September 22, 2011
As the international community gears up for the next UN Global Climate Change Conference (COP 17) in South Africa later this year, IFP Alumni in Asia are building a network of dedicated climate change leaders. Indonesia Social Justice Network (ISJN) President and IFP Alumna Elis Anis has this report from the recent climate change conference in Yogyakarta, where alumni commitment to social justice and the environment is stronger than ever.
By Elis Anis | IFP Alum | Ohio University, 2002
For three days in July, 52 participants from China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam gathered in
Yogyakarta for the International Gathering and Conference on Climate Change, Disaster Management and Social Justice Response (ICCC). Led by the Indonesian Social Justice Networks (ISJN) -- a group of the International Fellowships Program (IFP) alumni who have a commitment to ensure and implement social justice in their communities -- this was the first meeting of its kind that was handled solely by the alumni themselves.
The event aimed to share best practices for IFP Alumni in Asia in responding to climate change, managing climate-related disasters, and connecting social justice initiatives to disaster response. The conference was built around six sub-themes: Religious Organizations and Humanitarian Relief; Climate Change/Disaster and Poverty; Climate Change/Disaster and Policy; Local Initiatives in Response; and Climate Change and Women. IFP Alumni hope to develop a deeper commitment and plan of action for Asia; to publish and share the work and voices of IFP alumni on climate change; and to ensure social justice for victims and their communities.
Throughout the event, participants also expressed their opinions about the importance of a human rights-based approach to addressing climate change. Dr. Damayanti Buchori, conference guest speaker and Lecturer at Institute Pertanian Bogor, challenged the IFP Alumni as the individuals with all the prestige, privileges, and capability needed, “to be bold and make the jump, as the world cannot wait.”
Activities included panel discussions, films and a photo exhibition displaying IFP Alumni’s social justice work, and a visit to the Merapi Mountain area, which was hit hard in 2010 by a volcanic eruption.
Participants engaged in warm dialogue with Merapi locals, who shared their stories on how their harvest failed due to a pest outbreak – which, it turned out, was the most significant impact of the disaster because it ruined local rice crops.
Government attempts to address the problem by providing the community with predator snakes were thwarted by poachers interested in the snakes’ high market value. This experience is just one example of how deep climate change issues run, and how much research is needed to overcome the socio-economic challenges associated with the biggest environmental issue of our time.
Conference participants recognize that recent climate-related events have affected the lives of people in each of their countries and communities. Climate change has resulted in unpredictable weather, water shortages, and forest/land loss
and degradation, which has in turn impacted livelihoods, agricultural production, food security, and the overall health, safety, and well-being of millions.
The participants also acknowledge that climate change impacts further impoverish individuals and communities, while challenging government capacity at the local, regional, and national levels. In all of these unfortunate events, it is the poor and the disadvantaged, the children and those with disabilities, the women and the elderly, who are most vulnerable.
Climate change is its own social injustice – it mostly affects poor and indigenous communities that contribute the least to climate change worldwide.
Thus, in accordance with those issues, the participants have formulated an Action Plan to which they commit themselves under the following objectives:
- Actively participate in the assessment of climate change impacts in the region by blending scientific and indigenous knowledge and by engaging in research that unravels and documents both new and indigenous practices to adapt and to mitigate climate change.
- Meaningfully engage in the assessment of the current capacities of individuals, communities, and governments in responding to the challenges brought about by climate change, by looking into exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, in order to proactively craft short and long-term solutions.
- Advocate, plan, fund, and/or implement, social services programs for the vulnerable groups - farmers, fishermen, women, children, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, elderly, immigrants - that respect their rights, enhance their local adaptive and management capacity, and empower them to respond proactively to climate change and manage disasters when they occur.
- Participate in the process of forming and reforming policy agenda on climate change in each of our countries in the region through harnessing the strengths of the IFP network, sharing experiences and lessons learned, and advocating for greater budgetary and policy support for local initiatives.
Maximizing alumni resources will strengthen their network and help build capacity for real progress. Even though almost all committee members are very busy people, they managed to prepare the event well, and worked hard together to turn the ICCC into a great success.
We believe this event can be a model for other IFP Alumni events in the future.