Demonstrators at Climate Conference witness Police Brutality

Hot Seat on December 17th

Hey all. This is Mahats and, in addition to being IYCN in Delhi’s current token American, I will be your blogger for the day. Hope you are all doing well, are awake, haven’t succumbed completely to cynicism and are ready to begin.

In summary: I am Mahats, not Kabir and I will be blogging from New Delhi.

My views do not reflect those of IYCN. Nor do my spelling and paraphrasing.

3:40 pm

Panel discussion on its way. Projector down temporarily.

Mr. Gopal Krishna from Water Watch Alliance is chairing the discussion and is joined on the panel by IYCN’s very own Kabir and Reva.

GK: Opens with a brief statement on how the talks have stalled. Pessimistic attitude towards everything. US declared its lifestyle non-negotiable. Developing world declared its development non-negotiable. Stalemate because of short term thinking.

3:45

Kabir: Governments being aggressive to crack down on civil society and we should respond. Peaceful protest was stopped. When and if COP15 fails, civil society should have a huge push.

MM: Who constitutes civil society? While I hate the idea of cracking down on protests and will fight to the death to keep the right to protest and free speech alive, vibrant and utilized, one has to ask what do these protestors expect. If there is going to be no deal at this point, short of massive mass mobilization, I doubt these voices are going to have an impact. And, with the security precautions, there was no hope.

As for the second point, we are not dealing with unitary actors. Get two activists in a room and there will be three different opinions. One of them changeable.

3:55

Reva: There are choices within domestic policy. Changing people’s world views is far more difficult than getting a deal. Very few countries will alter their domestic policies. We need to change the mind of the populations.
(more…)

Senator Kerry Delivers Speech at COP15

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and lead author of the United States Senate’s comprehensive climate change legislation, today delivered a major address at COP15, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Video of the address will be available later today at kerry.senate.gov.

The full text of the speech as prepared is below:

Thank you also for the privilege of allowing me to share some thoughts at this historic meeting.

For seventeen years now we’ve been coming together. Through enormous transitions in our politics — new Presidents, new Prime Ministers, new friends who quickly became old friends; we’ve taken a long journey together.

From Rio to Copenhagen, with 14 COPs in between, through all the hurdles and the challenges, two constants have remained: First, the urgency of the science that tells us we must act. Second, we have never wavered from our determination to get the job done. And that’s why we’re on the brink of making history now.

Back in 1992 an American President personally traveled to climate talks in Rio to help plant the seeds of possibility, the promise of a beginning; But that promise was allowed to wither on the vine. In the years that followed the United States joined with other major polluters to delay, divide and deny. We simply failed to lead in the manner this challenge demands.

But this is a new day. Just as in Rio, an American President is now coming to these talks in good faith—this time, to promise a new beginning and to re-commit the United States to being part of a global solution.

Seventeen years is a long time to pursue an urgent goal. But history reminds us that sometimes even urgent struggles take time. Consider the hundred years of conflict in Northern Ireland. At the moment when peace was finally achieved after tireless efforts, Senator George Mitchell, said simply: “We had seven hundred days of failure and one day of success.”

And that’s why we’re gathered here again: Because we know that, in one day, with one agreement, we can put the world on a safer path. And in the coming hours and days, the world expects us to get the job done.

Even back in 1992, we all came together for a simple reason: we accepted the science. I’ve often said that global climate change is an issue where no one has the luxury of being “half-pregnant.” You either are or you aren’t. And so it is with climate change. You either understand and accept the science – or you don’t. Folks this isn’t a cafeteria where you can pick and choose and accept the science that tells us what is happening, but then reject the science that warns us what will happen.
(more…)

Mohamed Nasheed’s speech reflecting the breaking up of COP negotiations

“This is the end game in more ways then one.

I think we should celebrate the progress made so far.

No one expected such an historic endeavor to be easy. I am still optimistic that we can leave this meeting with a planet saving deal.

I would like to point out that during the course of the last two years, negotiators have tried hard to come up with a draft text that can be place infront of heads of state tomorrow. Last night, very late last night, early in the morning, there was a text that was somewhat finalized, but again, negotiators are unable to agree upon this text. Therefore, I am so sorry to say that come tomorrow, heads of state will not have a draft text infront of them. We will be in trouble and we might not come up with an agreement in Copenhagen.

