Against the backdrop of the national conflicts and rivalries dominating the Copenhagen climate change conference, the reports demonstrated that only the socialist re-organisation of economic life on an international scale could harness the immense resources and technology needed to avert the developing ecological and social catastrophe.
A report by Patrick O’Connor entitled "Climate change, emissions trading schemes and the profit system" is particularly relevant; as is a report by Nick Beams, which can be found here.
Source: World Socialist Web
Showing posts with label Climate Change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Climate Change. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Obama: A binding deal is still our goal
The most important result in Copenhagen was, according to US President Barack Obama, that large emerging economies began “for the first time” to open up to taking on responsibilities for limiting growth of greenhouse gases. “If you look at a country like India, they still have hundreds of millions of people that don’t even have electricity, hundreds of millions that live in dire poverty. For them to, even voluntarily, say that they will be willing to reduce their carbon intensity by a given percentage is a huge step. We applaud them for that,” Barack Obama told at a press conference for American correspondents before he left the venue of the Copenhagen conference Friday night.
The US President played a key role in producing a so-called Copenhagen Accord late Friday together with leaders from China, Brazil, India and South Africa. According to some reports, Barack Obama simply crashed an ongoing summit between the four other countries. However, according to US Today, quoting a US official on condition of anonymity, Barack Obama was invited to meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and “the only surprise we had, in all honesty, was (…) that in that room wasn’t just the Chinese having a meeting (…) but in fact all the four countries that we had been trying to arrange meetings with.”
The Copenhagen Accord will have an annex to which countries are to state their reduction targets. These national actions will be subject to international consultations but the pledges given will not be legally binding. “We need more work, more confidence building between emerging economies, the least developed countries and developed countries before another legally binding treaty can be signed,” Barack Obama said at his press conference, stressing that he finds it “necessary ultimately to get” a legally binding agreement. “However, this is a classic example of, if we wait to have just that, we wouldn’t make any progress. In fact I think there may be so much frustration, so much cynicism, that we end up instead of taking one step forward to take two steps backwards.”
A solution to global warming will not come if only developed countries act, the US president stressed: “We have to assure that whatever carbon we take out is not just dumped in by other parties. Emerging countries will need to have some sort of responsibilities. Not exactly the same and not at the same pace. And if we could also set up a funding mechanism to help the most vulnerable countries, like Bangladesh, we would have a framework that would allow us to be effective in the future.”
Source: 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference
The US President played a key role in producing a so-called Copenhagen Accord late Friday together with leaders from China, Brazil, India and South Africa. According to some reports, Barack Obama simply crashed an ongoing summit between the four other countries. However, according to US Today, quoting a US official on condition of anonymity, Barack Obama was invited to meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and “the only surprise we had, in all honesty, was (…) that in that room wasn’t just the Chinese having a meeting (…) but in fact all the four countries that we had been trying to arrange meetings with.”
The Copenhagen Accord will have an annex to which countries are to state their reduction targets. These national actions will be subject to international consultations but the pledges given will not be legally binding. “We need more work, more confidence building between emerging economies, the least developed countries and developed countries before another legally binding treaty can be signed,” Barack Obama said at his press conference, stressing that he finds it “necessary ultimately to get” a legally binding agreement. “However, this is a classic example of, if we wait to have just that, we wouldn’t make any progress. In fact I think there may be so much frustration, so much cynicism, that we end up instead of taking one step forward to take two steps backwards.”
A solution to global warming will not come if only developed countries act, the US president stressed: “We have to assure that whatever carbon we take out is not just dumped in by other parties. Emerging countries will need to have some sort of responsibilities. Not exactly the same and not at the same pace. And if we could also set up a funding mechanism to help the most vulnerable countries, like Bangladesh, we would have a framework that would allow us to be effective in the future.”
Source: 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference
Thursday, December 17, 2009
World climate conference: Conflict outside and inside Copenhagen meeting
Danish police battled several thousand demonstrators in the streets outside the world climate conference in Copenhagen, while inside the delegates of the major imperialist powers, China, India and dozens of less developed countries clashed over conflicting proposals to deal with the worldwide impact of pollution caused by industrialization, deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.
