On Monday 7 December, 2009 the Climate Caravan from Geneva to Copenhagen will reach Brussels, where it will be greeted by hundreds of local campaigners in front of the European Commission. They will jointly protest against the corporate capture of the EU’s trade and climate policies. The Commission’s trade and environment departments have been invited by the Caravan to receive their message for trade and climate justice.

Around 30 activists from the global south are travelling from Geneva to Copenhagen as part of the caravan, which is scheduled to arrive at the UN climate talks inCopenhagen, Denmark, on Wednesday 9 December.

The Caravan participants include representatives from the small farmers’ movement Via Campesina (India, Congo, Korea and Europe), fisherfolk (Indonesia), women's groups and indigenous people's groups.

Dharmendra Kumar, Director of FDI Watch, India and one of the caravan participant said:
“We are here to demand social, trade and climate justice and let EU decision makers know that it is time to act now. The world cannot wait any more. We need to choose an alternative kind of development that is economically viable and ecologically sustainable. European governments and corporations must be held accountable for the climate problem that they have caused - and it’s their historical liability to pay for it.”

Mr. Kumar appealed to the European Union to move away from the current emphasis on emissions trading and false solutions like agrofuels, carbon capture and storage and nuclear energy. The EU must make genuine reductions of CO2 emissions in Europe and reverse its deeply unsustainable free trade agenda.

After the joint protest before the Commission, caravan participants and local campaigners will take a guided tour through the EU quarter by bike and bus, highlighting examples of powerful corporate lobbies distorting EU climate policies.

The Brussels stop of the Caravan is organised by many civil society organizations including Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), the Brussels office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and the Belgian Social Forum.

For more details please log in at http://www.climatecaravan.org

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