Earth Equity News

Evo Morales Announces Alternative Climate Conference in Bolivia: April 20-22. AP, January 7, 2010. "Bolivian President Evo Morales said Tuesday he's inviting activists, scientists and government officials from around the world to an alternative climate conference following the failure of a summit in Copenhagen to produce binding agreements. The leftist leader said the April 20-22 meeting in Cochabamba will include indigenous peoples, social movements, environmentalists and scientists as well as governments 'who want to work with their people.' Morales said the meeting is meant partly to pressure industrialized nations to accept that they have a 'climate debt' to poor countries and will work toward an international court on environmental crimes. Other topics will include a universal proposal for the rights of mother earth and the transfer of technology... Bolivia was one of five countries to block a consensus on accepting the Copenhagen Accord brokered by President Barack Obama, arguing that the deal was done in secret by a small group of countries. Lacking agreement by all 193 countries, the document was 'noted' by the conference, giving it less moral and legal weight than if it had been formally adopted."