COP 17

• COP17: The Mechanisms, the context, the possibilities

  Melita Steele has been with Greenpeace Africa as a climate and energy campaigner for a year and a half. Ms. Steele holds a Masters degree in Environmental Science and worked as an environmental consultant before coming to Greenpeace. This is the second instalment of her conversation with CIVICUS (you can read the first here).  She speaks to CIVICUS about the coalition of civil society organisations working together towards COP17 (C17), how advocacy actually happens at the Conference of the Parties, and what the day after COP17 looks like for South Africa.

• Government accountability and citizen agency in South Africa’s run-up to COP17

  This is the final instalment of our conversation with Ms. Makoma Lekalakala, Programme Officer of Earthlife Africa, Johannesburg. Ms. Lekalakala spoke with CIVICUS about the role of the South African government in the COP17 negotiations, the citizen push for accountability and the future of the local climate justice movement after the COP has left Durban. You can read the first instalment of the interview here.

• Greenpeace: The relentless fight to save the globe Melita Steele, Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace Africa, speaks to Elizabeth Hira of CIVICUS

  Melita Steele has been with Greenpeace Africa as a climate and energy campaigner for a year and a half. She holds a Masters degree in Environmental Science and worked as an environmental consultant before coming to Greenpeace. She spoke to CIVICUS about the South African government's stance on climate change and the realities of energy and possibility in South Africa.

  Could you give us a little bit of background on Greenpeace Africa?

• Voices on the Road to COP 17: Food insecurity and the future

  Interview by: Elizabeth Hira, Human Rights Activist and Policy Unit Intern, CIVICUS

  With: Kelly Dent, Senior Climate Change Policy Advisor for Oxfam International

  Kelly Dent is Oxfam International’s resident expert on climate change. She is also the Economic Justice Manager for Oxfam Australia. Ms. Dent has been part of Oxfam International’s global policy team for the past three years, and is now using her expertise on food crises and climate justice to represent Oxfam’s mission during the planning for COP17. Ms. Dent’s current focus is to integrate Oxfam’s global efforts with South African efforts, particularly focusing on policy, lobbying, media, and building alliances that bring together a diverse range of players from both the global north and global south, to lead the call for climate justice at COP17. CIVICUS had the pleasure of speaking with her about the connection between Oxfam’s work and food security as it relates to poverty, and how all of these issues are intrinsically related to climate change and the urgent need for action.

• Voices on the road to COP 17: Who should lead the fight on climate change? You should

  Interview by: Elizabeth Hira, Human Rights Activist and Policy Unit Intern, CIVICUS

  Mandeep Tiwana, Policy Manager at CIVICUS, discusses climate change, COP17, and why ordinary people need to lead the fight. This is the first in a series of conversations CIVICUS will host in the lead-up to the 17th Conference of the Parties on theUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.