Several high level events took place in San Salvador, El Salvador on the occasion of the launch of the regional presence of ACT Alliance for Latin America and the Caribbean end of October. As an outcome, it is expected that climate justice will be at the heart of the work of the ACT Alliance in the region.
“The goal of our work on climate justice is to protect lives,” said ACT Alliance General Secretary John Nduna during a public event held at the ministry of foreign affairs of El Salvador. The event was part of the launch of the regional office of the ACT Alliance in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Nduna’s speech at the public event highlighted the need for strong regional cooperation around the two demands that ACT is putting forward to the global leaders that are expected to sign a climate agreement in Paris later this year.
“We want to see ambitious and strong climate actions at national and international levels, adequate to stop climate change and keep global warming well-below 1.5 degrees Celsius, that also delivers and scales up public finance to enable the poorest to adapt to climate change and continue to develop in a low carbon sustainable way,” Nduna said.
ACT Alliance has been engaged in initiatives worldwide around the “Act Now for Climate Justice” campaign, such as the Pan African Cycling Caravan, in which cyclists covered over 6500 kilometers from Mozambique to Kenya raising awareness about climate change. In Sweden, Norway and other European countries, ACT campaigners coordinated advocacy actions towards their respective governments.
In El Salvador and other Latin American countries, an ACT youth network has been working hard to engage communities, churches and other sectors of civil society around the two climate justice demands.
During the event at the Salvadorean chancellery, ACT’s regional representative Mr. Carlos Rauda collected the signatures of the vice-minister for cooperation and other government representatives and congressmen.
The campaign has an additional target of collecting one million signed petitions that will be delivered to leaders that will gather for the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in the French capital between November 30 to December 11.