That in my mind is totally unexceptable, not just only for us, but for millions and millions ofpeople around the world. The Aosis group has proposed a text for this prupose and the Maldives will do its upmost o help make this outcome a reality

For us this more then just another meeting. It is a matter of life an death. Carbon concentrations higher then 350 ppm and temp rises about 1.5 degeress will submerge my country, dissolve our coral reefs, turn our oceans to acid and destabilize the planet

Any one who says these numbers are impossible is saying that it is impossible to save us, to save our nation. This I cannot accept.
(more…)

Is anyone taking responsibility?

With no commitments or even indications of long term finance from the developed countries, particularly the US, being put on the table, it is really not clear how the least developed countries and small island states are going to start adaptation programs back in their countries and save their people. With mitigation numbers already far behind what was promised in Bali, lack of funds will further exacerbate the developing nations and will take us far away form a fair deal.

Maldives, Tuvalu and the remaining most vulnerable countries might be swept away from this planet once and for all! 17% compared to 2005 levels (by the US) is going to take the ppm levels to above 550 and will result in a lot of natural disasters. 2 degrees global rise is not acceptable! It is high time that those who have put waste into the atmosphere should pay their climate debt. As youth activists and NGOs from across the world protest outside the Bella Center (main venue of COP15), media and climate-change campaigners everywhere are listening to us and the nations.

Every human being is equal and carbon spaces should be equally allocated. Even if it requires all the developed and developing countries to change the living habits and lifestyle of the entire civilization, so be it! We might never a second chance!

“Destroy humanity” should be Obama’s slogan

Day Eight: 15th September

THIRD: US and Colombia

Colombia and the United States received the 3rd place Fossil of the Day award for moving the process backwards on the REDD text. Instead of deleting and merging text, Colombia and the US added and divided text. In the space of one evening, they expanded a 3 page text on REDD to a 7 page text, which led to a chain reaction of text edits and expansion, preventing the text from reaching ministers. Overall, there was a softening in the text for what had been a fairly positive process on REDD at COP15.

SECOND: Canada

Leaked Cabinet documents from Canada’s Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, show that Canada has absolutely no intention of meeting its 2020 target. Instead, the government plans to fry Canadians and the planet by letting oil and gas emissions rise another 37% above current levels by 2020. The leaked plan is three times softer on big polluters like the tar sands than the government’s last approach. Canada’s promise of an absolute reduction of 3% below 1990 levels has been revealed as an outright lie.

FIRST: United States

They win for being blocking ‘bunker finance’ — the idea that you could pass measures that cut emissions from international aviation and shipping and in doing so raise revenues to fund adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. It’s a great idea: you tackle the fastest-growing sources of emissions, and turn them into money to help poor countries in the fight against climate change. Not only are they blocking bunker finance, but they are the only industrialized nation to do so.

Youth Enquiry with Yvo De Boer

I want to tell you a story of my home city of Mumbai. Every day I travel by the local train from college to work, to meetings…. The trains are the arteries of a city of 15 million strong. The trains are a full of colors, cultures and voices; women complaining about their daily chores, children laughing; vendors making a hand to mouth existence.

10 thousand people migrate to Mumbai city every single day. It is also the largest city in the world, my home for the last 23 years.

On 26th July, 2005, my city was struck by terrible flooding. I was trying to take the train, but ended up stranded for a long time. I had to walk in waist high water for five hours. People suffocated in their vehicles. Animal carcasses floated in the dirty water. Slums vanished overnight. People held on desperately to what little they could save.

I didn’t get back to my home for five days.

India has been subject to floods for decades .But lately, these floods are happening more and more. People have actually become used to their homes being washed away.

This is my story. There are millions of such stories from people from around the world. We are sharing this pain, this common problem. A global problem.

My brothers and sisters, I take this opportunity to bring to you a ray of hope, of love and peace. We as young people, 3 billion strong, are the global solution and demand real climate justice. We are true martyrs and heroes of our generation and future generations. We are here to support each other in our struggles, to share our stories of success, and to engage the leaders of the world to bring about real change.

