Video: Special Envoy Stern Discusses COP-17

Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change, discusses COP 16 and COP 17 at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, D.C. on November 22, 2011. Stern reviews the agreement reached at COP 16 and the fate of the Kyoto Protocol.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Video: One South African Asks Why Canada is Silent on Climate Change

In this video, a women from South Africa discusses how the climate has changed effecting agriculture in South Africa. She also asks questions about Canada's conspicuous silence on the issue of climate change and the importance of reaching a binding international agreement.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Video: COP 17 & CMOP 7 Opening Remarks

The opening remarks at COP 17 focus on the soon to expire Kyoto Protocol and operationalizing the agreements at COP 16 including the Green Carbon Fund. This speaker emphasizes the urgency of acting now.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Who is to Blame for the Failure of COP 17?

As COP 17 comes to a close, European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard blamed China and India for resisting the EU-designed “road map” designed to succeed the Kyoto Protocol which is set to expire in 2012.

Although support has grown for the EU plan, it may not be enough. African nations, 43 island states and 48 of the world’s least developed countries have said that they back the EU plan for binding targets by 2015. Even Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent said Ottawa had forged a partnership with small island states

The EU roadmap calls for UN talks to agree on a mandate to negotiate by 2015, a new climate deal covering all major economies, in return for the bloc signing up to a second period of emissions cuts under the existing Kyoto treaty.

The EU wants action from other countries as the Kyoto Protocol, which was never ratified by the US and does not cover major economies such as China, accounts for just 15% of world greenhouse gas emissions.

US agreement is difficult due to opposition from Congress, which must ratify any treaty. Nonetheless, climate change envoy Todd Stern said Washington supports an EU roadmap to a new treaty. Stern told reporters. “The EU has called for a roadmap (to a future deal). We support that.” However, last night the US said it would not agree to talks for a legally binding deal.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Hope Remains Despite a Dissapointing Outcome at COP 17

The COP 17 climate negotiations wrap up today in Durban, South Africa. Although there are very low expectations, some optimism remains. However unlikely, it is not impossible for developed and developing countries to compromise and reach an agreement on equitable and enforceable targets to reduce CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions.

The UN’s climate change chief Christina Figueres stated that “future commitments by industrial countries to slash greenhouse gas emissions is the defining issue of this conference."

"We are in Durban with one purpose: to find a common solution that will secure a future to generations to come," said Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South Africa’s international relations minister who is chairing the summit.

As though to reinforce the urgency of a solution, an unusual torrential storm hit Durban on the eve of the conference. The storm prompted Figueres to say “Although the unseasonable storm cannot be directly linked to climate change, it is the kind of extreme weather that scientists say is happening more often.”

Even if we do not see the groundbreaking progress we need, the negotiations will proceed beyond the end of COP 17. Although the situation may look bleak, we must continue to hope because when it comes to managing climate change failure is not an option.

Figueres, quoting Nelson Mandela said, "It always seems impossible until it is done."

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

China an Unlikely Hero at Cop 17

China is often criticized for being the world’s biggest carbon emitter, but at COP 17 the country has emerged as an unlikely hero. China is in the process of reinventing itself and it is looking increasingly towards the green economy to do so. Chinese delegation head Xie Zhenhua said China might be willing to sign a legally binding agreement for reducing emissions.


If certain preconditions are met China would consider signing a binding agreement. “China is open,” Xie told reporters at COP 17.

According to booklet at the country’s official pavilion China is interested in “Working hard to tackle climate change.”

These claims as more than just hot air as China's new five-year government plan makes the country a global leader with its green growth and low-carbon initiatives.

However, China has repeatedly stated that as a developing nation, with no historical responsibility for carbon emissions, it cannot be held to the same standards as industrialized countries.
“China will shoulder the responsibility that is appropriate to its development,” Xie reiterated Monday.

South African international relations minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said "China is laying its cards on the table. Other negotiators will be laying the cards on the table and work then gets escalated. And that is what makes us hopeful we are moving in the right direction,” she said.

Despite a steller communications initiative China is unlikely to consider signing an internationally binding deal until after 2015, when a scientific assessment ends, and it wouldn’t take effect until 2020 at the earliest.

