NGOs, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS WALK OUT OF WARSAW TALKS

Local observers at the climate negotiations in Warsaw, representing organizations and movements from all over the Earth, voluntarily resigned from the climate talks in Warsaw. This is done to show their disapproval with respect to countries that their inaction and lack of constructive position postpone or even make it impossible for the production of a comprehensive agreement. This is the first case of mass exodus of civil society from the climate negotiations in the history of the COP Climate negotiations.

Initiators of the action: Greenpeace, Oxfam, International Trade Union Confederation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Adaptation ActionAid, WWF, Friends of the Earth and many other NGOs.

Before the action started press conference was organized. Samantha Smith, leader of WWF's Global Climate and Energy Initiative, said: "We have been forced to take this action because of the failure of governments to take these talks seriously. We are not walking away from the UN process on climate change, just this conference in Warsaw, where the interests of the most polluting industries have been set above the needs of global citizens.

Jagoda Munic, chairperson of Friends of the Earth International, said: “Polluters and corporations dominated this conference with their empty talk, so we walk away from it in protest. Polluters talk, we walk. “While people around the world are paying with their lives and livelihoods, and the risk of runaway climate change draws closer, we cannot sit by this egregious inaction and let corporate profits come before peoples' lives” .

After the official statement, people peacefully walked out of the stadium. They were dressed in white t-shirts with stickers that said “Pollutants talk, we walk” and in their backs “we will be back”. For some moment they were standing on the stairs after exit to show the picture of how many people is involved. Now we can say that there were approximately 800 participants.

Representatives of the RSEU Climate Secretariat took part in the action, and as a sign of solidarity with the NGOs, concerned about the deadlock in the negotiations. They left the building of the National Stadium in Warsaw, where the lingering negotiations do not give any results.

Reasons to Walk Out Here

Statement of the COP19 President Mr. Marcin Korolec about Walk Out action Here