[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
OILWATCH/NGO DECLARATION FOR KYOTO
Dear friends --
This declaration, drafted by a network of groups on five continents
actively resisting the fossil fuel industry, will be released formally to
the press, to officials of the international financial institutions
(IFIs--including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund) and
governments in Kyoto on December 2, first at a workshop on IFIs sponsored
by Friends of the Earth International and later that day
at a press conference. Please circulate this widely for sign-ons by other NGOs.
We apologize for cross references.
PLEASE INFORM EACH OF THE PEOPLE LISTED BELOW THAT YOU WANT TO
SIGN ON TO THE DECLARATION.
-James Barnes, FOEI <james.barnes@wanadoo.fr>
-Daphne Wysham, Institute for Policy Studies, <dwysham@igc.apc.org>
-Shannon Wright, Rainforest Action Network <amazonia@ran.org>
-Steve Kretzmann, Project Underground <steve@moles.org>
-Esperanza Martinez, Oilwatch Secretariat <oilwatch@uio.satnet.net>
AFTER NOVEMBER 25, PLEASE ALSO SEND JIM BARNES A COPY OF ANY MESSAGE TO:
foe-j@vcom.or.jp
Many thanks!
******************************************************************
11/23/97 FINAL VERSION
Kyoto, Dec. 2, 1997
OILWATCH/NGO DECLARATION
ON
CLIMATE CHANGE, FOSSIL FUELS AND PUBLIC FUNDING
Bearing in mind that:
The world's leading climate scientists have concluded that the "balance of
evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate" (IPCC
1995);
climate change will cause the greatest suffering to the poorest peoples and
most pristine ecosystems globally;
all people have "the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate
conditions of life in an environment of a quality that permits a life of
dignity and well-being and that they bear a solemn responsibility to
protect and improve the environment for present and future generations"
(1972 Stockholm Declaration);
climate change is only one part of the ecological debt accumulated by the
industrialized countries through their exploitation of resources in the
South;
the burning of oil, gas, and coal is the primary cause of human-induced
climate change;
the burning of even a portion of known economically recoverable fossil fuel
reserves ensures climate catastrophe;
the avoidance of climate catastrophe requires a rapid phase-out of fossil
fuels--especially oil and coal --and a transition to safe and renewable
forms of energy;
transnational corporations and state owned energy companies have primary
responsibility for the exploitation of fossil fuel reserves, which results
in climate change, the destruction of critical ecosystems and the
biological and cultural diversity contained therein;
governments are responsible for failing to set adequate regulations for
their oil company operations locally and abroad, for failing to invest in
sustainable sources of energy, and for encouraging the large-scale sell-off
of fossil fuel resources;
the increasing exploitation of fossil fuels in natural forests, which are
critical ecosystems in the maintenance of climate stability, results in
numerous impacts on these vital areas through deforestation and pollution
from drilling operations and ultimately forest degradation from global
climate change;
the mining and drilling for coal, oil, and gas results in substantial local
environmental consequences, including severe degradation of air, forests,
rivers, and farmlands, the impacts of which are becoming increasingly
regional in character as the number and size of fossil fuel projects
rapidly grow;
corruption, cultural destruction, involuntary resettlement, and violence
are too often the outcomes of fossil fuel development;
fossil fuel exploration continues to move into ecological frontier areas,
home to some of the Earth's last and most vulnerable indigenous
populations, resulting in accelerated losses of biodiversity and
traditional knowledge and ultimately ending in ethnocide and genocide;
the Bretton Woods institutions (including the World Bank Group, the IMF and
the regional development banks), together with bilateral aid agencies, and
the World Trade Organization, have a major responsibility for promoting and
enforcing the structural adjustment and liberalization policies which lead
countries to exploit their fossil fuel reserves with devastating effects
not only on the global climate, but also on regional ecosystems and local
peoples;
taxpayer funds from Northern countries that are intended for poverty
alleviation and sustainable development, which must be paid back by
Southern taxpayers, are instead being used by multilateral and bilateral
aid agencies for corporate welfare in the form of investments in fossil
fuel projects, which benefit mainly multinational corporations and local
elites in the borrowing countries;
the energy sector is traditionally one of the largest lending portfolios
for multilateral and bilateral development and export credit agencies, and
fossil fuels comprise the bulk of that energy lending;
at least 2 billion rural poor cannot even meet their basic energy needs
(cooking, heating, lighting) and renewable and safe forms of energy are the
most promising and least environmentally damaging of the energy options in
servicing their energy needs;
nuclear power plants and large hydroelectric dams are plagued with social,
environmental, and economic problems and thus are not the solution to the
climate crisis,
Therefore, we the undersigned call for:
A moratorium on all new exploration for fossil fuel reserves in
pristine and frontier areas;
An end to all lending, credit, and other forms of subsidy from the
publicly-funded multilateral and bilateral overseas development, export
credit, and investment insurance agencies for fossil fuel extraction and
extraction-related projects;
A moratorium on all lending, credit, and other forms of finance from the
publicly funded multilateral and bilateral overseas development and export
credit agencies toward all fossil fueled power projects pending;
-Evaluations of all current and future power projects in full consultation
with the communities most affected by the project, respecting the right of
the local populations to decline a project which may adversely impact them;
-The consistent implementation of environmental impact reviews on all
future power projects which fully examine options for demand-side
management and clean, renewable, decentralized energy options such as wind,
solar, and micro-hydro;
-The full and public availability of these reviews to project affected
peoples in local languages;
Oil, gas, and coal prices that properly reflect the true costs of their
extraction and consumption, including the best estimate of their role in
causing climate change in order to apply the polluter pays principle to
reflect the cost of carbon in the price;
A full recognition of the ecological debt as it relates to the impacts of
fossil fuel extraction and the need to build it into all future climate
negotiations;
A legally binding obligation to restore all areas affected by oil, gas, and
coal exploration and exploitation by the corporations or public entities
that are responsible;
All public funds now spent by governments, multilateral, and bilateral
overseas development, export credit and investment insurance agencies on
subsidizing fossil fuel extraction in the energy sector be used instead
entirely for investments in clean, renewable, and decentralized forms of
energy, with a particular focus on meeting the energy needs of the poorest
2 billion people.
For the planet and its people,
[your name and organization here]
_______________________________________________________
Steve Kretzmann 510-705-8982 - office
Campaigns Coordinator 510-705-8983 - fax
Project Underground
Exposing corporate environmental & human rights abuses
Supporting communities threatened by the mining and oil industries
1847 Berkeley Way http://www.moles.org
Berkeley, CA, 94703, USA
_______________________________________________________