How do you feel if thousands of farmers commit suicide in India due to extreme drought conditions? Does it affect you if Bangladesh and Maldives go under water, or an ancient small island civilizations cease to exist? Do you not care if 40% of the world’s population looses their water source, the Himalayan Glaciers? Will you only be affected when this climate crisis hits the lives of your near and dear ones?

Back in India I work with Indian Youth Climate Network and 350.org. Last year we came as the first Indian Youth Delegation to COP14. My journey began with the Climate Solutions Road tour. A bunch of young enthusiastic climate crusaders drove down 4500 kms from Chennai to Delhi in electric cars documenting climate solutions and collecting success stories.

My journey to 24th Oct, Global Day of Action, was a self-realization process. A vision which created a 350 wave demanding climate action from developed nations. In Kerela , the youth organized a cycle rally across the whole of South India. In Mumbai, we had 1000s of people come together to push for a fair and just treaty, while the fishermen rallied in the saline creek. In Kashmir, the locals had a boat race to clean up the Dal Lake. In Fazilaka, on the border of India and Pakiatan, school children attempted to fill up their dried water body. There were massive protests outside the coal power plants in Bokaro, Jharkand. In Rajasthan, the women brought out their traditional dresses and danced to ask the rain gods for their grace. They had been facing a drought for two years.

Brother and sisters, we created history. We as the global youth created a revolution. We are creating history. We are coming together in numbers from every race and creed. We have cut through our differences.

I have a request for you dear world leaders. Don’t let us down. We elect you because we believe in you, for liberty, fraternity and justice. We still believe in you. We are behind you , we are your support. When I was young I was taught that my bad actions will back fire on me. Treating Mother nature with respect will save us from runaway climate change.

I understand that it is not easy to strike a deal and come to a consensus. But have you tried hard enough? Have you the audacity to stand up to your government and push for a climate bill to protect my bleak future? Have you the gumption to lead your people along the higher road to protect their future? OUR future? Can you be the ‘NATION’s HERO’ for your country?
A ‘hero’ to hear millions of us asking for climate action.

This time in Copenhagen, we youth stand 2000 strong. And back home, there are millions more of us taking action at home to keep the pressure on – there will be vigils for the survival of all nations in over 100 countries this weekend, showing just how strong this movement is here, and everywhere.

Sir, we have traveled thousands of miles to be here. We have saved up for months, working around the year, trying one way or another to collect voices from our region. We have selflessly strived to give, and create mass movements in our capacity. We are the human touch, reaching out to vulnerable communities with energy and creativity. Our communities who cannot be here, look to us to tell their stories, to convey how serious this issue is, and how we are united and determined to bring about real change.

For too long now, these negotiations have been conducted from an adversarial point of view. Dear negotiators and friends, I am going to give you my trust.
I trust you to do the right thing by yourself and for all of us. I trust you to live up my hopes and dreams. I trust you to secure my future, for our survival.
I trust you to view these negotiations not as us versus them. But as we are in this together.
This trust is honest, but it is also fragile. Please don’t let me down.

Developed world is the game spoiler!

Day Seven: 14th December

FIRST PLACE: UNITED STATES of AMERICA
The USA wins its first Fossil of the COP for two reasons: first, for making absolutely no commitment on long-term financing for developing countries to cope with the impacts of climate change and reduce their own emissions even further. Second, because even after being the biggest cumulative emitter of global warming pollution in world history, US has among the weakest mid-term emissions targets of any major developed country, a pitiful 4% below 1990 levels by 2020.

SECOND PLACE: EUROPEAN UNION

The EU failed to address a gaping loophole that undermines its targets: hot air and forest management. Allowing full carry-over past 2012 of Europe’s targets based on 1990 levels that actually allow huge increases in emissions, could allow 11 gigatonnes of carbon emissions. Europe’s flagging credibility as a climate leader could crumble completely if this loophole is not taken care of.

THIRD PLACE: CANADA and SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Arabia and Canada receive the third place fossil of the day for their respective last and second-last finish in the Climate Change Performance Index released today by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe. The Index evaluates 57 industrial and developing countries who release 90% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Saudi Arabia’s record speaks for itself. Canada finished second-last only because Saudi Arabia received a zero rating for its climate policy. Canada amongst the world’s top ten emitters, has one of the world’s highest per capita rates of emissions at 23 tonnes per person, and is 34% above its Kyoto target (which is just a modest 6% cut from 1990).

