FOE Cymru Press Releases relating to Climate Change
Failure of The Hague Conference - too important for personal recriminations
(The following letter from FOE Rhondda Local Group was published in the
Western Mail (2/12/00). It was based partly on details in the FOE Cymru
press release below.)
It is unfortunate that reporting of the Cimate Summit in the Hague has
concentrated so much on the exchange of insults between Mr Prescott and
Mme Voynet and so little on the consequences of failing to make progress
toward implementing the Kyoto Treaty.
The reference to forest and vegetation cutting carbon emissions (27 November)
was very misleading. It is a creative accountancy trick to make the numbers
smaller while the amount of carbon dioxide increases.
Vegetation has the effect of converting carbon dioxide into oxygen - hence
the term "carbon sink". If it didn't exist we would suffocate.
There would be some logic if it were proposed to reduce atmospheric carbon
dioxide by planting fresh forests, while protecting existing vegetation. That
is not what was on offer.
Globally the amount of vegetation is decreasing. More carbon dioxide is being
produced and less is being removed through photosynthesis. The Greenhouse
Effect is being reinforced rather than reduced.
The consequence of failure to reverse this trend will be that high winds
and flooding can be expected to become more frequent and more severe.
Speaking on Radio 4, Environment Minister Michael Meacher said recently,
"We cannot take risks with Global Warming. It is the greatst challenge we
face today." The implications for our future and our children's future
are enormous and we must not be distracted by a clash between two ministers
with similar responsiblities in two different countries at a particular
point in time.
Friends of the Earth International has published six top reasons why the
proposed Pronk deal at the Hague talks is "junk".
1.It allows greenhouse gas emissions to rise by the end of the first
commitment period (2008-2012). Even on a strict reading of the Pronk text,
it could allow emissions to rise by more than 5%. This is the exact opposite
of the whole point of the Kyoto Treaty which set a world reduction target of
5.2%.
2.It allows a giant "free gift" to the United States of at least 50 million
carbon tonnes a year towards their Kyoto Targets, by counting CO2
sequestered by existing forests and farmlands. It also allows forest
projects in the Clean Development Mechanism, creating another huge loophole
in the Treaty and encouraging the destruction of old growth forests and
their replacement by monoculture plantations.
3.It fails to protect developing countries, which will suffer most from the
effects of climate change.
4.It creates a giant market in hot air trading, which will be exploited for
profit by multinational companies like DuPont and Texaco, which have done
so much to create pollution from fossil fuels in the first place.
5.It fails to exclude nuclear power from the Joint Implementation mechanism,
allowing developed countries to finance, build and extend the life of
nuclear stations in former Soviet and Eastern European countries.
6.It gives the US exactly what it sought on compliance - only requiring
countries that fail to meet their Kyoto targets in the first commitment
period to add to their targets in the next. The EU demand for strict
financial penalties has been dropped.
"The Pronk deal is junk. In fact, it will render the Kyoto Treaty less an
agreement on the environment than a squalid deal on international trade. The
very countries and companies which created the disaster of man-made climate
change are now manoeuvring to profit from it. Unless major changes are made
at the eleventh hour, many people will pay with their lives, homes and jobs
for this second rate stitch up".
Friday 24th November 2000
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