Friday, Dec 4, 2015
Joan Brown,osf
International Rights of Nature Tribunal
As I sat in a darkened auditorium with hundreds of brothers and sisters from around the world, the heat from the intense bodily closeness seemed to speak of the growing climate heat and concerns around water, mining, deforestation, fossil fuels, human rights and others. Today, again I was with people internationally in a Rights of Nature Tribunal hosted by the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and End Ecocide on Earth, NatureRights and Attac France.
Judges from around the world included Tom Goldtooth (Indigenous Environmental Network) and Osprey Orielle Lake (Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network)from the U.S. The judges listened to climate crimes against nature from various perspectives. I was most moved by Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians) and Michal Kravcik (Slovakia) as they spoke about Water and Climate relating this to deforestation and land use.
Barlow noted that those working on Climate Change do not really understand the significant place of water in the conversation, effects and solutions. An overall approach considering displaced water, desertification and recovery practices related to landscapes and soil is essential as we realize that water is the number one climate concern.
A few points:
*Underground water is being destroyed at alarming rates.
*1/2 of the rivers in China have been lost since 1980
*Cutting trees of Amazon destroys the “flying river zone” and has direct links to such droughts as the one in California
*2 billion people a day are forced to drink contaminated water
*more children die from bad water than from all the wars
*Mega cities of Asia have a straight upward trajectory of water usage and a straight downward trajectory of availability
*The massive market based food as commodities will not be maintained in the future
*Privatization of water is a crime of nature and against the public trust with new forms such as “water pollution trading” being added
*Examples such as T.Boone Pickens in the Southwest US, who I buying up water of the Ogallala Aquifer (which is in Easter New Mexico) speaks of a loss of public control over the common good. Governments are responsible for the common good.
What is required:
*New ethics of water where each policy decision must be measured by how it will affect water
*Bilateral agreements that are geared toward multi-national companies must end
*Human rights, and common trust must be considered
*Water has rights as reflected in the laws of nature and must been seen as sacred and not as property
*Learn what water can teach us about how to live together
St. Francis Canticle of Creatures, “Be Praised my God for Sister water, she is humble, precious and pure” seemed to echo through the crowded room as Michal Kravcik spoke about the need for humans all over the planet to harvest water to protect the water cycles and as a practical way to shift climate change. “Water is a gift of God. After using her we must return her to God.” He said.
Inside Official COP
Since I am sharing an official observer status with Franciscans International, Sr. Odile and another Franciscan from Australia are in the proceedings this week. She took part in a US meeting of NGO’s (one reason it is important to be at the COP) with Todd Stern of the State Department today because the US is shying away from language written into the actual document to protect human rights and related to financing.
This from the meeting: his response to a question of human rights was:
“I have not studied the specific reference. We support a solid strong human rights reference in the agreement. I don’t know whether we support article 2.2 in this text since I haven’t looked at it. We support human rights, gender rights, gender empowerment language in the text generally.”
A great challenge leading up to the COP was that the US would be very reluctant to agree to binding language. We are seeing this and the great civic society is trying to address this on the ground.
Personal Note
On a side note, one of my great passions for good crusty bread is fulfilled each morning, noon and night! My evening ritual is bread and lovely hot chocolate and when I am out and about relishing the beauty of the Paris lights. While people do not feel threatened here, there is definitely a police presence and last night our bus route was blocked off for some reason. Today, I saw several hundred refugees sitting in the street and since I do not know French could not figure out the scenario.
At dinner tonight I spoke with sisters with Spanish sisters from Colombia and Honduras. We talked of the violence and refugees and immigrants. Our conversation was the lived reality of the latest European Global Climate Risk report stating the hardest hit countries by storms from 1995-2014 were Asia with Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines and Myanmar, and Central America with Honduras, Haiti and Nicaragua.
As I retire, the world seems ever a smaller precious community where we are all invited to know in new ways the meaning of being a compassionate human persons working together for solutions for life.