More than 260 protesters were arrested and many were teargassed, hit by pepper spray or beaten with batons as police repeatedly charged into the ranks of the demonstrators. Most of those demonstrating were in Copenhagen to demand emergency action against global warming and the climate-related deterioration in living conditions, particularly for people living in vulnerable coastal areas and island states.
The police were able to prevent any sizeable incursion into the conference, using dogs, shields, water cannon and armored vans to block access routes and push back most of the demonstrators. They also beat back a group of delegates who tried to leave the conference center and make a show of sympathy for the protests.
Inside the conference, a crisis atmosphere prevailed, with bitter exchanges between the representatives of the US, Britain and other industrialized nations, and those from Africa, Asia and Latin America. At one point Monday, delegates representing all 77 of the poorest nations staged a walkout to protest the intransigence of the rich countries, which are demanding that any climate agreement lock in their economic advantages, permitting double the per capita carbon consumption of the Third World.
Voicing a sentiment widespread among the delegates from the poor countries, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela denounced the position of the US-led bloc. He pointed to the trillions of dollars used to bail out the banks in the United States and Western Europe, telling the assembly, “If the climate was a capitalist bank, they would have already saved it.”
In the face of appeals by environmental scientists to reduce rich-country emissions of greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, the EU has offered only a 20 percent cut, the US a mere 3-4 percent cut. Neither figure would be a significant contribution to averting a potential climate catastrophe. No action will be taken that impinges on the profits of the giant capitalist firms that produce and use fossil fuels, and no coordinated worldwide effort is possible given the conflicts between rival national interests.
No amount of pressure or protest around the theme of “climate justice” can persuade the capitalist billionaires and their political representatives in Copenhagen to act against their own class interests. The defense of the environment can be undertaken only by a turn to the international working class, the only social force whose interests are not tied to either capitalist profit or the nation-state system, and the building of a mass movement of working people based on socialist principles.
Source: World Socialist Web
More than 260 protesters were arrested and many were teargassed, hit by pepper spray or beaten with batons as police repeatedly charged into the ranks of the demonstrators. Most of those demonstrating were in Copenhagen to demand emergency action against global warming and the climate-related deterioration in living conditions, particularly for people living in vulnerable coastal areas and island states.
The police were able to prevent any sizeable incursion into the conference, using dogs, shields, water cannon and armored vans to block access routes and push back most of the demonstrators. They also beat back a group of delegates who tried to leave the conference center and make a show of sympathy for the protests.
Inside the conference, a crisis atmosphere prevailed, with bitter exchanges between the representatives of the US, Britain and other industrialized nations, and those from Africa, Asia and Latin America. At one point Monday, delegates representing all 77 of the poorest nations staged a walkout to protest the intransigence of the rich countries, which are demanding that any climate agreement lock in their economic advantages, permitting double the per capita carbon consumption of the Third World.
Voicing a sentiment widespread among the delegates from the poor countries, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela denounced the position of the US-led bloc. He pointed to the trillions of dollars used to bail out the banks in the United States and Western Europe, telling the assembly, “If the climate was a capitalist bank, they would have already saved it.”
In the face of appeals by environmental scientists to reduce rich-country emissions of greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, the EU has offered only a 20 percent cut, the US a mere 3-4 percent cut. Neither figure would be a significant contribution to averting a potential climate catastrophe. No action will be taken that impinges on the profits of the giant capitalist firms that produce and use fossil fuels, and no coordinated worldwide effort is possible given the conflicts between rival national interests.
No amount of pressure or protest around the theme of “climate justice” can persuade the capitalist billionaires and their political representatives in Copenhagen to act against their own class interests. The defense of the environment can be undertaken only by a turn to the international working class, the only social force whose interests are not tied to either capitalist profit or the nation-state system, and the building of a mass movement of working people based on socialist principles.