Day Six: 12th December

THIRD PLACE: HELD IN STRATEGIC FOSSIL RESERVE FOR NEXT WEEK

SECOND PLACE: PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Papua New Guinea openly opposed the AOSIS proposal, which offers the clearest way forward to a fair, ambitious and legally binding outcome to avoid dangerous levels of climate change.

FIRST PLACE: JAPAN

At both COP and COP/MOP today, Japan strongly opposed setting a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol, blocking progress by refusing the chair’s text as a basis for negotiation. This comes a day after Kyoto Protocol’s anniversary.

Day Five: 11th December

The Mayor of Toronto, David Miller, in Copenhagen made a special guest appearance tonight to collect first and second place “Fossil of the Day” awards, after NGOs from around the world voted to present Canada with a double dishonour for doing the most to obstruct progress in the global climate talks today.

FIRST PLACE: CANADA

Canada’s environment minister, Jim Price is suffering a serious case envy. Yesterday, he invented his own prize, the Hot Air of the Day Award, and tried to give it to a Canadian environmental group. But even though imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it would be even more flattering if they actually signed on to a fair, ambitious, and binding deal instead of trying to wriggle free of the climate promises they have already made and broken.

SECOND PLACE: CANADA

Canada’s chief negotiator insisted in a briefing this morning that his country’s target of -3% below 1990 are, in fact, based on science.

Last we checked, the IPCC scientific community called for 25-40% emission reductions below 1990 levels. The Fossil Supreme Command Council can only conclude that he wasn’t referring to climate science at all, but rather the science of mathematics–because -3% is, indeed, a number. (Although a very small one.) Speaking of math, Canada already promised in the Kyoto Protocol to go to -6% from 1990 levels. Oops!

Further, when the chief negotiator was asked this morning if he believed Canada’s so called “science based-target” would protect melting summer sea-ice in the North West passage, he responded quite accurately that he is not a scientist and therefore cannot predict sea-ice.

THIRD PLACE: THE EUROPEAN UNION

European leaders had the chance to put their mark on the talks today: by agreeing a more ambitious 2020 target, by putting money on the table longer term, by ensuring short term finance is new money, and by closing EU loopholes like hot air and sinks. Five opportunities for leadership. Of the five, they took… zero.

I wish i was born in Bolivia!!

How does one judge leadership to meet the objectives for a cause? Looking at historical precedents we have seen various types of motivation for leaders to live up to for their subjects. The father of industrial revolution – Henry Ford’s sole motivation was to mechanise prodution process at the same time provide employment to Americans. We all know what has followed as a success of the production line in America, which later expanded world over and was the symbol of capitalism. Hitler was a classic example of shrewd leadership in order to get to his objectives. On the other hand we have Mahatma Gandhi spread the message of his actions through his non-violent mechanisms is very relevant to our discussion.

At the COP15 process too, I believe some of the leaders personal experiences impact their motivations and their morales. We had a killer proposal from Bolivia yesterday where the the emission reduction targets are being kept at 300ppm of CO2 and the temperature rise being limited to 1 degree centigrade. A proposal of this order has never been conceived and may never see the light of the day considering the complex web of diplomacies and the lobbies involved. The Indian Youth delegation decided to provide a rapid response action for this bold leadership in the highly depressing environment of the negotiations.

We came up with the following song -

Every day their stalling and
they’re saying the same old things again
hm-hm-hm

We’ve got to take the boldest steps
there’s work to do; clean up the mess.
hm-hm-hm
My future looks me in the eye,
says to me the time is nigh
It’s time to see the world agree,
time for responsibility!
Bolivia…

Taking a sneak peek into the personal life of the President of Bolivia – Evo Morales I understood the motivations for this bold policy proposal. Morales is known to spearhead the movement to defend the interests of coca growers and to develop a new hydrocarbon law which guarantees 50 percent of revenue to Bolivia. Bolivia is fostering a wonderful program under his leadership. Illiteracy was eradicated in less than three years: 824,101 Bolivian learned how to read and write; 24,699 did so also in Aymara and 13,599 in Quechua.Bolivia is the third country free of illiteracy, following Cuba and Venezuela.Bolivia, one of the three poorest nations in the hemisphere, has brought under state control the country’s most important energy and mineral resources while respecting and compensating every single affected interest.

