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Climate Impacted Communities Speak Out at Climate Justice Summit
 
For Immediate Release

"The Summit is designed to put a human face to the issue of climate change by providing a platform for climate change impacted communities from around the world to articulate and demand just solutions to the climate crisis," said Rajendra Ravi of Lokayan, one of the organizers of the conference. Over 3,000 participants are expected to join the Summit, and the majority will come from climate-impacted communities including farmers, fishworkers, indigenous peoples and slum dwellers. Over 20 countries will also be represented at the Summit, including South Africa, Brazil and Thailand.

"The biggest injustice of climate change is that those least responsible for creating the problem are the hardest hit by climate change. And they have also been left out of the negotiations to solve the climate crisis," said Amit Srivastava of ICJF.

"The negotiations to solve the climate change crisis have been hijacked by corporations and industrialized nations, especially the US. These meetings resemble more of a trade meeting to push globalization over developing countries than a meeting to meet the genuine needs of people," said Medha Patkar, national coordinator of the National Alliance of People's Movements, one of the ICJF constituents. Just 122 corporations in the world account for over 80% for all carbon dioxide emissions. Oil produced by just four companies -- Shell, Exxon-Mobil, BP-Amoco-Arco, and Chevron-Texaco -- accounts for nearly 10% of all carbon emissions.

"We are in a situation where most of the action to prevent climate change needs to happen in the North due to their over-consumption. On the other hand, the people who need to prepare most for the impacts are in the developing world. No equitable solution to climate change will be possible without both of these things," said Yin Shao Loong of Malaysia-based Third World Network, part of the international Climate Justice Forum.

The Climate Justice Summit will cover a range of issues, including deforestation, corporate accountability, local struggles against the coal and oil industry, indigenous peoples' rights and alternative energy. For the latest agenda, visit www.IndiaResource.org

Organizing Committee of the India Climate Justice Forum: National Alliance of People's Movements, National Fishworkers Forum, The Other Media and CorpWatch.

Contact: Amit Srivastava email: amit@igc.org