They came, They saw & They talked...But what did they
Do?
As we go to press on Thursday last week the UNFCC Conference
Bali in Nusa Dua was switching into high gear with the opening
of what’s called the High Level Segment last Wednesday.
The President of Indonesia made welcome Mr Ban Ki-moon, UN
Secretary General, Australian PM Michael Rudd and a raft of
other big wigs, constituting the highest level at which the
190 participating countries wanted to participate in addressing
the issue of global warming. Arnie, had landed, Al Gore was
onway, Leonardo di Caprio was supposed to be arriving sometime,
and heavy hitting democratic Senators John Kerry and Barbara
Boxer had arrived, hopefully to invigorate a pusillanimous
US delegation or failing that, return to Washington with an
almighty global stick to beat the chastened but still blustering
bushes hunkered down in the White House bunker.
In a new departure in order to facilitate progress at the
UNFCCC, President Yudhoyono had invited trade ministers from
many countries for talks over the preceding weekend followed
by finance ministers on Monday and Tuesday. In the previous
week national delegations had chewed over the agenda the UN
bureaucrats and the scientists had presented them, while a
shipload of environmental NGO’s and other interested
parties lobbied frantically. Over 1,200 media men observed
the process somewhat bemusedly, trying to make some kind of
sense out of it all for the waiting world outside the Nusa
Dua capsule.
Now, all that remains is for the Big Wigs to see where the
all this effort has got us, resolve any road blocks and announce
to us all what we’re going to do about global warming
and how soon we’re going to do it. Just talk, talk about
taking action, or take action... now.
Let’s massively simplify what’s going on here.
The scientists have spoken. They’ve told us we are indeed
in trouble. Global warming is real, it will have catastrophic
effects for us all if allowed to exceed 2 degrees but, we
can squeak through without financially crippling ourselves
if by 2050 green house gas emission (GHG’s) stop growing
and start to fall. For this to happen the world has to agree
by 2012 how to reduce GHG’s by 20% to 40% from 2020
onward. And that’s why the world has come to Bali, to
agree a fixed agenda or roadmap by 2009 at the UNFCCC Copenhagen.
That’s it. If that is done, the UN tells us, Bali has
been successful.
Simple maybe, but not so easy. Post-Bali negotiations need
go through two stages, before the 2009 deadline. First, what
should total emissions be on global basis? Second, who gets
what share of the available (emissions) cake. The first of
these negotiations will be extraordinarily difficult. The
second, harder yet, depending upon the size of the cake on
offer. The bitter rows in Bali make that abundantly clear.
This is where Mr Ban, UN Secretary General and his clout with
national leaders comes in. Environment ministers are never
going to be able to do the deal on their own. Mr Ban can reach
out much more widely to world leaders. But how exactly he
plans to achieve this very difficult and by no means assured
task between now & 2009 remains to be seen.
Heroes & Villains
Any major international conference, especially one that lasts
for almost two weeks is bound to develop good guys and bad
guys. At UNFCCC Bali the good guys in no particular order
are:
Bali: for being Bali.
Indonesia: for being able to host and organise a huge event
so well.
The Indonesian President & Delegation: for inviting trade
and finance ministers to the UNFCC and for the REDD initiative,
firmly putting de-forestation on the agenda.
The European Union: for unilaterally stating they will cut
GHG emissions by 20% by 2020 and increase that to 30% if other
countries sign up for significant carbon emission caps; for
leading the charge and shaming the Americans into attendance.
The UN: in the person of Secretary General, Mr Ban, who quickly
got behind and pushed the process. The UNFCCC, in the articulate,
direct and personable form of Yvo de Boer & staff, who
have somehow kept all these parties moving along in roughly
the right direction
The Chinese: for accepting they will have to play their part
in curbing the growth of their GHG emissions and a willingness
to consider mandatory caps on that.
The USA: all those mayors, Arnie and state governors, senators
and congressmen, who have in bi-partisan fashion ignored the
current Bush administration and voted for major caps on carbon
emissions, fuel efficiency laws etc. The fact that, despite
Bush, America still funds and plays a major part in many other
initiatives, financial and environmental, in other world bodies.
