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CCS participates in South Durban People's Climate Camp, 14-17 November |
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MEDIA INVITE: People’s Climate Camp [1] SA CIVIL SOCIETY TO HOLD CLIMATE CAMP PARALLEL TO UN CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS People’s Climate Camp to resist Durban port developments, in relation to dirty energy and climate change Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, 06 November 2013 – The proposed billion rand Durban port development, and in particular the dug-out port, is set to displace small, local farmers and their workers, affect the broader south Durban community socio-economic and environmentally, and to severely contribute to climate change. In response to this and the broad scale pollution across the country, community groups from pollution hotspots in KwaZulu-Natal, the Vaal Triangle and the Highveld are holding a People’s Climate Camp in Bluff, south Durban from 14th to 17th November. Globally, the 19th Conference of the Parties (CoP 19) will be under way in Warsaw, Poland. This climate camp will highlight the failure of this international UN climate negotiations and protest the expansion of dirty energy in South Africa. It will provide a platform for people to articulate views on climate and energy justice on the way to the ‘people’s pre-CoP’ in Venezuela in September 2014. The camp will demonstrate civil society’s determined opposition to the expansion of Durban’s port and petrochemicals hub. As an expression of our solidarity with the farmers who, together with the actual land, will be removed if the proposed dug-out port project goes ahead, we will be holding a march to and informal press conference at the farmer’s land on Thursday[2]. The residential area of Clairwood is also slated for removal and people throughout south Durban are being squeezed out by the expansion of trucking and logistics, and worsening pollution. The expansion is supported by heavy state and city spending on infrastructure. This is infrastructure for corporate profit and control. It appropriates our common resources to entrench the dispossession of people. The camp will explore and embody alternatives to development as dispossession in an assembly process taking place on Friday, out of which will come a People’s Declaration. We will aim for zero waste and composting, harnessing energy from the sun supplemented by very efficient wood stoves and retained heat (wonderbags) for cooking. We will showcase our visions for another world, for energy sovereignty and for sustainable living and settlement in a Alternatives Fair taking place on Saturday. Details for the camp are as follows: Date: Thursday, 14th October to Sunday, 15th October. Venue: Eco Park, 55 Grays Inn Road, Bluff, Durban A detailed press release will be sent out on Tuesday, 11th November 2013. CONTACTS
Megan Lewis Media and Communications Officer at groundWork Email: megan@groundwork.org.za Tel (w): +27 (0) 33 342 5662 Mobile: +27 (0) 83 450 5541
Desmond D’sa Coordinator at South Durban Community Environmental Alliance Email: desmond@sdceango.co.za Tel (w): +27 (0) 31 461 1991 Mobile: +27 (0) 83 982 6939
Vanessa Black Chairperson at Earthlife Africa Durban Email: black@ispace.co.za Tel (w): +27 (0) 31 205 1369 Mobile: +27 (0) 82 472 8844
Megan Lewis Media, Information and Publications Manager groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa P.O Box 2375 Pietermaritzburg 3200 South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 33 342 5662 Fax: +27 (0) 342 5665 Cell: +27 (0) 83 450 5541 http://www.groundwork.org.za http://groundworksmokestack.blogspot.com/ https://twitter.com/groundWorkSA>http://facebook.com/groundWorkSA https://twitter.com/groundWorkSA
Reference [1] South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (and its affiliate organisations), Airport Farmers Association, groundWork, Earthlife Africa eThekwini, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, KwaZulu Regional Christian Council, Newcastle Environmental Justice Alliance, University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society, Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance, Greater Middleburg Residents Association, Mpumalanga Youth Against Climate Change, South African Waste Pickers’ Association. [2] While the camp was set to be hosted on the farmer’s land, the extended weather forecast of heavy rain has made this an impossibility.
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