Delivered by Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group
Thank you Chair. I am speaking on behalf of the Climate Justice Network (CJN)
Environmental sound and socially just technologies, that respectfully integrate traditional forms of knowledge and livelihoods, are part of the solution to the climate crisis and they need to be supported.
Instead, “technology transfer” in these negotiations is seen as a way for large companies to showcase their products, gain global market access and protect their patent monopolies. Technology transfer should help developing countries access to the technologies they need to confront the climate crisis, a crisis ironically caused mostly by these same companies and industrialized countries.
An agreement on technology in Cancun that is not precautionary will launch untested and high-risk technologies on the global market place: carbon capture and storage, biochar, industrial plantations and other forms of so called “bio-energy”. Multinational companies are stockpiling patents on “climate-ready crops”, undermining the ability of small-scale farmers to adapt and strengthen their own resilience to climate change by making them dependent on multinational seed corporations. This new push for industrial agriculture and the corporate grab on biomass will increase, not decrease, greenhouse gas emissions.
To prevent dumping of dangerous technologies and new patent monopolies on the South, any new Technology Mechanism must have the mandate to evaluate the social and environmental impacts of new climate technologies and to fully include civil society, Indigenous Peoples and affected communities in its deliberations. All bodies that will constitute the Technology Mechanism must be directly accountable to the COP and must have clear mechanisms for transparency and public participation. Intellectual property on all forms of life and on technologies to confront climate crisis has to be radically challenged.
– More informations and reports on the subject: http://www.etcgroup.org/en
– Official side Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI): http://unfccc.int/documentation/documents/advanced_search/items/3594.php?rec=j&priref=600005946#beg