Center for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based NGO active in conservation sector, had invited journalists from all South Asian countries to expose American perspective and Indian concern vis-à-vis climate change. The US government´s high-handedness in the conflict between the developed and developing countries with regard to climate change was not something unheard of, however, what Sharan told us evidently established our presumption. And, it was not just Bangladesh. The message Obama conveyed to all developing countries suffering the effects of climate change, arguably caused by developed countries including the US, was clear: "Keep quiet, if you want to receive more foreign aid from us."
The precondition put forward by Obama was clear: The Kyoto Protocol should be scrapped in the first place and a new convention, lenient toward the developed countries that mostly emit carbon, be put in place. Only then will the US continue with its support to developing countries in their fights against the effects of climate change. India and China, along with other countries, have been piling pressure on the US to endorse the Kyoto Protocol. They are of the view that only the endorsement of the Kyoto Protocol by the US will help introduce compulsory laws against pollution.
Sharan has expressed his premonition that the COP-16 conference, which kicked off in Cancun of Mexico on Dec 1, will yield no significant result owing mainly to the US´s rigid stance. Sharan alone does not think so in India. After all, he was invited in the workshop to put forward India´s official view on issues related to climate change. The US always gets irritated whenever some country raises the issue of managing carbon dioxide gas gathered in atmosphere for over the past two decades. The US has long been brushing aside the issue of managing carbon emitted by it before the world woke up to the serious threat posed by climate change. Instead, the US wants to contribute only in managing carbon being emitted at present. And, this is too in proportion of carbon it emits.
India and China, among other various countries, have been criticizing the US policy. In order to become the superpower in the world, the US had brought about industrial revolution many years ago. As a consequence of this, an alarmingly large amount of carbon dioxide gathered in the atmosphere. And, the entire world, not the US alone, has had to bear the brunt of climate change caused by excessive carbon emission. Mostly, developing countries have suffered the impact of climate change.
If strict measures to cut carbon emission are not seriously put in place right now, the impact of climate change will be huge; and it will soon spiral out of control. This is what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says. In its report submitted to the secretariat of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)-Kyoto Protocol, the IPCC has recommended that the greenhouse gas gathered in atmosphere since 1990 should be reduced by 40-45 percent. This has turned out to be a headache to the US. The US says the world should focus on controlling carbon emission in the years to come. On the contrary, the greatest worry of scientists across the world is the previously emitted carbon gas.
The Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce the total carbon emission of 1990 by 5.2 percent until 2012. The US, arguably the major contributor to carbon emission, has yet not signed the Protocol; and less likely to do so even in future, given what it has been asserting all these years. As the Protocol is not a compulsory law, a question arises: How does the portion of carbon emitted by the US get reduced? The US´s stance has scared other developing countries.
The effects of climate change cannot be done away with so long as the US does not change its policy of warning developing countries rather than signing the Kyoto Protocol. Let alone the Cancun conference, no summit on climate change will succeed as long as the US policy continues.
"The US has already developed itself by emitting as much carbon as it could. Now, the US wants us to not emit carbon," Sunita Narain, Director of CSE, said. "The US has been cheating on us. It has always refused to sign the protocol by flexing its financial muscle." Linking carbon gas emission with the country´s economy and trade, she said, "This is why the US is indifferent to this issue." According to the CSE, the amount of carbon emitted by the US from 1980 to 2006 is double than China and seven times higher than India´s emission. However, let alone endorsing the Kyoto Protocol, the US is not ready even to amend the convention which the Protocol is a part of.
In the COP-15, G-77, a group of 77 developing countries in the United Nations (UN), China and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) had stressed on the continuity of the Kyoto Protocol and Long Term Cooperative Action. However, developed countries including the US stood in opposition of the Kyoto Protocol. The Cancun summit, a follow up to the COP-15, will not be an exception. The US expressed its commitment to cut the greenhouse gas by 17 percent till 2020. However, developing countries view it as merely a political commitment, which does not necessarily come into implementation.
Developing and least-developed countries want a certain portion (1.5 percent) of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from developed countries. Developed countries rejected there demands outright in the COP-15. Obama appeared a little bit generous. He expressed his commitment to donate a certain percentage of America´s GDP, albeit not on par with developing countries´ demand, for climate change. Again, Obama´s commitment is political in its nature. His successors need not necessarily follow the suit. Hence, the signing of the Protocol is a must.
The effects of climate change cannot be done away with so long as the US does not change its policy of warning developing countries rather than signing the Kyoto Protocol. Let alone the Cancun conference, no summit on climate change will succeed as long as the US policy continues. Hence, the ball is in the American court.
subodh2060@yahoo.com
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