MARRAKECH, Morocco (PAMACC News) - Thousands of people on Sunday 13th took to the streets of Marrakech, Morroco, and trekked for three kilometres from El Harti Gardens to Place Bab Doukkal, singing and chanting slogans demanding climate justice, and the need for an ambitious outcome from the ongoing climate negotiations summit in the country.

Among the over 10,000 protesters were representatives from different civil society organisations particularly from the developing world, among them climate scholars, indigenous people most of them who live in forests, and many other interested groups.

“We demand for climate justice now. And if we fail to act now, we risk being judged harshly by the future generations,” said Dr. Muawia Shaddad, of the University of Khartoum, and the President for the Sudanese Environment Conservation Society based in Sudan.

Mithika Mwenda, the Secretary General for the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) pointed out that the outcome from the Marrakech negotiations should be ambitious enough to protect the rights of poor and vulnerable on the continent who are the most impacted by climate change, and provide adequate climate finance to address the impacts.

“We are also in solidarity with the American people, who are protesting against the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States,” said Mwenda.

Trump, during his presidency campaign came under heavy criticisms especially from his opponent Hillary Clinton, for his remarks on twitter that; "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."

“He is not a believer in climate change, and we are afraid that he might derail the process, thus undoing all the progress that has been made through painful struggles over several years,” said Mwenda.

Robert Chimambo of Zambia Climate change Network said that during the Marrakech negotiations, there is need for the developed country Parties to include and provide clarity on their contributions on all the elements including provision of money for adaptation for developing countries, and particularly Africa.

“This should be done in respect of the Paris set of negotiations, where we demanded for equity, fair deal and a legally binding agreement that is now the Paris Agreement,” said Chimambo.

The 22nd session of climate negotiations is taking place in Marrakech from November 7 to 18 2016.

MARRAKECH, Morocco (PAMACC News) - Thousands of people on Sunday 13th took to the streets of Marrakech, Morroco, and trekked for three kilometres from El Harti Gardens to Place Bab Doukkal, singing and chanting slogans demanding climate justice, and the need for an ambitious outcome from the ongoing climate negotiations summit in the country.

Among the over 10,000 protesters were representatives from different civil society organisations particularly from the developing world, among them climate scholars, indigenous people most of them who live in forests, and many other interested groups.

“We demand for climate justice now. And if we fail to act now, we risk being judged harshly by the future generations,” said Dr. Muawia Shaddad, of the University of Khartoum, and the President for the Sudanese Environment Conservation Society based in Sudan.

Mithika Mwenda, the Secretary General for the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) pointed out that the outcome from the Marrakech negotiations should be ambitious enough to protect the rights of poor and vulnerable on the continent who are the most impacted by climate change, and provide adequate climate finance to address the impacts.

“We are also in solidarity with the American people, who are protesting against the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States,” said Mwenda.

Trump, during his presidency campaign came under heavy criticisms especially from his opponent Hillary Clinton, for his remarks on twitter that; "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."

“He is not a believer in climate change, and we are afraid that he might derail the process, thus undoing all the progress that has been made through painful struggles over several years,” said Mwenda.

Robert Chimambo of Zambia Climate change Network said that during the Marrakech negotiations, there is need for the developed country Parties to include and provide clarity on their contributions on all the elements including provision of money for adaptation for developing countries, and particularly Africa.

“This should be done in respect of the Paris set of negotiations, where we demanded for equity, fair deal and a legally binding agreement that is now the Paris Agreement,” said Chimambo.

The 22nd session of climate negotiations is taking place in Marrakech from November 7 to 18 2016.

MARRAKECH, Morocco (PAMACC News) - Indigenous communities at the ongoing climate negotiations 22^nd round of climate change negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco have demanded a direct access to the Green Climate Fund.

The Fund, abbreviated as GCF, is a global initiative to respond to climate change by investing into low-emission and climate-resilient development. The initiative was established by 194 governments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries, and to help adapt vulnerable societies to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

The indigenous groups, through their representatives at the Conference of Parties (COP 22) said that access to the climate finance will enable them to play a significant role in management of natural resources, which will go a long way to help them adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Grace Balawang of Tebtebba, an indigenous peoples' organization based in Philippines said “indigenous people have been in direct contact with forests for a long time, have built indigenous knowledge system over the period and should therefore be supported to continue applying indigenous knowledge to protect the forests.”

Tarcila Rivera Zea of CHIRAPAQ, Peru added that despite the indigenous peoples’ wealth of knowledge, they have been hard hit by the impacts of climate change.

“We are the ones that suffer the consequences of climate change when droughts, floods, landslides and typhoons occur.” Ms Tarcila said. Through slides, she showed images of indigenous communities hit by drought and landslides.