Source: World Socialist Web
Sunday, July 19, 2009
'South Africa cannot represent a whole continent'
The pledges trip easily off the tongues of global leaders on summit occasions, but experts canvassed by Agence France-Presse fear African nations may forever struggle to be truly heard no matter the global forum.
The days of undue Group of Eight influence on their lot may be numbered, given admissions at this month's summit gathering Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the US in Italy's earthquake-hit L'Aquila.
But the G14 some believe will now take precedence -- adding emerging economic giants Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, plus Egypt -- may not offer much more, despite including two African voices at the table.
Neither South Africa nor Egypt could ever be said to represent the vast swathes of sub-Saharan Africa to which most aid is directed.
The leaders of the G8 nations vowed in L'Aquila to honour their promises to Africa and make up a $25-billion aid shortfall, but anti-poverty campaigners were not alone in demanding action not words.
Stephen Gelb, who heads up the Edge Institute in Johannesburg said "I don't take these pledges seriously because they don't carry any punishment if they're not met. No country is going to be kicked out of the G8 because it hasn't given aid to Africa."
Assefa Admassie of the Ethiopian Economic Association warned that the G8 "never honour their commitment[s]."
The solution, for him, is for Africans to take matters into their own hands. "We can't only blame G8 or multilateral organisations," he said. "We have to put our own houses in order."
Source: Mail & Guardian
The days of undue Group of Eight influence on their lot may be numbered, given admissions at this month's summit gathering Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the US in Italy's earthquake-hit L'Aquila.
But the G14 some believe will now take precedence -- adding emerging economic giants Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, plus Egypt -- may not offer much more, despite including two African voices at the table.
Neither South Africa nor Egypt could ever be said to represent the vast swathes of sub-Saharan Africa to which most aid is directed.
The leaders of the G8 nations vowed in L'Aquila to honour their promises to Africa and make up a $25-billion aid shortfall, but anti-poverty campaigners were not alone in demanding action not words.
Stephen Gelb, who heads up the Edge Institute in Johannesburg said "I don't take these pledges seriously because they don't carry any punishment if they're not met. No country is going to be kicked out of the G8 because it hasn't given aid to Africa."
Assefa Admassie of the Ethiopian Economic Association warned that the G8 "never honour their commitment[s]."
The solution, for him, is for Africans to take matters into their own hands. "We can't only blame G8 or multilateral organisations," he said. "We have to put our own houses in order."
Source: Mail & Guardian
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
China Working on Further National Plan to Address Climate Change: Official
A senior Chinese official told Xinhua Tuesday that the country is working on a national plan to further cope with the issue of climate change.
"We are working on a further national plan based on a longer term in a bid to strengthen the enforcement of international treaties about the issue," Xie said.
The plan is aimed to better tackle the climate change and boost economic growth in the meantime, Xie added.
The Chinese chief climate negotiator did not elaborate the plan, only saying that the country eyes on accumulating useful experiences to establish a low-carbon economy through some pilot projects.
In 2007, a national leading group on climate change, headed by Premier Wen Jiabao, was set up to oversee the issues related to climate change.
In the same year, the Chinese government issued the National Climate Change Program, the first of its kind issued by a developing country, which worked out the strategies and measures to tackle climate change.
China's "green" determination has been boosted by the country's achievements in its environmental initiatives. Figures show China's energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped 4.59 percent in 2008, and 10.08 percent from 2006 to 2008.
Source: China Radio International
"We are working on a further national plan based on a longer term in a bid to strengthen the enforcement of international treaties about the issue," Xie said.
The plan is aimed to better tackle the climate change and boost economic growth in the meantime, Xie added.
The Chinese chief climate negotiator did not elaborate the plan, only saying that the country eyes on accumulating useful experiences to establish a low-carbon economy through some pilot projects.
In 2007, a national leading group on climate change, headed by Premier Wen Jiabao, was set up to oversee the issues related to climate change.
