Global Meeting for Climate and Life brought together more than 250 delegates from Latin America and around the world
~ from Desinformémonos ~
After five days of work, the Global Meeting for Climate and Life – AntiCOP 2024 concluded in Oaxaca, bringing together more than 250 representatives of the Waorani, Yaqui, Purépecha, Zapotec, Chatino, Mixtec, Ngiwa, Chontal, Wayuu, Ikoot, Sami, K’Ana, Kanak, Maya Q’echi, Munduruku and Nasa peoples, and from countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Palestine and Kurdistan, to denounce the “greenwashing” of the Climate Change Summits (COP) and outline the organisational routes to confront the global climate crisis.
Faced with the inaction of world leaders to protect nature, representatives at the Meeting proposed as lines of action the implementation of community-based water management, the promotion of intercultural environmental education, the implementation of regional AntiCOPs, a mobilisation towards COP30 in Brazil and climate meetings in different parts of the world, the creation of an Autonomous Fund for Climate Disasters, the recovery of pre-colonial lands, and practices to promote initiatives to revitalise species and ancestral agricultural systems, among other collective measures.
The collective proposals of the peoples were the result of five days of work at discussion tables on the mega-projects imposed on their territories, the criminalisation of migrants, journalists and human rights defenders, militarisation, the forced displacement of peoples, and the commercialisation of life.
“All COPs Are Bastards! COP29 is trying to hide behind a hypocritical greenwash the history of ecocide, genocide and atrocities committed by Azerbaijan against the Armenian People, which are not only a terrible chapter in history, but an echo of how war and the exploitation of natural resources and people are intertwined and exacerbate the climate and social crisis we face. The omission of the Genocide of the Palestinian People during COP28 in Dubai was proof of this”, the participants of the Meeting accused in a final statement.
From November 4 to 9, indigenous peoples, collectives and organisations denounced how “governments, companies and criminal groups continue to perpetrate a deep war against peoples and nature to sustain this heteropatriarchal, capitalist and colonial system, which threatens to destroy the planet.”
This war, they explained, “is disguised through institutional and official processes that do not fundamentally resolve structural conflicts, nor respond to collective territorial needs. Thanks to this, we are heading towards a world of catastrophic global warming, which is advancing towards a world of 2.6 to 3.1°C by the end of the century, challenging planetary balance and the survival of humanity”.
They added that the AntiCOP 2024 meeting allowed for the articulation of peoples in resistance and of a movement that challenges extractivism, green colonialism and mega-projects that deprive communities of their resources and lands.
“It is an articulation from below that remembers, imagines and builds other worlds in harmony with ecosystems, biodiversity and justice. From AntiCOP 2024, we commit to continue building together, respecting our differences and recognising our shared struggles. We are the Global South, we are the guardians of our lands and cultures. This struggle is ours and we defend it with determination and unity”, the participants stressed.
Photos: Assembly of the Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of the Land and Territory – APIIDTT
