur civil war and contrive PR victories for those seeking to overthrow the government. It’s not just Maduro – as the West- ern media are presenting it – who opposes the US aid convoy; it’s the UN and the Red Cross. Why do none of the above reports note this rather key piece of information, instead giving the reader the impression it’s only the stance of a sadistic, power-hungry madman? (2) Despite dozens of media outlets giving the impression (and sometimes explicitly saying) that the Ven- ezuelan government shut down an otherwise functioning pathway into the country, the bridge in question US special envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams (pic) has a history of using aid con- hasn’t been open for years. voys as a cover to smuggle in arms to right-wing militias. It’s true the Venezuelan government appears to have placed an oil tanker and cargo containers on the pect the US would use humanitarian exact same person in charge of the bridge to prevent incursion from the aid as a cover to smuggle in weapons operation whom we know – with Colombian side, but the other barri- to foment armed conflict: The person 100% certainty, because he admitted ers, as writer and software developer running quarterback for Trump on the to it – has a history of using aid con- Jason Emery noted, have been in current Venezuela operation, Elliott voys as a cover to smuggle in arms to place since at least 2016. According Abrams, literally did just that 30 years right-wing militias. to La Opinion (5 February), after its ago. It’s all playing out right now, in initial construction in 2015, the bridge From the first two paragraphs real time. The same actors, the same has never been open to traffic. How (emphasis added) of a 1987 AP/New tricks, the same patently disingenu- can Maduro, as the BBC suggested, York Times article ‘Abrams Denies ous concern for the starving poor. And ‘reopen’ a bridge that was never Wrongdoing in Shipping Arms to the US media is stripping it of all this open? Contras’ (17 August 1987 – h/t Kevin essential context, presenting these The reality is BBC and other Gosztola): radical regime-change operators as Western media were just going along ‘Assistant Secretary of State El- bleeding-heart humanitarians. with the narrative pushed by US Sen- liott Abrams has defended his role in The same US media outlets that ator Marco Rubio and Secretary of authorizing the shipment of weapons have expressly fundraised and run ad State Mike Pompeo, not bothering to on a humanitarian aid flight to Nica- campaigns on their image as anti- check if their primary visual narrative raguan rebels, saying the operation Trump truth-tellers have mysterious- was based on a bad-faith, context-free was “strictly by the book”.’ ly taken at face value everything the PR stunt. ‘Mr. Abrams spoke at a news Trump White House and its neocon- This point is a relatively superfi- conference Saturday in response to servative allies have said in their cam- cial one, but in a long-term PR battle statements by Robert Duemling, paign to overthrow the government to win over Western liberals for fur- former head of the State Department’s of Venezuela. The self-aggrandising ther military escalation, the superfi- Nicaraguan humanitarian assistance ‘factchecking’ brigade that emerged cial matters a lot. Rubio and the office, who said he had twice ordered to confront the Trump administration Trump administration cooked up a planes to shuttle weapons for the is suddenly non-existent as the same gimmicky visual metaphor, and al- Contras on aid planes at Mr. Abrams’ administration rolls out a transparent, most every outlet uncritically passed direction in early 1986.’ cynical PR strategy to delegitimise a it along, often making factually inac- It’s literally the same person. It’s Latin American government it’s try- curate assumptions along the way – not that Maduro is vaguely paranoid ing to overthrow. ◆ assumptions the Trump State Depart- the US, in general, would dust off its ment and CIA coordinating the effort 1980s Contra-backing Cold War play- Adam Johnson is a contributing analyst for book, or some unspecified assump- FAIR.org, from which this article is repro- knew very well they would make. duced. FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Report- (3) The Venezuelan government tion about a higher-up or two at the ing) is a US-based progressive media watch- has an entirely rational reason to sus- State Department. It’s literally the dog group.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 54 W O R L D A F F A I R S ICJ urges UK to end rule over Chagos Islands Britain suffered a humiliating drubbing in February when the World Court rejected its claim to the Chagos Islands and called on it to ‘decolonise’ the islands. hicles before being burned in front of THE United Nations’ highest court on grieving and terrified children. Cha- 25 February called Britain’s claim of Brett Wilkins gossians were allowed to take a sin- sovereignty over the Chagos Islands gle suitcase each before being herd- ‘illegal’ and urged London to ‘decol- nally be able to return home.’ ed onto cargo ships, never to return onise’ the remote archipelago – which The British Foreign Office re- home again. is home to one of the most important sponded by noting the ICJ action was Most Chagossians were dumped, US overseas military bases – by re- ‘an advisory opinion, not a judgment’, initially without any compensation, a turning the islands to Mauritius. and that it would ‘carefully’ consider thousand miles away in the island In a 13-1 vote, the International its contents. London calls the remote nation of Mauritius, where they were Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, archipelago the British Indian Ocean treated as second-class citizens and Netherlands, issued an advisory opin- Territory (BIOT). It paid Mauritius, where many ended up living lives of ion declaring that the Chagos Islands which gained independence in 1968, abject poverty and heartbreak in the were not lawfully separated from the over £4 million, or nearly $90 mil- slums of the capital, Port Louis. former British colony of Mauritius, lion today, for islands which include There, they learned the meaning of which was forced to give up the is- the Diego Garcia atoll. debt, unemployment, drugs and pros- lands in 1965 in exchange for inde- Today Diego Garcia is one of the titution. It wasn’t long before suicides pendence. ICJ President Abdulqawi largest and most important US mili- and child deaths took a heavy toll on Ahmed Yusuf said the ‘unlawful’ sep- tary bases in the world. Dozens of US the refugees. Meanwhile, and with- aration had not been based on a ‘free warships along with thousands of out any apparent sense of irony, the and genuine expression of the people troops and support staff are stationed US military called its new Hallibur- concerned’ and was therefore a there, and the base is crucial to US ton-built base on Diego Garcia Camp ‘wrongful act’. operations in the Middle East. How- Justice. ‘The United Kingdom is under an ever, until the late 1960s Diego Gar- The expulsion of an entire peo- obligation to bring an end to its ad- cia was home to around 1,500 Cha- ple from its homeland was not report- ministration of the Chagos Archipel- gossians, a Creole-speaking people ed to the US Congress or the Ameri- ago as rapidly as possible, thereby who lived peacefully in the paradisi- can people. Britain lied, claiming allowing Mauritius to complete the acal archipelago with their beloved ‘there is nothing in our files about a decolonisation of its territory,’ Yusuf dogs. population and an evacuation’. asserted. The John F Kennedy and Lyndon To this day, Chagossians are The ICJ agreed with Mauritius’ B Johnson administrations secretly fighting for the right to return to their submission, which argued it had been convinced Britain to grant exclusive homeland. They’ve been unsuccess- coerced into giving up the islands. control over the atoll, ‘without local ful despite two British High Court Such an act is a violation of UN Res- inhabitants’, to the US. American rulings declaring their removal ille- olution 1514, which prohibits the documents refer to ‘sweeping’ and gal. Most will likely die without ever breakup of colonies before indepen- ‘sanitising’ the island, while a top seeing home again. dence. The only judge who dissented British official privately wrote that ‘Back home was paradise,’ 81- from the court’s main opinion was ‘we must surely be very tough about year-old Samynaden Rosemond, who Joan E Donoghue of the United this ... there will be no indigenous was 36 when he was forced from Di- States. population except seagulls’. One Brit- ego Garcia, told the BBC in Port Lou- ‘This is a historic moment for ish diplomatic cable at the time re- is last year. ‘If I die here my spirit will Mauritius and all its people, includ- ferred to Chagossians as ‘Tarzans’. be everywhere; it wouldn’t be happy. ing the Chagossians who were uncon- The island’s residents were ◆ scionably removed from their home- But if I die there, I will be in peace.’ tricked, scared or forced into leaving. land and prevented from returning for When a contingent of US Marines Brett Wilkins is a San Francisco-based the last half century,’ Mauritius Prime arrived, they told the Chagossians freelance author and editor-at-large for US Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth they would be bombed or shot if they news at Digital Journal. His work, which said after the decision. ‘Our territori- focuses on issues of war and peace and hu- didn’t go. In a bid to hasten the evac- al integrity will now be made com- man rights, is archived at uation, the islanders’ dogs were plete, and when that occurs, the Cha- www.brettwilkins.com. The above article is rounded up and gassed to death with reproduced from CommonDreams.org under gossians and their descendants will fi- exhaust fumes from US military ve- a Creative Commons licence.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 55 W O R L D A F F A I R S Mass protests in Haiti, like France’s Yellow Vests, threaten modern oligarchic structure As Haitians throughout the country seethe with rage over President Jovenel Moise’s blatant corruption, gross mismanagement and numerous scandals, the neo-Duvalier era in Haiti that has largely been orchestrated by the US is now in danger of finally falling apart.

