The Make your mark, Change the world! campaign

Why this campaign?

Climate change is here, and it is hitting poor people in the South first and hardest.

In Africa, farmers can no longer predict the cycle of rains and harvests. In Asia, whole villages are being displaced by increasingly frequent natural disasters. And everywhere, drinking water supplies are threatened by drought and by the accelerated melting of ice caps.  

In order to promote development, we must mitigate the impact of climate change and support adaptation in developing countries.

What's the problem?

Climate change is caused by growth in human activity.

Historically, rich countries have been largely responsible for emitting the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that are changing the climate. Did you know that every year the average Canadian produces 20 tons of CO₂, or about as much as five inhabitants of China, or 200 Ethiopians?

Yet despite the commitments enshrined in the Kyoto Protocol, worldwide GHG emissions are still rising, especially in the North.

What's the solution?

It's simple: we have to reduce worldwide GHG emissions! And we have to do it quickly, because we're running out of time.

Negotiations on a post-Kyoto agreement are underway, and will wrap up in Copenhagen in December 2009. That agreement must be strong and fair for people in developing countries, and it must take into account of the needs of vulnerable populations

Make your mark, change the world!

• Sign the Oxfam petition for a strong and fair post-Kyoto agreement.
• Reduce your carbon footprint, by behaving responsibly.
• Spread the word!