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Breaking News: Save the drama for Obama – developing countries stage boycott at Copenhagen climate conference
photo by WWF_France (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
It has been expected from the start of the COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen that there would be a clash of interests between the developing world and the wealthy industrialized countries. The rich nations cause most of the pollution and the poor ones suffer the most from its effects. So they would like some recompense or – depending on which nation you ask – at least be able to industrialize and pollute their way into the developed countries club. As actor/comedian/columnist David Mitchell puts it in Sunday’s Observer ‘our long, unaffordable global lunch is coming to an end’, we’ve asked for the bill and want ‘the third world to pay an equal share even though they only had a soup.’
The industrialized nations ran up a huge tab and many – including some of worst offenders – think that they should therefore have to pay. However, the biggest of the rich polluters, the United States, does not. An article in the New York Times relates American negotiator at Copenhagen Todd Stern’s argument that ‘people were blissfully ignorant of the fact that emissions caused a greenhouse effect’. The old ‘it’s not my fault/I didn’t know’ defense.
Well played, United States.
Needless to say the developing world doesn’t like this attitude, so a bunch of them – led by African countries – put up a collective hand at the negotiations on Monday morning and told the UN to ‘talk to it’. They walked out. According to the London Times:
‘Developing countries want to maintain the Kyoto Protocol because it is the only legal instrument which requires rich countries to make emissions cuts. They fear that it will be replaced by a much weaker agreement under which rich countries would only make voluntary pledges on emissions and would not be held to account for failing to meet them.’
The walk out only lasted a few hours and according to BBC News, the African countries’ ‘key demand – separate talks on the Kyoto Protocol – was met’.
Well played, Africa, but just wait till Obama gets there.
Msnbc.com ¬– Protests put chill on climate talks
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
by Graham Land
Tags: Africa, copenhagen, countries, developing, industrialize, kyoto, Obama, United States
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Thank you for your comment, Richard. That is one aspect of U.S. politics that people in other countries often do not understand. The States have a strong executive position, but since it is not a parliamentary democracy, passing legislation can be tough. I also think it has a lot to do with members of congress being indebted to local industries due to depending on their campaign contributions. I wish Obama could ram legislation through like Bush did as well as Lyndon Johnson.
The world needs leadership from Obama but the needed US climate change law must pass in the Senate not the Oval Office. President Obama is a multilateralist and a champion of emissions reductions, but he could not produce a binding agreement at COP15 because of the inaction of the Senate. Despite all the activity in Denmark, the front line of the climate issue is not in Copenhagen, it is in Washington.
See
http://thegreenmarket.blogspot.com/2009/12/obama-needs-senate-to-succeed-at-cop15.html