‘the police are afraid’. Late in the af- THROUGHOUT recent Latin Amer- Whitney Webb ican history, it is hard to find a coun- ternoon of 11 February, local reports try that has been as thoroughly ma- asserted that PHTK ruling elite were nipulated and plundered by the Unit- the entire country into one massive evacuated via helicopter from the ed States as Haiti has. After over a sweatshop for American clothing wealthy enclave of Petionville to the century of US intervention – from the companies. Toussaint L’Ouverture International 19-year-long US military occupation More specifically, Moise has ig- Airport, apparently planning to flee that began in 1915 to the 2010 elec- nited popular ire after being implicat- the country – at least temporarily. tion rigged by the Hillary Clinton-run ed in the embezzlement of a $4 bil- Other reports stated that at least one State Department – Haiti has become lion loan given to the Haitian govern- police officer had been shot during the ultimate neoliberal experiment ment to develop the country via Ven- demonstrations that turned violent that has forced its people to live in ezuela’s PetroCaribe programme, and and saw several businesses looted. conditions so horrible that rivers of for his failure to combat the double- Local media the following day report- sewage often run through the city digit inflation that has further impov- ed high turnout for protests in sever- streets. erished the Caribbean nation. al cities. Even Haiti’s own president, Jo- President Moise has thus far re- The international response to the venel Moise – who has presided over sponded to the protests much like the protests in Haiti has been limited, with the most recent phase of US-backed president of Haiti’s former colonial the UN warning Haitian protesters on plunder – recently called the entire ruler, France, where Emmanuel Ma- 10 February that ‘in a democracy country a ‘latrine’. cron has sought to disperse the Yel- change must come through the ballot Yet – much as in 1791, when low Vest popular protest movement box, and not through violence’. This Haiti was the site of the first success- with police violence. Similarly, Moise unintentionally ironic statement ig- ful slave revolt in the Americas – to- has ordered police to shoot tear gas nores the documented meddling of day the people of Haiti seem to have and live ammunition into crowds of the United States in massaging vote finally had enough of being slaves in unarmed protesters, killing at least totals and other manipulative tactics all but name and are taking to the four people, including a 14-year-old in the last two presidential elections. streets en masse in an effort to end boy who was not even a part of the This, combined with the fact that the the rule of the Haitian Bald-Headed protests, and injuring scores more. US has kidnapped and overthrown Party (PHTK), the US-backed politi- Despite the violent response from Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a left-leaning cal party with close ties to the Clin- the Moise-led government, protesters populist politician, each time he won tons. have continued to come out in force, an election – first in 1991 and then in Thousands of Haitians have even stoning Moise’s personal home 2004 – has greatly reduced Haitians’ marched through the country’s capi- on 9 February. That same day, Moise faith in their ‘democracy’. tal of Port-au-Prince and other major declared that he would ‘clean the cities, calling for Moise’s ouster for streets’ of every protester by 11 Feb- The US knows something corruption and gross economic mis- ruary. Yet the mass protests contin- about election meddling management in recent years, much of ued through that day, when police which can be traced directly back to were seen standing down in Carrefour Since he came to power in Feb- the 2010 earthquake and the subse- (a suburb of Port-au-Prince), no long- ruary 2017, Moise’s policies have re- quent US-UN ‘relief’ effort that led er willing to fire on protesters. In a sulted in several mass protests — in- to rigged elections, caused a deadly video of the incident shared on social cluding last July, when protesters cholera outbreak and sought to turn media, one female protester yells that forced Moise’s government to aban-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 56 W O R L D A F F A I R S don a planned hike in fuel prices; and After coming to power, it took Duvalier era in Haiti that has largely last November, when protesters de- little time for observers to realise why been orchestrated by the US is now manded Moise’s ouster for the embez- the US, particularly the Clinton-led in danger of falling apart. zlement of PetroCaribe funds. With State Department, had chosen Mar- so many protests in such a short span telly. Not only was Martelly an avid Haiti puts the neo-colonial of time, the anger among the Haitian supporter of neoliberal policies that oligarchy on edge population at this unpopular president impoverished his people, he also sup- is pungent and will likely prove diffi- ported the outright theft of Haitian If the movement to oust the US- cult to placate this time. land by wealthy foreign corporations backed and illegally installed rulers A large part of Moise’s unpopu- to create so-called ‘free trade zones’, of Haiti is successful, it could easily larity is likely related to the fact that and brokered a deal with the Clintons send shockwaves