Climate Change

Dear all,

Greetings! VOICE and Bank Information Centre (BIC). This is to invite you/your representative to a training workshop. Please find information below and also details in attached files.

Subject : Unpacking the World Bank Group operations in Bangladesh in the Context of Climate Change and Development

When: 2-4 March 2010

Where: The Catholic Bishops Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB), 24/C, Asad Avenue, Mohammadpur, Dhaka- 1207

Who to contact: Farjana Akter, Programme Coordinator, VOICE, <farjanakter@gmail.com>

RSVP: 8158688, 01712-990078

As the number of participants are limited for better outcome, please confirm your participation soonest as possible.  We are only accepting participation through confirmation.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Best regards,

Ahmed Swapan

[16 December 2009, Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, writes from Copenhagen] There was snow, cold and wind in Copenhagen. But the warmth of Reclaiming People’s Power lead a few thousand activists from around the world to gather in different blocks and rally towards the Bella Centre where world leaders are in mock climate negotiations.

14 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark – Protesters from Asia, Latin America, Africa and other regions of the world staged a lively demonstration in front of the Bella Center today to demand reparations from highly-industrialized countries for their climate debt and for the World Bank and its sister institutions to stay out of climate finance. 

While parties were struggling to reach an agreement at the Bella Centre in central Copenhagen before the high-level segment of climate talks, environmental activists from across the globe staged demonstrations yesterday with a call for 'Climate Justice'.

The environmental activists were demanding a 350ppm limit on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and no more than a 1.5 degree Celsius rise in global temperatures for the sake of survival of the most vulnerable countries like Bangladesh, small islanders and African nations.

Meanwhile, global civil society groups demanded a legal and institutional framework for protecting and rehabilitating 'climate refugees' who are being displaced due to climate change.

Global civil society groups demanded a leagal institutional framework for climate refugees

 [Copenhagen, Friday 11 December 2009] While the countries split wide open on combating climate change, the civil soiceity groups have launched `International Campaign on Climate Refugees’ Rights’ (ICCR) at Copenhagen. The social movement groups from Asia, Africa and Latin/Central America joined hands together to demand the rights of millions of people being displaced by the climate change.

Opening the launching of the campaign, Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, convenor of the ICCR said, "global civil society groups should come forward to build a wider constituency to claim the justice and rights of the climate induced refugees".

The climate talks began already, and many of the members of `International Campaign on Climate Refugees' Right (ICCR)' are now in Copenhagen including Secretariat colleagues from VOICE, Bangladesh. We are preparing for holding the launching meeting of ICCR including other events. The launching event will be held on Friday, 11 December, from 1pm to 03 pm at Venue A-yellow, klimaforum. The experts and practitioners from the global south will be speaking at the meeting.

You will get useful information including a number of publications on issues around displacement and climate refugees.

Please book your time. You are cordially invited to the event. Your support and solidarity will be highly appreciated.

In case of contact over phone, please note down the cell number of Ahmed Swapan: 50492643.

A international campaign on Climate Refugee is going to launch during Climate Change negotaition in Copenhagen, Denmark. Currently, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, El Salvador have all become members, and it is open to receive more members who are interested and want to be involved.

Title : Launching International Campaign on Climate Refugees' Rights (ICCR)
Type of event : Seminar
Where : Copenhagen, Denmark
When : 01-03 pm, 11 December 2009

If you need further information about the program  please contact with Ahmed Swapan Mahmud (ahmed.swapan@gmail.com)

We call for a new legal framework for climate refugees to realize their social, political, cultural and economic rights.
 
Many developing countries of the global south are facing serious catastrophe due to climate change. Hundreds and thousands of people from these developing nations have already been displaced and millions more will be displaced if appropriate measures are not taken today. The current rate of climate change is rapidly increasing due to the onslaught of global warming caused by excessive carbon emissions, and more frequent and extreme draught, flooding, cyclones and sea level rise are the life-threatening results. All of these consequences not only pose mortal danger but also lead to the destruction of the means of livelihood which sustain millions of people in the global south. Recent studies show that around 30 million people from the coastal areas of Bangladesh, 300 thousand from the Maldives, 10 million from Vietnam, 10 million from Mediterranean Egypt, and 600 thousand from Guyana will be displaced due to loss  of land as a result of climate change effects.

Writing history’s longest suicide note

The UN office in Ratchadamnoen Ave., Bangkok, where the intersessional
global climate negotiations was recently held with glacial speed. Photo by Red Constantino

Here we are.

The morning after.

When the plane finally touched asphalt I could call home.

Kamuning in the heart and also beneath my feet.

Content canine Emil is sleeping on my left, at peace with the slow day
in the corner where he fought and defeated the ugly things that once
attempted to impose their space in our house.

In front of us, the bougainvillea planted years ago in the street.

The plant is stretching out, with multiple trunks stemming from a
single base, thorned stems shooting upwards, towards the sun, merging
with the crown of the old chesa.

The Asian Peoples' Solidarity for Climate Justice was formed to prepare the civil society program in parallel with the United Nations climatetalks, 28 September to 9 October 2009, Bangkok.

On 29 there was a press conference organized by The Asian peoples's solidarity for climate justice where Farjana Akter from VOICE read out the statement which is below:

We, the Asian Peoples’ Solidarity for Climate Justice,  are gathered here in Bangkok, Thailand to take our stand in the face of an unprecedented conflict.
It is a conflict over resources, a conflict driven by unfettered profiteering and the slavery of consumption, it is a conflict brought about the domination and ascendancy of private interest over public good.

Among the direst consequences of this conflict is global warming and the planetary impacts that are just beginning to unfold as we speak, such as rising seas, mass forced migration due to massive drought and the increase in frequency and severity of extreme weather events. The impacts also include rapid economic meltdown and the destruction of jobs and livelihoods, because the environmental ills the world is facing today are inextricably wedded to the global economic and financial system.