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COP29: The COP of Peace - Addressing Militarism for Climate Justice
As part of the first annual Global Week of Action for Peace and Climate Justice (21–28 September 2024) the Peace and Demilitarization Working Group, of which Peace Boat is a member, presents a webinar on divesting from war and investing in climate justice - with the support of Climate Action Network International (CAN-I).
The webinar features speakers from monitoring groups, campaigning groups and we will be hearing from communities impacted by both militarism and the climate crisis.
When: Thursday 26 September 14:30 GMT (1030 New York / 15:30 London / 23:30 Tokyo)
Duration: 90 minutes
Where: Online Zoom webinar - https://climateactionnetwork.zoom.us/j/87254008486
Translation: Wordly link for simultaneous speech-to-text translation from English to 20 other languages (including Japanese) - https://attend.wordly.ai/join/DWQC-0588
Speakers
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Ellie Kinney, Advocacy Coordinator for Climate at the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS)
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Deborah Burton, Co-founder and Director of Tipping Point North South, leading their Transform Defense project
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Tasneem Elfatih, Independent Researcher and Loss and damage Negotiator from Sudan
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Laura Cubillos Guzman, Youth Advocate and Eco-feminist from Colombia
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Shorouq Aljayeh, Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Sustainability Specialist from Jordan/Palestine
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Moderator: Karen Hallows, International Coordinator at Peace Boat
Azerbaijan, the host of this year’s climate summit, has declared that COP29 will be a “COP of peace” and has called on states to “transcend political challenges” and commit to a truce during the month of COP29. But what really is a “COP of peace” and can it be achieved? This webinar looks at the intersections of peace, demilitarisation and climate justice and explores how and why COP must address the issue of militarism.
Experts estimate that the world’s militaries are responsible for 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This means that if the world’s militaries were a country, they would have the fourth largest carbon footprint- higher than that of Russia. But militaries are excluded from current climate agreements, so face no accountability for their greenhouse gas emissions. Military spending is at a record high of 2.44 trillion U.S. dollars, and yet states are failing to deliver on climate finance commitments. With States set to agree on a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) at COP29, public spending on militarism must be addressed for a just climate transition. The intersections between militarism and climate crisis have impacts on communities on the frontlines of both which will be explored within this webinar.
The world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since WWII, devastating communities while large-scale armed conflicts drive global emissions higher with no route for accountability for those impacted. Peace and climate justice are intrinsically linked, and this webinar will outline what a COP of peace must mean for those on the frontlines of both armed conflicts and the climate crisis.
For information, please contact:
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Karen Hallows, International Co-ordinator at Peace Boat (Karen [a] peaceboat.gr.jp) (+44 7804761389)
The Peace and Demilitarization Working Group is a cross-constituency working group hosted by the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC), one of the nine stakeholder groups of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Peace Boat is a member of the
The Global Week of Action for Peace & Climate Justice is coordinated by the Arms, Militarism and Climate Justice Working Group; an international network of researchers and activists committed to ending militarisation of the climate crisis.