World Resources Institute and Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice have released a film with highlights from the Climate Justice Dialogue in Latin America (April 2013), in collaboration with CDKN.

The Climate Justice Dialogue aims to promote climate justice as a way to “mobilise political will and creative thinking to shape an equitable and ambitious international climate agreement in 2015” (www.climatejusticedialogue.org).

Together, WRI and MRFCJ are organising a series of meetings with thought leaders around the world –  including climate negotiators and current and former government leaders  –  and linking them with people who are experiencing climate impacts and spearheading solutions. They hope that these leaders will rally around climate justice as the big idea that will deliver a global deal.

Climate Justice Dialogue held its first workshop in Santiago, Chile on 3-5 April, 2013. The meeting brought together climate negotiators and thought leaders from the Association of Independent Latin American and Caribbean States (AILAC), including  Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Perú, Guatemala, and Panamá, plus Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

CDKN is one of many organisations and individuals that are backing this Climate Justice Dialogue. CDKN provided co-funding for the Santiago meeting and filming of delegates’ different perspectives.

The film brings out the concerns of many high level delegates, including former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, that narratives around climate change need to be reframed in Latin American countries.  According to many of the interviewees, striving for an ‘equitable’ outcome on climate issues at the global level means seeing the many benefits and opportunities countries could gain from green growth – which means a  departure from old, polluting, increasingly obsolete fossil fuel-based technologies.