The song has drawn attention from the Bolivian Ambassador as this was a display of solidarity for their bold moves. The Indian youth have now been invited to sing the solidarity song at the President’s address on Dec 16. It is going to be one chance to rekindle the inspiring movement to redefine leadership at the COP15.

Go Push Go

Yesterday was a lucky day for me at the Bella Center. I met Push or ‘Pushpanath Krishnamurthy’ who has walked all the way from his home at Oxford in the UK to the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, to show his solidarity and support to the cause of climate change. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with him and interview him. I am sharing a brief version of the interview here.

Q. What do you do and how did this idea come to you?

I am Climate Change Campaigner with Oxfam and I strongly believe that this is the time to act and do something about climate change. I was willing to do a direct action and realized that a walk is the most carbon neutral thing one can do. And here I am! It took me about 2o days to reach here and I have thoroughly enjoyed this adventure.

Q. Why ‘climate change’?

Well, during my visit to India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and a couple of African countries, I witnessed the number of ecological problems that climate change has caused. In the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Kerela in India, the rise in sea levels has made the agricultural land brackish and as a consequence, farmers have started shrimp farming which has a lot of bad side effects. Even the paddy cultivation is completely under threat and as you know, we have been witnessing a growing number of farmer suicides in the past few years. The African countries have caused the least problems but are among the first, worst and hardest hit.

Q. What inspires you to work for climate change?

I am a Gandhian follower and believe that the spirit of standing up when you something unjust happening is the most noble thing to do.

Q. Tell us something about how you planned your trip, how did you gather support and what were the problems that you faced?

I contacted a few colleagues at Oxfam and some friends from India. Since I am not much familiar with using computers, one of my friends helped plan my trip. I got a lot of support from my wife and children, who are also here with me. They too walked a few legs of the journey with me. I began my journey on Nov. 16th from Oxford along with David Bryer (ex-Director of Oxfam) and a musician. I reached Harwich (140 miles from Oxford) on Nov. 27th , took a ferry, landed on Esberg (on the coast of Denmark) and walked another 16 days to reach Copenhagen on Dec 13th. On the way, I was carrying no food with me to express solidarity with hundreds of people, who have been affected by drought and floods, and I was eating only when I was offered a meal from local people.

Q. Would you like to tell us something else and do you have a message for the youth?

I would like all of you to visit my website www.gopushgo.com. Another thing I forgot to mention was that my brother, Krishna Raga, recently released a music album “Earth Depressed”, dedicated to environment. As far as a message is concerned, I am really glad that the youth are raising their voice here and I hope that my campaign will help contribute to the global movement against climate change.

LOK CHETNA PAD YATRA IN THE WALLED CITY OF DELHI

In the light of the fact that India is standing on the verge of the Union Government’s permission being granted to the first Genetically Modified (GM) food crop in the country – Bt Brinjal – there is a more urgent need than ever to create an informed and democratic debate on this issue pertaining to all of us.

GM crops are created by the unnatural insertion of foreign genes into host DNA of a plant, which leads to numerous unpredictable changes that are potentially dangerous for health. There are a host of other concerns too, centred around this technology and its deployment in our food and farming systems. Bt Brinjal has been artificially created by insertion of a bacterial gene (Bacillus thuringiensis-Bt ) to produce a toxin 24X7 inside the plant to target one pest-the Brinjal Fruit & Shoot Borer (it has to be noted that while many pests and diseases attack the crop, this technology is claimed as a solution to one such pest).

All the decision-making on Bt Brinjal happened based on the crop-developer’s (i.e. Monsanto/Mahyco’s) data, without any independent and long term studies. What’s more, independent analyses of the crop developer’s biosafety data concluded that this Bt Brinjal is unsafe and unfit for human consumption.

On the other hand, a majority of Indians are still not aware of fundamental changes being made to their food, their right to know what they are eating and to be able to make informed choices is at stake here. They would also not be able to distinguish between GM and non-GM foods because they will look the same.