through the power he was never popularly elected to be- to release Americans who had been structures of the United States and its gin with. The 2016 election that arrested for child trafficking. client states, much as the Haitian rev- Moise allegedly won was disorgan- Furthermore, Martelly also olution did to the colonial powers two ised and had turnout so dismal that helped squander much of the foreign centuries ago. Indeed, the Haitian rev- Moise, the ‘winner’, received only aid that did make it into Haiti, cement- olution instilled fear in European co- around 600,000 votes out of a national ing his reputation as notoriously cor- lonial masters throughout the Ameri- population of over 11 million. Prom- rupt, although most of that aid never cas and the world and inspired count- inent Haitian politicians called the even made it to Haiti and instead re- less slave revolts in the United States election an ‘electoral coup’. mained in the hands of corrupt for- alone. Today, it still serves as a re- In addition, that election was eign contractors. minder that the most repressed class overseen by Ken Merten, former In addition, Martelly was also a of a society can rise up to declare their Obama administration ambassador to supporter of the Duvalier family – equality and independence – and win. Haiti and then Obama’s Haiti Special which ruled Haiti with an iron fist Perhaps that is why the current oli- Coordinator, and was wracked by ac- during the dictatorships of ‘Papa Doc’ cusations of vote-buying and -steal- Duvalier and his son ‘Baby Doc’. In- garchical system has invested so ing and other fraudulent activities. deed, when ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier re- much in robbing Haitians of their eco- Merten’s involvement is particularly turned from exile in France to attend nomic and political power. nefarious given that he oversaw the a Haitian government ceremony, Mar- Though today is unlike the late previous Haiti election (2010) where telly – along with Bill Clinton, who 18th century in the sense that those at the US State Department had altered was also in attendance – rose to greet the bottom of the rung are no longer the vote count. him. called ‘slaves’ and those at the top are If that were not enough, in addi- Martelly’s government included no longer called ‘masters’ and ‘kings’, tion to the election fraud, Moise was several officials who were connected the record inequality that now exists widely believed to have been ineligi- to the Duvalier dictatorship, includ- throughout the world, the US includ- ble for office soon after having been ing his prime minister, Garry Conille, ed, has recreated in today’s power ‘elected’, after it was revealed that he whose father held a cabinet position structures an ethos eerily similar to had laundered money through his per- in the dictatorship. In addition, that of the feudal-colonial systems of sonal bank account and was tied to a Conille served with Bill Clinton on centuries past. drug-trafficking operation. the Interim Haiti Recovery Commis- As both Haiti and France have Ultimately, Moise’s unpopular sion and had previously worked as a become the new epicentres of popu- rule is the continuation of that of his development manager for the United lar unrest against predatory elites, predecessor, Michel Martelly, who Nations before receiving his promi- much as they were two centuries ago, chose Moise – then a political neo- nent position in the government in- it is time to see both of these current phyte – as his successor. Martelly’s stalled by both the US and the UN. movements as part of the same strug- rise to power was similar to Moise’s Thus, Haiti under Martelly and gle for basic human dignity in an era but even more fraudulent. In the 2010 Moise has been little different in prac- of neocolonialism, imperialism and election that saw Martelly ‘win’, the tice from the Duvalier era. Indeed, as global oligarchy. ◆ Hillary Clinton-run State Department Amy Wilentz noted in a 2014 article changed the vote totals in order to in The Nation, ‘[the Duvalier] politi- Whitney Webb is a staff writer for MintPress place Martelly in a runoff election for cal toolbox – authoritarianism, News – from which this article is reproduced which he hadn’t in fact qualified. trumped up elections, distrust of free (www.mintpressnews.com/protests-in-haiti- When the previous Haitian govern- speech, corruption of the forces of like-frances-yellow-vests-threaten-oligarchic-structure/255009/) – and has contrib- ment resisted, Clinton herself trav- order, and no justice — are the meth- uted to several other independent, alterna- elled to Haiti and threatened to with- ods by which Haiti’s ruler [Martelly] tive outlets. Her work has appeared on sites draw all US aid from Haiti if Martel- still controls the country’. With Moise such as Global Research, the Ron Paul In- ly did not replace the second runoff serving as the new face of PHTK and stitute and 21st Century Wire among others. She also makes guest appearances to discuss candidate, Jude Celestin. Martelly’s chosen successor, this neo- politics on radio and television.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 57 H U M A N R I G H T S ‘Disaster’ as Indian Supreme Court orders eviction of millions of tribespeople A recent order by the Indian Supreme Court for the eviction of some 8 million forest dwellers is a veritable death sentence on them, say activists.

