November 19, 2024, Baku Azerbaijan —The COP 29 Presidency today announced the COP29 Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste which aims to work towards targeted commitments in the waste sector.
“While the intention is good and civil society organizations like GAIA welcome the Declaration, it leaves a lot of room on whether it will be put into practice and how,” said Yobel Putra, GAIA Global Climate Policy Officer, further emphasizing the need to exclude false solutions such as waste burning in the picture to achieve real climate impact.
Mariela Pino, Waste Methane Climate Campaigner at GAIA Latin America and the Caribbean calls for an emphasis on waste pickers , saying “While the Declaration mentioned waste pickers and waste workers towards the end, there is no clarity on how this will take into effect. Waste pickers have always been at the forefront of waste management and there is no denying their contribution in waste methane emissions reduction, however, they continue to be ignored. The Declaration needs to have a stronger stance on waste pickers recognition and access to climate finance.”
Other than putting emphasis on waste pickers and workers, Desmond Alugnoa, Zero Waste & Climate Program Manager at GAIA Africa and Earthshot Prize 2024 Winner highlighted the need for the Declaration to be supported by concrete action of local and national governments, grounded in the context of local communities, especially in the Global South where waste management is very lacking and open burning is still prevalent, and supported by climate finance that is accessible to the communities.
Jayakumar C, Executive Director of Thanal in India shared about the successful zero waste implementation work in Kerala and how aligning the work with the environmental justice principles that prioritized impacted communities, local knowledge, accountability, and holistic solutions are critical.
As countries are submitting their NDC 3.0, in Bangladesh, Dr. Shahriar Hossain, Founder, Environment and Social Development Organization, cautions on the importance of NDC 3.0 to be supporting the right solutions. “Investments are still geared towards technological quick fixes that do not address the root of the waste and climate problem,” he said. According to Hossain, the Declaration should (1) incorporate Organic Waste Methane in NDCs, (2) Support National Policy and Budget for Decentralized Waste Management, (3) Adopt Environmental Justice (EJ) Principles, and (4) Promote Source-Level Waste Management.
Full video of the press conference here.