UNITED NATIONS EVENTS, MAJOR GROUPS, CONVENTIONS, FORUMS

• SERR  IS A  U.S. 501C3 APPROVED NON PROFIT & UN  ECONOMIC & SOCIAL  COUNCIL ACCREDITED NGO

• SERR  IS A  U.S. 501C3 APPROVED NON PROFIT & UN  ECONOMIC & SOCIAL  COUNCIL ACCREDITED NGO

SERR is  an Official Observer at COP26 in Glasgow. 

READ OUR STATEMENT

Servicios Ecumenicos para Reconciliacion y Reconstruccion

Building a culture of peace, eradicating poverty, and sustaining the health of the planet

Environmental Constituency-UNFCCC COP 26

Focal Point: Dr. Cheryl Taylor Desmond

Oceans’ DATA: Uta Schuchman

TO:  UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT

SERR is respectfully submitting the following statement as a member of the Environmental Constituency for consideration during the UNFCCC proceedings, October 31 – November 13, 2021

As a registered civil society organization, 

We underline the importance of peace and peaceful practices under the UN Climate Change Framework.

We submit the following demands:

1. Carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 should be significantly reduced by 45% compared wot 2010 levels to avoid the temperature increase exceeding the 1.5C% threshold. Commitments that countries have put on the table under the Paris Agreement will lead, in 2030, not to a reduction, but to increase in emissions. It is imperative to mitigate emissions much more. There is an urgent need for regulations, procedures and records and deciding how much each country should reduce its emissions based on climate justice.

2. As a means of opening the debate on emissions reductions, countries should make, based on climate justice criteria at COP26, we support the request made by the government of Bolivia, a country from the Global South. The countries in the Global are most suffering the impacts of climate change and will benefit the most from an approach based on climate justice and sustainable human development. 

3. In fulfillment of NO One BE Left Behind…we make a commitment to prioritize the calls of the small island states which already suffering the impact of Climate Change. They are going under water. There is no time left for them. 

4.  We make a call to affirm the Pacific Climate Justice Demands as a formal part or our Call. 

5. We make the same call for those nations in particular in Africa which are already facing deep impact of Climate Change on Migrations and Hunger.

6. We must make a commitment to prioritize the wisdom, knowledge and practices of indigenous peoples globally.

7.  We urge a call to protect the ocean, cryosphere, coastal ecosystems and local communities.

a. The ocean is a part of the global life support system. It produces half of the annual oxygen, has absorbed more than 90% of the energy produced from global warming and every year absorbs around 30% of carbon dioxide (IPCC-SROCC), regulates the global climate, provides food and many other goods and services which are vital to all life on Earth and important to people and societies all over the world. 

b. A healthy ocean, coastal ecosystems and the local communities dependent on them - are key to achieving international environmental and development goals.

c. It is vital for global bodies to recognize the specific risks, knowledge, commitment and human rights of women, indigenous people, small-scale fishers and associated poor communities from coastal areas, especially in tropical and Arctic regions at the frontline of the ocean climate-biodiversity emergency, and institutionalize the special consideration and meaningful participation of coastal communities, fisherwomen and fishermen side by side with farmers and agriculture under the UNFCCC framework; 

d. Ocean-based Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) , other “mitigation interventions” and ideology oriented towards an economic emphasis on ocean value such as the ‘Blue economy’, are of increasing concern as they entail incalculable risks and potentially disastrous damage to marine and coastal life and biodiversity and ocean's climate functions and services. 

e. We call for an end to fossil fuel subsidies in maritime transport and unsustainable fisheries that contribute to overfishing, IUU fishing, to end all types of destructive fishing *including bottom trawling and other activities disturbing carbon and methane stored in the seafloor, to ensure no energy and traffic turn in the north at the expense of marine biodiversity and food security in the south: and to stop seabed mining. 

f. All this calls for a human rights based approach framework that respects the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and prioritizes small scale fishing for its importance for food security and poverty eradication;

g. Seabed mining is not consistent with UNFCCC Article 4.1 (d) and (e) the Paris Agreement Article 5.1 and other international obligations such as UNCLOS Article 145 as it is results in incalculable and irreversible damage of fragile, poorly understood, slow growing deep sea species and ecosystems, accelerates marine biodiversity loss and threatens ocean's climate functions and services;

h. We call for the development of effective adaptation and mitigation measures to address sea level rise, ocean warming, ocean acidification and address harmful impacts of climate change and environmental pollution on oceans and coastal ecosystems such as river deltas, estuaries, sand dunes, mangroves and coral reefs, which are in grave danger. This includes action to prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris, nutrient pollution, wastewater, solid waste discharges, plastics and microplastics into waterways and the oceans. This should and must include the consideration of traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and traditional and effective practices oriented to adaptation in coastal, island and marine ecosystems; 

i. We call for the recognition of the importance of small-scale fisheries and associated coastal communities in integrated management and securing food sovereignty, and to protect access and tenure rights for all, especially for women-led, small-scale and artisanal fisheries and their participation in the fishing value chains, in a climate-changing world. 90% of reefs around the world are under threat and fisheries remain the most urgent priority for food sovereignty in SIDs.

j. We call for an end of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and destructive fishing practices, addressing their root causes and holding actors accountable to remove the benefits of such activities, and effectively implement flag State and port State obligations, as part of global measures to address loss and damage impacts to climate frontline communities, and for effective climate adaptation. This shift must reckon with the over-consumption of fish in developed countries. 

k. We call for respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, especially small scale fisherworkers and promote shared governance and community governance in the framework of marine conservation efforts;

l. We make an urgent call for the cutting of domestic shipping emissions by accurately accounting for domestic shipping emissions in updated NDCs and domestic development and climate change plans, and the need to develop de-carbonization plans for the sector that will reduce domestic emissions by at least 50% below 2010 levels by 2030, and full de-carbonization of the sector by 2050.

8. In all actions on climate, countries must work to secure land, housing, property (HLP), biodiversity and natural resource tenure rights and participatory land and water governance, (eventually: land and marine and fresh water governance)tenure rights governance for all rural, urban, grassroots, indigenous peoples and youth in all their contributions to the planet and biodiversity.