Until then China will focus on its domestic policies related to climate change, and the particularly tough task of implementing emissions controls in a country with runaway growth and the world’s biggest population.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

The Costs of Global Warming

The costs of reducing emissions are frequently cited as reasons for inaction, however these assessments fail to factor the much greater costs of unchecked climate change. Already we are seeing massive costs from drought, famine, flooding and extreme weather.  Global warming causing greenhouse gas emissions continue to escalate increasing beyond the worst predictions of the UN’s climate experts. These costs will only increase as global warming worsens.

The World Meteorological Organisation has reported that heat-trapping carbon dioxide concentrations in the air have increased by 39 per cent to 389 parts per million. These are the highest concentrations since the start of the industrial era in 1750.

The costs of climate change are more than just financial. Emission increases are causing global temperature rises and when the growing population is factored into the equation the earth's carrying capacity is being exceeded by growing demand.

Agricultural yields are amongst the areas hardest hit by global warming and this will lead to skyrocketing food costs and mass starvation.

There is more than enough scientific evidence for concerted global action now. The costs of doing nothing to manage climate change are too great to bear.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

A Binding Agreement on Climate Change is a Matter of Life and Death

Many of the participants at COP 17 do not appear to acknowledge that a binding agreement on climate change is a matter of life and death. Failure to address climate change will cause mass starvation and completely inundate some island nations.

Climate change will also seriously impede the earth's ability to provide the basic requirements of life like food and potable water.

"For most people in the developing countries and Africa, climate change is a matter of life and death,” South African President Jacob Zuma said at the opening of the COP 17 conference.

“Africa has contributed least to the buildup of greenhouse gases globally, but will be in the frontline of the adverse effects of climate change,” said Edna Molewa, South Africa’s minister of environmental affairs at the start of the summit. "Many Africans unfortunately already have firsthand experience of the suffering that climate change can cause,” she said, adding: "Finding a workable way forward is the defining issue of this conference.”

In the Arctic, climate change is already making life very difficult for the Inuit. Climate change is making it nearly impossible for hunters to forecast the weather from signs in nature. Climate change is also causing ice to melt unexpectedly and the snows to come late. The thinning ice has already almost killed one man from Arviat when his snowmobile broke through the ice and he fell into the frigid waters below.

If left unchecked, global warming will lead to the extinction of polar bears and in the absence of action on emissions reductions, humans are sure to follow.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Canada is a Pariah at COP 17

Canada is being heavily criticized at the UN climate summit in Durban for failing to work on global climate change issues. With next to no delegation at the summit, Canada is rightly being accused of not being serious about efforts to manage climate change.

Archbishop Tutu and other prominent Africans signed a petition against Canada, published as an ad in ECO, a daily newsletter at the conference, urging Canada to take action on climate change. "Now is the time for Canada to tackle climate change, which will impact millions of people, instead of supporting multinational oil companies," the ad said.

"Canada, you were once considered a leader on global issues like human rights and environmental protection. Today you’re home to polluting tar sands oil, speeding the dangerous effects of climate change. For us in Africa, climate change is a life and death issue," it said.

China's official Xinhua news agency said Canada is "setting a bad example" to other developed countries, following reports that Ottawa is planning to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol. If Canada withdraws from the Kyoto Protocol "it will further hurt the international community's endeavor to cope with climate change" and "will definitely add to the obstacles in our negotiation," said the Xinhua report.

South Africa's Eyewitness News said Canada has "moved from hero in defending human rights to zero on environmental protection."

Canada also has the dubious distinction of being awarded the "Fossil of the Day." The award is given by the group Climate Action Network to countries said to be blocking progress on negotiations.

On an index released Tuesday by a German nonprofit group Canada ranked a dismal 54th, two spots below the US, for failing to do enough to prevent climate change.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

US Demands Emissions Reductions from China and India

The United States, the world's second-largest polluter after China, made it clear that as a condition for a binding agreement on emissions reductions, major developing country emitters like China and India must be part of any legally binding agreement.

At a COP 17 press briefing, Todd Stern, the US chief envoy in Durban, said at that any future global deal on climate change would have to be equally binding on all countries, including China, with “no trap doors, no Swiss cheese.”

