http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/climate-changes-various-faces/1276079.aspx
SUNITA NARAIN
18/09/2008 10:49:00 AM
For the past 16 years the first intergovernmental negotiation took place in Washington DC in early 1991 the world has been haggling about what it knows about climate change but does not want to accept. It has been desperately seeking every excuse not to act, even as science has confirmed and reconfirmed the fact that climate change is real, it is related to carbon dioxide and other emissions, the emissions are related to economic growth and wealth in the world. In other words, it is human made and it can devastate the world as we know it.
The fact is that science is not just certain but unequivocal that climate change and its devastation are now inevitable. But along with understanding the still obtuse science we must begin to put a human face to the climate change that is beginning all around us. We must see climate change in the faces of the millions who have lost their homes in the Sidr or Nargis cyclones, which ripped through Bangladesh and then Myanmar. After all, science has clearly established that intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones will increase as the Earth heats up. We need to see climate change in the faces of those who lost everything in the floods caused by intense rainfall events. We need to know that the thousands of people who died in these events did so, because the rich have failed to contain emissions necessary for their growth.
When I say this, I know, climate-sceptics and purist-scientists will combine to argue that it is difficult to prove cause and effect. After all we cannot say that this cyclone in Bangladesh is related to climate change. It is a natural disaster, not a human-made crime. Climate complexity is clearly at the edge of chaos here. When the world is unequally divided between the polluters and the victims, clearly prevarication and denial will be the name of the game.
As the call for action is becoming more strident and urgent (as it must), the world is looking for small answers and petty responses. On the one hand, there is a well-orchestrated media and civil society campaign to paint the Chinese and Indian as the dirty villains on the block. If they ''cry'' about their need to develop, the response is to tell them that they are most vulnerable.
We cannot afford to waste time in the blame-game. Even if in the past, the western world created the problem, you must in your interest take the lead in reparations.
The west's hysteria is growing. But so is their inaction. The irony is that these countries had agreed in 1997 to make a small cut in their gargantuan emissions, in the interest of us all. These emission cuts were nowhere close to what was needed, then or now to avert climate change. The fact (which is mostly unsaid) is that these countries have done nothing to contain emissions. Between 1990 and 2005, when they agreed to cut emissions, rich country emissions have gone up by 11 per cent; emissions from the growth-related energy sector increased by 15 per cent. They have let us all down.
It is the world's need for energy that is the cause of climate pain. The fact also is that after years of talk no country has been able to de-link its growth with the growth of carbon dioxide emissions. No country has shown how to build a low-carbon economy.
This then is the challenge. The proportion of new renewable energy wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels comprises just about 1 per cent of the world's primary energy supply. It is misleading to say that renewable sources add more electricity than nuclear power. It is old renewable hydroelectric power which makes the world light up.
What is tragic is that the world is hiding behind the poverty of its people to fudge its climate maths.
What then is the way ahead?
The rich world must reduce emissions drastically. There is a stock of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, built up over centuries in the process of creating nations wealth. It is a natural debt. This has already made climate unstable. Poorer nations will now add to this stock through their drive for economic growth. But that is not an excuse for the rich world not to take on tough and deep-binding emission reduction
targets. The principle has to be, they must reduce so we can grow.
The second part of this agreement is that poor and emerging rich countries's engagement will not be legally binding but based on national targets and programs. The question is to find low-carbon growth strategies for emerging countries, without compromising their right to develop.
Sunita Narain is the director of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi. This is an edited extract of the K.R.Narayanan Oration ''Why environment needs equity: Learning from the environmentalism of the poor to build our common future'', she delivered at the Australian National University on Tuesday night.
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Saturday, September 20, 2008
Climate change's various faces
Friday, September 12, 2008
Tension With Russia About Georgia War Spreads at UN, Envoys Say
By Bill Varner
Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Tension with the West over the war in Georgia has sharpened Russian opposition to pressuring Iran and Myanmar at the United Nations, U.S. and British envoys said.
``In the aftermath of Georgia there is an impact on Russian statements on other issues, which we regret,'' U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said. ``We hope and expect that in regard to the nuclear issue in Iran, a threat to international peace and security on which the Security Council has expressed itself, without opposition from Russia, we can continue to cooperate.''
