Ecofeminist proposals for climate action – The case of Madagascar

The report “Ecofeminist proposals for climate action. How debt swaps and carbon markets prevent fair and urgent transitions” denounces the false solutions that drive climate retardism, studying Madagascar as a case example. Elaborated by ODG, in collaboration with the Malagasy entity CRAAD-OI.

COP30 began on 10 November, as the third decade of these United Nations summits to tackle the climate emergency is being launched. The ODG will monitor it in person, to inform about what is happening at the Conference of the Parties and we will also participate in the Counter Conference. Governments around the world meet at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in Belém, Brazil. Within the analysis of COPs, in previous editions we already detected that false solutions are being promoted, which do not address the root causes of climate change. With the publication of this report, we continue monitoring global decision-making spaces, which should be key to addressing the multi-crisis scenario in which we live, but that have previously ended up making insufficient or directly useless proposals to make a just transition a reality. 

In this report, we take three examples from the current COP30 negotiations of ineffective mechanisms to overcome the many challenges we face. We describe these as “false solutions” because they neither solve the climate crisis nor offer the structural change necessary to reduce inequalities. Investigating Madagascar as a flagship case, we unmask debt swaps and carbon markets. Both policies are presented as climate solutions by the Malagasy and Spanish governments, and this vision has the full support of international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. However, they mainly benefit rich countries and corporations, and do not contribute to generating the systemic change essential to face the climate emergency.

We also argue that a fair transition mechanism valid at COP30 should include the notion of reparations, recognising ecological, colonial and reproductive debts to the Global South and to women. At COP30, governments should commit to courageous and transformative political climate solutions to overcome multiple challenges and take a step forward towards a fairer world. In the report, we offer proposals to ensure these fair solutions to debt and climate action financing. Despite focusing on the case of Madagascar, this experience can be extrapolated to many other states in the Global South, which suffer from the double violence of the consequences of climate change that they have not caused, and an over-indebtedness that adds to the continued plunder of colonialism, racism and extractivism.

This is not the first time we have researched how the climate emergency and false solutions impact Madagascar. Recently, we have also collaborated with CRAAD-OI to do a fieldwork on rare earth mining on the island, and how it affects the local population, and ecosystems.

Some of the policy recommendations for ecofeminist climate action included in the report:

1. Facing the debt and climate debt crisis
   1. The countries of the Global North must undertake to recognise and record their historical and ecological debts and offer compensation mechanisms to countries, such as Madagascar, which suffer losses and damage as a result of the climate crisis.
2. A new fair, equitable and adequate financial objective
   1. Adaptation financing commitments must meet adaptation needs, which are expected to exceed $30 billion per year by 2030.
   2. The funds must come from the countries of the Global North, in accordance with the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities, and respective capacities, as well as the principle of the polluter pays.
3. Support a just transition
   1. Just transition plans should recognise care work as an essential requirement for transforming societies into low-emission economies, and should include policies to eliminate existing gender inequalities.
   2. The measures taken at COP30 must not harm the fundamental rights or livelihoods of communities in the Global South. Lands—including the territories of indigenous peoples, agricultural land and forests—must be excluded from Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement.
4. Repairs: vindicate climate, colonial and reproductive debts for fair climate policies
   1. Recognise climate debt – defined as the historical and moral responsibility of those who have caused the climate crisis – to implement repairs and compensate for the damage caused to the affected countries and peoples.
   2. Recognise reproductive debts, taking into account the intergenerational, care, cultural and social costs derived from the climate crisis, mostly invisible and supported by women. Spaces such as COP30 should be spaces for recognising these outstanding debts

The multiple challenges of COP30

The current climate negotiations take place in a deteriorating multilateral situation. International conflicts and militarisation are intensifying, and the two years of genocide in Gaza show the Global North’s unwillingness to defend the human rights of all. In addition, right-wing and far-right governments – such as the current Trump administration in the US – block and delegitimise multilateral decision-making spaces such as the COP, thereby hampering democratic global governance. Although the US delegation is not expected to attend the COP30 in Belém, it will influence negotiations from outside and will continue to compete with the second world economy, China, as it has already done in previous COPs. Apart from the many political challenges, we are facing fundamental structural challenges. The climate emergency is most devastating with each passing year, and threatens the livelihoods of billions of people and species — especially in the Global South.

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This publication was co-funded by the European Union and the Barcelona City Council. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (ODG) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders.

This publication is part of the European campaign #EraOfJustice, that we are promoting in coalition with dozens of organisations that promote climate justice, debt justice, and ecofeminism.