Draft DPI/NGO 2007 Declaration on Climate Change

1. We, delegates to the 60th DPI/NGO Conference, have gathered from 5-7 September, 2007 in New York City to discuss how the NGO community can work together more effectively to reduce the risks of Climate Change through reducing greenhouse gases and conserving carbon sinks as agreed to in the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change[1].
2. We are particularly concerned about the reluctance on the part of some of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions to seriously address the issue and that insufficient resources have been made available to protect the poor and disadvantaged from Climate Change.
3. We concur with the International Governmental Panel on Climate Change[2] on the anthropogenic causes of Climate Change and on the urgency of effectively addressing the issue, and affirm that Climate Change is a direct threat to our common efforts to reduce poverty, hunger and disease.
4. We recognize that the solution to Climate Change lies not in the fragmentation of issues but in addressing the complexity and interdependence of issues and thus we commit ourselves to spending the next twelve months to develop a harmonized NGO approach to Climate Change, one that links all NGOs, whether focused on gender, agriculture, livestock, livelihood protection, peace-building, sustainable development or other issues.
5. We call on all participants in the 2007 DPI/NGO Conference to join together in common cause to articulate a practical strategy, list NGO-led programs of worth and craft a common report on those efforts for presentation at the 2008 DPI/NGO Conference (in Paris).
6. We recognize that the international community has accumulated much experience with disaster prevention and commend the many organizations that are already working on the Climate Change issue. Our effort must be added value, not separate.
7. We acknowledge the importance of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development[3], [4], and the Framework Convention on Climate Change which was signed and ratified by most Member States of the United Nations including many who have not ratified the convention's Kyoto Protocol. Under this Convention, the precautionary principle was clearly enunciated, and a firm obligation was incurred to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to conserve carbon sinks.
8. We recognize the precedence of productive contributions of UN partnered NGOs in enhancing the environment, civil rights, peace, etc and call on all NGOs to continue that tradition, drawing on experiences and principles established in years of obligations incurred through conventions, treaties and convenants, through commitments made through UN Conference action plans, and expectations created through UN General Assembly Resolutions and Declarations.
9. We are concerned that the solution proposed should never be equally bad or worse than the problem they are intended to solve. For this reason we do not consider nuclear energy as the solution to Climate Change, and have grave reservations about some of the biofuel proposals
10. To guide our work over the next year, we have agreed on several principles.
    • Regardless of the causes, Climate Change is a direct threat to sustainable development, poverty reduction and the prevention of disease;
    • NGOs, industry, the United Nations, other international organizations and governments must work together;
    • The NGO community must work in partnership with the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015[5];
    • We must foster a culture of disaster prevention and resilience, and associated pre-disaster strategies;
    • (Conference participants can recommend a set of other priorities here. Once combined, these may form the basis for virtual workshops that collaborate over the coming months.)
11. We express our appreciation to the United Nations for hosting this conference and the people of the City of New York for their graciousness and hospitality.

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Note: This incorporates revisions made by Joan Russow.