It is in this context that a Lok Chetna Padayatra is being proposed. This padayatra, i.e, journey on foot, is a collaborative effort of Zakir Hussain College and Youth for Safe Food. The main purpose of the walk is to create an informed debate on the issue of GM (Genetically Modified) foods, for the sake of ordinary citizens of India, to enable them to make informed and democratic choices about their food. This is to invite you to join us in large numbers in this Padayatra.

Padayatra beginning point: Zakir Hussain College
Date: December 17, 2009; Time: 9.30 am

Contacts:
Nayani Nasa – +91-9999-778-674
Ankit Kumar – +919313-537-417

New Entrant Black Carbon Finds Little Mention in Copenhagen

“Carbon Dioxide” is definitely the phrase of the day when it comes to climate change talks. This greenhouse gas has become synonymous with the challenge of rising global temperatures, and indeed, it is estimated to be responsible for nearly 40 percent of climate change. However, there are other greenhouse gases that have, until now, received less attention. These gases, such as hydroflourocarbons (HFCs), chloroflourocarbons (CFCs), nitrous oxides and other pollutants are crucial for quickly reducing climate change.

Black carbon is a form of particulate air pollution, released through the incomplete burning of biomass, biofuels and fossil fuels, such as coal and diesel. According to Professor V. Ramanathan, of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, it is estimated to have as much as 60 percent of the global warming effect of carbon dioxide. Yet until recently it was not recognised as a warming agent at all. Although of significance across the globe, black carbon has a particularly concerning effect on tundra regions, which include the North and South poles, as well as mountainous areas.

“Over 90 percent of the black carbon emitted by nations in the Arctic-region (which lie above 40 degrees latitude), comes from agricultural, forest or peat fires”, said Elena Koblets, Director for Development at Russia-based Bellona Foundation, an international environmental NGO based in Norway, at a UN climate summit side event this week. In the southern hemisphere, Koblets said, the main source is different. Far more comes from the burning of diesel for transport and power, as well as from biomass burning for heat and cooking.

When sunlight reaches suspended black carbon particles in the air, it is absorbed as heat, warming the air directly around it. Furthermore, when this sooty residue deposits on snow and ice, it darkens the surface causing the ground to absorb more light as heat and melt at a faster rate than it would otherwise. On a large scale, melt may accelerate the loss of stable water resources in the form of glaciers and snow. It can also cause changes in local ecosystem dynamics with each species responding differently to the changes in snow and ice availability.

Despite its significance, black carbon is barely on the agenda in Copenhagen. It receives a brief mention in one of the negotiating texts (the “LCA text”) and they are hoping to get it into one other (the “vision text”). At this late stage of the negotiations, observers said it seems too difficult to introduce new greenhouse gases but that strong voluntary actions and domestic policy change to address black carbon emissions is essential.

“Black carbon projects are not eligible for clean development mechanism funding at this time, but that’s the kind of step that the UN could take,” said Pam Pearson, of the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative.

“Over 12 million hectares of agricultural fires take place every year in Russia alone and 97 percent of forest fires are started by agricultural fires,” Pearson said. These agricultural fires are started by farmers to improve soil cultivation and to drive animals from the fields.
In Russia, state and national laws to prevent farmers from burning their crops, along with training on farming methods that avoid fires, are urgently needed in the region, said Vladimir Chouprov, head of energy projects at Greenpeace Russia. In Asia, particularly in the countries of the Greater Himalayan Region, similar discussions are being initiated, with clean development emerging as a key requirement if black carbon emissions from diesel combustion and biomass burning are to be addressed. The government of India recently rolled out an improved cookstove program in this regard.

Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy, also announced plans today, along with Australia and Italy to provide LED lights in areas reliant on hurricane lamps and wicked lamps.

“We want to replace the hurricane and wicked lamps with high quality LED,” Chu said, adding that additional research would be dedicated to improving the lights’ quality. “If we introduce new technology and some don’t work as well, it’ll cause classic market spoiling.” The program also expects to lower the price of LEDs globally.

“Addressing black carbon will be key to slowing down the rate of global warming”, said Pearson, who explained that unlike carbon dioxide, which stays in the atmosphere for more than 100 years, black carbon remains for only a few weeks. This means that changing practices that release black carbon can have a rapid effect on the warming of our atmosphere and rapid ice and snow melt, through being removed from the atmosphere far more rapidly that carbon dioxide. “A lot of science still needs to happen, but this is no reason for lack of action” she added.

