Other Blog Posts

Photo 1 - Photo credit: Forests and Farmers Foundation, 2011

Photos 2-4 - Photo credit: HBS Southeast Regional Office, 2011

Wanun Permpibul
Head, Energy and Climate Change Programme
Renewable Energy Institute of Thailand Foundation
Thailand

Climate change is already a threat.  Extreme and unprecedented climatic events are affecting poor communities already and they have little capacity to adapt.  They have already been affected by economic and social injustice as well as other difficulties and climate change is adding another burden to their existing problems.  Adaptive capacity needs to be strengthened while longterm adaptation is necessary and must be enhanced.

A few months before the Panama Climate Talks, provinces in the lower Northern Region of Thailand, particularly Pitsanulok Province, were hit severely by floods.  Paddy fields, orchards, houses were flooded and destroyed.  People died and went missing.  Flood levels even rose up to their roofs.  Most of the houses were submerged.  Boats were floating up to the first floor of the house while residents had to stay on the second floor.  Some had to leave their houses temporarily.  Some villagers were bitten by poisonous snakes and scorpions, others were faced with infections on their feet, and other disease.  Not only are their houses and paddy fields inundated, but other resources that could be sources of income are also damaged.

As a matter of fact, villages here are flooded every year during the wet season, but the current floods are extraordinary in the sense that rainfall came two months earlier this year in a very heavy and lasting pattern before the rice could be harvested.  This is the second time for Bang Rakam Subdistrict that the rains have come earlier, the last time was in 2000 and in 1995 for the Jom Thong Subdistrict.  During the floods, villagers could not harvest, and thus were unable to earn any income.  Communities were not warned and informed well in advance enough of the floods and were not able to prepare for it.  Floods have lasted for longer periods of time.  Previously, they lasted for two months, but now it has been almost three months.  The government was trying to solve the floods problem using a traditional top down approach: they flushed out the water from the areas, but then found this created a flooding problem in another area.  

Rather than waiting for humanitarian aid and the government’s help, communities implemented their own responses to the floods and have been adjusting themselves to the climatic changes.  These are their homes for generations and they do not want to leave.  Some couldn’t afford to move elsewhere.  Their responses include changing the crop calendar by starting to grow rice months earlier than usual.  They will have to observe natural signs using their local knowledge to predict the climate pattern each year in order to prevent massive loss to crops.  Some have initiated a rice bank to store traditional rice varieties that are pest and flood tolerant with longer stalks that will not be damaged by floods.  Some have tried to grow different rice varieties in higher land or even in orchard fields.  Some have prepared for food insecurity by recovering endangered food species that are floods resistant.  Also, the pattern of housing architecture has been changed.  Many villagers have lifted their houses higher from the ground to free the flow of water.  Some even have boats to ease their travelling.  They also have learned to store some food and drinking water, and other necessities.

Additionally, they have built their own reservoirs to store water for farm use and nurturing some fish species.  They have looked for alternatives for income generation like catching fish and snakes, during floods.  Some have initiated a communication system to ease information flow during the floods among those located up-, middle- and down-stream river.  The system could also help mobilize immediate needs and supports among each other.  This should be further developed to enhance preparedness and prevent massive losses longterm.  Apart from the immediate responses, communities have been engaged in a planning process for longterm adaptation to future impacts of climatic change.  Initially, they came up with an idea of constructing an improved flood protection, but it would require significant funds and take lots of time.  Also, more research on flood tolerant species is needed.  All these elements for longterm adaptation require funds and external supports.

The Panama Talks are, therefore, important.  The delay in taking ambitious reduction targets would mean more severe and frequent extreme climatic events and poor communities will be hit the most.  As Pitsanulok, Thailand and others are faced now with the impacts, longterm adaptation is really needed.  We need to massively scale-up support for adaptation actions to cover full implementation of National Adaptation Action Strategies and Plans, from immediate to longterm actions, that will deliver regular flows of financial and other support for adaptation planning, implementation and monitoring. These should be in the form of predictable periodic grant installments and help is needed to facilitate, enable and support generation, gathering and dissemination of data, knowledge and experiences, including traditional knowledge on adaptation planning and practices.  Building upon what was agreed in Cancun – the Cancun Adaptation Framework – the creation of an Adaptation Committee under the UNFCCC will have to provide an oversight of streams of adaptation work, where the Committee should comprise members of civil society and experts in each necessary field.  This will have to be achieved in Panama so that it can be finalized in Durban in December.  

Communities are faced with hardship and are simply attempting to survive.  They might or might not know that the disasters and unpredictable patterns of rainfalls are as a result of climate change or anthropogenic emissions, but changes are happening and affecting their livelihoods and most of all, they need to live with these.   Those in Panama are well equipped with all the science, they need to make more progress.  Community voices must be heard.

