FROM THE DESK OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Climate Change: How much longer can we ignore this catastrophe and how will climate change affect the work of civil society?

Release Date: 25 July 2007

By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary-General

Dear e-CIVICUS Subscriber,  

I have just returned from a intensive week long workshop entitled: “How to address a climate in crisis” which was organised under the auspices of the Andreas Papandreou Foundation and led by the President of Socialist International, George Papandreou, the leader of the official opposition in Greece and former Greek foreign minister. This workshop, that followed the Live Earth concerts on 07/07/07 , has left me feeling deeply concerned for the future of our planet and for future generations. Participants in the workshop included the head of the UNDP, Joseph Stieglitz, the well known Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, several academics and social democratic political leaders.

Today, not a day goes by without a media story about climate change, either about what might happen in the future or what is happening already. Unlike many previous and current global challenges such as slavery, HIV/AIDS or poverty, climate change affects all the people in the world from both poor and rich countries.

I have come to realise, embarrassingly late, that climate change is not a question, theory, or speculation but it is a reality. Take for instance the snow on Kilimanjaro, Africa 's highest mountain - it is rapidly disappearing. In the Himalaya’s in India the rapid melting of the glaciers have already had a devastating impact on the lives of small remote Himalayan communities, and the rising sea levels in the Pacific are already threatening to wipe out entire small island states.

Meanwhile, here in Johannesburg , a few weeks ago we witnessed a winter wonderland with historic heavy snowfall all over South Africa . While it was all good fun and it provided beautiful pictures in newspapers, people living on the streets here in Johannesburg froze to death. Yes, here in Africa , people freezing to death! South Africa will host the World Championship Soccer in 2010, and many South Africans and Africans are all raving about it. The event itself will contribute to global warming, but at the rate the climate is changing in Africa we might be able to throw in another bid, for another global sports event - the Winter Olympic Games in 2030!!!!

Like the poor who call the Johannesburg streets their home, it is the poor all over the world who suffer the most from climate change. Research shows how poor countries will be hit much harder by global warming: 95% of natural disasters and death will be in developing countries. On top of that, there will be 1 billion people uprooted because of climate change between now and 2050.  While some of us will be long gone by then, our children and grandchildren will bear the brunt of a climate that could, according to a growing body of scientific opinion, make this planet virtually uninhabitable. 

So although climate change will hit us all, it will not hit us all equally hard. Millions of already vulnerable people in Africa , Asia , the Pacific and elsewhere are bearing the brunt of harmful emissions that human activity is causing elsewhere. Climate change could make them poorer and even more hungry. While they do not consume anywhere near what the wealthier do and their collective ecological footprint is redundant compared to what many middle class urban dwellers produce in terms of CO2 and other pollution, simply by driving our cars and eating our TV-dinners from our microwaves, the majority on this planet are bereft of what to billions are real luxuries. Is it not tragic then, that those who have been least responsible for harming the environment are those who are already paying the biggest price and will do so even more in coming years.  As the events of Hurricane Katrina taught us, it is the poor (and often people of colour), in rich countries and poor countries alike that will be most vulnerable to environmental disasters when they strike.

Climate change risks undermining efforts to alleviate poverty and to meet even the minimalist Millennium Development Goals. If unchecked, it will cause more people to go hungry, more to suffer and die from illness due to lack of access to clean water and rising sea levels.

Governments must address this challenge NOW with aggressive urgency, it is a simple matter of political will. How much longer can we sit idly while flooding, rising temperatures, droughts, the coastal erosions- all direct result of emissions of the most developed countries - destroy the livelihoods of current and future generations? Will we watch agriculture being wiped out in Niger and Chad in this century? Nobody can cocoon themselves from global warming any longer. Nature will find everyone, across seas, across borders, across beliefs, across generations. We share this struggle - perhaps for the first time in human history we share a genuinely common struggle that can break the divides between north and south and east and west.

For, this is not about people versus people, black against white, Christians versus Jews. NO. We have been fighting mother earth and she is fighting back.  She is telling us that if we can't live in harmony with nature, if we persist in our polluting ways, she will get rid of us. She will let us be swallowed by her seas, left to dry in her increasing desserts, burnt by her sun and frozen by her artic weather: four seasons in one day in one place.

The effort to reverse climate change then is not about us and them, rich and poor, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, black and white, this is about humankind. This is about how we all have to change our ways and stand in solidarity with the poor who are bearing the brunt of over consumption on the part of a global minority. The reality of global economic apartheid is now translating into environmental apartheid, even though we will all suffer, but perhaps in varying degrees and with variable abilities to cope with the consequences of climate change.

The climate change story sadly confirms a pattern of failed political leadership and once again raises troubling questions about the quality of democracy. Greenpeace and other environmental groupings have been warning for decades that we need to address climate change but the most powerful leaders, and often from the biggest polluter nations, and those that have the greatest power to foster change have irresponsibility dragged their feet. Yes, as individuals and as organisations that form the fabric of society, we have the power to take individual actions, such as recycling and thinking about our own consumption patters. But without the kind of bold political leadership that commits to reducing harmful emissions into the environment we will not make the progress we need.

Civil society should see this challenge also as an opportunity. Unless we can fundamentally rethink issues such as inequality, justice and so on, and link this to the discourse of climate change, we will miss the opportunity to mainstream our diverse agendas and make dual progress, for example, around poverty and climate change.