be evicted. The groups reportedly include Wildlife First, Wildlife Trust of India, the Nature Conservation Society, the Tiger Research and Conservation Trust and the Bombay Natural His- tory Society. In an extraordinary move, the national government failed to appear in court to defend the tribespeople’s rights, and the court therefore ruled in favour of the evictions, which it decreed should be completed by 27 July. More than 8 million tribal and other forest-dwelling people in India have been ordered to be evicted from their ancestral lands. The order affects more than 1.1 million households, with experts es- timating this could mean more than 8 INDIA’S Supreme Court has ordered quests by Indian conservation groups million individuals will now be evict- the eviction of up to over 8 million to declare invalid the Forest Rights ed – and the number is likely to rise, tribal and other forest-dwelling peo- Act, which gives forest-dwelling people, in what campaigners have de- ple rights to their ancestral lands, in- as some states have not provided described as ‘an unprecedented disas- cluding in protected areas. The groups tails as to how many will be affected. ter’ and ‘the biggest mass eviction in had also demanded that where tribes- Stephen Corry, Director of Sur- the name of conservation, ever’. people had tried and failed to secure vival International, a global tribal The ruling is in response to re- their rights under the Act, they should peoples’ rights organisation, said: ‘This judgement is a death sentence for millions of tribal people in India, land theft on an epic scale, and a monumental injustice. ‘It will lead to wholesale misery, impoverishment, disease and death, an urgent humanitarian crisis, and it will do nothing to save the forests which these tribespeople have protected for generations. ‘Will the big conservation organisations like WWF and WCS condemn this ruling and pledge to fight it, or will they be complicit in the biggest mass eviction in the name of conservation, ever?’ – Survival International (21 February 2019, The Indian Supreme Court building in New Delhi. www.survivalinternational.org)◆

