With the world ablaze, citizens hold the key to turning back climate change
With the world ablaze, citizens hold the key to turning back climate change
NEWSLETTER, August 2023—Citizens' Climate International launches NDC Collaborative; African volunteers step up lobbying and media activities; CCI to lead lobby training during African Climate Summit.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, now is the summer of our discontent. Wildfires made more destructive in a warming climate have killed people in Hawai'i, forced the evacuation of an entire city in northern Canada, and choked people with smoke throughout much of North America. This summer, the world awakened to the disturbing reality that our climate is changing faster than scientists have previously predicted, adding greater urgency to the need for phasing out fossil fuels with all deliberate speed. Meeting this challenge head on requires nations to not only deliver on their commitments made with the Paris Agreement, but to actually increase their ambition if we wish to hold warming to 1.5° C. Citizens engaging their governments are the key to making this happen.
NDC Collaborative and lobbying in Africa
To meet the goals needed to preserve a livable world, citizens must hold their governments accountable for the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) their nations committed to in the Paris Accord and push beyond those original commitments. That is why Citizens' Climate International has launched the NDC Collaborative, a "strategic initiative to support citizen volunteers in directly inputting into the process of upgrading nationally determined contributions to the global climate crisis response."
An example of the NDC Collaborative at work is the recent lobbying by CCI volunteers in Nigeria. Last year, volunteers there helped state governments to draft their own state-level climate laws to interface with national climate legislation. With state legislators on recess, CCI volunteers in the state of Nasarawa recently went to the capital, Lafia, and met with commissioners of state ministries (photo above) to ask for their support of draft climate legislation, which will be reintroduced when legislators return. Prior to the meetings, CCI’s David Michael Terungwa led a training on how to lobby using the five levers of political will.
"We've heard from the national lawmakers that they really want to see this happening in African countries, especially where they're looking for the the local sort of boots on the ground part of the national laws," said CCL Executive Director Joe Robertson.
CCI volunteers start pulling media lever
As CCI volunteers become more engaged in the NDC Collaborative, one of the most effective tools for generating political will is published media. CCI Senior Advisor for Communications Steve Valk led the first of several trainings to help volunteers publish letters to the editor in their local newspapers. More than 30 volunteers from several countries attended the training. One of CCI's volunteers in Zambia who participated in the training, Akufuna Muyunda, recently published an op-ed calling on his nation's president to declare a climate emergency and establish a Climate Change Taskforce. "This proclamation would signify not only an acknowledgement of the severity of our predicament but also a powerful commitment to catalyze transformative change," said Muyunda.
Food, Finance & Democracy Project
Climate change affects our world on many fronts, creating multiple crises that are interconnected and, therefore, must be addressed simultaneously. Climate change, for example, is one of the primary drivers of food instability, which in turn can destabilize nations and threaten the ability of people to have a voice in government decisions that affect their lives. The structure and decisions of financial institutions will determine whether agriculture and development take a sustainable approach or one that leads to further deterioration of societies and the environment. To support a more holistic approach in a polycrisis era, Citizens' Climate International is launching the Food, Finance and Democracy Project to provide the resources citizens need to steer their governments toward a sustainable and livable future. This project will support the efforts of CCI volunteers working on the NDC Collaborative, which holds governments accountable for meeting and exceeding commitments made with the Paris Climate Agreement.
Core elements of the project will be:
Consideration of local food system dynamics, including both climate-related stresses and opportunities linked to climate-resilient practices;
Outlining linkages between climate science observations, other Earth systems science observations (watersheds, biodiversity, ecosystem health, etc.), and health and wellbeing in local and national context;
Linking food systems transformation to national climate action planning and implementation;
Using the Engage4Climate Toolkit to enhance stakeholder input to food, climate, and finance-related decision-making;
Engaging all five levers of citizen volunteer activity to build political will for smarter, more resilience-building food-related policy planning and everyday decision-making.
CCI attending African Climate Summit
When the African Climate Summit convenes in early September, Citizens' Climate International will be represented. David Michael Terungwa, CCI's Field Development Lead in Africa, and other CCI volunteers are heading to Nairobi, Kenya, for the conference, which is expected to draw 20,000 delegates, including 20 heads of state. While there, Michael will conduct a training for CCI Kenya volunteers to prepare for lobbying the Kenyan Parliament on Sept. 15, asking that carbon pricing be included in the Kenya Climate Change Act. The summit is viewed as an important event leading up to the UN climate change conference — COP28 — in Dubai (Nov. 30-Dec. 12). A big topic at the summit will be ways to provide funding for climate action in Africa. Kenya President William Ruto has proposed targeted taxes on sectors like aviation and maritime, the removal of fossil fuel subsidies worldwide, and the implementation of a global fossil fuel tax.
Are you ready to be a climate diplomat?
International negotiations on climate change, negotiations that will determine whether the world maintains a livable climate, can be a complicated and frustrating process that limits participation from a broad range of stakeholders. To empower average citizens to have a voice in this process, Citizens' Climate International is teaming up with the Fletcher School at Tufts University to offer the Earth Diplomacy Leadership workshops, a series of deep-dive policy discussions that includes input from stakeholder networks, leaders, and experts. Five workshops will be held in October and November leading up to COP28, which begins Nov. 30. Register now to participate.
Coming up
CCI Group Leader Global Check-In Calls resume the second Tuesday of the month. Leaders please check your emails.
CCI Get-To-Know-Us Calls return the third Wednesday of the month. Go here for registration details.
Save the date: Ontarians will prepare to lobby and then have breakfast with their MPPs on Monday, Sept. 25, evening and Tuesday, Sept. 26, morning at Queen's Park in Toronto. Look for emails from CCL Canada after Labour Day.
Save the date: CCL Canada's National Conference and Lobbying Days will take place Oct. 15-17. Look for an email from CCL Canada after Labour Day.