International Action
-
Browner: Climate Bill Unlikely By December; US Will Act One Way or Another
-
Videos to Watch: Climate week highlights, what's next in int'l talks
-
Climate at the G20: White House briefs bloggers on climate discussions
Developing World Stands Up To Developed Nations
Published October 16, 2009 @ 11:00AM PT
I'm currently on the Greenpeace ship Esperanza in the South Pacific. We're on the Defending Our Pacific tour, which is a campaign to establish a global network of marine reserves, stop overfishing of Pacific fisheries, and support Pacific island nations efforts to stop Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in their waters.
Crewman aboard the Japanese vessel Koyu Maru 3, fishing in Cook Islands waters illegally, haul a tuna onboard. Like climate change, overfishing of the world's fisheries is threatening the livelihood of developing countries who are not contributing significantly to the source of the problem. Image © Paul Hilton/Greenpeace
Last week, we caught the Japanese ship Koyu Maru 3 fishing in Cook Islands waters without a license, which is obviously illegal. When I blogged a bout it on the Greenpeace website, I made the point that this was not just illegal but also immoral. So why is it immoral?
Last week, a new study was released by The Commonwealth that underscores the drastic need for government action on overfishing and climate change in order to stave off a collapse of global fisheries. The report warns that the oceans could soon become “deserts” and goes on to say:
The study reveals that those least responsible for the state of the oceans are most likely to suffer the consequences of poor management and climate change. Small island states in particular are vulnerable to illegal and unfair fishing by foreign fleets and to migration of fish away from warming seas.
The Esperanza has been in the Pacific region since May to support Pacific Island countries on issues ranging from climate change to fisheries collapse and marine conservation. But of course Greenpeace’s history in the Pacific Ocean goes back much further than that — all the way back to the early 1970s when we were protesting the French nuclear blasts at Moruroa. The fallout from these blasts also disproportionately affected those Pacific islanders living downwind from the blast sites — another instance of those not responsible for a problem suffering the most. While there was nothing technically illegal about these blasts, the total disregard for human health and welfare is egregious.
The industrialized commercial fishing vessels that are literally stealing fish from Pacific island nations' waters is just another example of the developed world doing as they please and disregarding the well-being of the people affected by their actions. That's why it’s very encouraging that eight Pacific island nations have come together and are standing up for their rights against these invading international commercial fishing fleets.
Pacific island states are not the only developing nations that are banding together to force the developed world to live up to their other moral obligations: “Africa will demand billions of dollars in compensation from rich polluting nations at a UN climate summit for the harm caused by global warming on the continent, African officials said Sunday.”
Lest we doubt that there is any need for this stand by African nations, even the World Bank, generally no friend to the developing world, is warning of the threats those nations are facing as the climate crisis looms: “The World Bank estimates that the developing world will suffer about 80 percent of the damage of climate change despite accounting for only around one third of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”
So the real question we must be asking ourselves is: Will the developed world stand up and do the right thing in regard to these moral obligations?
Fatalistic Friday: Climate treaty still stalled, catastrophic climate change forecast, more
Published October 02, 2009 @ 03:53PM PT
Above: At a press conference held midway through the Climate Change Talks in Bangkok, Yvo de Boer told reporters that progress has been made key areas including adaptation, technology and capacity-building in developing countries. However, progress on rich nation emission reduction targets and financial support for climate change action in developing countries is still elusive.
Grab a stiff drink and take in this week's bad news about global warming:
Climate talks stall on targets, finance: Efforts to convince rich nations to toughen emissions cuts have failed to make much headway at climate talks in the Thai capital, the U.N. said on Friday. "Progress toward high industrialized world emissions cuts remains disappointing during these talks. We're not seeing real advances there," Yvo de Boer, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told reporters. "Movement on the ways and means and institutions to raise, manage and deploy financing support for the developing world climate action also remains slow." (Reuters)
Catastrophic climate change could happen with 50 years: If average global temperatures arc toward a rise of 7.2 deg. F (4 deg. C) by 2100 (over those of the mid-19th century), according to a study released this week by the UK's Met Office, we'd be screwed in diverse ways as soon as 2060: Arctic temperatures would increase by 28.8 deg F (16 deg C), while parts of sub Saharan Africa and North America would be devastated by an increase in temperature of up to 18 deg F (10 deg C); rainfall could decrease by 20 per cent in Central America, the Mediterranean and parts of coastal Australia, causing mass drought; Temperature rises in the Amazon would cause the rainforests to die, while Alaska and Siberia would see the melting of the permafrost causing more carbon dioxide to be released. (The Telegraph)
Kofi Annan Rocks! 'Beds Are Burning' re-mixed as climate change anthem
Published October 01, 2009 @ 09:53AM PT
Above: Stirring climate anthem, or earnest do-good dirge?