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 58 W O M E N 5.5 million women build their wall On New Year’s Day, 5.5 million women in the Indian state of Kerala – one in three women in the state – took to the streets to protest against an entry ban on women between 10-50 into a well-known temple. Vijay Prashad explains the background to what must be one of the largest mobilisations of women in the world.

ON 1 January, 5.5 million women in the Indian state of Kerala (population: 35 million) built a 386-mile wall with their bodies. They stood from one end to the other of this long state in south- western India. The women gathered at 4 pm and took a vow to defend the renaissance traditions of their state and to work towards women’s em- powerment. It is not an exaggeration to say that this was one of the largest mobilisations of women in the world for women’s rights. It was certainly larger than the historic Women’s March in Washington, DC in 2017. Kerala’s government is run by the The Women’s Wall in Kerala on 1 January was one of the largest mobilisations of Communists. It is not easy for a left- women in the world for women’s rights. wing government to operate in a state within the Indian union. The central government in New Delhi has little dices against menstruation had be- ate women who menstruate. The In- desire to assist Kerala, which suffered come a barrier to equal education. The dian Supreme Court took notice of a cataclysmic flood last year. No as- government called this project ‘She this and, in September 2018, declared sistance with the budgetary burdens Pad’, which benefited students and that the temple must allow all wom- of relief and reconstruction, and no teachers. Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief en to enter. The Left Democratic Front help with financing for infrastructure Minister of Kerala, said of the effort, government agreed with the courts. and welfare services. ‘Menstrual hygiene is every girl’s But the temple authorities, and the far- The Communist government has right. The government is hoping that right groups in the state, disagreed. a wide-ranging agenda that runs from initiatives like this will help our girls When women tried to enter the tem- its Green Kerala Mission – a project to lead a life of confidence.’ ple, the priests blocked them, assist- for stewardship of the state’s beauti- ed by the far right. The situation was ful environment – to its fight for wom- at a deadlock. en’s emancipation. The Left Demo- This was not a fight only Chief Minister Vijayan called upon progressive organisations across cratic Front government believes that to enter a temple, but a dignity is as crucial a goal as econom- the state to start mobilising the citi- ic rights, and that it is centrally im- fight principally for zens towards the building of a Wom- en’s Wall (Vanitha Mathil) on 1 Jan- portant to fight against everyday hu- women’s emancipation. miliation to build a truly just society. uary. The energy in the state was elec- Over the course of the left’s gov- tric. Women gathered at hundreds of ernment in Kerala, it has pushed mass meetings across the state. They ahead the agenda against everyday A hundred miles north of Kera- recognised immediately that this was humiliation. For instance, in 2017, the la’s capital Thiruvananthapuram sits not a fight only to enter a temple, but government provided free sanitary a temple for Ayyappan, a celibate god. this was a fight principally for wom- pads for young women in school. The Women between the ages of 10 and en’s emancipation, for the right of logic was that during their periods, 50 had not been permitted into the women, as Vijayan had said, ‘to lead young women who could not afford temple due to a belief that the celi- a life of confidence’. sanitary pads avoided school. Preju- bate god would not be able to toler- The public meetings in Novem-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 59 W O M E N

