MR BUSH says he will go to Rio
as he is now satisfied with the
global agreement of climate.
Nothing can be a sharper indictment of the climate convention.
Whereas the world needs long-term cuts in greenhouse gas
emissions, the western nations
on whom the onus of change
falls, have not even agreed to stabilise their current emissions. To
help Bush get to Rio, the bid to
make stabilisation targets
mandatory was dropped and a
weasel phrase, "with the aim
of..." was included.
For countries of the South,
the framework convention is
fundamentally flawed as it makes no attempt to establish the South's share of the atmosphere, and hence its
right to claim compensation for the damages caused.
Every attempt has been made to dilute the responsibility of the North for current and historical pollution.
While mentioning common but differentiated responsibilities of nations, the North insisted on adding the
word "capabilities". It now means that the industrialised countries take the lead to cut emissions, because
they are more capable of doing so, and not because
they are solely responsible for the pollution in the
atmosphere. The US delegation had remarked, "We all
agree that industrialised countries should take the
lead, but we do not agree why". The South, in spite of
its insistence, was not able to get the convention to
say that "unsustainable consumption patterns" lead to
global warming.
The North is obviously shying away from its
responsibility and acting like a bully. But, the South,
by giving in to the convention, is
cutting the very tree on which it
sits. The Indian government,
which undoubtedly remained the
strongest voice for Southern
interests, was made up of a
bunch of diplomats and bureaucrats for whom the single
demand was additionality of aid
and technology transfer. Two
much repeated and abused
demands of the South. What was
needed instead was to build up
public opinion both in India as
well as abroad of the need to
share the earth's resources. And
to demand, rightfully and morally, an equal share of the atmosphere. And then promise discipline to stay within
one's share. If the bully cannot be conquered, it should
have been shamed into behaving itself.
The climate framework apes the Montreal convention of protecting the ozone layer. And compounds its faults. Both conventions are bad for the entire world as they set no svstem of disciplined use of a common
resource - to atmosphere. They do not acknowledge
that all countries share the lesource and not just the
burden of cleaning up the mess, and, in turn, establish
clear responsibilities for the misuse. And bind the
errant nations to compensate for their historical and
current overuse of common resources.
The North owes the South an enormous natural
debt for colonising its ecological space. The Southers
governments, including India, are selling away their
peoples' rights for a fistful of dollars and mortgaging
the interests of their future generations. Some officials
call this a pragmatic attitude.
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