On 11-12 November 2023, civil society groups and academics held a “People’s COP28” in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting was attended by Indigenous People, local communities, small farmers, NGOs, and academics.
Rather than framing the climate crisis in terms of an increase of CO₂ in the atmosphere, that can be addressed through a few techno-fixes, the declaration that came out of the meeting puts the blame firmly on capitalism, industrial development, and neoliberalism:
Climate crisis is not the result of any newly emerged trigger previously unknown to mankind, but failure of capitalism, industrial development, and neoliberal commodification, of which the only goal is to make the rich richer by seizing land and resources from local community and ecosystem, causing nature’s degradation, marginalization and climate injustice.
The declaration is critical of the “absurd pursuit of wealth by the Western countries, leaving the majority of people least responsible for greenhouse gas emission in poverty”.
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However, the declaration also notes that despite the fact that Thailand is highly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis, particularly extreme heat, drought, and rising sea levels, the Thai government’s climate targets are “unrealistic . . . considering the urgency and gravity of the situation”.
In addition to weak targets, the government’s climate policies are weak, with a focus on carbon markets and little adaptation for vulnerable citizens.
The declaration is posted below in full and can be downloaded here. For Thai speakers, videos of the event are available on Thai Climate Justice for All’s Facebook page.
To United Nations and World Community:
At People’s COP28 held on November the 12th, 2023 at Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, City of Bangkok, Thailand, We, indigenous people, local communities, small farmers, women, elders, youth, NGOs, scholars, and people of Thailand hereby pledge that:
Climate crisis is not the result of any newly emerged trigger previously unknown to mankind, but failure of capitalism, industrial development, and neoliberal commodification, of which the only goal is to make the rich richer by seizing land and resources from local community and ecosystem, causing nature’s degradation, marginalization and climate injustice.
Today, it is clear to the eyes of the world community that free market capitalism leads our society to disaster in only 200 years of the industrial revolution era, when the economy of Europe and North America is driven by fossil energy. Recently, we witnessed the hottest day in 125,000 years and top carbon concentration in the atmosphere in 2,000,000 years as a result of absurd pursuit of wealth by the Western countries, leaving the majority of people least responsible for greenhouse gas emission in poverty.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has consistently warned nations and corporations that greenhouse gas emission is the root cause of climate change. Although the world community has achieved United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992 and held Conference of the Parties (COP) on a yearly basis, temperature is rising past 1.5 degree Celsius in July 2023 nonetheless. Yet corporations refuse to reduce emission and are hidden behind new and vague green-washing terminologies such as net zero, offsets, and carbon credit, which has no proven emission reduction record.
IPCC has proposed that to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst effects of climate change, emission must be reduced by 45% by 2030 and 60% by 2035, respectively in comparison to emission level in 2019. Moreover, the target set by Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is to restore natural balance by 2050. However, the chance of success has become slimmer by the day, as governments around the world continue to spend the sum amount of more than 7 trillion US dollars financing the energy sector and fossil-fuel-driven business, while investment in the alternative energy sector remains negligible regardless of remarkable efficiency improvement.
Unfortunately, every COP including the upcoming COP28, which will be held in Dubai in November, is left in the hands of the energy business and lobbyist majority. On the contrary, we propose an inclusive transition process under democratic ideals. UN must recognize climate justice and ecological and social sustainability, observe transparent and inclusive policy making processes, and focus on building an environmentally-friendly, post-capitalism society without delay.
To Thai Government:
Although Thailand’s emission is lower than 1% of the total world amount, it is ranked number 20 in emission and number 9 in vulnerability to climate change, respectively. Therefore urgency in mitigation and adaptation is no less than that of any other country; however, the direction of national policy is disappointing.
At the World Leaders Summit during the 26th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) in November 2021, former Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha pledged unrealistic NDCs considering the urgency and gravity of the situation. Targeting emission cuts by 40% by 2030, carbon-neutral by 2050, and net-zero by 2065 is untimely and not ambitious enough considering the country's capacity. “Carbon Tracker” comments that if the rest of the world followed Thailand’s footstep, temperature would rise 4 degrees Celsius higher.
