Indigenous & Grassroots Organizations at COP23

In response and in solidarity with frontline communities across the globe, It Takes Roots, a coalition comprised of North American based networks of grassroots organizations such as Global Grassroots Justice Alliance, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Climate Justice Alliance, and Rights to the City will be participating in and hosting events throughout the UN Climate Change Convention, Nov 6th – Nov 17th, 2017.

From California to the Canadian provinces and down to the Gulf of Mexico, Indigenous communities and communities of color are experiencing the impacts of climate change now; whether that be through sea level rise and the loss of land, extreme weather or changes in seasons, which are impacting both urban and rural communities’ health and way of life. The last few months alone have witnessed climate-intensified disasters including hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria that ravaged Puerto Rico, Houston, and Florida, to the eight-county wildfires in one of the deadliest firestorms in California history. The It Takes Roots Delegation will be at COP23 to ensure that these struggles are recognized and to bring more awareness to false solutions, such as offsets and emissions, frontline fights to protect water, and the disregard of human and Indigenous rights in the Paris Agreement.

WHAT:

WHO:

EVENTS and ACTIONS:

PARTICIPANT QUOTES:

“Counting carbon alone will not get us to the systemic solutions we need to curb climate change.  Fossil Fuel subsidies continue in the billions while the Frontlines in Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida, the Virgin Islands, and throughout the Southern US are  suffering from climate induced disasters now!  There is no time to wait, it is unethical, it weakens our public sector, and it leaves cities that could otherwise be resilient in peril.  Climate change is real, coal is not coming back, and the people will lead with climate solutions that are in harmony with Mother Earth. We are not coming together in Bonn to negotiate with the same Fortune 500 companies that are polluting our communities and the political leaders they support, they do not have our best interest at heart. We are coming to organize and build power with the Global South and come out resilient. ” Angela Adrar- Executive Director of the Climate Justice Alliance

“The wildfires, hurricanes and floods of these last few months show us that we don’t have time to play games of climate denial or greenwashing of dirty energy.  COP23 is an opportunity for world leaders to catch up to the solutions already coming from communities on the ground.   The It Takes Roots delegation brings together leaders from North Dakota to Texas, Mississippi, and Puerto Rico who are advancing Just Transition and Just Recovery campaigns that will protect our land and water and move us toward community controlled renewable energy,” said Cindy Wiesner, Executive Director of Grassroots Global Justice Alliance.

“A changing climate with the unpredictability of weather events has extreme negative effects on Indigenous Peoples from Alaska to the lower 48th parallel of the United States. The ambitions of the Paris Agreement and the National Determined Contributions will not save our planet as we know her and only result in average global temperature increase above 3-4°C. We are going to Bonn to see how our voices can be heard to prevent the collapse of the Nature of Mother Earth and Father Sky and prevent further harm to all of humanity and life. The climate agreement from 2015 is nothing but a trade agreement that does nothing but privatize, commodify and sell ocean, forest and agricultural offsets that allow the most responsible not only to buy their way out of compliance for emission reduction but they get to profit from it as well. This is wrong. As Indigenous Peoples we will be networking with Indigenous Peoples of the world in Bonn to demand our rights be fully recognized in the implementation of the Paris Agreement and a process for full and effective participation in the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples globally in the UNFCCC framework of addressing traditional knowledge in climate mitigation and adaptation agreements.” Tom BK Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network

“Puerto Rico has been the victim of a perfect storm of natural weather extremes, fiscal austerity measures, bad management and planning, combined with a colonial situation that prevents us from trading and learning from our sister islands in the Caribbean region. We demand a Just Transition.” Katia Vázquez, Organización Boricuá de Agricultura Ecológica