“In order for there to be a legally binding agreement that makes sense, all the major players are going to have to be in,” Stern said.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

COP 17 a Premeditated Failure

In her speech opening COP 17, Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, highlighted the importance of industrialized countries committing to cut greenhouse gas emissions, pointing to the devastating effects of climate change in developing countries.

Wealthier nations also have an important role to play financing the Green Climate Fund. However, the global economic crisis is causing wealthier nations to shy away from the Green Climate Fund intended to help poorer nations that are badly affected by climate change, and yet least responsible for it.

The US is taking heat for its resistance to the Green Climate Fund. The US delegates are reportedly pushing for “cooptation of climate financing mechanisms,” which seeks funding from corporations and international financing institutions.

The US has joined Russia, Japan and Canada which have all refused to sign up to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

"Shame on you, Barack Obama, and the delegations from the US, Russia and Canada," Zwelinzima Vavi, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions said.

The Durban talks are being impeded by the continuing refusal of key industrialized countries to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to keep global warming below the internationally agreed upon guardrail of 2 degrees Celsius.

"Durban is a crime scene, KwaZulu-Natal is a crime scene, the African continent is a crime scene, the whole world is a crime scene," said Mr Vavi, referring to the effects of pollution and the release into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Protests Around the World Call for Climate Justice at COP 17

People are coming together around the world to demand climate justice. Climate change activists continue their protests at COP 17 in Durban, South Africa and some of the protestors at the Occupy movement are also calling for "climate justice." While the occupy protests may lack the focus to auger meaningful change, they represent a mass-movement of people seeking social change.

On Saturday December 3, on what was called the "Global Day of Action", about 20,000 people from all over the world took to the streets to protest inaction in Durban. One of the protestors demands is the renewal of the soon to expire Kyoto Protocol, the world’s only legally binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Today will be the beginning of a strong movement that is going to challenge the rich nations of the world," said Global Day of Action subcommittee convenor Desmond D’Sa.

"We march today to show our outrage. We want to give the ministers, who will arrive next week, a clear message: You cannot continue to make excuses." Action Aid international climate justice coordinator Harjeet Singh

Protests in Manilla were one of scores of marches and rallies around the world on Saturday that demanded “climate justice.”

Nanay Leleng and other leaders of progressive organizations who marched toward the US Embassy last Saturday, in a parallel protest action with other environmentalists of the rest of the world, called on the public to help put pressure on these rich nations’ leaders as they confer in Durban, South Africa.

The poor are in fact the hardest hit by this climate change, said Nanay Leleng national president of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay), as she led protesters who marched to the US Embassy in Manila.

The ILPS, through the office of its chairperson, said in a statement, “those who pay lip service to environmental concerns deliberately refuse to come up with a binding international agreement on climate change, the monopoly capitalists wantonly continue its control, exploitation and consumption of world resources at the expense of the impoverished people and ravaged environments of the world.”

Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change told protesters in Durban: "You know where we stand, here with you." To make this more than a hollow statement, member states must also stand with protestors and make a consorted effort to make progress before the end of COP 17 on December 9.

A critical mass of the general population can help to push political leaderships to seriously engage efforts to address climate change. The world is increasingly united in its demand that leaders reach an agreement on environmental issues.

"We demand urgent and strong action on climate change. We can’t just keep talking and keep wasting time," Singh said.

As Greenpeace has said, it is time to listen to the voices of ordinary people not polluters.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

UN Chief Warns that the Future of the Planet is at Stake at COP 17

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is warning deadlocked climate talks in Durban about the importance of finding solutions. "It would be difficult to overstate the gravity of this moment," Ban said "Without exaggeration, we can say: the future of our planet is at stake - people's lives, the health of the global economy, the very survival of some nations."

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks have been thwarted by disagreements about the future of the Kyoto Protocol. Contradictory views on the fate of Kyoto, must not be allowed to kill the world's only legally-binding treaty for curbing greenhouses gases.

"I urge you to carefully consider a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol," Ban said.

There are also concerns that economic problems make signing a binding agreement that much more difficult. However, these costs will pay lucrative dividends and the costs of inaction are unthinkable.

