"La Humanidad se enfrenta a un gran dilema: o bien seguir por la vía del capitalismo, la depredación y la muerte, o bien elegir el camino de la armonía con la naturaleza y el respeto por la vida"
Ésta es parte de la declaración de la Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre Cambio Climático y los Derechos de la Madre Tierra, que tuvo lugar en Cochabamba (Bolivia) en Abril. La Conferencia de los Pueblos de Cochabamba contrasta radicalmente con el lamentable espectáculo que vimos durante la Cumbre de Copenhague de diciembre de 2009. La iniciativa del presidente boliviano Evo Morales contó con entre 20.000 y 40.000 delegad@s, y tuvo como resultado la adopción de un "Acuerdo de los Pueblos" sobre la base de las discusiones realizadas en 17 talleres, y un plan para futuras acciones.
The People’s Agreement made several proposals for a Global People’s Movement for Mother Earth.
The text states clearly that the cause of the climate crisis resides with the capitalist system, the domination of nature, the transformation of everything into commodities, the military industry and the imperialist system of colonization. The text rejects the ‘Copenhagen Accord’, the carbon emissions markets and the commodification of the world's forests trough the UN led REDD project.
The declaration rejects also the policies of the agribusiness system undermining food sovereignty, the private ownership of knowledge, the new “green” technology market and the destruction of ecosystems through mining and other extractive industries and through mega infrastructure projects.
The People’s Agreement proposes a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth as a tool for protecting the natural environment and raising consciousness.
The proposal for the institution of an International Climate and Environmental Justice Tribunal was agreed on by all participants as well as the organisation of a Global Referendum or Popular Consultation on Climate Change. Despite having vague formulations and depending too much on faith in the United Nations, the outcome of the Peoples' Conference points towards a global movement, ready to make the necessary breaks with the capitalist logic to fight climate change.
The Cochabamba Conference calls for (…) “the building of a Global People’s Movement for Mother Earth, (…) constituting a broad and democratic space for coordination and joint worldwide actions.”
A second world people’s conference on climate change will be organised in 2011 to react to the outcome of the Climate Change Conference at the end of the year in Cancún, Mexico.
The International Insitute for Research and Education, 29 April 2010.