with so little care to amplify the brav- ery of people around the world. When the Women’s March took place in Washington, DC, newspapers in Ker- ala reported it in detail. The favour was not returned. Silence was the answer. Two days after the Women’s Wall, the right wing in Kerala went on a rampage. Their members at- tacked the leaders on the left and threw bombs at government build- ings. Over 700 people – mostly men on the far right – were arrested that day. Walking down a main shopping street in Thiruvananthapuram, I see visible signs of the far right’s attack. On one side of the street are posters Participants at a rally called by Hindu organisations on 2 January after two women and signs of left organisations torn entered the Sabarimala temple that had previously been closed to women between and broken during the day of rampage the ages of 10 and 50. by the far right. On the other side of the street, far-right supporters sit on a hunger strike. ber and December galvanised the op- around 3 pm. After taking an oath, Even liberals have taken the side position to the far right, arguing that they marched through their towns and of the far right. One liberal politician women have every right to enter pub- cities. They exuded joy and confi- said that while he favoured women’s lic spaces, including religious build- dence, a freedom that should warm rights, he also favoured the temple’s ings. January began in anticipation. the hearts of sensitive people. rights. But the temple has no rights, Women had been organised by dis- Strikingly, the media outside In- nor does tradition. As Gandhi wrote tricts and knew where to go. Women dia paid little attention to this histor- almost a hundred years ago, ‘If I can’t of all ages and backgrounds, from ic event. Press coverage in the Unit- swim in tradition, I’ll sink in it.’ Nei- schoolteachers to members of the ed States was nearly absent. Interna- ther the temple nor tradition trumps fishing community, began to line up tionalism in our time is such a façade, the rights of women to live with confidence. If a tradition is discriminato- ry, it deserves to be set aside. There are no half-measures in this debate in Kerala. The mood is that one must not walk away from one’s principles. Five and a half million women in Kerala – one in three women in the state – took to the streets to champion the emancipation of women. What brought them to join the Women’s Wall was that the Left Democratic Front government took a clear position, a principled position: that menstruation should not be used as a pen- alty against women’s full participation in society. Clarity defines the struggle. It is a lesson worth learning around the world. ◆

Vijay Prashad is the director of Tricontinen- tal: Institute for Social Research. His most recent book is Strongmen. The above article is reproduced from the Daily Hampshire Ga- The Sabarimala temple in Kerala. zette (9 January 2019).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 60 V I E W P O I N T Why transformation of the global food system is an imperative The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health brings together more than 30 world-leading scientists from across the globe to reach a scientific consensus on a healthy and sustainable diet. The Commission concluded that feeding a growing population of 10 billion people by 2050 with a healthy and sustainable diet will be impossible without transforming eating habits, improving food production and reducing food waste.

TRANSFORMATION of the global food system is urgently needed as more than three billion people are malnourished (including people who are undernourished and overnour- ished) and food production is exceeding planetary boundaries - driving climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution due to over-application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers, and unsustainable changes in water and land use. These findings are from the EAT- Lancet Commission, which provides the first scientific targets for a healthy diet from a sustainable food production system that operates within planetary boundaries for food. The Com- mission’s report, released in January, promotes diets consisting of a vari- Policies to encourage people to choose healthy diets are needed. ety of plant-based foods, with low amounts of animal-based foods, refined grains, highly processed foods sustainable food systems is an imme- produce it determines the health of and added sugars, and with unsatur- diate challenge as the population con- people and the planet, and we are cur- ated rather than saturated fats. tinues to grow – projected to reach rently getting this seriously wrong,’ The Commission is a three-year 10 billion people by 2050 – and get says one of the Commission authors, project by the Oslo-based EAT non- wealthier (with the expectation of Professor Tim Lang from City, Uni- profit organisation and The Lancet higher consumption of animal-based versity of London, UK. ‘We need a medical journal that brings together foods). significant overhaul, changing the 37 experts from 16 countries with ex- To meet this challenge, dietary global food system on a scale not seen pertise in health, nutrition, environ- changes must be combined with im- before in ways appropriate to each mental sustainability, food systems, proved food production and reduced country’s circumstances. While this economics and political governance. food waste. The authors stress that is uncharted policy territory and these Human diets inextricably link unprecedented global collaboration problems are not easily fixed, this health and environmental sustainabil- and commitment will be needed, goal is within reach and there are op- ity, and have the potential to nurture alongside immediate changes such as portunities to adapt international, lo- both. However, current diets are push- refocussing agriculture to produce cal and business policies. The scien- ing the Earth beyond its planetary varied nutrient-rich crops, and in- tific targets we have devised for a boundaries, while causing ill health. creased governance of land and ocean healthy, sustainable diet are an impor- This puts both people and the planet use. tant foundation which will underpin at risk. Providing healthy diets from ‘The food we eat and how we and drive this change.’