Long Live Rock Dept: The Tck Tck Tck "countdown to Copenhagen" campaign has re-recorded the Midnight Oil guitar rock anthem "Beds Are Burning" into a call for action on climate change. The song is available for free download on the web and on iTunes, too.
"Every download will count as a unique digital petition with people adding their names to demand world leaders reach an ambitious, fair and global deal at the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen," says the campaign in a statement.
The star-studded video features Duran Duran, Mark Ronson, Jamie Cullum, Melanie Laurent, Marion Cotillard, Milla Jovovich, Fergie, Lily Allen, Manu Katche, Bob Geldof, Youssou N'Dour, Yannick Noah, Jet Li, Suketu Metha, Amadou et Mariam, and more -- all framed by voiceovers from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and now a big league anti-poverty advocate, and Bishop Desmond Tutu.
Top 10 Moments of Climate Week
Published September 25, 2009 @ 01:47PM PT
Things were snoozy at the United Nations Climate Summit, but the popcult climate scene was alive and kicking in all its star-studded glory during Climate Week NYC . From Hugh Jackman, Sexiest Man Alive, to Yes Men pranks, Grist's Umbra Fisk lists the top 10 best moments from Gotham's global warming fest.
Snapshot of Climate Protest at G20 in Pittsburgh
Published September 25, 2009 @ 09:08AM PT
One of the frustrations of covering events like the G20 is that I can't be everywhere at once. So while I'm sitting here tracking down information on what's very likely to be the summit's biggest climate news -- the beginnings of an international agreement to phase out national subsidies that help perpetuate use of fossil fuels -- there are all sorts of photogenic protest events happening elsewhere in the city.
This snap -- fresh from the streets of Pittsburgh -- is courtesy of It's Getting Hot in Here youth climate activist/blogger Morgan Goodwin..
Climate at the G20: Fossil fuel subsidy phase-out is go in "medium term"
Published September 25, 2009 @ 06:03AM PT
Above: Silver sheen and black streamers of oil on Mississippi River, following the collision of a 600-foot chemical tanker and 200-foot fuel barge just north of the Crescent City Connector Bridge in New Orleans, La., July 2008. Credit: NOAA.
The Group of 20 will announce today that there is overall agreement on phasing out subsidies on oil and other fossil fuels -- which would cut emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gas pollution by around 10% by 2050.
The major wealthy and up-and-coming world economies will not set a firm schedule for the phase-out at this meeting, however. Advance word has it that they're looking to do it in "the medium term," and will come up with a more definitive schedule at the next G20 summit. The nations are also committing to more transparency in energy market data reporting, including oil production, consumption, refining, and reserves.
Still, the move is seen as a major win for President Obama, host of the Pittsburgh edition of this confab, and could bolster opinions that he's got the mojo to move an international climate agreement forward as well.
"Inefficient fossil fuel subsidies encourage wasteful consumption, distort markets, impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to deal with climate change," says the statement leaked from the G20.
The nations also commit to "intensify our efforts" to achieve an agreement at December's international climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark: "We underscore anew our resolve to take strong action to address the threat of dangerous climate change."
Climate at the G20: Obama to press cuts in fossil fuel subsidies
Published September 24, 2009 @ 09:10AM PT
After three days of an all-climate schedule in New York City, featuring Tuesday's all-day United Nations Climate Summit, I'm now in Pittsburgh to cover the meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies. My thanks to Grist and G20Voice for helping me to be here.
Given that the heads of state chewed over global warming at the United Nations Climate Summit on Tuesday, where will climate figure into tomorrow's G20 agenda of meetings?
According to reports, it's on the list of confab issues -- "Fresh from the UN general assembly in New York, heads of government and a vast diplomatic entourage will descend on Pittsburgh today to kick off two days of talks on economic stability, financial regulation, climate change and bankers' bonuses," reports the Guardian.
President Obama is expected to put a stunner of a demand on the G20 table, as my Grist colleague Dave Roberts notes: that nations stop subsidising fossil fuels, which could cut 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Since fossil energy subsidies dwarf those going to renewables, such a move would also likely transform energy prices, better reflecting the true costs of dirty energy while making clean more competitive.
There's also the not-small matter of how much aid wealthy nations will provide to poorer nations to help them mitigate and adapt to climate disruptions -- buzzworded as "climate financing." "Wealthy nations promised in 2001 to provide the 49 least developed countries $2 billion for immediate climate change adaptation, but they only funded about a 10th of that," reports Solve Climate. "Since then, the UNFCCC has estimated the cost of global adaptation to be between $40 billion and $170 billion a year through 2030, and more recent studies now suggest the costs will be far higher — with the price growing each year the world delays action on climate change."
