Protests against the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Cancún are growing as civil society groups are frozen out of the talks. Yesterday, indigenous and youth groups demonstrated both inside and outside the summit to call for their inclusion in the negotiations. On Tuesday, activists from Youth for Climate Justice led a walkout inside the heavily guarded conference halls. Bolivian Ambassador Pablo Solon and Chief Paraguayan Adviser Miguel Lovera, joined the small farmers, indigenous people, women, environmental groups and other activists who marched for hours in the blazing sun. Together, they called for worldwide actions for climate solutions based on traditional indigenous knowledge, community-based practices and human rights. Watch an amazing video about youth and indigenous groups protesting their exclusion from the talks, and the policies being negotiated there, here on Democracy Now! [source]
While this news may not be a specifically LBGTQ issue – environmental justice is something that concerns us all. Also, of grave concern is the issue of REDD (reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation), a dangerous policy being negotiated in the talks, which further commodifies the earth’s forests and ultimately leads to more deforestation. Read more about REDD on wikipedia.