MEG member Liam Murtagh went along recently to a special seminar entitled ‘Climate Justice begins at Home’ – an event held to coincide with the Mary Robinson Foundation’s international conference in Dublin, ‘Hunger – Nutrition – Climate Justice 2013’   The seminar was organised by Friends of the Earth and Food Sovereignty Ireland.    

Cecilia Kibe from Kenya was just one of the many grassroots community members from the developing world who had travelled to the Dublin conference to represent their communities.  The conference aimed to focus the eyes of the world and in particular the attention of decision makers on the injustice of climate change – a situation in which the people who have not caused climate change are the ones who are suffering the most from its effects. At the seminar Cecilia described how climate change is being primarily caused by the burning of fossil coal and oil in the developed world and that it is setting back the efforts to address the Millenium Development Goals in the developing world. She outlined the impact of droughts on food production in East Africa and also the effects of land erosion which happens in certain areas when there are downpours following long periods of drought.