Dear friends and colleagues,
We are very happy to share our summary of COP 16 in Cali, from which we are returning after intense participation over the last two weeks. Our objective, the same shared with other allied networks and organizations and that we stated publicly, was to open a new advocacy front with governments, organizations and people connecting the climate change and biodiversity agendas as indivisible parts of the fight to eliminate fossil fuels - and we made great advances.
We arrived in Cali, host city of the biodiversity negotiations, with energy, commitment and with a powerful message of the Afro, Indigenous and popular resistance that connects the struggles for life with the need for an exit from fossil fuels. We were reminded that, to achieve this, we must always draw on joy: and this was what we witnessed in the march of the guardians, where music, dance and merriment were at the center of the calls for life, social justice, and the rights of Afro and Indigenous peoples.
We know well that the extraction of oil, gas and coal threatens the very fabric of life on Earth, putting our ecosystems, our climate, our cultures, even our economies, at risk. And the comrades from Congo, Brazil, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Ecuador, Colombia, explained it to us loud and clear, in our two events: “Strengthening our south-south ties: biocultural diversity in the fight against fossil extractivism” and “Life threatened by fossil fuels”. The general conclusion: if the existence of present and future generations is in danger, we must be united to resist, and these types of experiences abound across our different contexts in the south.
With broad participation of indigenous peoples' organizations from 5 Amazonian countries, we held the third assembly for a “Amazon free of fossil fuels and all forms of extractivism” in which leaders denounced the violation of the right to consent over actions in their territories, the pollution and environmental destruction brought by the exploitation of fossils that never fulfilled its promise of bringing the so-called development and they demanded to States, companies, NGOs and other actors, respect territorial autonomy and self-determination, ancestral knowledge and spiritualities, the legitimate right of indigenous nations to decide on their territories, and also real and effective actions for the repair and remediation of damages and a fair and popular energy transition that respects life and Mother Earth.
We know that despite the obvious links between fossil exploitation, biodiversity loss and the violation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the “F words” had never been mentioned in the official CBD negotiations. With Colombia, host country of the COP, and one of the most active members of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, we organized an official event in the blue zone “Phase out fossil fuels to make peace with nature”, seeking to change this, and which managed to generate a deep discussion, denouncing the barriers to the mention of fossil fuels in the negotiations, and advancing the need to build a Treaty on the basis of environmental and social justice, beyond the techno-fix solutions.
Also in the high-level segment, this thinking was advanced in the speech of the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro in plenary when he clearly denounced that fossil fuels “represent death”, and are “the fuel we use for greed and the large-scale expansion of capital.” Building off these discussions, an invite-only high level briefing for ministers, ambassadors and heads of delegation was convened to build greater understanding about the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Attendees discussed the origins of the proposal, the urgent need for coordinated action on the release of fossils within the international system, and the steps to follow. This meeting was made possible thanks to the leadership of Colombia's Vice Minister of Environment Tatiana Roa and Vanuatu's Special Envoy for Climate, Ralph Regenvanu.
They were two weeks of beautiful collective experiences, of care, and of and resistance. We were nourished by the support and words of encouragement from the Ecosocial and intercultural Pact of the South and the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia; of the vibrant colours of the urban postering that took over the walls of the city; from the example of Llano Verde community which showed us how in a Treaty on Fossil Fuels, the protection of biocultural diversity against all forms of extractivism must be a central axis of resistance; of the commitment of indigenous peoples to protect the Amazon, that decided to continue next year in an assembly of nationalities for an Amazon free of fossil fuels and extractivism, to be held in Peru, before COP 30.
And even though we failed to include fossil extraction in the final text during the negotiations important important advances were made, such as the creation of the Permanent Subsidiary Body on Article 8J (SB8J), which seeks to involve indigenous peoples in decision-making on biodiversity; the recognition of Afro communities in biodiversity conservation and in the implementation of the Convention; the creation of the Global Coalition Peace with Nature; and the reaffirmation that geoengineering should not be part of the response to the climate crisis.
We came out of Cali strengthened as a campaign, united with Afro, Indigenous and popular collective struggles, convinced that the only path left to us is that we are walking together, the one of the diverse struggles for life.
Andrés Gómez, on behalf of the Treaty team
Latin American Lead for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
