Activists disrupt closing plenary session at COP6.5Bonn, Germany: COP6.5. Today in the final session of
the latest round of climate talks, climate justice
activists unfurled a banner which read “Trading in
Pollution is not the Solution”. This was in response
to the dependence upon market-based mechanisms in the
latest agreements on the implementation of the Kyoto
Protocol.

One of the activists explained, “We are here to bring
some commonsense back to these negotiations. The US
pull-out made everyone so desperate to get any
agreement that we’ve ended up with a deal which is a
step in the wrong direction. The current loopholes
will mean that the already pitiful 5.2% CO2 reductions
could now only be 0.3%*. The trade in emissions lays
a foundation for inaction rather than building a
framework for the necessary emission reductions. This
deal can only serve the interests of big business and
reinforce global inequality.”

The welcome that this deal has received from media,
governments and the big environmental NGOs masks the
real story of the talks. The myth that any deal, no
matter how weak, is a step in the right direction
should be challenged.

One activist who had Article 19 of the UN Convention
of Human Rights, freedom of speech, written on her
naked body stated, “Not only is this treaty going
nowhere for the climate, any public concern or voice
about this has been completely repressed by corporate
and political interests. As citizens who will be
adversely affected by climate change and have not been
able to participate in the decisions made about it, we
have a right to be heard here and have been forced to
take such drastic measures in order to do so.”

*As stated by Greenpeace in their press release on
Monday 23rd July