Call for action from GCAP national platforms

This is a call for action from GCAP national platforms on the Global Day for Action Against Climate Change on December 8th 2007.  For background and information on current activities, please visit globalclimatecampaign.org. We believe that GCAP can add significant value to this important call through strengthening existing political and mobilisation actions.

Support the call

We hereby encourage all national GCAP platforms to support the following actions within the capacity available to your platform.

1. Support existing events taking place in your country (see globalclimatecampaign.org for details of what is happening, if anything, in your country and for contacts)
2. Call on all coalition members to support the call for action. Materials are available on the above web site.
3. Call on political leaders for urgent action on climate change (see GCAP call to political leaders below)
4. Report stories and messages from people affected by climate change within your country (see bottom of note for more details).
   

Contribute to our coverage

1. Web site – whiteband.org: content on whiteband.org will focus on links between poverty and climate change, information on Bali including GCAP activities and links to other web sites
2. Web site – testimonies-whiteband.org: we encourage national coalitions to send messages and testimonies of the impact of climate change on people and communities.
3. Blogs: Blogs will be written by members of the GCAP team or others at the meetings. The content will appear on whiteband.org and on endpovertyblog.org. The theme of the blogs should be a mix of reporting on activism and on policy outcomes from the meetings. Blogs should be accompanied by a photo and very short biog of the author.
4. Videos: Oxfam GB have agreed to support GCAP in the production of 2 videos in Bali. These brief interviews of GCAP spokespeople will be uploaded to whiteband.org and will also be shared with the GCAP community. They will also be uploaded on cs-tv.tv/wbd
5. Photographs: GCAP will not have a professional photographer at the meetings but will use a digital camera to gather photographs at the event. The team in Bali will also look to utilise photography from other networks and agencies.

More information: please contact Ben Margolis or Henri Valot

GCAP call to political leaders

Leading up to October 17th 2007, GCAP friends in more than 30 countries called on Heads of State and senior ministers for urgent action on poverty and inequality. This unique action led to several statements of support for action from governments and strong lobbying and advocacy at the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF that took place days later.

On the 8th December or shortly before we call on GCAP national platforms to write to or visit senior ministers or Heads of State demanding urgent action on climate change. An agreed GCAP positioning statement will be circulated at the end of November but national demands should also be handed over.We further encourage national platforms to report activities through written and visual means to the IFT support team to use to target delegates at the climate change meetings in Bali.

For support or further information, please contact Ben Margolis at  (member of the IFT support team) or Irfan Mufti at  (GCAP campaigns manager). 

Together we can tackle climate change.

We wish you luck with your efforts and will report back from the Bali meetings through whiteband.org.

Irfan Mufti
GCAP campaign manager

Background

Currently activities are planned in more than 40 countries. Details and information can be found at globalclimatecampaign.org. Some additional information on the involvement of GCAP coalitions and partners can also be accessed through GCAP website.

The call to action reads as follows:

"We demand that world leaders take the urgent and resolute action that is needed to prevent the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate, so that the entire world can move as rapidly as possible to a stronger emissions reductions treaty which is both equitable and effective in preventing dangerous climate change.

We also demand that the long-industrialised countries that have emitted most greenhouse gases up to now take most of the responsibility for the adaptive measures that have to be taken, especially by low-emitting countries with limited economic resources."

It further notes that:

‘We feel that there is an overwhelming need to create a groundswell of global opinion to push for the urgent and radical action on climate change, without which we risk a global catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.’

Current plans

Plan are currently underway for mobilisations in more than 40 countries including seminars, critical mass bike rides, street rallies and more.

In Indonesia, a major series of events are being planned throughout the meetings with a mass mobilisation on 8th December. These events are being coordinated by the Indonesian Civil Society Forum of which GCAP Indonesia is a supporting partner.

We therefore encourage your national coalition to:

• Endorse and support the Day of Action
• Lobby senior relevant minister through letters or visits for urgent action on climate change
• Send any documents relevant to this action (declarations, research papers, letters to ministers, photographs) to Ben Margolis