Khalilzad pointed to Russian Deputy Ambassador Konstantin Dolgov's statement that his government won't curtail financial transactions with Iranian banks. Dolgov told the UN Security Council that a March resolution calling for vigilance in financial relations was only a ``political signal'' to the government in Tehran and that nations have the ``right to determine themselves how they will be vigilant.''
Any spillover from the five-day war in Georgia, fought over pro-Russian breakaway regions, would make it more difficult to reach agreement on further UN sanctions to constrain Iran's nuclear development work. Foreign ministers of the U.S., U.K., China, France, Germany and Russia are scheduled to discuss possible next steps on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly during the week of Sept. 22.
Myanmar is under UN scrutiny because of its military rulers' crackdown on the pro-democracy opposition in the Southeast Asian nation.
Iran Sanctions
The debate at the UN followed U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Glaser's address to a Security Council committee meeting yesterday in which he urged stronger implementation of financial sanctions on Iran. Glaser's remarks accompanied U.S. imposition of sanctions on an Iranian shipping company and 18 of its affiliates that it accused of hauling material covertly for Iran's military.
Iran's government denies that it is seeking to build a nuclear weapon or gain the knowledge of how to do so. Its program is an effort to develop a nuclear power industry, Iranian officials say.
Dolgov denied any linkage of Georgia to either Iran or Myanmar, saying his government was ``not mixing up issues'' and only wanted to prevent ``de facto expansion of the scope'' of UN sanctions on Iran.
On Myanmar, Russia joined other Security Council member governments in blocking a French proposal for a statement that would have ``deplored'' the regime's refusal to engage in dialogue with opposition parties or release political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi.
Georgia, Myanmar
Dolgov questioned whether the U.S. and its European allies were as concerned about the violence in Georgia as they are about repression in Myanmar, according to Khalilzad and U.K. Ambassador John Sawers. There should be no ``double standard,'' Dolgov said.
``Dolgov seemed to make a linkage between the situation in Myanmar and our approach to Georgia,'' Sawers said. ``It is very unfortunate that Russia is going to start linking unconnected dossiers with Georgia.''
Khalilzad said Dolgov ``implied we are concerned about bloodshed in one area and not in another.''
Sawers and Khalilzad both said UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari made no progress with Myanmar's military government during his visit to the country last month. Khalilzad urged stronger Security Council pressure on the regime.
Khalilzad and Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin have had several harsh public exchanges over Georgia in the Security Council, adding to concerns about a new ``Cold War'' between the powers.
``This harsh rhetoric is not always desirable in resolving differences of opinion,'' UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at a news conference.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net
Friday, August 22, 2008
VOA News - UN Secretary-General Plans December Visit to Burma(MORE)
Burma's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, says the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is to visit Burma in December to hold talks on the country's political problems. As Ron Corben reports from Bangkok, the NLD was told of Mr. Ban's scheduled visit during talks with the U.N. special envoy currently on a five-day official visit."
UN ends Bangkok 'air bridge' to Myanmar .:. (MORE)
UN ends Bangkok 'air bridge' to Myanmar .:. NewKerala - India's Top Online Newspaper: "Bangkok, Aug 22 : The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Friday shut down its 'relief air bridge' to Myanmar after delivering four million tonnes of cargo from Bangkok to the victims of Cyclone Nargis."
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Epoch Times - Burma's ‘Blood Jade' Used in Olympic Medals?(CLICK FOR DETAIL)
Epoch Times - Burma's ‘Blood Jade' Used in Olympic Medals?: "Burmese democracy activists are imploring visitors to the Olympics to boycott merchandise made from “Blood Jade,” a name given to high-quality jade mined under oppressive and dangerous conditions in Burma and sold for export by the country's military Junta.
In a report entitled, “Blood Jade: Burmese Gemstones and the Beijing Games,” released by the All Kachin Students and Youth Union (AKSYU), as much as 90 per cent of jadeite (a variety of jade) sold in China comes from mines in Kachin State along the Burma-China border."
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