So political power/reality triumphed at COP15.
Obama probably tried his best but couldn't bring anything new to the negotiations without the backing of the Congress. China has its own reasons for not wanting to commit to a legally-binding reduction target. So do the EU for waiting for the others to step up before they would increase their reduction pledge from 20 to 30% at COP15. As for Canada, Australia, Japan, and Russia, I could not find any excuses for their dismal performance at the talks. Maybe their supporters could help explain here...
One could therefore argue that the US, EU, and BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, and China) did what was the most politically viable in their position - to produce a Copenhagen Accord at the last moments of COP15. Well, at least then they have something to show to the world.
I was surprised when I find out President Nasheed from the Maldives supported the weak accord. He has been pushing for strong targets: 350ppm and limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius below industrial level, and has previously declared the Maldives will not sign a suicide pact in Copenhagen. But I guess he understood the political reality and decided to accept it, for now.
Some argue that it was better to have no deal coming out of COP15 at all than to have the terribly unambitious and vague Copenhagen Accord. That was how I felt originally too. I was really disappointed by the outcome. You can call me naive, but I sincerely believe that civil societies exerted enough pressure on the political leaders. I sincerely believe the 120 leaders who came to COP15 wanted to solve the climate crisis.
After all, the organisers and participants of 5,200 events held on 24 Oct 09, and over 3,000 vigils on 12 Dec 09; and 100,000 demonstrators on the streets of Copenhagen on 12 Dec 09; and millions of people who signed the TckTckTck, Avaaz and many more petitions...They have all been consistently calling for the same thing: A fair, ambitious, and legally-binding deal at COP15. A real deal that would save lives.
Obviously, that wasn't enough for our political leaders.
In the end, the right of small island nations to survival is negotiable. The lives of people already affected by the deadly impacts of climate change proved less valuable than those still living a relatively comfortable life free from climate change impacts. Obviously, your life is more valuable if you come from the US or Australia than from Bangladesh or Tuvalu. Status quo was reinforced. Power triumphed over equity and justice, for now.
And while we bicker and fight, the window to prevent catastrophic climate change grew ever smaller. Science demands that global emissions must peak by 2015-2020 and start to drop immediately after that. We also need to return the carbon concentration in the atmosphere back to 350ppm, but with what's on the table now, we're heading towards 770ppm. Byebye to small island nations and hello to more climate catastrophes, deaths, hunger, and wars.
But is this the end of the world? Far from it. Yes, the window grew smaller, but it is not closed yet. The people have awaken. We will continue to pressure our political leaders and corporates to do their bit while the climate movement grows ever larger and stronger. COP15 has ended but our work is far from done. I guess we all knew that for the start: once you're in the movement, you're in it for life.
We will turn the tide, because we have to.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Back in Malaysia
Touched down on Malaysia at around 10 this morning. Till now I still can't decide how I should feel about the outcome of COP15.
And this image kept coming back to my mind:
"The sculpture ’Survival of the Fattest’ is a symbol of the rich world’s (i.e. the fat woman, Justitia) self-complacent ‘righteousness’. With a pair of scales in her hand she sits on the back of starved African man (i.e. the third world), while pretending to do what is best for him.
Climate changes are caused by the western world, but the consequences hit the third world hardest. Even so, we are not willing to give up our way of life or make real changes. The poor countries are willing to do, comparatively, far more to lower CO2 emission than the western world. Still, the west all too often argues that they will have admissions and promises of further CO2 reductions from China, India, Russia and other countries that emit (and always have emitted) far less than the western world.
The little Mermaid is a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen and one of the most important symbols in Denmark. It is a part of the Danish idea of themselves as a small, cosy nation where the living is good, but where we are also doing our bit to help the world that surrounds us. This is, of course, only a fairytale.
The western world and the Danes sit like the mermaid on the rock or like the fat lady in a safe distance from the water level. Happy and assured that they have the capital it takes to prevent that the climate changes hit us. Meanwhile, island states around the world are being flushed away, while hurricanes, drought and hunger hit the rest of the world, especially Africa. But, we continue to sit on our rocks convinced that the 200 million climate refugees the UN foresee in 40 years will not affect us.
At the end, the major economies (US, China, India, Brazil etc) strike a deal among themselves and forced it on the other countries on the last day of COP15. The powerful wins again, for now.
And this image kept coming back to my mind:
"The sculpture ’Survival of the Fattest’ is a symbol of the rich world’s (i.e. the fat woman, Justitia) self-complacent ‘righteousness’. With a pair of scales in her hand she sits on the back of starved African man (i.e. the third world), while pretending to do what is best for him.
