From 7-18 December 2009, the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. In this event, 192 nations with 115 heads of government gathered to work on a framework for climate change mitigation beyond 2012.

But the COP 15 collapsed after 11 days of negotiations as it concluded without reaching concrete agreements on the Kyoto Protocol and on how countries especially in the North will respond to the climate crisis.

And to much more disappointment of the people, this international congregation came up with the Copenhagen Accord that waters down obligations of Northern countries in arresting the climate problem while it accelerates the unfair demands from Southern countries.

But even with the flop of the COP 15, it must be noted that there had been significant developments that took place outside the negotiation hall of the official process. A large number of people from different parts of the world gathered outside Bella Center to push for genuine solutions and actions on the climate crisis which the UNFCCC failed to accomplish.

The people staged different actions parallel to the COP 15 and the Peoples’ Movement on Climate Change (PMCC) had been in the forefront in consolidating representation of the widest sectors and peoples’ organisations around the globe while upholding the Peoples’ Protocol on Climate Change (Peoples’ Protocol), which embodies the messages of the people successfully expressed not only in Copenhagen but in different parts of the world.

PMCC and the Peoples’ Protocol on Climate Change

In 2007, the PMCC was formed to be the forefront collective expression of a global campaign which involved individuals and organisations from the different global  regions. It has a Facilitation Group that leads the discussions and coordinates the work in the network, and is composed of IBON Foundation, Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN), Peoples’ Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), Institute for National and Democratic Studies (INDIES), International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Arab NGO Network on Development (ANND), IBON Europe, Global Justice Ecology Project, Kenya Debt Relief Network (KENDREN), Green Movement of Sri Lanka (GMSL) and AidWatch.

In the last two years, the PMCC convened several workshops and consultations in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, along with national assemblies in key European countries. One of the outcomes of these events was the formulation of the Peoples’ Protocol. In 2009, the People’s Protocol was finalised and adapted widely by different peoples’ organisations as a framework declaration that captures the people’s stand on this most urgent problem confronting humanity. It was endorsed by more than 500 individuals and organizations from the North and South, and was submitted to the UNFCCC prior to the COP 15. Alongside this development, the Protocol had been translated into different languages – Bahasa, Dutch, French, Arabic, Amharic and Bangla in order to reach a larger number of people in the different regions. (Access the Peoples’ Protocol on Climate Change at http://peoplesclimatemovement.net/)

Southern voices and peoples’ solutions to climate crisis

The world witnessed that people are united and are actively participating to salvage the world from the climate crisis. As world leaders met inside the Bella Center in Copenhagen for the COP 15, thousands of representatives of various groups from all continents gathered outside the Bella Center to counter the futile official process of the UNFCCC.

One of the highlights of the events outside COP 15 was the Global Peoples’ Assembly on Climate Change organised by PMCC on December 9 that gave a platform for Southern voices and solutions to climate change. More than one hundred participants from Asia, Africa, the Arab Region, Europe and Latin America attended the Peoples’ Assembly where they gave their response to the unjust and false solutions being presented by the world leaders through the ratification of the Peoples’ Protocol.

Aside from the Global Peoples’ Assembly in Denmark, national peoples’ assemblies were also simultaneously held by PMCC members together with other local organizations: Kenya – KENDREN, IBON Africa, and Huruma Social Forum; Nigeria – Labour, Health and Human Rights Development Center; Zimbabwe – Coalition on Debt and Development; Egypt – Housing and Land Rights Network; Morocco – Right to Water Forum in the Arab Region; Sudan – Sudanese Conservationist Society; Indonesia – International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) and Aliansi Gerakan Reformasi Agraria (AGRA); Bangladesh – Coastal Development Partnership (CDP); Sri Lanka – Green Movement of Sri Lanka; Philippines – IBON Foundation, Philippine Climate Watch Alliance, Kalikasan-PNE; Hong Kong – Asia Pacific Missions for Migrants (APMM); Thailand – Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD); Ethiopia – Eco Yeshemachoch Mahiber (ECOYM); Canada – Migrante Canada; and Mozambique – Christian Council of Mozambique.

The people did not place high hopes on COP 15 and other global negotiations initiated and organised by governments that did not give any regard for the majority of the world’s population. Rather, real solutions to the climate crisis have been advanced, which came from an open and democratic process with the participation of people from the ground – the fundamental aspect of a substantive and necessary framework to counter the worst impacts of climate change.

The Peoples’ Protocol embodies the hope for humankind to address the climate problem. After COP 15, the PMCC’s advocacy to promote the Peoples’ Protocol will be brought into broader space to build the capacity of more stakeholders in the South. Also, there are continuing engagements with other networks and platforms that have the same aspiration to genuinely arrest climate change.

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Reileen Dulay is a Program Assistant with theAsia Pacific Research Network.