November 22, 2024
By Samuel Ogunsona
Civil society members from around the world gathered at the COP29 United Nations climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, to demand that rich countries pay their fair share in addressing the climate crisis.
The activists, including representatives from the Africa Make Big Polluters Pay (MBPP), held a People’s Plenary themed “Pay Up, Stand Up: Finance Climate Action, Not Genocide.”
The plenary featured climate activists from indigenous communities, women’s groups, labor unions, and people with disabilities, among others from both the Global South and North.
They shared their pain and condemned incidents of injustice perpetrated by the Global North, including neocolonialism, genocide, and the excessive appetite of Western civilization for fossil fuels.
“We call for the end of inequality and injustice that has allowed for the rich to become richer and the dominant economic systems to destroy our planet,” said Christina Chock, speaking on behalf of indigenous peoples.
“The future belongs to us as indigenous people. We gather here to amplify our voices for our mother earth and our children.”
The activists demanded that rich countries provide $5 trillion per year in climate finance to support developing countries in their efforts to transition to clean energy and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Lebanese activist Baturi Nuru Habin ”There’s no climate justice with blood on our hands,”
Activists in a peaceful protest pledged to continue fighting for climate justice and demanding that their governments take action to address the climate crisis.
“We will not stop fighting, not today, not tomorrow, not ever,” said Anna Bohushenko of Climate Action Network Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The COP29 talks have been marked by disagreements between countries of the Global North and South over climate finance, including the amount, forms of funding, donors, and recipients.