The UN chief said everyone had to be "realistic" about the chances of a breakthrough in Durban. "It may be true, as many say: the ultimate goal of a comprehensive and binding climate-change agreement may be beyond our reach, for now," Ban said.

"Yet let me emphasise: None of these uncertainties should prevent us from making real progress here in Durban."

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

The Costs of Canada's Failure to Act on Climate Change

In addition to degrading the Canadian and global environment, Canada's ruling Conservatives are imposing huge costs on Canadians. Rather than push for a binding global treaty on climate change in Durban South Africa, Canada is expected to withdraw from the Kyoto accord. Climate change will cost Canadians about $5 billion a year by 2020 and according to a new report, those cost could rise to as much as $91 billion a year by the 2050s.

"Climate change will be expensive for Canada and Canadians," says the September 2011 report from the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy. "Increasing greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide will exert a growing economic impact on our own country, exacting a rising price from Canadians as climate change impacts occur here at home," the report concludes.

The roundtable is a group of business leaders, academics and researchers chosen by the federal government to advise Ottawa on how to deal simultaneously with challenges in the economy and the environment.

The research reveals that the longer the effects of climate change are ignored, the costlier they become. "Our modelling ... shows there is a risk those costs could not be just higher, but much higher," the report adds. "Getting global emissions down is both in Canada's economic and environmental interest," said David McLaughlin, president of the roundtable.

It is somewhat ironic that the Conservative party derives considerable support from the west and the destructive impacts of climate change will be most dramatic in that part of the country. As the country with the largest coastline, Canada will also suffer heavy costs due to flooding.

In addition to increased health costs, the report estimates that global warming will lead to between five and 10 additional deaths per 100,000 people per year by 2050.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

India is Leading Resistance to a Binding Treaty at COP 17

India has emerged as the leading opponent to a binding treaty at the UN Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa (COP 17). India is the world's third largest carbon emitter and the country's C02 emissions are now growing at a rate of more than 9 percent a year. At COP 17, India has made it clear that it is choosing economic growth over efforts to reduce emissions.

India has joined with other emerging economies in advocating a renewal of the Kyoto Protocol. Under this treaty, developing nations like India and China have no obligations to make cuts to emissions and all the onus is put on Western industrialized countries.

However, Japan, Russia and Canada donot want to renew the protocol. The US has also withdrawn from Kyoto but it may be willing to sign on to the treaty if all nations (including India and China) participate in emissions reductions. Britain and the EU are trying to broker a compromise which would renew the protocol with a legally binding framework by which each country would be committed to take action over its CO2 emissions.

Failure to slow and reduce emissions will result in ongoing temperature increases which will prove disastrous for the planet and its inhabitants.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Polluters Dominate the Agenda at COP 17 in Durban

At the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17), 20,000 negotiators and stakeholders from nearly 200 countries are meeting in Durban, South Africa. Although many countries are taking steps to curb GHG emissions as part of the global fight against climate change, there is little hope of a binding international agreement this year. After COP 15 in Copenhagen, there was considerable well warranted pessimism, and after COP16 in Cancun, heightened expectations appear to have vanished.

Review of Last Year’s Conference of the Parties

Although there were serious difficulties and disagreements at COP16, there were some minor achievements. The COP16 Conference adopted the Cancun Agreements which offered a glimmer of hope that we could move towards a low-emissions future and support enhanced action on climate change in the developing world.

The text on emission cuts called for “urgent action” to cap temperature rises at no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, although it did not establish a clear mechanism for achieving the pledges made by the parties.

The parties also agreed to curb emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. Perhaps the most significant achievement of COP16 concerns pledges of financial assistance for the developing world, especially those in Africa. The parties agreed to set up the Green Climate Fund, which was intended to raise and disburse $100bn a year by 2020 to protect developing countries against climate impacts and assist them with low-carbon development. Sadly, the fate of the fund is in jeopardy as the U.S. is now rejecting the current concept of the Green Climate Fund.

Killing the Kyoto Protocol

Most disturbingly, COP 17 will likely see the end of the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol contains key rules to quantify and monitor efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and important market-based mechanisms that enable cost-effective mitigation. The Protocol is set to expire in 2012 and the U.S., Canada, Russia and Japan have indicated that they will not support an extension of the international agreement.

