STATEMENT UNDER THE SOCIAL CLIMATE CHANGE PRECOP

Margarita Island, Venezuela from 15 to 18 July 2014   

AN URGENT CLIMATE JUSTICE  

The effects of the climate crisis certainly fall more heavily on the most vulnerable populations.  Communities and peoples of marine coastal areas are one of them; rising sea levels will represent the loss of territories, the threats to food sovereignty and processes of forced migration. The warming waters or increased acidity in them, resulting in the loss or reduction of marine life and species important to the livelihood and food. In general, climate change will increase the social and ecological vulnerabilities.  Given this reality, Redmanglar International under the Social PRECOP on Climate Change organized by the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, says: 

It is essential to address the effects of climate change, incorporate ancient knowledge as a structural axis of actions focused on containment, adaptation and survival of the people. Incorporate a vision of development based on the territorial approach.   

Marine coastal villages now live a complex reality, where it is necessary and essential to strengthen resistance to the proposals coming from the market and industry, and seek to commodify mangroves and life.

Reject proposals seeking financial support from governments and cooperation, and legally TNCs that dismantle our ecosystems and territories, increasing the vulnerability of the people; as shrimp farming, salt, agribusiness, tourism and hotel development, oil and mining, construction of dams and hydroelectric mega, and projects that seek to incorporate mangroves in the carbon markets.

 

 It is essential to rescue ancestral knowledge and current experiences to strengthen the response capacity of communities and native peoples before the climate crisis and to exchange knowledge about resilience in production systems and livelihoods in the context of food sovereignty .  It is urgent to stop the advance of desertification as a process that exacerbates poverty and seriously affects the loss of biodiversity in our towns.

Request the UNFCCC the urgent need to protect the mangrove ecosystem as a natural buffer against the effects of climate change and as a source of food sovereignty.  

  Creation of a fund to finance local initiatives and support to marine coastal towns.  We demand that the mangrove ecosystem is referred to a world-class ecosystem protection as critically endangered and stop the advance of deforestation and loss of mangroves by industry, mainly in industrial aquaculture and tourism. 

Strengthen the capacities of women, as they are particularly concerned to extreme weather events, who are generally responsible for ensuring the integrity of their family and basic livelihoods in an emergency. 

  We urge the international organizations participating in this Social Movements Social PRECOP in Venezuela, to consolidate a global action against allowing political influence to the UNFCCC for real commitment in the fight against climate change is assumed, values ​​of solidarity and fostered inclusion among grassroots community.

Asociación Ecologista para la Preservación Ambiental
Estado Falcón - Venezuela 
(0058) 0268.411.10.77 / 0269.220.10.23 
www.aepafalcon.org.ve 
@AEPAFALCON
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