From the developing world, we must advance the agenda of peoples and Mother Earth. It is a scenario of cooperation or extinction.
Juan Pablo Olsson Argumedo
Global warming is humanity’s most pressing structural problem, given that we are facing a serious and unprecedented climate and ecological crisis, which is deepening continually. If the commitments to leave behind the fossil energy matrix of gas, oil and coal—the main agents of climate change—are not fulfilled, we could jeopardize the very survival of the human species on the planet.
The current Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has clearly expressed the gravity of the scenario we face as humanity: “The commitments made by countries so far are a recipe for disaster. We are in a fight to the death for our security today and our survival tomorrow. We are heading for a climate disaster. Humanity must choose: cooperate or die”.
This perspective was raised at the International Panel entitled “Towards Eco-social Justice”, held by the Aerocene Community at the Leeum Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea, which featured a discussion on environmental debt, modes of resistance and the conditions necessary for a just energy transition.
The presentation of this panel represents the search for dialogue and integration of different worldviews with the common goal of weaving a web of resistance from the perspective of art, the struggle of indigenous communities, the struggle for the defense of the environment against plundering, colonialism and foreign debt that weigh on the countries of the Global South, in order to build a collective horizon of hope for the future with social and climate justice.
This same diagnosis is made by various world leaders, such as Pope Francis, who in his Encyclical Laudato Si, on Care for the Common Home, alerts us to the seriousness of this problem and the magnitude of the climate and social crisis we are facing and the urgent need to hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the excluded.
The magnitude of the current climate and ecological crisis that humanity is experiencing is forcefully described in the publication of the Report of the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on climate impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, presented in February 2022 [1]. Here, it is stated that climate change is already affecting every corner of the world, and much more severe impacts are looming if we do not manage to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses by half, where it is pointed out that climate change is already affecting every corner of the world, and much more severe impacts are looming if we fail to halve Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in this decade and scale up adaptation efforts immediately.
The Report is based on 34,000 studies and involved 270 authors from 67 countries and represented a “code red” for humanity [2], alerting us that human activity on the planet has caused effects on the climate that may become irreversible for centuries or millennia. It provides one of the most comprehensive analyses of the intensifying impacts of climate change and future risks, particularly for resource-poor countries and marginalized communities in the Global South.
A group of scientists recently published a statement in the prestigious scientific journal BioScience in which they warn: “We are in code red on planet Earth. Humanity is unequivocally facing a climate emergency. The very future of humanity depends on the creativity, moral fiber and perseverance of the 8 billion people on the planet today. Current policies are leading toward a 3°C rise by 2100, a temperature that has not been recorded in 3 million years.”
In 2023, it was the first time in the historical record that the planet’s global surface temperature exceeded 2.0°C above the IPCC’s 1850-1900 baseline. In addition, more than 90% of the world’s oceans experienced heat waves, glaciers lost the most ice on record and Antarctic sea ice extent fell to the lowest levels ever recorded, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
Responsible for the climate crisis and transition financing
This deep climate crisis is responsible: 70% of the accumulated CO2 emissions during the period 1900-2020 originated in industrialized countries, where only 17% of the world’s population is located. Those responsible are the historical, major carbon polluters, which from the Industrial Revolution onwards have developed on the basis of deepening the gas, oil and coal matrix. In this way, the industrialized countries accumulated wealth and power through the consumption of fossil fuels and the gratuitous accumulation of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, using it as a free dumping ground for their toxic emissions, seriously compromising the common atmosphere of all humanity and the balance of the planetary system.
Meanwhile, 83% of the world’s population living in developing countries, impoverished and indebted, are condemned to an agenda of surplus population and sacrificial territories, as the powers and corporations of the Global North seek to control the strategic resources of the Global South—such as lithium and fresh water—to carry out a concentrated, exclusionary and unjust energy transition.
Juan Pablo Olsson Argumedo speaking at the Aerocene Seoul Forum, South Korea, September 2024
Ecological Debt of the central countries with the International Community and the countries of the Global South.
The rich and technologically advanced industrialized countries should assume the ecological debt they owe to the countries of the Global South and contribute 70% of the budget needed to decarbonize the world economy and enable the global community to move towards a just transition and a new global energy matrix based on renewable energies.
It is our obligation from the Global South to generate a power of mobilization and articulation strong enough to influence the governments of the central countries and decision makers.
The cost of the global energy conversion needed to achieve the 1.5°C objective is estimated at $150 trillion as an ongoing investment over the next 30 years, at an average of $5 trillion per year. On the basis of their historical responsibilities, the industrialized countries would have to contribute 70%, in proportion to their contribution to the problem, $3.5 trillion per year for at least 30 consecutive years.
The external public debt of the developing countries of the Global South in the regions of Latin America, Africa and Asia will amount to a total of $2.8 trillion by 2020, according to the World Bank’s own data. The cancellation of this debt could be considered as the payment of the first installment of the climate debt that industrialized countries have accumulated with developing countries.
Decarbonizing the world economy within 30 years is the fundamental challenge for humanity as set out in the Paris Agreement. The political decision of the central countries, mainly responsible for global warming, represents the only real possibility to prevent developing countries from remaining indefinitely in a state of poverty, dependence and indebtedness, conditioned with colossal debts for generations, which places them in a scenario of profound vulnerability to the climate and ecological crisis.
The only viable solution to overcome the growing threat to the survival of humanity is for the industrialized countries to recognize their historical responsibility in causing the disruption of the climate and to contribute the financial and technological resources necessary to overcome the crisis. It is for all these reasons that, from the different social, climate, artistic, scientific, academic, student, union, feminist and indigenous peoples’ movements, we propose that the only debt is with the people and with nature, that water is worth more than lithium, that we must generate a global critical mass to protect the Amazon, Antarctica and the Arctic before it is too late.
Considering that the deforestation that is taking place on the planet is a trend that tends to aggravate the problem of global warming, it is relevant to be aware that the Amazon is the largest tropical forest on our planet. It is home to 33 million people in 9 countries and is home to an extraordinary biodiversity. Its dense vegetation and humid soils contain 140 billion tons of carbon, capable of disrupting the global climate if released into the atmosphere. Therefore, preserving the Amazon is a matter of global concern and must become one of the great priorities of our time.
In this sense, the year 2025 represents a great challenge for the countries of the Global South and the agenda of the Peoples and Mother Nature: on the one hand, Pope Francis and the Catholic Church will be calling for Jubilee 2025 for the forgiveness of the debts of poor countries; on the other hand, in November 2025 the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP 30) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held in the Amazon. The Ministers of Environment and Climate Change and of Indigenous Peoples, Marina Silva and Sonia Guajajara, are leading the process of articulation with social and environmental movements and indigenous peoples at the Latin American and global level, promoting the call of President Lula da Silva. It is time for us to add our commitment, our energy and participation to accompany the agenda of the Peoples and Mother Earth, because what we do today will determine the future of hope that we can build in the face of a scenario of profound uncertainty.
[1] Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, the Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report. Ver en https://www.unep.org/resources/report/climate-change-2022-impacts-adaptation-and-vulnerability-working-group-ii
[2] Juan Pablo Olsson. “Una alerta roja para la humanidad. La advertencia de la ONU sobre Cambio Climático”. Artículo publicado en Página 12. Agosto 2021. Ver en https://www.pagina12.com.ar/360889-una-alerta-roja-para-la-humanidad