The U.S. team participating in UN climate change talks in Durban is resisting a proposed legally binding GHG emissions reduction treaty that would come into effect in 2020 and succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

Issues Impeding Progress

Despite the overarching dangers associated with climate change, the head of the U.N. climate panel, Rajendra Pachauri, warned the latest round of talks risk being bogged down by “short-term and narrow political considerations.”

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) said the “rather large elephant in the room” at the COP-17 was the ever-widening gap between the action needed to stem global warming and what is on the table this year.

UNEP says developed countries are “stuck on weaker, conditional pledges” and that the greenhouse gas emissions targets they have set themselves are “riddled with loopholes”. UNEP said in a newsletter distributed at the Durban talks that developed countries needed to “raise their game dramatically”.

To make matters worse, there is a profound lack of trust between the parties in Durban. As with previous meetings, the COP negotiations are breaking down over disagreements between rich and poor nations on GHG reductions. Developed countries want developing countries to restrict GHG emissions, but developing nations want the opportunity to grow and adapt with increased funding from developed countries.

African countries are already suffering from the effects of rising temperatures, even though their combined share of carbon emissions is negligible. However, the concerns of developing nations are being ignored by rich nations. Speaking at COP 17, South African President Jacob Zuma said, “For most people in the developing world and Africa, climate change is a matter of life and death.” He indicated that the failure to address climate change will decrease agricultural output in many African countries by about 50 percent by the year 2050, leading to food insecurity and a loss of livelihoods.

Rich Countries are Bullying the Developing World

According to a new report published by the World Development Movement, rich nations are employing divide-and-rule tactics and threatening to withhold much needed funds if developed nations dare to disagree. EU commissioner Connie Hedegaard apparently suggested island states could be coerced because they were desperate for money and other leading figures in western governments have been accused of using bullying tactics with developing countries.

Wealthy nations hold secret meetings, and then push poorer countries to accept their decisions. Countries like the U.S. are using unfair, undemocratic and even deceitful means to skew the climate change negotiations in their favor.

Devious tactics are also being employed to marginalize developing nations, which lack the resources of rich countries. One diplomat told the report’s authors:

“At one point in Copenhagen there were 26 meetings taking place simultaneously. How can a developing country delegation of two people possibly hope to cope? Developed countries sit down and delay, and just repeat inanities, and then they go out and tell the media that the developing countries are blocking the negotiations, and all the world believes it, even developing countries!”

A diplomat from the tiny Polynesian island of Tuvalu said: “Can I suggest that it looks like we are being offered 30 pieces of silver to betray our people and our future?”

Debunking the Economic Arguments

The most common reason cited for resistance to a binding climate change treaty is the economic costs. However, the success of many environmentally sustainable businesses refutes the cost argument and makes the case for the transition to a low carbon economy. In addition to being profitable, sustainable businesses create jobs and minimize their impact on the environment.

Although some try to make the case that environmental sustainability is bad for business, the truth is a strong business case can be made for sustainability. There are sustainable solutions to the economic crisis we are facing that can both provide jobs and hasten the adoption of a low-carbon economy.

In an interview with the Financial Times, former US President, Bill Clinton, made the point this way:

“For $ 1 billion invested in a new coal plant, you get fewer than 900 jobs; for solar you got 1,900 jobs, for wind turbines 3,300 jobs and (for) retrofitting buildings 7,000 – 8,000 jobs… Here are the jobs, here is the investment. Are you really against it?’”

The success of low carbon enterprises offers compelling evidence for the belief that market forces can help auger the transition towards a low carbon economy.

It may be hard to push climate change to the top of the global agenda with the economic difficulties in Europe and elsewhere, but as stated by China’s top climate official, economic problems should not get in the way of a new pact to fight global warming.

Focus on Science

Global climate talks need to focus on the growing threat from climate change. ”It is absolutely essential that the negotiators get a continuous and repeated exposure to the science of climate change,” Pachauri told Reuters.

A report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicated that an increase in extreme weather can be expected this century. Extreme weather events in 2011 included recent floods in Thailand and multi-billion dollar disasters in the U.S. and the previous year saw similar climate catastrophes.

