1. Issues in ASEAN: Climate Justice and Peoples Rights 31 March 2016

2. The Paris Climate Deal: A Just Agreement or Just an Agreement? COP (Conference of Parties)/UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) – the only intergovernmental body that deals with the issue of climate change Paris COP 21 – touted as a milestone moment aiming to get a global agreement to reduce carbon emissions and keep the global mean average temperature rise to 1.5C by 2030

3. The Paris Climate Deal: A Just Agreement or Just an Agreement? No binding effect on States – Negates historical responsibility of rich industrialized countries – GHG emissions reductions is subject to voluntary and nationally determined contributions Lack of ambition in terms of a clear and sufficient long-term goal – Despite disputes to agree on 1.5°C increase in global mean temperature, in reality, current actions would lead to temperature increase of about 3.2°C to 3.7°C – Emissions from the military industrial complex, including nuclear weapons testing and wars are not counted in the global emissions level.

4. The Paris Climate Deal: A Just Agreement or Just an Agreement? No new or additional funding – Developed countries say that developing economies must foot the bill for climate action on an ‘equal basis’ – USD100 B annual budget until 2020 still remains a ‘pledge’ – Issue of climate finance as an additionality to ODA Mitigation commitments remain inadequate – Minimizing ‘fair share’ of world’s largest historical emitters – Phrase ‘historical responsibility’ erased from the document

5. The Paris Climate Deal: A Just Agreement or Just an Agreement? No effective mechanism to compensate for loss and damage – No guarantee for countries to claim compensation from catastrophic phenomena More business than usual – TNCs are turning the climate crisis into their best chance of profit

6. The Paris Climate Deal: A Just Agreement or Just an Agreement? Agreement opens the door to financial speculation and carbon markets – Any country can engage in trading and purchase carbon bonds False solutions were given renewed international support – Large hydro and nuclear mega-energies, agribusiness and plantations, geo-engineering and carbon off-set mechanisms were confirmed in the Agreement

7. The Paris Climate Deal: A Just Agreement or Just an Agreement? No justice for women – Climate change is not gender neutral Human rights and indigenous peoples rights were easily bargained – Reduced to Preamble but got lost in actual substance of the Agreement

8. The Paris Climate Deal: A Just Agreement or Just an Agreement? The Paris Agreement did not address the roots of climate change – Not possible to address climate change without addressing over-consumption and entrenched political power of richest 1% – After 21 years of COP, GHG emissions increased by 50%

9. ASEAN on Climate Change 2003 – ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) mentions climate change – Aims to foster sustainable infrastructure development by mitigating GHG emissions thru policies and measures – Promotion of open trade, facilitation and cooperation in ‘green investments’ 2007 – ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Sustainability – ASEAN heads of States recognized for the first time climate change as a threat – ASEAN Climate Change Initiative (ACCI) and later on the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC)

10. ASEAN on Climate Change 2009 – ASEAN Multi-Sectoral Framework on Climate Change and Food Security (AFCC) – ASEAN approach to address impacts of CC in agriculture, fisheries and forestry 2009 – ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management Response (AADMER) – Calls for ‘strengthening cooperation on disaster management and emergency response’ – Aligned with ASCC blueprint

11. ASEAN on Climate Change ASEAN’s current development model is still not enough to guarantee climate/environmental justice – Criticized to be reactive rather than proactively addressing climate change – Still relies on market-based solutions Green investments and initiatives for the private sector – Lacks a rights-based approach Indigenous peoples are seldom mentioned in ASEAN documents Most mitigation and adaptation activities directly violate indigenous peoples rights

12. Peoples issues on climate change Unaddressed vulnerabilities to adverse impacts of climate change – Adaptation to rising sea levels and flooding – Climate-resilient farming and livelihood strategies Intensifying human rights violations – Destructive adaptation/mitigation projects that often lead to human rights violations – Increasing militarism in the region tied to resource grabs – Large-scale mining and other extractive projects; expansion of corporate agriculture Increasing corporate power – regional economic integration plan does not hold corporations accountable for HRVs, social and environmental standards – In fact, they are given increased power through investment protection measures (i.e. ISDS)

13. Peoples issues on climate change – Climate change, its causes and effects are an issue of justice, first and foremost Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capacities (CBDR-RC) Historical responsibility Climate finance must be realized and predictable – System Change, not climate change Market-based mechanisms cannot be presented as solutions to the climate crisis – Peoples sovereignty in decision-making and planning Communities and marginalized peoples have the right to proportionate control over planning, decision-making and management

14. What is the role of civil society and social movements? Building long-lasting solutions to climate change is attainable only through the assertion of people’s sovereignty – principally through civil society and social movements Various movements have been channeling local and popular initiatives and shaping them into coordinated actions at higher levels of national and international scope Influence official decisions and actions by actively engaging governments and other institutions of governance at all levels while promoting concrete alternatives from the ground up