He first warned about climate change 30 years ago. Now James Hansen wants us to get serious about a tax on carbon. He tells Phil England why it’s our last chance
Grave warning: Climate scientist Professor James Hansen , who has spent the past 30 years advising US administrations from Jimmy Carter to George W Bush, says action must be taken now.
Professor James Hansen’s last formal engagement was delivering a keynote paper to the American Geophysical Union Autumn meeting. After that, he spent the holidays not enjoying wintry walks or taking advantage of the sales, but doing something altogether more industrious. “I’m writing a paper to provide the scientific basis for [law] suits against the government – just to make them do their job,” he says… Links & References
While many are relieved that something (anything!) has been agreed and that therefore “the multilateral process has been saved,” some less rose-tinted analysis is emerging… Links & References
Draft UN forestry deal is a “flawed and potentially planet-wrecking scam”
Chair refuses to include adequate protection for natural forests and indigenous peoples’ rights
Carbon markets likely to play a role despite country delegations and civil society opposition
Forest protection requires respecting Indigenous rights and tackling demand for forest products & land
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… Links & References
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.
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. Links & References
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.
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 manycountries 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.
