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Message
to the Working Group Editors 07/22/2008 11:49
Dear Colleagues,
As we draw near to August, the Editorial Working
Group has been thinking about how to fully implement
the mandate of the 60th Annual DPI Conference, which
began our effort. Please comment by August 10th Send
your comments to
roederaway@yahoo.com Make subject Line:
Climate Caucus Future
Larry Winter Roeder, Jr. MS , Editor in Chief
roederaway@yahoo.com
In addition to Climate Change in general, the
members of the Conference developed a Declaration
which is our mandate, and provided a focus on
various subjects either thought to be the cause of
climate change, victimized by it or perhaps a
solution. The Editorial Working Group was created by
the DPI/NGO Executive Committee to give form to the
Declaration’s vision and that of the Conference. Our
first Deliverable is to be a Report presented to the
Secretary-General this December. We didn’t think it
practical or necessary to do a chapter on every
imaginable topic related to climate change, not even
all of the topics raised at the Conference. Instead,
we asked you to focus on the topics most interesting
to you, drawing on the Declaration for inspiration
and direction. You formed working groups (small
networks) and were encouraged to share between the
working groups, creating an asymmetrical
conversation at times. All of the Working Group
formed chapters which are due in draft form by
August when your recommendations and individual
visions will be sewn together into a synthesis
document presented to the Secretary General and the
Chairman of the IPCC. That’s phase one of the
project.
The NGOs who attended the 60th Annual Conference
also asked us to continue the dialogue into a Second
Phase, converting the conversation since the
Conference into a permanent volunteer network that
leads to specific action. All of us recognize that
the need is urgent for constructive action. The
question then is how to achieve that second phase,
which will go on for years. We see a series of
deliverables and are asking you to concur with us on
our proposed plan of action. Please comment by
August 10th.
First, we intend on making annual reports to the
Secretary-General on our collective vision on
climate change and fostering meetings with local
communities that stimulate real changes in the way
people live. In addition, while we were formed by
the NGO community in consultative status with the UN
(UNDPI and ECOSOC), from the start we recognized
that our conversation had to be more open,
essentially to allow anyone wanting to fight climate
change to join – so long as we stuck to the vision
articulated by the Declaration. We want to continue
to do that. In our opinion, the kind of effort
requires that we form our own NGO (ClimateCaucus.net),
which will be a non-profit volunteer entity. We were
asked to be self-sufficient. By becoming a legal
entity and an NGO, we can raise funds for meetings
or send someone to a meeting. Also if we form
ourselves as a charity, the managers will be bound
by law to be open and transparent, to follow rules.
That protects everyone. Further, by linking the
charter of the NGO to the Declaration, we won’t lose
our vision nor wander from the vision of the
Conference.
We are not asking you to make any financial
contribution to this effort, though once the NGO is
formed it would do some modest fundraising. But we
are asking you and the members of your Working Group
to consider joining the NGO as members. The
preliminary Directors (what we call Senior Editors)
we propose be Larry Roeder (Currently Editor in
Chief), Judy Lerner (who first proposed Climate
Change as the topic for the 60th Annual DPI
Conference) , Moki Kokoris, Chuck Hitchcock, Bill
Gellermann, Richard Jordan (who chaired the 60th
annual DPI Conference), Scot Carlin and one position
each for the Chairman of DPI/NGO Executive
Committee, currently Jeffery Huffines and the
Chairman of CONGO, the Committee of NGOs in
Consultative status with the UN.
To a certain extent, the process has already begun.
We have started to significantly improve the website
for example, a project which will be completed in
August.
· The draft home page is on:
http://excelser.net/climatecaucus/
· Following the draft home page will be the
following navigation page
http://excelser.net/climatecaucus/background.htm
· An NGO needs Mission Statement and a Vision
Statement. Those currently exist on
www.climatecaucus.net ; but the Editorial
Working Group proposes the following changes. These
statements we propose replace the ones currently on
the homepage as we are moving from phase one to
phase two.
o Mission Statement: The mission of Climate
Caucus.net is to improve international NGO responses
to climate change through dialogue and information
exchange in collaboration with each other and in
keeping with the principles of 60th UN DPI/NGO
Conference Declaration on Climate Change fostered by
NGO/DPI Executive Committee and the Conference of
NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the UN
(CONGO).