Pelenise Alofa
President
Kiribati Climate Action Network
Kiribati

The Resettlement of the Banabans
Fiji is the hub of the Pacific.  Our flights always almost have to stop over in Fiji for connections. While traveling through Fiji, I spent time with the Banabans, a minority race in Fiji.  These people were resettled in Fiji in 1945 because the British Phosphate Corporation was mining phosphate on their island, Banaba. The rights to mine were given by illiterate Elders; no one at that time could read or write, so they were given fraud. Banaba today is almost completely mined, just over 1/10 of the island is left and most of the island is inhabitable. In simple terms: the people were displaced or resettled to Fiji because the British, Australians and New Zealanders (co owners of the company) valued money over the lives of human beings. There are negative and positive impacts of the resettlement of a total population of people. One of the negative impacts that the Banabans faced was their loss of fishing rights. The Banabans are fishermen by trade and culture.  They love the ocean and fishing is a game they enjoyed. The resettlement in Rabi, Fiji, took away this right because the seas and ocean are owned by the Tui Cakau (Fijian Chief) and the Banabans have to buy licenses to fish. This is the Fijian right that the Banabans cannot take away from them, and the Banabans will always appreciate the kindness and hospitality of the indigenous Fijians.  

Today, I relate CC negotiations to the experience of my own people, the Banabans.  If nothing is done and the people get resettled, it is because CC negotiations is not about humanity, but economic development (money). The pursuance for development by most developed countries is not about sustainability for everyone, but the conspiracy by the few rich people.

The Banaban Elders & Landowners Association
The Banabans requested support and we worked together to establish an NGO called the Banaban Elders & Landowners Association. I wrote up their constitution which was submitted to the Ministry of Labour & Development in Fiji for endorsement.  It was a privilege to be chosen as their Advisor and we meet every time I travel via Fiji. All this was done on voluntary basis. Note the name of the NGO. It’s the Banaban Elders. According to the Banaban culture, the Elders are leaders and most respected group in society.  We have a political group, but culturally, it is the Elders that have the final word.  The issues involved in this NGO are:  children, youth and women’s development, climate change, good governance, economic sustainable development, care for the disabled, education and health, and culture and identity preservation. We distributed our constitution to the different regional organizations based in Fiji to know that our island does have an NGO working with the community.

The first workshop that the Banaban NGO attended was on climate change that was organized by 350.org.  Today, the Banaban Youth is preparing for the national campaign in September 24. Their activity is to plant trees and to involve our politicians in the campaign. We will be doing this in Kiribati as well.

In addition, the Fiji Council of Social Services provided short-term courses for members of our NGO on elderly care, childcare, micro finance, and sewing. More than ten of our youth graduated from these courses last week. It was a great opportunity for many of our unemployed youth to build skills that could help them find jobs locally or overseas and also to provide support to their own families.

Furthermore, we organized three other workshops:  virgin oil making, paper making, and flower and jewelry making. Many of our women are smart and skilled in handicrafts, but do not have a market.  So during my two weeks stay in Fiji I was able to secure a shop for them in a town, Suva, and we have also secured markets for them in NZ, US, Nauru and Kiribati.  The introduction of marketing calls for planting of commercial trees and this is related to CC adaptation. We will work on looking for funds towards this project.  The Banabans have indeed crossed boundaries and are learning to do marketing to sustain their family income.  It has been great working with the Banabans in Fiji.
 

Pelenise Alofa
President
Kiribati Climate Action Network
Kiribati

It was my first time in Germany!  My first experience (frustrating) at the airport trying to find my way to my hotel in Bonn.  My first experience with the CAN International Southern Capacity Building at the UNFCCC. It was also my first experience to be robbed. Mona Matepi (Cook Islander) and I bought ice cream and later when I looked for my purse, it was gone.  Someone had pick pocketed me while shopping! Well, there will always be the first time for everybody but Bonn was a multiple of first experiences for me.

But not all is gloomy…..Bonn, was actually the beginning of exciting experiences. Our first meeting with the lovely young people in the SCB team was wonderful and exciting. Each person came from different parts of the Global South and each was able to take up his/her responsibility with enthusiasm and professionalism.  It was not my first time attending CAN-International sessions, but it was my first time to be involved with CAN-International as a participating member.  Things began to fall into perspective and to make sense.  During the previous CAN-I sessions I’ve attended…I was always confused when people gave reports because I did not know the procedures.  I was thankful for the opportunity to attend as a Southern Capacity Building member.

Yes, the UNFCCC could be very confusing and frustrating. It was like being in a marketplace (too much fuss and bustle), but everyone does one business: negotiation. But thanks to the advices and counsels provided by Gaines (during orientation) and the CAN-I Secretariat things became more clear.

I was supposed to do REDD+ and Capacity Building.  I ended up following most of the Capacity Building because, deep in my heart, I know that this is the key issue to help my people in the Pacific.  Working with Mona, Mamady and Pat was extremely valuable and rewarding. Pat is a well-experienced leader who knows the ins and outs of the Capacity Building issue.  I realized that Capacity Building (CB) was not treated as a major issue, but integrated into almost every other Climate Change (CC) issue. We ended up drawing a plan of action calling that CB should be developed in each CC window, and that funding should be spent on building capacity in developed and developing countries to meet local mitigation and adaptation needs.