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 61 V I E W P O I N T

Scientific targets for a healthy diet

Despite increased food production contributing to improved life ex- pectancy and reductions in hunger, infant and child mortality rates, and global poverty over the past 50 years, these benefits are now being offset by global shifts towards unhealthy diets high in calories, sugar, refined starch- es and animal-based foods and low in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and fish. An unhealthy diet contributes to premature death and disease. The authors argue that the lack of scientific targets for a healthy diet ranges that we suggest allow flexibil- argue that the case for action is pre- have hindered efforts to transform the ity to accommodate various food mature, however, the evidence is suf- food system. Based on the best avail- types, agricultural systems, cultural ficient and strong enough to warrant able evidence, the Commission pro- traditions and individual dietary pref- action, and any delay will increase the poses a dietary pattern that meets nu- erences – including numerous omni- likelihood of not achieving crucial tritional requirements, promotes vore, vegetarian and vegan diets.’ health and climate goals.’ health, and allows the world to stay The authors estimate that wide- within planetary boundaries. spread adoption of such a diet would Food sustainability Compared with current diets, glo- improve intakes of most nutrients – bal adoption of the new recommen- increasing intake of healthy mono and Since the mid-1950s, the pace dations by 2050 will require global polyunsaturated fatty acids and reduc- and scale of environmental change consumption of foods such as red ing consumption of unhealthy satu- has grown exponentially. Food pro- meat and sugar to decrease by more rated fats. It would also increase es- duction is the largest source of envi- than 50%, while consumption of nuts, sential micronutrient intake (such as ronmental degradation. To be sustain- fruits, vegetables and legumes must iron, zinc, folate and vitamin A, as able, food production must occur increase more than two-fold. Global well as calcium in low-income coun- within food-related planetary bound- targets will need to be applied locally tries), except for vitamin B12 where aries for climate change, biodiversity – for example, countries in North supplementation or fortification might loss, land and water use, as well as America eat almost 6.5 times the rec- be necessary in some circumstances. for nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. ommended amount of red meat, while They also modelled the potential However, production must also be countries in South Asia eat only half effects of global adoption of the diet sustainably intensified to meet the the recommended amount. All coun- on deaths from diet-related diseases. global population’s growing food de- tries are eating more starchy vegeta- Three models each showed major mands. bles (potatoes and cassava) than rec- health benefits, suggesting that adopt- This will require decarbonising ommended, with intakes ranging from ing the new diet globally could avert agricultural production by eliminat- 1.5 times above the recommendation between 10.9-11.6 million premature ing the use of fossil fuels and land in South Asia to 7.5 times in sub-Sa- deaths per year – reducing adult use change losses of CO2 in agricul- haran Africa. deaths by between 19-23.6%. ture. In addition, zero loss of biodi- ‘The world’s diets must change The authors highlight that evi- versity, net zero expansion of agricul- dramatically. More than 800 million dence about diet, human health and tural land into natural ecosystems, and people have insufficient food, while environmental sustainability is con- drastic improvements in fertiliser and many more consume an unhealthy tinually evolving and includes uncer- water use efficiencies are needed. diet that contributes to premature tainty, so they include ranges in their The authors estimate the mini- death and disease,’ says co-lead Com- estimates, but are confident of the mum, unavoidable emissions of missioner Dr Walter Willett, Harvard overall picture. Lang says: ‘While greenhouse gases if we are to provide University, USA. ‘To be healthy, di- major transformations to the food sys- healthy food for 10 billion people by ets must have an appropriate calorie tem occurred in China, Brazil, Viet- 2050. They conclude that non-CO2 intake and consist of a variety of nam, and Finland in the 20th century, greenhouse gas emissions of methane plant-based foods, low amounts of and illustrate that diets can change and nitrous oxide will remain between animal-based foods, unsaturated rath- rapidly, humanity has never aimed to 4.7-5.4 gigatonnes in 2050, with cur- er than saturated fats, and few refined change the food system this radically rent emissions already at an estimat- grains, highly processed foods and at such speed or scale. People might ed 5.2 gigatonnes in 2010. This sug- added sugars. The food group intake warn of unintended consequences or gests that the decarbonisation of the

