by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
BONN, Germany – On June 11, 2010 at the UN climate negotiations in Bonn, countries responded to a new draft text document released late Thursday night.
At a press conference held by NGOs from across the world in response to the new text and developments in the Kyoto Protocl negotiations, Martin Khor, Director of the South Centre, an intergovernmental think-tank of developing countries, said: "The text has become even more imbalanced towards developed country interests. It leaves out many important points that the old text included. This affects the balance. This text removes the equity principle from the most important elements of the climate regime. It is a step backward."
Antje von Broock a climate campaigner with Friends of the Earth added: "This new text is an invitation for the European Union to show leadership again on climate. This text shows a real drift away from the principles, values and rules of the agreed international climate change legal framework. Developing countries have been clear on how that drift can stop: a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. That's not in the text. Friends of the Earth is asking the EU to put it there and reclaim the mantle of 'climate leader."
Mohamed Adow, program officer at Christian Aid said: "Developed countries have a two faced approach to the Kyoto Protocol and are condemning it to death. This text reflects a real imbalance, there is no room for concerns about equity or justice. If negotiations continue in this direction there will be no international climate law worth talking about and that would condemn millions of people, particularly in Africa, to unsurvivable food and water shortages."
Raman Mehta, of Action Aid (India) said: "The suspension of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations today by Japan and Russia is a real threat to the lives of the poor and vulnerable. They are clearly acting in concert with the US, which continues to reject the need for substantially legal binding emission cuts. Without those binding cuts millions of people in the developing world will suffer a climate catastrophe that they have not caused. The US must stop undermining the Kyoto Protocol and the EU must bring Russia and Japan into a new commitment period with strong, effective, just and science-based emission cuts."
Considering, however, that the entire thing has been set up in such a way that nothing will ever be really binding what do people actually expect. Those talks are a lot of hot air, create a great amount of CO2 and waste a great deal of money.
Anyone who is expecting anything really binding and positive to ever come out of any of those talks has not understood the nature of the window dressing operation that is being run here.
It is all only in order to keep the punters quiet. Time we all realized that and demanded true action, and maybe we better started with ourselves.
Once again those that preach all the green sermons are amongst those that keep creating the CO2 and wasting money by traveling to those venues and conferences. This was the same in Copenhagen and is the same in Bonn and will be the same at the next location.
The campaign organizations are adding to the pollution that they wish to combat. A bit of an oxymoron, methinks.
Time for serious rethinking.
© 2010