Could Capacity Building lead to our Survival in the Pacific?
The impacts of CC have been seen and felt in our islands for many years, but our relationship to CC was not known.  When our coastal lands were eroded and line of trees fell, when our well water became saltier, when sea water intruded into our gardens, when it rained too much at the wrong time of the  year, when there was drought for too long, when our fishes got washed up dead on our shores, when the king tides swept over the island like a tidal wave, we wondered, do we need science to explain CC to us? We live in it day by day. Actually, today, it is part of our lives and we learn to adapt to the impacts as they come. In fact, we have stronger evidence or and stronger voices today to support us at the negotiation arena. We provide the facts of the impacts of CC while science explains the causes and effects and how they are related.
 
But CC is not just the science, the cause and effect.  It also involves negotiations, commitment, passion and time.  Most Pacific islanders have the passion and time, but not the negotiation skills. The lack of negotiation skills stems from a culture of sharing. We share the fruits of our land freely, thus land ownership is very important to us. Our survival depends on our lands and oceans, which provide our livelihood. We do not sell anything to our neighbors because selling is contradictory to sharing. The reality is that we lack the negotiation skills because negotiation goes beyond the boundary of our culture. The only negotiation we know is based on trust. We want people to trust us and vice versa. But alas, we are waking up to the fact that we live in a global village where everyone thinks differently and lives by different values. We are taught to give from the heart, but today we are in a world that sells, bargains, gambles, negotiates, etc.  What’s more, we are negotiating on a major crucial issue…the survival of our people. It is scary, terrifying and mind-boggling! It’s like jumping to the moon to bring it down to earth! Do we stand a chance to survive? I am sure we can, if we take capacity building seriously…by learning the skills of negotiations at a global level and integrate capacity building in every aspect of CC.

The Laughing Corner – A typical Kiribati Negotiation or Business Deal
I will try to explain a business or negotiation humor conducted in a typical Kiribati style. As I explained earlier, negotiation or business (selling) is not part of our culture.  An expatriate family was ready to leave Kiribati permanently after serving in the islands for four years so decided to hold a garage sale before leaving. This was completely new to the islanders but nevertheless, many people went to buy all the second hand things for sale. At the end of the day, two women came along to buy, but there was nothing left except two cats (ex-pat’s pets) and according to the ex-pat, one of the cats was pregnant which means, whoever buys it will make money by selling the kittens. One of the ladies spent her $50 on the two cats and carried them home.  Her husband was anxious to see what she bought but was very angry when he found that she bought two cats. He was upset because their house was already full of cats and dogs and having a pregnant cat would make it worse.  And furthermore, they cannot sell the kittens because no one sells animals (pets) in the islands.

Why did the lady buy the cats?  Simple answer, she wanted to help. She was shocked that the expat family was selling their goods including animals, which mean that they were really, really in need of money. The I-Kiribati was ready to help by buying everything including their pets even though they did not need these. The motive for buying was not to acquire and to accumulate goods, but rather to help someone who was in need. Do you think that we islanders have a chance at international negotiations with this attitude? Talk about cross culture!!!
 

Manjeet Dhakal
Clean Energy Nepal
Policy and Advocacy Officer/ Act. Program Director
Nepal

Regardless of whatever the outcome was Copenhagen was successful in making a historical gathering of a large number of participants among the UNFCCC COPs. On a freezing Copenhagen streets, people from around the world demonstrated and urged world leaders to limit developed country emissions and to compensate on their past actions. But a small group of powerful people inside the Bella Centre betrayed everyone by letting us down and to compromising our future. At that point, I remembered a slogan hung up during climate negotiation "Don't negotiate with our future". Science has already proven that human activity is the cause of the climate change problem through increased emissions of greenhouse gases in recent decades. And now I feel like, I have to pay the debt of my grandfather and my grandchildren will be taking even more burdens in the future. So, I just wonder what kind of world are we really planning to building?  

Youth interventions at UNFCCC meetings always excite me. They often starts it with, "My name is _ _ and I am XX years of age and I will be YY years old in 2050". I have noticed timid expression with discomfort on the faces of many delegates who always evoke on false number of commitment for second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol and those who come to negotiation just for the weekend. I wonder what kind of world they have envisioned for the coming days?   
 
Cancun was a milestone on climate change discourse; it has brought us hope that was merely drowned by Copenhagen results. But again, Cancun is not the end; rather it was a beginning of another chapter. The first page of this new chapter was flipped in Bangkok in April, which was not that encouraging and the next page at Bonn recently in June  and again made everyone nervous. Now the question is how many Bonn, Bangkok and another COP do we need for an international climate treaty? It seems very difficult for developing countries to continue this endless discourse.  In the recent Bonn meeting, around 100 countries had less than five delegates and 20 of them had only single delegates and these 20 were the most vulnerable countries. In these negotiations, where is the voice of those voiceless that are already badly suffering? On the other side, five major developed countries and around 100 developing countries have equal number of delegates. Now anyone can imagine the outcome and also the possibility of getting another treaty like Kyoto, which has real essence at least to be optimistic about.