Marching for Climate Justice

On December 10th 2014, World Human Rights Day, I spent three hours attending a climate march through the heart of Lima with my fellow Columban missionaries, Noel Kerins, Liam Carey, Gabriel Rojas, Eamanuel Trocino, Louise Ybanez,  Amy Echeverria, Cesar Correa and Bernie Lane who was my guide and translator. The march was organised by a coalition of groups which included indigenous people, trade unions, environmental and faith groups.  Between 6,000 and 8,000 took part. Many came from right across the globe.   

Marching for Climate Justice
The March began at the Campo de Marte in the heart of Lima and ended some three hours later at the Plaza San Martin. The vast majority came from Latin American countries, especially Peru itself, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil. One participant from Ecuador told me that he and his group had spent 30 hours in a bus in order to be present at the march to show their concern for what was happening in their area.  From my middle class perspective, I can only marvel at the sacrifices involved in making such a journey for people with little access to money or food.

On the march I met people from Australia, protesting that the government of Prime Minister Abbot was not taking environmental issues seriously, especially climate. One of the Australian women whom I met was completing a Ph.D thesis at the University of Queensland on the social effects of mining.  I rubbed shoulders with people from Taiwan, the Philippines, the United States and Canada.

Though police in riot gear were present, the march was very good natured, even though people who were stuck in traffic on Lima’s already congested streets didn’t always appreciate what was happening. One on-looker thought that the march was stupid because it was causing a major traffic jam, but massive traffic jams are a daily experience here in Lima, as the road network is completely inadequate for the volume of traffic which daily pours on to the streets of Lima. On a number of days last week, it took two hours to reach the COP premises which are located in a military base in San Borja in the more affluent part of Lima.

There was a huge contrast between the marchers, most of who were from rural communities, and the official negotiators at COP 20 on the other side of city, most of whom wore suits and collar-and-ties during the first week of the negotiations. I think it would be fair to say that most of the negotiators had never directly experienced a climate event, or known people who had been murdered because of the stance they had taken on an environmental issues. Many of the marchers had watched their rivers being polluted by legal or illegal mining activity or seen their forests decimated by loggers, with appalling destruction for biodiversity.

In the past Evangelical Churches paid little attention to environmental issues, so I was delighted to see many evangelical groups from various countries in Latin America. Some of their banners called on everyone to “protect God’s creation.” Women’s groups were also represented: The message from one group was that they will keep marching until all women were free from violence.

At the end of the march a number of speakers, representing different countries and continents, addressed the crowd. Whether the speaker was from Africa or an indigenous person from the Andes, there was a common thread to their demands. They called on their governments to stop selling out their mineral, oil, water, land or timber resources to powerful multinational corporations, who are mainly interested in maximizing profits, not caring for people or the environment. The interests of ordinary people and the integrity of the earth should be the prime focus of all governments at both national and local level. Above all they called on the negotiators at COP 20 to develop an ambitious, robust, legally binding and inclusive treaty on climate change which would ensure that future generations would inherit a world as beautiful and fruitful as the one this generation inherited. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that this will happen. Prayers are needed. Watch this space!

Columban Fr Sean McDonagh is a researcher on justice and peace issues and the ecological challenge. Fr Sean is based in Ireland.

Columbans report direct from COP 20 in Peru

Well-known Columban eco-missionary, Fr Sean McDonagh is reporting regularly from the COP 20 negotiations in Lima, Peru, as an observer.