When: from 5pm 13th of March till 8pm 15th March

Where: Denmark: MellemFolkeligt Samvirke Fælledvej 12, Copenhagen N.

Proposed Aims: Developing our basis for Unity, Some Agreement on Action, Discussion of Movement Building through COP 15 (for more details see below)

We stand at a crossroads. The facts are clear. Global climate change, caused by human activities, is happening, threatening the lives and livelihoods of billions of people and the existence of millions of species. Social movements, environmental groups, and scientists from all over the world are calling for urgent and radical action on climate change.

On the 7th of December, 2009 the governments of the world will come to Copenhagen for the fifteenth UN Climate Conference (COP-15). This will be the biggest summit on climate change ever to have taken place. Yet, previous meetings have produced nothing more than business as usual.

There are alternatives to the current course that is emphasizing false solutions such as market-based approaches and agrofuels. If we put humanity before profit and solidarity above competition we can live amazing lives without destroying our planet. We need to leave fossil fuels in the ground. Instead we must invest in community-controlled renewable energy. We must stop over-production for over-consumption. All should have equal access to the global commons through community control and sovereignty over energy, forests, land and water. And of course we must acknowledge the historical responsibility of the global elite and rich Global North for causing this crisis. Equity between North and South is essential.

Climate change is already impacting people, particularly women, indigenous and forest-dependent peoples, small farmers, marginalized communities and impoverished neighborhoods who are also calling for action on climate-and social justice. This call was taken up by activists and organizations from 21 countries that came together in Copenhagen over the weekend of13-14 September, 2008 to begin discussions for a mobilization in Copenhagen during the UN's 2009 climate conference.

After a number of further meetings in the Copenhagen process – in December in Poznan, and in January in Belem – we have realized that one of the defining characteristics of the emerging global climate justice movement is a wonderful diversity of opinions, tactics, and strategy, in general and specifically with respect to the mobilization towards the COP15. As the group that is developing the agenda for the March meeting we see it as our responsibility to give space to this diversity in our process.

In order to guarantee that this is the case, we strongly encourage people and organizations to participate in the March meeting in the spirit of the lessons we have learnt from these previous meetings- a mature recognition of our diversity. We hope that people participating in March will recognize that we come from different traditions of political action, with many experience of success through different political approaches and methods of protest. While we entirely accept the validity of these positions, in March we explicitly want to create a space that allows the really existing diversity of positions in the movement to come and work together in a broad mobilization for climate justice in and beyond Copenhagen.

As such our proposed aims for the meeting are:

  1. to clarify given our diversity how we can work together for the COP 15 mobilizations. (Developing our basis for unity)
  2. to clarify what action proposals exist, to test for consensus around those proposals and to accept principled diversity of actions if we do not come to consensus on those proposals. (Some agreement around action)
  3. to discuss ways in which we can make the Copenhagen mobilizations something that helps us build a broad based movement for climate justice beyond the COP 15 that is both global and system critical. (Discussion of Movement Building through COP 15)

To register your participation please email climatemarch09@gmail.com or log on to www.climateaction09.org/signup If you can not attend but you wish to send proposals please email climatemarch09@gmail.com

More information will be sent to you once you register but briefly:

  • If you need a letter of invitation for your visa application please contact us ASAP.
  • Translation will be available in languages that people request where the request is received at least one week before the meeting- if you require translation please include this in your email for participation.
  • Vegetarian (mostly vegan) food will be provided by donation over the weekend, if you need accommodation please also include that in your registration email.

Yours, The international coordination group of the Coordination network for Mobilization around COP 15

See also http://klimax2009.org/