Historic Cochabamba Accord gives new vision for climate justice

The Council of Canadians:

We must re-establish needed balance between humans and the environment. That was the message at an historic conference last week in Cochabamba, Bolivia that brought together social movements, organizations, indigenous peoples and governments for a dialogue on alternative proposals to the climate crisis.

More than 34,000 people gathered in Cochabamba to push the climate justice movement forward. On the last day, people filled a massive stadium, listening intently and then cheering loudly as the Cochabamba Accord (or people’s agreement) – agreed to by conference working groups representing people around the world – was read out loud. Concrete proposals such as establishing a Climate Justice Tribunal and a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth, and agreeing on new commitments to be negotiated within the United Nations process are emerging from the conference.

The conference was organized after UN climate talks held in Copenhagen last December failed to reach an effective agreement to address the climate crisis. Canada was singled out during these talks for continued growth of the environmentally-destructive tar sands and a lack of commitment to needed emission reductions. While the Canadian government only had an observer present, the Council of Canadians was well represented in Cochabamba. We participated in the working group process, hosted discussions on the Canadian tar sands and the connections between water and climate justice, and National Chairperson Maude Barlow was featured – after being formally invited by the Bolivian government – as a main plenary panelist.

To read our recent op-ed “From Copenhagen to Cochabamba” featured in the Ottawa Citizen, see videos and photos from the Cochabamba conference, and to find out more about the Council’s campaign for climate justice go here.