Plan Now to Mobilize for COP 25 in Madrid: Dec. 2-13, 2019
Published on November, 26 2019
By Nancy Price
Co-chair, Earth Democracy Issue Committee
The Government of Chile has accepted Spain’s offer to host COP 25 in Madrid, December 2-13. Now is the time to organize and mobilize for COP 25 locally, nationally and globally.
The urgency is clear given that the Trump administration has started the one-year process to formally “ditch” the Paris Climate, but this is hardly unexpected. The agreement stated that countries were not allowed to withdraw for three years from its signing on November 4, 2016. So on November 4, 2019, the very first day world leaders could do so, US Secretary of State Pompeo announced in a tweet that the Trump administration had taken the first step to withdraw the US from this important agreement. This singular and drastic action of the Trump administration could become effective November 4, the day after elections. So let’s not stop educating and mobilizing!
In a Common Dreams article by Jessica Corbett, May Boeve of 350.org is quoted as saying, “The moral outrage of this decision will be a powerful catalyst for action.” WILPF members, let’s turn our moral outrage into action!
Next Action will be Friday, November 29, Global Strike 4 Future, an event that was already planned for just before COP 25 begins December 2. Go to https://fridaysforfuture.org to register your event and for other important information. There are two more Fridays when major strikes will take place: December 6th and Good Luck Friday the 13th, which is, the closing day of the COP 25 Conference. The December 6th “Friday For Future” strike is already announced. Keep checking Fridays For Future and 350.org for updated plans.
Place Your Order for WILPF and Earth Democracy materials. Click here and scroll down to view items. Place your orders now to receive promptly. You can download banners to print yourself or have them printed.
- WILPF US Sash
- New, revised Climate Justice+Women+Peace Infographic Cards (a Spanish language version will be ready soon)
- Climate Justice, Women+Peace banner
- Climate Strike poster
- Peace & Planet Before Profit banner
- Poor People’s Campaign banner
What have we been doing these 25 years? This COP 25 Summit is the 25th anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). You can watch UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa’s short presentation on this important milestone and the need for greater ambition and action to achieve a greener, sustainable, more prosperous future here. And scroll through the “Report on Key Milestones in the Evolution of International Climate Policy” here.
Statements on Chile’s Cancellation of COP 25
On October 30, the Government of Chile announced that it would not host COP 25 owing to “the situation that the country is undergoing.” Immediately there were two responses.
First, on October 31, the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC), one of the nine stakeholder groups of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), issued this important statement: "Social Justice & Climate Chaos: Feminist Response to Cancellation of COP25". It calls for urgent climate action before the Paris Agreement of 2015 enters into implementation in 2020. The statement also analyzes the current state of the “social revolution” in Chile, with women and feminists on the frontlines of protest, explaining that it:
mirrors the demands and mobilizations of social, economic and ecological justice and feminist movements around the world – reverberating loudly in their demands for basic human rights, for bodily autonomy, for access to water, food, education and universal healthcare, to dignified and decent work, and to a peaceful, healthy, safe, and sustainable environment.
Second, 350.org put our their “Demand for a People’s Climate Summit” and petition calling for the “UN to kick the polluters out of the climate talks and give them back to the people…to civil society, social movements, Indigenous peoples, frontline communities, and the public at large to shape a global response to the climate crisis.” Even though Spain will now be hosting COP 25, I expect this “Demand” will have global support. You can read and sign the petition here.
Read Harvard Professor Naomi Oreskes’s "Discrediting Science Is a Political Strategy" where she discusses why climate deniers have run out of excuses.
For more information, contact Nancy Price at nancytprice39@gmail.com.