In the same year, the Chinese government issued the National Climate Change Program, the first of its kind issued by a developing country, which worked out the strategies and measures to tackle climate change.
China's "green" determination has been boosted by the country's achievements in its environmental initiatives. Figures show China's energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped 4.59 percent in 2008, and 10.08 percent from 2006 to 2008.
Source: China Radio International
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The next urban crisis: poverty and climate change
Global climate change and poverty are inextricably interconnected. The best way to break one is to bend the other.the dangers of global poverty and climate crises will be especially acute in cities because accelerating, unplanned urbanization around the world tends to concentrate low-income people in high risk areas, on ecologically fragile land, desperately vulnerable to the consequences of imminent and worsening climate disruption.
The reason is clear: more people live in cities than ever before. In 1950, the earth’s total population was 2.2 billion and New York was the only metropolis with a population greater than 10 million. In the years since, the planet’s population tripled, concentrating in cities, most of which are located in developing countries. Within a decade, more than 500 cities will have populations exceeding one million. By 2020, seven cities in developing countries will have more than 20 million inhabitants. These are not cities with picture-postcard skylines. UN-HABITAT projects that within three decades, one of every three human beings will live in near total squalor – packed tightly on low-lying land, lacking sanitation and clean water, increasingly susceptible to the wrath of a warming world. Cities historically have been engines of vitality – crossroads of commerce and culture. Now, they are at the epicenter of climate change’s impact.
According to the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the earth is likely to experience at least another century of warming. The only realistic solution for cities is stronger resilience: integrated urban planning, land use regulation, water management, infrastructure investment, and emergency preparedness. The private sector and national governments alike must support these adaptation efforts with wider access to insurance, healthcare, and the financial resources to encourage and expand effective programs.
Greater resilience is possible – and without bank-breaking expense. There's often resistance to adaptive solutions for fear of huge costs. The best ideas, however, are not necessarily the priciest, and many are already deployed in developing cities that have little flexibility in their budgets. Durban, South Africa, for example, incorporates ongoing climate risk assessment, adaptation, and mitigation into long-term city planning. To pilot innovative services and solutions, the Rockefeller Foundation recently launched the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network. This work emerged as one response to a consensus that communities in Southeast Asia’s urban areas find themselves in great peril. During the next three decades, 60 percent of the world’s population increase will occur in Asia’s cities and eight in 10 of the countries most vulnerable to climate change’s reach will be located on the continent. By mid-century, climate change could subject 132 million people in Asia to resurgent hunger and poverty – and a full billion could struggle to find fresh water.
The Rockefeller Foundation's intervention is also designed to test strategies that can be adopted in other urban regions. The Asian Cities Network – an alliance of governments and donors, scientists, academics, and planners, health care and emergency service providers – will chart new approaches for cities everywhere to prepare for and recover from the global climate crisis’ very local impacts. It will link circuitry to help diverse partners and policymakers learn from best-practices. And it will aggressively court governments and donors who can bring successful approaches to scale.
We can all agree that solving the global poverty and climate crises are not contradictory, but rather complementary – and increasingly urgent – opportunities. Yet, as a global community, we must redouble our commitments to equip those most vulnerable to the three-headed hydra of climate-risk, poverty, and urbanization, especially against the backdrop of continued economic contraction. Each successive day we do not act brings us all closer to catastrophe. City by city, we can and must prepare to cope with what’s coming.
[Climate Change Resilience]
Source: Worldbank
The reason is clear: more people live in cities than ever before. In 1950, the earth’s total population was 2.2 billion and New York was the only metropolis with a population greater than 10 million. In the years since, the planet’s population tripled, concentrating in cities, most of which are located in developing countries. Within a decade, more than 500 cities will have populations exceeding one million. By 2020, seven cities in developing countries will have more than 20 million inhabitants. These are not cities with picture-postcard skylines. UN-HABITAT projects that within three decades, one of every three human beings will live in near total squalor – packed tightly on low-lying land, lacking sanitation and clean water, increasingly susceptible to the wrath of a warming world. Cities historically have been engines of vitality – crossroads of commerce and culture. Now, they are at the epicenter of climate change’s impact.
