Action Press Release: The European Union Must Stop False Solutions to Climate Change

Action Press Release: “We Seek HELP”
Human security, Ecological and Climate Debt, Land rights, Production and Consumption Change

The Indonesian Peasant’s Union (SPI) – La Via Campesina,
WALHI (FoE Indonesia)
The Anti-Debt Coalition (KAU)
and the Action-Study Circle for Indonesian Democracy (LS-ADI)

25 November 2009

The European Union Must Stop False Solutions to Climate Change
 

JAKARTA (25/11) – Eleven days before the fifteenth Conference of the Parties under the United Nations’ Climate Change Convention that will be held in Copenhagen between the 7th and the 18th of December, an issue which remains controversial is the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the European Union and the Indonesian government, designed to support trade liberalisation between the two region as well as increase cooperation in the mitigation of climate change, in part through the provision of 550 million Euros of funding.

This climate change cooperation is based on a European Union agreement to decrease emissions by up to 20%, while at the same time encouraging the use of 10% agrofuel energy by 2020. To reach this target the European Union is supporting a carbon trading mechanism and the production of agrofuels in developing nations.

This decision will undoubtedly worsen the condition of developing nations like Indonesia, which are already experiencing the effects of climate crisis. Aside from the fact that the European Union’s emissions target is not strong enough to save the global climate, support for the development of agrofuels will worsen the exploitation of land and shifting land use, and instead support the interests of corporations. Supporting the development of agrofuels also increases conflict between peasants and plantations, and by 2008 more that 500 such conflicts had already occurred between peasants and palm oil plantation companies in Indonesia.

Accordingly we argue that Annex 1 countries, in particular the European Union, must take appropriate and immediate steps to solve climate change. With the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, countries must commit to a decrease in emissions of at least 40% by 2020, while avoiding market mechanisms and prioritising the welfare of the people.  

We call on Annex 1 countries and the European Union to show a serious commitment to changing extravagant consumption patterns and to instead consider ecological limits. Annex 1 countries also need to acknowledge that the use of clean energy does not equate with the use of agrofuels or nuclear energy, and does not involve dirty technology transfer such as carbon capture and storage. Annex 1 countries and the European Union should not allocate funding via loans, and should instead transfer knowledge to developing countries to establish renewable energy such as solar, wind and micro hydro.

In relation to agriculture, we call on Annex 1 countries and the European Union to support sustainable agriculture, because this will correct environmental damage and help millions of small farming families. Agriculture must also support the cooling of the earth by using farming practices that store CO2 and decrease the use of energy within agriculture.

The European Union, as an organisation that respects human rights and is concerned about environmental problems, must immediately cease its support of false solutions to climate change, including the promotion of agrofuels in developing countries, carbon trading mechanisms and carbon offsets, as a way of avoiding climate change.

Contact People:
WALHI : Teguh Surya (08118204362)
SPI  : Elisha Kartini (081314761305)
KAU  : Dani S. (08129671744) dan Yuyun Harmono (081807867506)
LS-ADI : M. Arif (081545955883)