Not only the lack of ambitious targets, but also weak climate policies. As of now, no tangible result can be noticed when it comes to implementation. The national development plan reveals that every sector continues to rely on fossil fuel regardless of the country’s good possibility of completing energy transition by 2040 and achieving net-zero at the same time. Instead of demanding immediate GHG reduction from energy and industrial sectors, the Thai government adopts the carbon credit market as a core mitigation solution and neglects adaptation for vulnerable citizens. It announces that the area of national parks and economic forest to be increased to 4.3 million and 6.3 million acres, respectively, and CCS to be increased from 90 to 120 million tons of carbon by 2037. This policy will turn biodiversity-rich rainforest to monoculture and change community’s land and mangrove forest to carbon farm, from which the private carbon credit project would make a fortune by evading emission limits, selling carbon credit to big polluters, and green-washing the company, while Thai government enjoys international trade privileges gained from net-zero compliance.
Therefore, the carbon credit market is no longer the climate solution but has become an investment and green-washing instrument that violates climate justice, human rights, and natural rights. Though the carbon market has been writing history of nothing but failure, the Thai government insists in trading human rights and natural resources with meaningless carbon credits, regardless of people’s voice against it. People, local communities, and NGOs are excluded from the policy discussion, NDCs decision making, and other panel discussions. Only corporate representatives and lobbyists are welcomed. Therefore, Thai climate pledges announced in every COP does not reflect the true voice of the people of Thailand.
Proposal for the COP 28 United Nations Conference:
1. COP28 must observe climate justice principles in every level from individual, group, organization, to nation. Any discussion and negotiation made in COP28 shall include and consider needs of indigenous people, local community, vulnerable persons, people of every generation and gender, and Mother Nature. Commodification must be disallowed.
2. Come to a resolution on climate finance discussion which has been postponed in a number of past COPs. 100 billion US dollars Climate finance from high-income countries must be paid to vulnerable developing countries in the South without further delay in the form of grant, not loan, for building climate resilience and reserving as a loss and damage fund, which can be directly accessible by the people.
3. Ensure that the energy transition plan is consistent with IPCC proposal to completely replace fossil fuel with alternative energy sources to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of 2100.
4. Revise Article 6 of the Paris Agreement regarding carbon offsets that has become a green-washing tool for industrial countries and corporations. We suggest recommendations by the United Nations’ team of experts concerning corporate net-zero demanding polluters to immediately reduce emission and not hiding behind green-washing campaigns or accepting carbon credit as the only solution.
5. Remove outdated, ineffective, and climate injustice solutions such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Geoengineering, nuclear power plant, and hydroelectric power plant from the discussion.
6. Observe human rights, transparency, and democratic principles in COP. Promote inclusive policy process and reject lobbying by the interest groups.
Proposal for Thai parliament in detail
On the Overall Climate Policy Framework
1. Balance mitigation and adaptation budgets by Increasing Support Proportions for Climate Change Policies of the People, Communities, Farmers, and the Underprivileged to Align with Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policies.
2. Revise the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets to be more ambitious, from reaching carbon neutral by 2050 and net zero by 2065 to reaching carbon neutral by 2030 and net zero by 2040 and taking actions without further delay.
3. Achieving the targets mentioned in 2 by cutting emission in energy sector, industrial sector, and agriculture to real zero instead of net zero (implying that carbon market is no longer accepted in Thailand).
4. Adopt recommendations by the UN team of exports concerning corporate net-zero in the climate policy framework, prohibiting polluters from solely claiming carbon credit without actual emission reduction and reserve the rights to claim net zero if the country or the business engages in fossil-fuel related investment.
5. Rewrite the Climate Change Act with public participation to create a responsibility system for sectors emitting greenhouse gasses to reduce emissions from their economic activities. Avoid reliance on carbon market systems that lead to greenwashing. Distribute power to local government organizations, promote community management potential, and encourage communities and the public to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to cope with a changing world.
6. Every EIA and SEA Reports must include a study of impact to climate.
On the Carbon Market Policy
7. End Carbon Credit Land Concession due to lack of verification standard and safeguard against green-washing. It is a great threat to the ecosystem, biodiversity, food sovereignty, human rights, and climate justice.
8. Revise the structure and guidelines of the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economic development model, as it allows conflict of interest, green-washing, and turning national rainforests to monoculture.
9. Set emission limits for energy sector, industrial sector, and agro-business to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of 2100.
10. Use economic or financial instruments such as carbon tax against polluters to encourage quick transition, and tax revenue shall be spent on people’s adaptation to climate change or related.