Through this column I would like to appeal to you to keep informed as best you can about the climate change debates and get involved in a collective effort to safe this planet for future generations. I realise that some will think that these words are far too alarmist. I do not mind being wrong about the severity of climate change but suspect that the wisdom of the International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) a grouping of some 2000 scientists brought together by the United Nations, have much more competency than many of us will have to make these judgments. And their recent verdict makes chilling reading. 

Irrespective of our specific programmes and agendas the time has come for all of us in civil society to take a greater interest in how climate change will affect on our own work. We need to explore what we can do as individuals, through our organisations and networks. Most importantly, need to lend our voices to the advocacy efforts to ensure that those leaders who have been sleeping so far, like President George W Bush of the United States and President Hu Jintao of China , will wake up and realise they cannot pander to the narrow short term interests of their corporate allies. 

Positively, we are seeing leadership from below in many quarters, not only on the part of civil society. Several hundred cities in the US have adopted various provisions of the Kyoto Protocol as have Governers of various US states. Civil society organisations, particularly our brothers and sisters in various environmental movements, are not saying “we told you so”. Instead, they are constructively urging action from governments, business and those of us in civil society not focused specifically on the environment. We have ignored their voices for far too long. We now run the risk of ignoring their voices and concerns at the peril not only of future generations but of this one as well.

Warmest (not the global warming type) regards,

Kumi Naidoo

Below you will find all previous columns published. 

• Civil society engaging with inter-governmental organisations: is the feeling mutual?

• 07/07/07: Reflection on the mid-point of the Minimalist/Millennium Development Goals

• Towards the Legal Empowerment of the Poor

• Continuity and Change: The position of CIVICUS' Secretary General

• Continuity with change: Governance change at CIVICUS

• From a whisper to a whimper: Reflections on the on the G8 Summit

• Will the G8 deliver according to its broken promises?

• CIVICUS World Assembly need you to set the agenda 

• "We' re Living in a World of Global Economic Appartheid" 

• Renewed dedication to the Call for Poverty Eradication and Equality  

• Wolfowitz must resign to regain World Bank's credibility  

• Criminalising Human Rights in Zimbabwe

• Who's accounatability to who and why?

• Civil society and the progress of the feminist movement in transitional democracy

• The role of civil society organisations in promoting corporate citizenship

• Civil society faces increasing challenges in Zimbabwe

• The road to Accra: Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness

• CIVICUS Youth Assembly to urge for ‘Accountability to Future Generations’

• International Women’s Day, 8 March 2007: Men will never be free until women enjoy full gender equality

• The World Economic Forum is too important to be left to economists alone

• From Nairobi to Davos: Reflections on the World Social Forum and World Economic Forum

• The role of civil society organisations in managing for development results

• World Social Forum 2007: Another World is Possible for Africa

• The importance of civil society in the year 2006

• International Advocacy NGO Accountability Charter: Walking the talk

• Human Rights Day: Righting the Wrongs

• Sharing member impressions and why civil society should be part of CIVICUS’ alliance

• 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence

• CIVICUS strategic planning takes centre stage

• Reflections on the CIVICUS Civil Society Index country reports

• Civil society and the challenge of Regional Integration in the Pacific

• Over 20 Million People 'STAND UP AGAINST POVERTY' to Set New Guinness World Record

• People created poverty. Only people can eradicate it." World-wide commemoration of October 17: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

• Campaigning Works!

• If only civil society was taken seriously: Reflections on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy of 11 September 2001

• Help set a Guinness world record by standing up to poverty

• Civil society takes centre stage at the AIDS Conference

• Can we reform the International Finance Institutions?

• Article on the Doha collapse

• Civil Society and the Middle East Conflict

• Reflections of a Meeting with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin

• You can participate in the CIVICUS World Assembly even if you are not going to be there in person

• Can Civil Society make a difference in Iraq?

• The Ethics of Cherry Picking: The dilemma of where you live, work and play!!!

• Former CIVICUS Board Member passes away

• Reflections on a visit to prison

• The struggle for justice is a marathon not a sprint: A personal reflection

• Can Civil Society make 2006 a year of more and better coherence, coordination and communication?

• What 2005 means for civil society?

• Argentina: Thriving without the IMF

• Can legal frameworks strengthen civil society? Is the time right for a Campaign for Civil Society Rights?

• Why trade justice matters to you

• December 2005: Determined, Dedicated and Diverse Dimensions to Direct Action For Justice, Human Rights and Equality

• Reflections on the United Nations Summit

• Civil society gears up for the UN World Summit

• Reflections on the G8 Summit

• Nelson Mandela: Inspiring civil society efforts to create a just world

• Children, youth and the struggle for a just world

• So we think democracy is growing?: Rethinking social exclusion

• You can make difference on ‘Whiteband Day’ - 1 July 2005

• CSW Monthly Bulletin provides a global forum to protect the rights of civil society

• What does democracy really mean today

• The absence of democracy at the World Bank

• Grassroots activism: ordinary people making an extraordinary difference

• Madrid, Manhattan, Manica and Musina: Civic activism driving the agenda for social and political justice

• On International Women's Day civil society wonders if this is Beijing Plus Ten or Beijing Minus Ten

• Internal governance: Responding to the challenge of civil society legitimacy, accountability and transparency

• Poverty or social exclusion - What unites civil society in the North and South?

• Should civil society engage with governing institutions even when they have deep democratic deficits?

• One month gone, eleven to go: Is 2005 the year civil society focuses on its common shared values and agrees to disagree on strategy and tactics?

• The beginnings of the biggest ever mobilisation against poverty launched at the World Social Forum

• Civil Society gears up for a major global campaign against poverty

• What the Tsunami Tragedy means for Civil Society.

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