Climate changes are caused by the western world, but the consequences hit the third world hardest. Even so, we are not willing to give up our way of life or make real changes. The poor countries are willing to do, comparatively, far more to lower CO2 emission than the western world. Still, the west all too often argues that they will have admissions and promises of further CO2 reductions from China, India, Russia and other countries that emit (and always have emitted) far less than the western world.
The little Mermaid is a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen and one of the most important symbols in Denmark. It is a part of the Danish idea of themselves as a small, cosy nation where the living is good, but where we are also doing our bit to help the world that surrounds us. This is, of course, only a fairytale.
The western world and the Danes sit like the mermaid on the rock or like the fat lady in a safe distance from the water level. Happy and assured that they have the capital it takes to prevent that the climate changes hit us. Meanwhile, island states around the world are being flushed away, while hurricanes, drought and hunger hit the rest of the world, especially Africa. But, we continue to sit on our rocks convinced that the 200 million climate refugees the UN foresee in 40 years will not affect us.
At the end, the major economies (US, China, India, Brazil etc) strike a deal among themselves and forced it on the other countries on the last day of COP15. The powerful wins again, for now.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thoughts on last day of COP15...
It feels strange to hear that the right of small island nations to stay afloat can be negotiated; the right of youth and future generations to a safe climate and healthy planet can be negotiated; it feels even weirder to hear that:
“I know poor people and indigenous people worldwide are dying because of climate-induced hunger, water shortage, floods, droughts…but I cannot cut my carbon emissions further or give up my political future/profit to save you all, I just can’t.”
Ha ha! Of course developed countries’ political leaders, fossil fuel industries and sectors reliant on them didn’t say it to anyone’s face that plainly, but that’s what they’re essentially doing, isn’t it?
I know for a fact that these negotiations are extremely complicated, it’s linked to economy, national security, bla bla bla…That’s why it’s taken so long (since 1992), and some argued that we’ve made some progress, albeit a little slow.
But the thing is, we all – political leaders, negotiators, businesses, civil societies – also know that we don’t have much time left. Science demands that we act now. I feel like a broken radio for repeating this time and again, but hello, the clock is ticking faster than ever. If emissions don’t peak by around 2015 and start falling immediately thereafter, we’re doomed to more than 2 degree rise, which means more than 3 degree rise in Africa and small island states are definitely sinking.
The civil societies have already woken up and made their voices heard, the developing countries are also moving fast to ensure that they can develop sustainably (not making the same mistakes that the industrialized nations did when developing and causing others to suffer in the process), but yet the international media are blaming developing countries particularly China and India for stalling the talks.
Who is slowing who down now? Let’s face it, the developed countries have used up more than their share of the Earth’s resources and atmospheric space so that they can live comfortably now (at least most of them are), what more do they want?
The fossil fuel industries and sectors dependent on them, as well as those waiting to earn billions from the carbon market. Is it really too much to ask them to put humanity’s survival before profit? Looking at what’s at stakes, who are the unreasonable ones here?
As a middle class youth living in a developing country, I sometimes, nope, often felt guilty for the privileges I enjoyed: sufficient food, clean water, education, health… I wonder if the political leaders and corporates who want to continue with business-as-usual feel the same.
I really don’t understand. If growing up and being a sophisticated adult means I’m going to ignore others’ right to survival; if being rich and powerful means I’ll trample on my fellow human beings’ and Mother Earth for my own convenience, I would rather remain a “simple-minded” youth, who just hope everyone on Earth enjoy similar rights (to survival; free from all discrimination and injustices) and share the Earth’s resources fairly, a world where peoples’ interests and the principles of justice and equity are put before profit and self-interests.
I was taking a bus a few days ago, and there was a baby onboard; I was at a vigil yesterday night, and there was a toddle wandering around looking at the candles curiously…Time stood still as I looked at them, rare moments of peace amidst the frantic pace of the conference.
Deal or no deal, the climate movement will continue to work tirelessly to change the tide, but we need our political leaders and businesses to join us at this critical moment. History will judge us, but wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of condemning our generation, the history books in 2050 read:
“The world came together at COP15 in 2009. Developed countries commit to ambitious cuts under the existing Kyoto Protocol while providing the much-needed finance for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries under a new Copenhagen agreement. Developing countries also took voluntary cuts to ensure that the world return to 350ppm as soon as possible to avert runaway climate change. It was truly a historic and shining moment for humanity.”
Okay, enough dreaming, time to return to reality.
“I know poor people and indigenous people worldwide are dying because of climate-induced hunger, water shortage, floods, droughts…but I cannot cut my carbon emissions further or give up my political future/profit to save you all, I just can’t.”
Ha ha! Of course developed countries’ political leaders, fossil fuel industries and sectors reliant on them didn’t say it to anyone’s face that plainly, but that’s what they’re essentially doing, isn’t it?
