Countries in North and South America have been urged to join hands to tackle cross-border and cross-cutting global issues that may be challenging to an individual nation.

Executive Director, Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), Marcos Regis da Silva, made the submission on Wednesday, June 20, 2018 during the opening of the 26th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP-26) to the IAI in Antigua, Guatemala.

The IAI director emphasised the organisation’s efforts in providing transdisciplinary research with a regional framework that responds to the needs and priorities of Parties based on scientific knowledge.

While opening the CoP and welcoming delegates, CoP Chair and National Secretary for Science and Technology (SENACYT) in Guatemala, Oscar Cobar, stressed that scientific knowledge is the best resource for all countries in all regions to tackle the issues of global change.

Rafael Barrios, speaking on behalf of Guatemalan Vice-President Jafeth Cabrera, underlined the need for more and improved knowledge on climate change, highlighting the relevance of the IAI in this regard.

During the CoP, presentations were made on: Mayan science, culture and civilisation; Science-Policy Workshop recommendations; science and technology impact projects in Guatemala; and climate action in Guatemala.

The CoP adopted more than 30 decisions related to: financial and budgetary matters; a long-term communication strategy and plan; a 25th anniversary publication; the IAI Scientific Agenda; open data policy; and fundraising-related issues. The CoP also: retired the decision on the Tripartite Agreement; added three new IAI Associates, namely Rede Clima, Future Earth, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); elected new EC and SAC members; and accepted Ecuador’s offer to host CoP-27.

The CoP was preceded by the 45th meeting of the Executive Council (EC-45), a Science-Policy Workshop, and the joint meeting of the CoP’s advisory bodies: the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and the Science-Policy Advisory Committee (SPAC).

SAC Chair, Edwin Castellanos, who is of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, presented outcomes and recommendations from the Science-Policy Workshop that was held on June 19. He underlined the importance for the CoP to have a better vision for the IAI’s direction in the coming years.

While discussing the work of the SAC and SPAC that was presented in the workshop, he highlighted work related to dry forest, nitrogen cycles and AGUASCAPES as examples of how the IAI promotes scientific research and links research to the national and international policy agendas.

Cobar described science and technology in the Guatemalan context, and outlined the ways in which financing is provided for research and science projects in his country. He noted that investment in science, technology and innovation (STI) represents only 0.029% of Guatemala’s GDP, the lowest in the region.

Cobar highlighted that: Guatemala is one of the few countries in the region with a constitutional article on science and technology; two laws have been passed to operationalise the article; and the budget exclusively for funding science and technology totals around $3 million annually. He called for: more student involvement in knowledge generation; building research skills; building a “knowledge society” based on STI; and more government investment in STI.

Speaking in his capacity as professor at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Castellanos emphasised the need to accelerate national action towards reducing the impacts of climate change and bridging the gap between the current situation in Guatemala and what is required under the Paris Agreement.

He described the creation of the Guatemalan System of Climate Change Science (SGCCC), a national, multi-stakeholder science body on climate change, which: evaluates and generates scientific information on climate science, adaptation and mitigation; passes this information on to policymakers; and emphasises the importance of indigenous knowledge and traditional ways of life in Guatemala.

Tata Felix Sarazua, a representative from the Sotz’il, a Mayan indigenous community, presented actions on climate change, stating that Mayan science is “the energy” that fosters in-depth research and provides advice to their communities. He explained the concept of “cosmovision” in which Mayan science and technology combine ancestral knowledge, spirituality and epistemology obtained through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and verification of hypotheses.

Sarazua underscored the capacity of Mayan indigenous peoples to adapt to their environment as a result of their scientific knowledge, and that they, therefore, possess alternative solutions that can contribute to climate change adaptation. He underscored differences between Mayan and Western science and ways of accumulating and using knowledge, and called for a mixed approach using both sciences to tackle climate change.

Humans are rapidly losing a sense of being, of being human beings, of being just one of the beings among other beings on Planet Earth. Our inventiveness has radically changed our relationship with Nature and we give little thought to actions which severely disrupt the right of Mother Earth to maintain her cycles. This disruption of our intimate relations with nature comes at a price and the cost keeps mounting. The fact that something must be done to correct this has brought us together here.

