Misc on December 9, 2010 | Make a Comment
Indigenous Ppl Reject REDD from IEN on Vimeo.
A Done Deal?
Some observers are saying that a deal on avoiding deforestation (or “REDD” in UN jargon) is near to being closed in Cancun. World Bank head Robert Zoellick (not that he has any interest in these matters…) said yesterday, “This one’s wrapped up and ready to move.” On Tuesday Ban-Ki Moon said conditions were “ripe” for a deal on forestry… More…
Misc on December 6, 2010 | Make a Comment
At half-way through the Cancun talks, the Chairs of the two working groups have produced two new draft texts. There had been rumours and fears that a secret text was being drafted up that would be sprung on negotiators, but in the end, the two draft texts presented on Saturday night are supposed to be built on previous drafts as well as building on discussions that have ensued in Cancun during the first week of the talks.
The new negoiating text for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (2013-2017) continues to include the Bolivian proposal of 50% cuts in greenhouse gases by developed countries by 2017, along with other options. Discussions in the Kyoto track are continuing despite Japan’s announcement that it would not make further commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Japan’s position puts it in breach of its legal commitment under Article 3.9 of the Protocol.
Meanwhile in the parallel “Long-term Cooperative Action” negotiating track the Chair presented a text entitled “Possible Elements of the Outcome“. Negotiators are still digesting these two texts, but Bolivia gave its initial response in a speech to the conference on Saturday night. It described the text as “imbalanced” and noted many omissions: More…
Misc on November 30, 2010 | Make a Comment
Pablo Solon, Bolivia’s ambassador to the UN, writing in today”s Guardian:
As climate talks start in Cancún, the common refrain that pervades the media and some negotiators is of “low expectations.” I wonder whose expectations they are talking about. Do they think the one million people in the Bolivian city El Alto, who face increasingly chronic water shortages from the disappearance of glaciers, have low expectations? Do they think Pacific islanders whose homelands will soon disappear beneath the rising sea have low expectations? I believe that the majority of humanity demands and has high expectations that our political leaders should act to stop runaway climate change.
The reality is that the talk of “low expectations” is a ploy by a small group of industrialised countries to obscure their obligations to act. They are playing politics with the planet’s future. If the Cancún talks set sail with no wind, then no-one will be angered when they stall. Sadly, rather than express moral outrage, much of the media and even some environmental organisations have subscribed to this cynicism of the powerful. More…
Misc on November 30, 2010 | Make a Comment
Developing countries are protesting a new text proposed by the Chair of the negotiations which omits many of the options that they have fought hard for. A press release for the Plurinational State of Bolivia warns that Cancun Should Not Be Copenhagen Accord Part II.
Environmental NGOs from around the world announced today that they would be sending an open letter to the Mexican Government asking them to make sure the process in Cancun was transparent in accordance with UN rules and Indigenous Environmental Network made a statement of concern.
John Vidal writing in today’s Guardian:
China and many other developing countries suggested during a meeting today that they were unhappy with the chair of the UN talks imposing a new negotiating text on countries. Although that is within UN rules, it was interpreted as a possible dangerous repeat of the Copenhagen debacle last year, when many countries were excluded from consultations.
[...] The US, however, is maintaining that it wants to see the voluntary deal reached in Copenhagen last year become the basis of the talks. “More than 80 countries have targets. We are looking to build on those targets and to progress. We hope to get a long way with all the tracks,” said a state department spokesman.
Misc on October 25, 2010 | Make a Comment
A step-by-step guide to greening your local council
Published in The Ecologist, 19th October, 2010
If you already have a low-impact lifestyle and want to step it up a level, turn your attention to your local council. Here’s how to get the authorities in your area to act
Getting the ball rolling
Your first step is to go to your council’s website and find out what it is already doing about climate change and sustainability issues. Is it among the low-carbon pioneers or a climate-denying laggard? All councils operate in response to multiple agendas and pressures, so unless there is an active interest from local people to serve as a counterweight to the power of special interests and central government, the chances are that your council isn’t doing very much. More…
Misc on October 18, 2010 | Make a Comment
Further proof that James Hansen’s analysis is correct and that it is “special interests” who are holding up responsible action on climate change…
Nearly all Republican Party candidates for the US mid-term elections in November deny the science of climate change. And hey, who’d have thought it, the Tea Party movement they are pandering to was kick-started by a couple of billionaire oil tycoons.
Back in January, a Greenpeace investigation exposed the Koch brothers’ secret funding of climate change denial and today’s Huffington Post has some detail of direct funding by fossil fuel corporations (including Koch) of Republican climate change deniers.
Will support drain away from the movement once Americans get a whiff that they are being manipulated by big business and it is not the grassroots movement they believe it to be? If not, we can wave goodbye to Obama getting climate change legislation through congress.
The good news is that the Evnironmental Protection Agency retains its power to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act and no new legislation is needed for the US to make science-based cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. And the EPA won’t be bothered with all that cap and trade nonsense. But political will is needed to make this a reality and that’s a resource that’s currently in short supply. Which is why 350.org, Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network have called for a new direct action movement in the US. More…