According to the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the earth is likely to experience at least another century of warming. The only realistic solution for cities is stronger resilience: integrated urban planning, land use regulation, water management, infrastructure investment, and emergency preparedness. The private sector and national governments alike must support these adaptation efforts with wider access to insurance, healthcare, and the financial resources to encourage and expand effective programs.
Greater resilience is possible – and without bank-breaking expense. There's often resistance to adaptive solutions for fear of huge costs. The best ideas, however, are not necessarily the priciest, and many are already deployed in developing cities that have little flexibility in their budgets. Durban, South Africa, for example, incorporates ongoing climate risk assessment, adaptation, and mitigation into long-term city planning. To pilot innovative services and solutions, the Rockefeller Foundation recently launched the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network. This work emerged as one response to a consensus that communities in Southeast Asia’s urban areas find themselves in great peril. During the next three decades, 60 percent of the world’s population increase will occur in Asia’s cities and eight in 10 of the countries most vulnerable to climate change’s reach will be located on the continent. By mid-century, climate change could subject 132 million people in Asia to resurgent hunger and poverty – and a full billion could struggle to find fresh water.
The Rockefeller Foundation's intervention is also designed to test strategies that can be adopted in other urban regions. The Asian Cities Network – an alliance of governments and donors, scientists, academics, and planners, health care and emergency service providers – will chart new approaches for cities everywhere to prepare for and recover from the global climate crisis’ very local impacts. It will link circuitry to help diverse partners and policymakers learn from best-practices. And it will aggressively court governments and donors who can bring successful approaches to scale.
We can all agree that solving the global poverty and climate crises are not contradictory, but rather complementary – and increasingly urgent – opportunities. Yet, as a global community, we must redouble our commitments to equip those most vulnerable to the three-headed hydra of climate-risk, poverty, and urbanization, especially against the backdrop of continued economic contraction. Each successive day we do not act brings us all closer to catastrophe. City by city, we can and must prepare to cope with what’s coming.
[Climate Change Resilience]
Source: Worldbank
Friday, January 2, 2009
Global Warming Causes Severe Storms
Research Meteorologists found that the temperature changes brought on by global warming are significant enough to cause an increase in the occurrence of severe storms. Severe storms are those that cause flooding, have damaging winds, hail and could cause tornados. Their study revealed that by the end of this century, the number of days that favor severe storms could more than double certain locations, such as Atlanta and New York.
Researchers also found that this increase would occur during typical stormy seasons and not during dry seasons when it may be beneficial.
Source: Science Daily
Researchers also found that this increase would occur during typical stormy seasons and not during dry seasons when it may be beneficial.
Source: Science Daily
Friday, July 25, 2008
How climate change threatens Africa's food security
Climate change has a profound and unavoidable effect on food security in Africa, as increasing temperatures and shifting rain patterns reduce access to food across the continent.
This transpired at a conference on global warming and climate change that started in Cape Town on July 21 and ended on Thursday. The discussion was organised by South Africa’s Fynbos Foundation, which aims to realise investment in the media, publishing, arts and culture sectors, and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University in the United States.
The relationship between climate change and food security is complex. Many factors influence food security, which means that often "the link is not even made between failed crops and changing weather patterns", Dr Gina Ziervogel, senior researcher at the Climate Systems Analysis Group at the University of Cape Town, told the conference.
Source: Mail & Guardian
This transpired at a conference on global warming and climate change that started in Cape Town on July 21 and ended on Thursday. The discussion was organised by South Africa’s Fynbos Foundation, which aims to realise investment in the media, publishing, arts and culture sectors, and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University in the United States.
The relationship between climate change and food security is complex. Many factors influence food security, which means that often "the link is not even made between failed crops and changing weather patterns", Dr Gina Ziervogel, senior researcher at the Climate Systems Analysis Group at the University of Cape Town, told the conference.
Source: Mail & Guardian
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