“I think there are good elements of the Kyoto Protocol and that is why I would support a second commitment period”, Makoma Lekalakala, member of Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, told Real World Radio. “At the moment we understand that this is the only legally binding agreement that actually commits countries to be able to reduce the level of pollution”.

The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997 in the Japanese city of the same name at the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. It is the only instrument that forces industrialized nations by law to cutting polluting emissions. The US is the only country that did not ratify it. The first commitment period of the Protocol ends in 2012 (it began in 2008) and the second period will go from 2013 to 2017.

However, several developed nations at the international climate negotiations are putting pressure to dismantle the Protocol and reach an agreement that will enable them to be free of all responsibility on the climate crisis. Those responsibilities are: reducing emissions, funding for the global South for mitigation and adaptation to climate change and transfer of clean technologies to developing countries.

Earthlife Africa Johannesburg works under the environmental justice paradigm, mainly with community-based organizations to capacitate people and make people aware of the devastating impacts of climate change and also linking that with their everyday struggles.

“We have a clear message” ahead of the COP said Lekalakala: “We are demanding climate justice. By demanding climate justice we are saying that the system that continuously creates this situation should be done away with”.

“A lot of lives have been lost and we can’t wait for more to happen”.

Earthlife Africa Johannesburg is involved in several activities and demonstrations during the COP. Makoma told us that on 26 November in Johannesburg they are going to have a march to demand a solution to climate change, on the eve of the opening of the COP. On the 3rd of December (on the Global Day of Action) there will be people in Johannesburg and in Cape Town “to send a clear message to the UNFCCC COP 17 to say enough is enough”.

Earthlife Africa Johannesburg will also be part of the climate refugee camp in Durban. “It’s a symbolic camp because Africa at the moment has a lot of environmentally displaced people”, said Lekalakala. The organization will also take part in other activities on energy because energy in South Africa is a fundamental issue. “90% of our electricity is generated from coal and we know the devastating impacts of coal in the climate”, she complained.

Photo: http://www.commondreams.org