Staff Writer Ben Block contributed to this report. Cross-posted from Dateline:Copenhagen

ADAPTATION-URGENT AND IMMEDIATE GLOBAL PRIORITY

Adaptation is an urgent and immediate global priority and recognizes that the amount of adaptation required depends on the level of mitigation achieved. We support the following policy principles:

1. Adaptation funding should be separate from and in addition to existing Official
Development Assistance (ODA) commitments and commensurate with the immense scale
of developed countries’ historical contributions to this global crisis.

2. The amount of funding available for adaptation must be sufficient: In excess of 100
billion USD per year, and increasing as necessary.

3. Adaptation must be allocated in a manner that gives priority to those most vulnerable to
the impacts of climate change: least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing
States (SIDS), and countries affected by drought, desertification and floods. The projects
should ensure the involvement of youth, women, indigenous communities and those
living in poverty.

4. Funding should be allocated through an accessible, consistent, and transparent international mechanism that is accountable to the UNFCCC.

5. Adaptation projects should take into consideration that fully-functioning ecosystems play a vital role in maintaining resilience to climate change.

A “FAB”ulous Deal – The Need of the Hour

The attention of the world is focusing on Copenhagen, and eagerly awaits the outcomes of this conference. The world is waiting for a FAB- Fair, Ambitious and Binding Treat. In effect, the agreement which comes out of Copenhagen must safeguard the climate and must be fair to all countries. It should specifically address the following commitments

1.To keep the warming below 2° C by reducing greenhouse gas concentration ultimately to 350 ppm CO2 equivalent. The peaking emissions with 2013-2017 commitment period and rapidly declining emissions by at-least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
2. It addresses that the industrialized countries as a group must take a target of more than 40% below 1990 levels by 2050. this can be achieved by limiting the offsets and ensuring that the domestic emissions are reduced by at-least 30% below 1990 levels by 2020, accounting for emissions and removals from Land use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). The LULUCF credits must not undermine or substitute for the significant investments and efforts required to reduce fossil fuel emissions.
3.The developing countries must be supported in their efforts to limit the growth of their industrial emissions, making substantial reductions below BAU
4.Emissions from deforestation and degradation must be reduced to zero by 2020, funded by at least US$ 35 billion per year from developed countries
5.Developed countries need to provide atleast US$195 billion in public financing per year by 2020, in addition to ODA commitments for developing country actions
6.Double counting must be avoided. This means that offsets purchased by an industrialized country from developing countries to help meet the industrialized country’s emission reduction goals cannot be counted as also helping the developing country to meet its emission reduction goals. Payments for offsets should not be double counted.

Thus the Copenhagen outcomes must be legally binding and enforceable. Until the international communities agrees to a system that provides better environmental outcomes, a stronger compliance mechanism and has wide spread support, the kyoto protocol should continue with a second commitment. A complementary agreement should provide emission reduction commitments by the US comparable to other developed countries, incorporate financial commitments and cover developing country actions.

Win it at Oslo, Earn it in COP15!

“President Obama’s hands are not tied by Congress’s lack of action or the grossly inadequate cap-and-trade bills currently under debate. President Obama can lead, rather than follow, by using his power under the Clean Air Act and other laws to achieve deep and rapid greenhouse emissions reductions from major polluters. Obama can use his authority to make a binding agreement in Copenhagen without additional action from Congress. The Constitution and existing domestic environmental laws give President Obama all the power he needs to join with other nations in making a real commitment to solve the climate crisis.” said attorney Kevin Bundy (from the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD)’s Climate Law Institute), the lead author of a report released at a side-event in COP15 on Tuesday, December 8th.

The report, titled “Yes, He Can: President Obama’s Power to Make an International Climate Commitment Without Waiting for Congress”, concludes that the President need not wait for Congress to act before taking strong action to reduce U.S. emissions and that he can SEAL THE DEAL without the 66 votes.

Going to back to the time of Clinton and Gore, the senators had declared the accord “dead on arrival” and this is exactly the fear that, intentionally or unintentionally, is trying to be created. In this light, the report by the CBD is a breakthrough and proves that US can indeed sign a legally binding deal in Copenhagen itself.