. Dialogue must lead to rapid, effective, and
coordinated actions to address the perils of climate
change in ways that enhance human dignity, social
justice, and nonviolence and will include the
participation of any interested party in civil
society as well as the voices of typically
marginalized cultures with the intent of empowering
them to become active members of this process.
o Vision and Background: The 60th UN DPI/NGO
Conference, adopted by acclamation in 2007 a
Declaration, CLIMATE CHANGE THREATS: AN NGO
FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION, in which participants
committed to work collaboratively over the next
twelve months to prepare a report for the UN
Secretary General, a process later endorsed by the
2007 Annual CONGO Conference. This unprecedented
move by the NGO community will result in the report
being given to the Secretary-General in December
2008. The community of participating experts will
then continue to collaborate into 2009 and beyond
and expand in a long-term dialogue on actions to
fight climate change. Report copies will be posted
on
www.climatecaucus.net and distributed by
email in order to reduce the project’s carbon foot
print, as will be future reports.
o The Declaration strongly recommended that all
sectors of society partner to implement concrete
solutions based on recommendations that will emerge
from the report. The Editorial Working Group was
created by the DPI/Ngo Executive Committee to manage
the project and invited NGOs in consultative status
with DPI and ECOSOC; as well as any interested
academic or individual. That broad invitation will
continue into 2009 and beyond. Participation is free
of charge.
o The Editorial Working Group also set up online
Working Groups to craft Chapters on some of the
climate change related topics raised in the DPI
Conference and to continue their dialogue beyond
2008. The list was not comprehensive and will be
expanded in 2009 and outlying years, perhaps
including fresh emerging topics. Funding for the
project came from private sources and late in 2008
the project will be incorporated as a non-profit NGO
in consultative status with the UN/DPI and ECOSOC –
to streamline funding and future management of what
will be an ever expanding network of people and
institutions interested in the UN and climate change
– and working in harmony with the intent of the
Declaration.
o Earth is home to many forms of life. The Editors
and over a hundred collaborators in the initial
report are committed to ensuring their well-being
and proposing civil society ACTIONS to prevent
irreversible climate-caused catastrophe. This means
addressing the fundamental issue of sustainable
energy as a long-term strategy in combination with
shorter term strategies and ACTIONS needed to cope
with existing threats. We aim to help civil society
understand and respond to current and potential
threats and advocate corrective and collaborative
action by all sectors of society, including
governments, industry and individuals.
o The NGO/DPI Executive Committee, the Conference of
NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United
Nations (CONGO) oversaw the initial phase of the
project (2008) by the Editorial Working Group.
Richard Jordan, Chair of the 60th DPI/NGO
Conference, acts Liaison between the Editorial
Working Group and the NGO/DPI Executive Committee.
Larry Roeder, who led the drafting team for the
Declaration, is Editor in Chief of the Editorial
Working Group. Mr. Roeder is also the UN Affairs
Director for WSPA, the World Society for the
Protection of Animals. Moki Kokoris, William
Gellermann and Charles Hitchcock also were official
Senior Editors, assisted by the coordinators of all
of the working groups, and Ms. Judy Lerner of Peace
Action, who first proposed the concept of Climate
Change to DPI.
To see your individual Working Group, go to
http://www.climatecaucus.net/chapterlist.htm .
Please report any errors, ASAP to roederaway@yahoo.com.
Make subject line Climate Caucus Edits
For a list of participating experts, go to
http://www.climatecaucus.net/participants.htm .
Please report any errors ASAP to roederaway@yahoo.com
Make subject line Climate Caucus Edits
We also want to list all participating
organizations. Send to Dr. Charles Hitchcock that
information at
hitchcock.charles@gmail.com . Dr. Hitchcock
needs the name of the organization, its website
address, any useful contact information and a short
note on its work in climate change or perhaps its
mission statement. Make subject title Climate Caucus
Participants.
· An NGO needs a logo. The following two have been
selected from a number of choices. Please let us
know what you think. Following each logo may be a
bar or thermometer with a truncated mission
statement.
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