The UN World Meteorological Organization’s latest report showed that the warming effect of greenhouse gases on climate, known as radiative forcing, has increased 29% from 1990 to 2010. 2011 has been a year of extreme weather, the WMO reported. Drought in East Africa has left tens of thousands dead; lethal floods submerged large areas of Asia; the US suffered 14 separate weather catastrophes with damage topping $1bn each, including severe drought in Texas and the southwest, heavy floods in the northeast and the Mississippi Valley, and the most active tornado season ever known.

“The science is solid and proves unequivocally that the world is warming,” said RDJ Lengoasa, the WMO’s deputy director, and human activity is a significant contributor.

It is Possible to Reduce GHGs to Manageable Levels

Despite serious obstacles, it is not impossible to bridge the gap between where GHG emissions are headed and where they need to be. According to a new U.N. report titled Bridging the Emissions Gap, if sectors such as energy, farming, forestry and transport all cut emissions by feasible amounts, global warming can be kept below 2ºC.

The report also says that countries will need to pledge bigger cuts to meet the 2ºC target. The United Nations Environment Programme says that nothing revolutionary is needed, if every sector makes its appropriate cuts, the cost would be small.

More Waiting

Some wealthy nations have indicated that a legally-binding climate pact can wait until the end of this decade. Joseph Gilbert, Grenada’s environment minister, called such proposals, “both environmentally reckless and politically irresponsible.”

As GHG levels continue to rise, it becomes ever more obvious that we cannot wait for 2020 to get an international agreement to stabilize GHG levels. With island states facing extinction in the coming decades, action on climate change cannot be delayed any further.

Conclusion

The fact that COP 17 is taking place in Durban is an opportunity to emphasize African issues. At best, COP 17 will produce modest steps toward a deal to lower emissions from factories, power stations and transport.

While the private sector can play a significant role in helping to resolve the problem of climate change, we cannot adequately address the problem without the involvement of governments.

Given the absence of government leadership, the meeting in Durban is likely to produce little more than a lot of hot air.

Source: Global Warming is Real

Food Production and UN Millennium Development Goals

Food crises are jeopardizing efforts to achieve the United Nations' millennium development goal of halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015. According to an annual report on world hunger, food price volatility is likely to continue and perhaps even increase, making poor farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity.

Population growth, increasing demand from rapidly growing economies and biofuels will place additional demands on the food system, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said in their joint report.

"Even if the MDG were achieved by 2015, some 600 million people in developing countries would still be undernourished," said UN experts. "Having 600 million people suffering from hunger on a daily basis is never acceptable. The entire international community must act today and act forcefully to banish food insecurity from the planet."

The report emphasized that investment in agriculture, particularly small farmers, remains critical to sustainable, long-term food security. Investment is required in irrigation, improved land-management practices and better seeds developed through agricultural research.

NGOs point out that developed countries have yet to live up to their pledge to invest $22bn in agriculture development. The money was promised at L'Aquila, Italy in 2009, following food crises that triggered riots in 30 countries across three continents.

The report said predictable policies and openness to trade were more effective strategies for governments than export bans and other restrictive policies, which risk increasing volatility and high prices on international markets.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Canadian Conservative Government Rejects Kyoto

Canada's newly reelected Conservative government has confirmed that it will not support an extension of the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions after 2012. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper had already announced his government would not meet the binding emissions cuts it committed to under the first round of Kyoto.

The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. Under the Protocol, 37 industrialized countries have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. The Kyoto Protocol contains key rules to quantify and monitor efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and important market-based mechanisms that enable cost-effective mitigation.

Harper has opted to renege on Kyoto even though the International Energy Agency found that found fossil fuel emissions hit record highs last year, topping 30 gigatons, (about 5 percent more than the previous record set in 2008).

Ottawa, joined the US, Russia and Japan in rejecting an extension of the international agreement at the UN preparatory climate change conference in Bonn, Germany.

Buoyed by their recent election victory, Conservatives can be expected to exploit the tar sands and do as little as possible on the environmental front.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Post COP15

Progress at the Bonn Climate Talks and Hopes for COP17

Climate talks wrapped up in Bonn on Friday June 17 ahead of the seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP17) which will take place later this year in Durban, South Africa.