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 62 V I E W P O I N T

world energy system must progress sity, reduce consumptive water use es and generate sustainable, high- faster than anticipated, to accommo- and manage water responsibly, sub- quality crops. date the need to healthily feed humans stantially reduce nitrogen and phos- Equally, effective governance of without further damaging the planet. phorus pollution, produce zero carbon land and ocean use will be important Phosphorus use must also be re- dioxide emissions, and cause no fur- to preserve natural ecosystems and duced (from 17.9 to between 6-16 ter- ther increase in methane and nitrous ensure continued food supplies. This agrams), as must biodiversity loss oxide emissions. There is no silver could be achieved through protecting (from 100 to between 1-80 extinctions bullet for combatting harmful food intact natural areas on land (potential- per million species each year). production practices, but by defining ly through incentives), prohibiting Based on their estimates, current and quantifying a safe operating space land clearing, restoring degraded levels of nitrogen, land and water use for food systems, diets can be identi- land, removing harmful fishing sub- may be within the projected 2050 fied that will nurture human health sidies, and closing at least 10% of boundary (from 131.8 teragrams in and support environmental sustain- marine areas to fishing (including the 2010 to between 65-140 in 2050, ability,’ Rockström continues. high seas to create fish banks). from 12.6 M km2 in 2010 vs 11-15 M Lastly, food waste must be at least km2 in 2050, and from 1.8 M km3 in Transforming the global food halved. The majority of food waste 2010 vs 1-4 M km3, respectively) but system occurs in low- and middle-income continued efforts will be required to countries during food production due sustain these levels. The boundary The Commission proposes five to poor harvest planning, lack of ac- estimates are subject to uncertainty strategies to adjust what people eat cess to markets preventing produce and will require continuous update and how it is produced. from being sold, and lack of infra- and refinement. Firstly, policies to encourage peo- structure to store and process foods. Using these boundary targets, the ple to choose healthy diets are need- Improved investment in technology authors modelled various scenarios to ed, including improving availability and education for farmers is needed. develop a sustainable food system and and accessibility to healthy food Food waste is also an issue in high- deliver healthy diets by 2050. To stay through improved logistics and stor- income countries, where it is prima- within planetary boundaries, a com- age, increased food security, and pol- rily caused by consumers and can be bination of major dietary change, im- icies that promote buying from sus- resolved through campaigns to improved food production through en- tainable sources. Alongside advertis- prove shopping habits, help under- hanced agriculture and technology ing restrictions and education cam- stand ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ dates, changes, and reduced food waste dur- paigns, affordability is also crucial, and improve food storage, prepara- ing production and at the point of and food prices must reflect production, portion sizes and use of left- consumption will be needed, and no tion and environmental costs. As this overs. single measure is enough to stay with- may increase costs to consumers, so- Dr Richard Horton, Editor-in- in all of the limits. cial protection for vulnerable groups Chief at The Lancet, says: ‘Poor nu- ‘Designing and operationalising may be required to avoid continued trition is a key driver and risk factor sustainable food systems that can de- poor nutrition in low-income groups. for disease. However, there has been liver healthy diets for a growing and Strategies to refocus agriculture a global failure to address this. It is wealthier world population presents from producing high volumes of everyone’s and no one’s problem.’ a formidable challenge. Nothing less crops to producing varied nutrient- He continues: ‘The transforma- than a new global agricultural revo- rich crops are needed. Currently, tion that this Commission calls for is lution. The good news is that it is not small and medium farms supply more not superficial or simple, and requires only doable, we have increasing evi- than 50% of the essential nutrients in a focus on complex systems, incen- dence that it can be achieved through the global food supply. Global agri- tives and regulations, with commu- sustainable intensification that bene- culture policies should incentivise nities and governments at multiple fits both farmer, consumer and plan- producers to grow nutritious, plant- levels having a part to play in rede- et,’ says co-lead Commissioner Pro- based foods, develop programmes fining how we eat. Our connection fessor Johan Rockström, Stockholm that support diverse production sys- with nature holds the answer, and if Resilience Centre, Sweden and Pots- tems, and increase research funding we can eat in a way that works for dam Institute for Climate Impact Re- for ways to increase nutrition and sus- our planet as well as our bodies, the natural balance of the planet’s research, Germany. tainability. In some contexts, animal ‘Humanity now poses a threat to sources will be restored. The very farming is important to nutrition and the stability of the planet. Sustainabil- nature that is disappearing holds the the ecosystem and the benefits and ity of the food system must therefore key to human and planetary surviv- be defined from a planetary perspec- risks of animal farming should be al.’ – The Lancet press release (16 tive. Five key environmental process- considered on a case-by-case basis. January 2019) ◆ es regulate the state of the planet. Our Sustainably intensifying agricul- definition of sustainable food produc- ture will also be key, and must take For more information on the EAT-Lancet tion requires that we use no addition- into account local conditions to help Commission, visit www.thelancet.com/com- al land, safeguard existing biodiver- apply appropriate agricultural practic- missions/EAT.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 63 P O E T R Y

N Kumaran Asan (1873-1924) was an Indian social reformer, philosopher and poet of Malayalam literature. Honoured in 1922 as a ‘Mahkavi’ (Great Poet) by Madras University, he died tragically two years later when the boat in which he was travelling in his native Kerala capsized.

The dove orchid

Kumaran Asan

How enchanting This sweet fragrance That radiates in the cool breeze And puts all other scents to shame.

A bright spray of flowers Beams above the leaves dark green as beetles. They look like bubbles in a row That rise in a pond where the tortoise breathes.

Is this a white crystal vial That opens, breathing fresh and sweet? Or can this be a new shell that opens Revealing the faultless pearl within?

What an exquisite work of art Is this new-blown flower! Skilful craftsman working on ivory Carve nothing like this A master indeed art thou, oh Lord.

Ah, how did this bird Pure, delicate, lovely Come within this flower? Mysterious are the ways of God Is this bird born within the flower, Or is it a shadow or the eyes’ delusion?

Unruffled is this bird Lost in silent meditation. Among the birds Some are incarnations, So the seers say.

Of the meaning and end of this world Little I know, and I am exhausted searching. O sacred bird, if ever you understand Will you in kindness tell me too?

Translated from the Malayalam by Sugathakumari

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 335/336 64