Greenpeace activists gatecrashed a royal bash for the UN climate summit in Copenhagen yesterday night.
I know for a fact that these negotiations are extremely complicated, it’s linked to economy, national security, bla bla bla…That’s why it’s taken so long (since 1992), and some argued that we’ve made some progress, albeit a little slow.
But the thing is, we all – political leaders, negotiators, businesses, civil societies – also know that we don’t have much time left. Science demands that we act now. I feel like a broken radio for repeating this time and again, but hello, the clock is ticking faster than ever. If emissions don’t peak by around 2015 and start falling immediately thereafter, we’re doomed to more than 2 degree rise, which means more than 3 degree rise in Africa and small island states are definitely sinking.
The civil societies have already woken up and made their voices heard, the developing countries are also moving fast to ensure that they can develop sustainably (not making the same mistakes that the industrialized nations did when developing and causing others to suffer in the process), but yet the international media are blaming developing countries particularly China and India for stalling the talks.
Who is slowing who down now? Let’s face it, the developed countries have used up more than their share of the Earth’s resources and atmospheric space so that they can live comfortably now (at least most of them are), what more do they want?
The fossil fuel industries and sectors dependent on them, as well as those waiting to earn billions from the carbon market. Is it really too much to ask them to put humanity’s survival before profit? Looking at what’s at stakes, who are the unreasonable ones here?
As a middle class youth living in a developing country, I sometimes, nope, often felt guilty for the privileges I enjoyed: sufficient food, clean water, education, health… I wonder if the political leaders and corporates who want to continue with business-as-usual feel the same.
I really don’t understand. If growing up and being a sophisticated adult means I’m going to ignore others’ right to survival; if being rich and powerful means I’ll trample on my fellow human beings’ and Mother Earth for my own convenience, I would rather remain a “simple-minded” youth, who just hope everyone on Earth enjoy similar rights (to survival; free from all discrimination and injustices) and share the Earth’s resources fairly, a world where peoples’ interests and the principles of justice and equity are put before profit and self-interests.
I was taking a bus a few days ago, and there was a baby onboard; I was at a vigil yesterday night, and there was a toddle wandering around looking at the candles curiously…Time stood still as I looked at them, rare moments of peace amidst the frantic pace of the conference.
Deal or no deal, the climate movement will continue to work tirelessly to change the tide, but we need our political leaders and businesses to join us at this critical moment. History will judge us, but wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of condemning our generation, the history books in 2050 read:
“The world came together at COP15 in 2009. Developed countries commit to ambitious cuts under the existing Kyoto Protocol while providing the much-needed finance for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries under a new Copenhagen agreement. Developing countries also took voluntary cuts to ensure that the world return to 350ppm as soon as possible to avert runaway climate change. It was truly a historic and shining moment for humanity.”
Okay, enough dreaming, time to return to reality.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Misses home a little
Luckily I'm going back this Saturday. It's been a crazy two weeks.
I like the snow but not the cold and windy weather here.
I like all the buzz, but it's very easy to get lost among all these happenings. I haven't been able to report back home about what's happening here efficiently.
Luckily Adrian and Abe are here to guide me. It's only so late into the conference that I'm getting a hold of everything, and being able to function more effectively.
*Sigh*
The only thing I can do now is try to make the best of the remaining days here! Don't want no regret!
Go! Go! Go!
p/s: Check out the live updates at MYCJN's blog http://mycjn.org/blog/?p=973! (Things are finally on track, albeit a little late) There is also a video of the Malaysian negotiators! ^^
And a photo gallery of COP15 http://thenutgraph.com/citizen-led-actions-at-cop15!
I like the snow but not the cold and windy weather here.
I like all the buzz, but it's very easy to get lost among all these happenings. I haven't been able to report back home about what's happening here efficiently.
Luckily Adrian and Abe are here to guide me. It's only so late into the conference that I'm getting a hold of everything, and being able to function more effectively.
*Sigh*
The only thing I can do now is try to make the best of the remaining days here! Don't want no regret!
Go! Go! Go!
p/s: Check out the live updates at MYCJN's blog http://mycjn.org/blog/?p=973! (Things are finally on track, albeit a little late) There is also a video of the Malaysian negotiators! ^^
And a photo gallery of COP15 http://thenutgraph.com/citizen-led-actions-at-cop15!
Monday, December 7, 2009
COP15 begins today!
There are already a couple of actions lining up, the youth are doing a flash dance today at Bella Center today!
And wanna find out what Malaysia's position is at COP15? Stay tune for more updates shortly!
And wanna find out what Malaysia's position is at COP15? Stay tune for more updates shortly!