On Forest and Agriculture Management Policy
11. Revise every Forest Act to ascertain decentralization of power and inclusiveness. Moreover, the government shall allocate resource, information, and manpower to local communities for preserving their land and forest according to their culture and local conditions and enabling them to secure their food source, ecosystem services, health, and well-being without degrading or trading-off natural resource abundance as carbon offset would.
12. Review increasing and developing forest areas to the target by exercising human rights practice and giving permission to local communities for managing their own community forest and public park.
13. Promote agroecology and replace every monoculture plan with agroecology which is the best practice for ecosystem and biodiversity such as alternate wetting and drying (AWD) in rice agro-ecosystems. Support agro ecological farmers by developing climate-resilient seeds, maximize access to water source, and use ecological indicators such as biodiversity preservation or emission reduction, not monetary indicators, in project assessment.
On Energy Policy
14. Complete energy transition to clean energy source by 2040 and end fossil fuel by 2027.
15. Electrical Energy Reform. Retire coal-fired power plants entirely and cancel Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with domestic major hydropower plants and those located in the neighboring countries until the current excessive power reserve returns to normal. Move forward with a net-metering scheme to encourage installation of home solar electric systems.
16. Review industrial development plans that worsen climate change and climate injustice, namely Eastern Economic Corridor or equivalent projects planned for other regions, landbridge project, hydropower plant, and nuclear power plant, and replace them with low-carbon environmental-friendly projects.
On Human Rights, Women Rights, and Rights of Vulnerable People
17. Government shall recognize Human Rights under Paris Agreement 2015 and Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework 2022. Any climate action must take into consideration youth, women, disabilities, and indigenous people and their culture, norm, resource management, and food production. Local communities and indigenous people shall be welcomed in climate and biodiversity policy discussion, negotiation, and fund mobility e.g. Green Climate Fund-GCF.
18. Promote Gender Equality. Recognize women’s leading role in modern society, include women in climate policy discussion and implementation, and respond to their specific needs in climate adaptation at household, community, province, and national levels.
On Adaptation Policy
19. Allocate Climate Finance for the People such as climate change adaptation fund, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and funds for loss and damage reduction that allows people to access technology, resources, and information for long-term adaptation and reducing reliance on market
mechanisms and carbon trading.
20. Allocate Loss and Damage Fund for those who are suffered by the impact and agroecological transition fund.
21. Develop adaption technology and innovation such as weather forecast accuracy improvement and severe weather warnings.
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Number 5 above is particularly important: "5. Remove outdated, ineffective, and climate injustice solutions such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Geoengineering, nuclear power plant, and hydroelectric power plant from the discussion." CCS is a govt-funded boondoggle at extravagant cost which, even if effective, would merely allow continued business-as-usual, and I would INSIST that the oxygen is returned to the atmosphere and not buried with the carbon. Nuclear power is a 300,000-year curse on the planet due to the waste problem. "Geoengineering" would attempt to cool the planet by spraying sulfur compounds into the stratosphere, in order to maintain fossil-fuel burning, meanwhile, it is too cold to grow many crops such as rice. Hydro power dams totally destroy the most productive lands- the deltas downstream. "Net-zero" is a scam which sounds nice but really, absolute-zero is needed, now! We are already set to blow by 1.5 degrees; we presently have enough CO2 in the atmosphere for 10 degrees, but that is presently being mitigated by aerosols (air pollution). Yes, lobbyists MUST be kicked out of ALL debates, everywhere!
Great that Deklaration. Clear words on a world in trouble and confusion.
Number 5 above is particularly important: "5. Remove outdated, ineffective, and climate injustice solutions such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Geoengineering, nuclear power plant, and hydroelectric power plant from the discussion." CCS is a govt-funded boondoggle at extravagant cost which, even if effective, would merely allow continued business-as-usual, and I would INSIST that the oxygen is returned to the atmosphere and not buried with the carbon. Nuclear power is a 300,000-year curse on the planet due to the waste problem. "Geoengineering" would attempt to cool the planet by spraying sulfur compounds into the stratosphere, in order to maintain fossil-fuel burning, meanwhile, it is too cold to grow many crops such as rice. Hydro power dams totally destroy the most productive lands- the deltas downstream. "Net-zero" is a scam which sounds nice but really, absolute-zero is needed, now! We are already set to blow by 1.5 degrees; we presently have enough CO2 in the atmosphere for 10 degrees, but that is presently being mitigated by aerosols (air pollution). Yes, lobbyists MUST be kicked out of ALL debates, everywhere!