“Some medicinal plant resources useful to the indigenous communities have been lost and there have been limited efforts to recover them.” She continued.

Ms Tarcila believes that if indigenous people get the necessary support, they will use their indigenous knowledge to create crops that are resistant to droughts, recover species that are facing extinction especially medicinal plant species important in their culture, improve and produce more environmentally friendly technology like the energy saving stoves that emit less smoke that has been part of their culture for a while.

However, the challenge standing between the communities and the necessary climate action is lack of financial muscle.

Stanley Ole Kimaren, Executive Director of Indigenous Livelihoods Partnerships, Kenya (ILEPA), said that though pastoralist groups like the Maasai have proven that there is an indigenous science behind the enhanced livelihood systems, there has not been sufficient support towards their initiatives.

“What we need is funding and capacity building support to engage more robustly in climate action and livelihood enhancement.” He said.

One of the funding sources eyed by the indigenous communities is the Green Climate Fund. However, a number of hurdles hinder their access to the fund meant for adaptation and building of climate resilience among vulnerable communities.

“The GCF instruments at the moment do not recognize indigenous people who are often most affected by climate change as a special constituency. We have also been excluded and marginalized from the decision making processes.” Mr. Kimaren said.

“The Green Climate Fund should recognize the rights of indigenous people and address the issue of direct access or a dedicated financial arrangement for the indigenous people,” He continued.

The Global Climate Fund was established in 2010 by 194 countries party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to assist developing countries to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

“We ask the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) to provide a direct observer seat to the indigenous people to participate in the GCF discussions.”

There are approximately 370 million indigenous people in the world, belonging to 5,000 different groups, in 90 countries worldwide. They are often seen as the primary stewards of the planet’s natural resources. Their ways of life have contributed to the protection of the natural environment on which they depend on.  

MARRAKECH, Morocco (PAMACC News) - Indigenous communities at the ongoing climate negotiations 22^nd round of climate change negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco have demanded a direct access to the Green Climate Fund.

The Fund, abbreviated as GCF, is a global initiative to respond to climate change by investing into low-emission and climate-resilient development. The initiative was established by 194 governments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries, and to help adapt vulnerable societies to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

The indigenous groups, through their representatives at the Conference of Parties (COP 22) said that access to the climate finance will enable them to play a significant role in management of natural resources, which will go a long way to help them adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Grace Balawang of Tebtebba, an indigenous peoples' organization based in Philippines said “indigenous people have been in direct contact with forests for a long time, have built indigenous knowledge system over the period and should therefore be supported to continue applying indigenous knowledge to protect the forests.”

Tarcila Rivera Zea of CHIRAPAQ, Peru added that despite the indigenous peoples’ wealth of knowledge, they have been hard hit by the impacts of climate change.

“We are the ones that suffer the consequences of climate change when droughts, floods, landslides and typhoons occur.” Ms Tarcila said. Through slides, she showed images of indigenous communities hit by drought and landslides.

“Some medicinal plant resources useful to the indigenous communities have been lost and there have been limited efforts to recover them.” She continued.

Ms Tarcila believes that if indigenous people get the necessary support, they will use their indigenous knowledge to create crops that are resistant to droughts, recover species that are facing extinction especially medicinal plant species important in their culture, improve and produce more environmentally friendly technology like the energy saving stoves that emit less smoke that has been part of their culture for a while.

However, the challenge standing between the communities and the necessary climate action is lack of financial muscle.

Stanley Ole Kimaren, Executive Director of Indigenous Livelihoods Partnerships, Kenya (ILEPA), said that though pastoralist groups like the Maasai have proven that there is an indigenous science behind the enhanced livelihood systems, there has not been sufficient support towards their initiatives.

“What we need is funding and capacity building support to engage more robustly in climate action and livelihood enhancement.” He said.

One of the funding sources eyed by the indigenous communities is the Green Climate Fund. However, a number of hurdles hinder their access to the fund meant for adaptation and building of climate resilience among vulnerable communities.

“The GCF instruments at the moment do not recognize indigenous people who are often most affected by climate change as a special constituency. We have also been excluded and marginalized from the decision making processes.” Mr. Kimaren said.

“The Green Climate Fund should recognize the rights of indigenous people and address the issue of direct access or a dedicated financial arrangement for the indigenous people,” He continued.

The Global Climate Fund was established in 2010 by 194 countries party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to assist developing countries to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

“We ask the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) to provide a direct observer seat to the indigenous people to participate in the GCF discussions.”

There are approximately 370 million indigenous people in the world, belonging to 5,000 different groups, in 90 countries worldwide. They are often seen as the primary stewards of the planet’s natural resources. Their ways of life have contributed to the protection of the natural environment on which they depend on.