Before the climate talks in Bonn, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) encouraged countries to come together: "No nation will solve climate change alone. And no nation is alone in feeling its impacts. We're only a few days away now from the mid-year climate negotiations and governments need to pick up speed."

After the Bonn talks, Figueres indicated that she is optimisitic that countries will make progress on a wide range of issues at COP17. These issues include the Kyoto Protocol, global mitigation framework, the Adaptation Committee, the Green Climate Fund, funding, and the Technology Mechanism.

She reiterated the importance of the link between negotiations on mitigation under the UN Climate Change Convention and mitigation under the Kyoto Protocol. As explained by Figueres, the Kyoto Protocol contains key rules to quantify and monitor efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and important market-based mechanisms that enable cost-effective mitigation. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. Under the Protocol, 37 industrialized countries have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments.

Figueres pointed to progress on the Adaptation Committee and the Technology Mechanism that will boost global clean technology cooperation. “Strong convergence has emerged on how the Adaptation Committee will be governed, what its composition will be and what its specific role will be,” Figueres said. “This progress means that the Committee could be fully operationalized at Durban."

The Bonn talks also made progress on the Technology Mechanism which will include a Climate Technology Centre and Network which will operate with the strong involvement of the global clean technology stakeholder community. Participants also discussed the effects of implementing mitigation measures including economic transition and diversification, along with health and trade-related issues.

Figueres said the Bonn session included discussions on the design of the Green Climate Fund, as well as identification of sources for long-term funding. Another meeting related to the Green Climate Fund will take place in Tokyo in July.

Other meetings are also planned to help pave the way for progress at COP17. A ministerial conference is planned for 2 to 3 July in Berlin. The leaderships of South African and Mexico are planning to meet with Heads of State and Governments at the UN General Assembly in New York in September and ministers are scheduled to meet approximately one month ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in South Africa.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Hope in the Face of the Fastest Ever Rise in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Despite 20 years of climate negotiations global warming causing greenhouse gases (GHGs) from energy are now rising at record setting levels. As reported in the Guardian, UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, indicated that we are experiencing the fastest-ever rise in greenhouse gas emissions, but she added that the data should not lead people to believe that the problem is impossible to tackle.

"This is the inconvenient truth of where human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are projected to go without much stronger international action now and into the future." But Figueres added, "I won't hear that this is impossible. Governments must make it possible for society, business and science to get this job done."

Estimates from the International Energy Agency, reveal that despite government policies aimed at curbing greenhouse gases the 2010, global emissions from energy were 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, compared with 29Gt in 2009 and 29.3Gt in 2008.

Three quarters of the emissions rise came from developing countries, with a quarter from the developed world. Although most of the record rise in emissions came from rapidly emerging economies, including China, there is growing evidence that the west has "exported" billions of tonnes of its emissions by relying on imports from the developing world.

The developing world is simply using the developed world for more of its energy intensive manufacturing. This is the finding in research being conducted by Sir David King, director of the Smith School of Enterprise at the University of Oxford and former chief scientific advisor to the UK government. Similar results were also revealed in studies from the Carbon Trust and others.

Fatih Birol, chief economist at the IEA and one of the world's foremost experts on energy and climate, said: "Unless bold and decisive decisions are made very soon, it will be extremely challenging to achieve the global goal agreed [at the last UN climate change conference in December] in Cancún."

Connie Hedegaard, the European Union's climate chief, said: "One wonders how many more worrying figures the world needs. The promises of world leaders at Copenhagen and Cancún to stay below 2C of warming need urgently to be followed by more action."

Hedegaard said the EU had put in place strong policies that had reduced emissions, and said other countries should follow. In 2008-10, emissions from EU heavy industry fell by more than 8%, in part owing to the recession and in part to climate policies. Hedegaard said: "We in Europe have specific policies, binding targets and a price on carbon. Europe has committed to an ambitious agenda of climate action. We look to our partners to do likewise.''

Hedegaard insisted there were reasons to be optimistic, "Countries, including the biggest economies, are moving forward with new policies that promote low-carbon prosperous growth, even if they don't always attach climate labels to these policies. And the private sector continues to increase its investment in low-carbon business and renewable energy and wants to do more."

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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