This gathering presents us with an opportunity to remind ourselves of the brutal assault being unleashed on Earth defenders in parts of the world as they struggle to live in harmony with the Earth, defend their territories and resources and to live in dignity. It is hoped that in this gathering we will spare thoughts on the heroic struggles by brothers and sisters against the assault of extractive corporations bent on amputating the Earth through exploitative activities in mining, oil and gas. It is hoped that we will stand together to denounce corporations assaulting pollinators and soil organisms with agrotoxics and eroding biodiversity through genetic manipulations.

As we reflect on the assaults on the Nature and fashion ways to hold those that commit ecocide to account, we should also roundly condemn actions such as fracturing of the bones of the earth in search of shale gas and oil. We have already literally scrapped the bottom of the natural resource pot. It is time to pause and think. This is why we are here.

The maxim in today’s global political landscape appears to be that might is right. The rightness of that right may be contested, but the rise of unilateralism has rendered multilateralism almost cosmetic. The rise of prescriptive neo-liberalism couched in terms that suggest the respect of democratic ideals of liberty and fair competition has allowed an upsurge of military humanism in the world. The backdrop of this scenario has been appropriately captured as disaster capitalism – a situation where disasters are seen as opportunities to impose a pre-planned superstructure that inevitably denies powerless citizens of the world their rights. The whole idea is to hit the people so hard that they are pushed into a state of shock and while in that condition they are unable to react collectively or cogently to the harm being inflicted on them. Such disasters are increasingly man-made, although even natural disasters are equally exploited to dispossess the weak.

The path of current petroleum civilisation is strewn with blood and skeletons across the world. The recent situation in Nigeria is a glaring example. Many wars have been fought and nations destroyed over Natures gifts or resources. In 1999, as the first barrels of crude oil were shipped from Sudan, so did the war between government forces and those of the then Sudanese People’s Liberation Army escalate. While the bombs were still being dropped in Libya, oil was being exported. When Iraq was invaded and blown apart, the offices of the Petroleum Ministry were spared.

Everywhere there are conflicts and wars today we see the raw situation of war waged for profit and resource appropriation and control.[ii] If this scenario blossoms unchecked, what we experience today will end up being nothing more than a whimper.

There are also less openly explosive conflicts going on today in the world. The lack of climate action on the basis of justice and common but differentiated responsibilities show a tendency were more resilient nations care little about vulnerable ones, especially those set to go under the waves if sea levels continue to rise. We see the burden of climate action being placed on Nature rather than being tackled by checking human consumption appetite and polluting actions. Efforts are being made to label forests as carbon sinks and to displace forest dependent communities in order to secure the carbon stock in the trees or soils or rivers. Market environmentalism elevates ecosystem services as the new and monetized way to see Nature and our environment.

We cannot be silent over this posturing that permits business as usual and places the burden for this indulgence on the poor. We should denounce false climate solutions such as plans for seizing the planetary thermostat through geoengineering. We cannot close our eyes to extreme genetic engineering procedures (including gene editing) that are bound to have grave and irreversible intergenerational implications.

The commodification of Nature has done humans and other beings much harm. Our alienation from nature keeps us from seeing the intrinsic value of her gifts. The quest to appropriate, transform and accumulate resources has bred all manners of iniquitous social relations, oppressions and outright brigandage be they in the form of petty exploitation or outright neocolonialism and imperialism.

We are here on common grounds. We are firm ground. We care about Mother Earth and all beings, knowing that she is constantly fighting for our survival. Time is running out, and we shall not indulge in long talks, but spend time sharing on the way forward on the urgent matters impacting Mother Earth and our lives as individuals and collectives.

We cannot afford mindless conflicts and wars that we see in the world today. It is time to take difficult but essential actions including halting dependence on fossil fuels, stopping polluting activities and reducing consumption levels within planetary boundaries. Conflicts and harms are certain to intensify as the non-renewable re-sources run out and as habitable environment for the reproduction of renewable re-sources reduce.

Earth Trusteeship demands that we reconnect to our roots, to nature and remind ourselves that the Planet can do without humans and that our future can only be secured if we live in harmony with Mother Earth and in solidarity with one another.

This Earth Trusteeship gathering brings much hope. We may not agree on everything; we may not even have the same levels of intimacy with the Earth, but one thing is clear: we are gathered as children of the Earth. We are here on the common ground that we care about Mother Earth and all her children. We all realise that rapacious exploitation of the Planet cannot continue on the current trajectory except some clever guys can invent or have already invented and patented a Planet B. Together we can make a difference and get back on track aligned with Mother Earth.

By Nnimmo Bassey (Speaking outline at the Earth Trusteeship Gathering, The Hague, Netherlands, 22.06.2018)