Australia: Good guy or bad guy? The jury’s out. Huzzahs
for ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. But where do they stand
on mandatory caps and supporting the Bush position? Agreeing
to Kyoto may in fact have been the easy bit. With the cessation
of fires to clear land in Queensland emissions will fall close
to Kyoto requirements anyway. Where does Labour go from here?
The Bad Guys:
Top of the list by a mile, USA’s Bush administration,
the only party who has not ratified Kyoto, who continues to
cast doubt on the IPCC and aspects of its scientific evidence,
most particularly the goal of a 25% to 40% emission reduction
by 2050.
Other members of the Umbrella Group: Canada, Japan, Australia(?)
and yes, New Zealand. Canada needs to get shot of the dreadful
Harper government as soon as possible if it’s going
to regain its environmental credentials. At the moment the
Alberta clique seem to be leading the nation in service to
the US, unsustainably stripping millions of hectares of boreal
forest off the land to exploit the oil shale for all its worth.
Japan, for being a US stooge and calling the Kyoto process
in question.
Saudi Arabia for seeking to derail the whole process if it
can and illogically expecting to be compensated for the oil
it will sell at vast profit anyway.
Malaysia: for the corporate greed of its government, for being
in the pocket of the oil palm plantation owners, for despoiling
its own land and forests, and for now trying to do the same
in Indonesia, speciously dangling the promise of a million
jobs and untold riches before the Indonesian government.
India: a major player, for being invisible and hence part
of the problem rather than solution
More on Mangroves & Suwung Tip
It seems comment in this column and elsewhere about the disgraceful
state of the Suwung Tip and the sadly depleted Benoa mangroves
forest hit a nerve with someone somewhere. A press notice
was issued to the UNFCCC media centre in Nusa Dua by the Badung
Regency to say it is not responsible as the tip is privately
owned. Well that’s nice to know. But who was it who
licensed the company that does operate the tip, without any
environmental oversight? And, who over the years progressively
allowed shrimp farms and other private and publicly owned
concerns to reduce the mangroves by half? And, while we’re
about it, who was it that gave environmental approvals or
“exceptions” to the two stalled mega projects
for Benoa and Serangan Island comprising well over 1,000 ha
when reputable environmental consultants had warned most clearly
against them? Mega projects that could proceed at any time,
only requiring new financing to be found and which have already
devastated Serangan and altered Benoa Harbour irreversibly.
Some comment too, about Nusa Dua hotels trucking their effluence
out of sight, out of mind, off into the mangroves. There are
some good guys here also, but some definite hold outs (they
know who they are). Here from Olivier Pouillon of Jimbaran
Lestari, who’ve done tireless good work in this quarter
in what, up till now, has been an uphill task:
Dear ParacelsusAsia,
Thanks for the latest article on the hotel’s dumping.
I work for a local Balinese waste management company. Yeah,
you might think it’s a contradiction, but yes we exist,
in fact for over 13 years.
Your article and others, as well as the curiosity and concern
by the delegates at the UN Conference, has helped draw attention
to what is happening right under the nose of the conference.
We have been working behind the scenes for months to get the
hotel’s in the Nusa Dua area that aren’t being
responsible to change but with limited success. Now they have
mud on their face and we remain there to clean up the mess.
More info: Report from Bali at www.environmentalleader.com
Regards,
Olivier Pouillon
for Jimbaran Lestari
Taking Responsibility
One thing is very clear in the entire process of concern for
the planet we live in and now befoul; we must take responsibility,
jointly and severally. Responsibility for our own personal
behaviour and responsibility, where we can, to ensure that
the people who represent us walk the talk and obey the rules.
Bali and Indonesia already have all the right laws in place
to protect the environment, but they are routinely ignored.
Do that for decades and not only do you destroy any temporary
advantage you personally may have reaped, but you ruin the
place for everyone else. In Spain they are actually having
to tear down miles of illegally built shoreline developments.
Bali developers please take note. In the final analysis it
is of course the Balinese themselves who have to protect Bali,
in the best way they know how. The means are ready to hand.
It’s called....a voice and a vote.
