OneWorld.net (U.S.)

G 77 chair hints at deficit of trust between South and North on Climate Change, speaks at Actionaid session

“There is a deficit of trust in the South regarding the hidden agendas of the North; barriers to trade, and other subterranean objectives,” said Munir Akram, G77 Chairperson at COP13, speaking at an Actionaid event on development and climate.

Speaking about the draft final outcome document he said, “The text focuses largely on mitigation. The adaptation section is weak.”

“The issue of Climate Change is essentially an issue of environmental justice. Poor and marginalized people, especially women are at the receiving end of climate injustice,” said Rashed Al Mahud Titumir, Asia regional head of policy Actionaid.

“To end this injustice, we need to fix responsibility on polluters, so that they pay as they pollute, to cater for the adaptation needs of those who are suffering due to carbon emissions,” he said.

Actionaid demands that there should be binding emission targets for the rich countries and pledges from some of the countries in the G-77 also, to limit the rise in average global temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius. It calls for a process whereby fairness and equitability are ensured by providing required finances and clean modern technologies for mitigation.

Actionaid believes that the existing climate policy framework seems to be fraught with options that visibly deny and undermine the developing countries’ right to development. The rights of the poor can only be protected if we can frame the climate change debate in terms of sharing impacts, responsibilities, costs and benefits. The claiming of rights is a matter of justice, not of advancing the ideas of begging bowls to rich countries, but to hold them accountable.

Actionaid is engaged in climate change to advance the perspectives of poor, particularly women, who are vulnerable to climatic shock. Millions of people living below the poverty line in under developed countries are likely to be the worst victims of climate change with their limited capacity to deal with shocks and crises.