Playing Politics With Biodiversity and Climate Change
Self-interest and not "we're in this together" seems to be the slogan of some powerful countries when it comes to agreement on biodiversity and climate change.
IPS News reports: "Self-interest and petty politicking largely paralysed efforts to solve the urgent problem of the widespread extinction of species, with few concrete achievements after nearly two weeks of 14-hour meetings at the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Bonn that concluded last Friday.
"Why? Mainly because a few rich and powerful countries like Japan, Canada, Australia, Brazil and China fought tooth and nail to boost their own self-interest regardless of the environmental and human costs.
"Six years ago, more than 160 countries at the April 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg agreed on a target of achieving a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. In May 2008, virtually everyone here acknowledged the target will not be met.
"Some countries, like Germany and most of the developing world, do understand that species extinction is undermining the vital ecosystem services that nature provides, such as food, fibre, clean water and air. Others, such as Canada, express altruistic sentiments that are belied by their actions. Since decisions at U.N. meetings are by consensus, any country can block decisions on a whim. Or, as is more often the case, countries will block agreement on something they have no connection to simply so they can force concessions on other issues.
" 'You listen to them debate over every comma and realise they could be arguing over anything,' said Helena Paul of EcoNexus, a British-based environmental group that participated in the CBD meetings. NGOs can observe but are not participants except for the occasional opportunity to express their views.
" 'Many countries have lost the sense of why we are here -- instead it's about playing political games,'Paul told IPS in Bonn. 'There is no real commitment to protecting biodiversity.'
"Global environmental challenges like biodiversity and climate change are borderless issues, but many countries endlessly manoeuvre and fight for their own self-interest using the same competitive thinking as if it were some kind of trade deal. However, scientists and environmentalists have long stressed that the problems humanity faces cannot be solved by trade-offs or insincere promises.
"However, under Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 18-month-old government, Canada has obstructed consensus on any decisions to slow biodiversity loss. Harper was one of three national leaders to attend the meeting in Bonn and told delegates from 190 nations that the world "was losing wildlife species at an alarming rate". Then Canada's negotiators, acting on orders from the prime minister's office, did whatever they could to keep the global community from taking any action.
"One of Canada's favourite ploys was to add the phrase "consistent with international obligations" -- which meant World Trade Organisation rules would trump any CBD decision. What then would be the point of making any decision at the CBD or on any international agreement, a delegate from Norway asked during one negotiation session.
"Last December, Canada was also accused of acting as a U.S. proxy by obst ructing negotiations at the last international climate change conference in Bali. Canada is a major oil producer and the Harper government is neo-conservative very much in the mould of the Bush administration, despite the latter's numerous policy disasters, alienation of the international community and pushing the U.S. economy to the edge of bankruptcy."
There you have it: Harper's government is like the Bush administration: protect the wealthy, the hell with the common good.
And like the Bushites, Canada's current "neo-conservative" government doesn't give a hoot about the life-and-death issues of climate change, only corporate profits.
IPS News reports: "Self-interest and petty politicking largely paralysed efforts to solve the urgent problem of the widespread extinction of species, with few concrete achievements after nearly two weeks of 14-hour meetings at the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Bonn that concluded last Friday.
"Why? Mainly because a few rich and powerful countries like Japan, Canada, Australia, Brazil and China fought tooth and nail to boost their own self-interest regardless of the environmental and human costs.
"Six years ago, more than 160 countries at the April 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg agreed on a target of achieving a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. In May 2008, virtually everyone here acknowledged the target will not be met.
"Some countries, like Germany and most of the developing world, do understand that species extinction is undermining the vital ecosystem services that nature provides, such as food, fibre, clean water and air. Others, such as Canada, express altruistic sentiments that are belied by their actions. Since decisions at U.N. meetings are by consensus, any country can block decisions on a whim. Or, as is more often the case, countries will block agreement on something they have no connection to simply so they can force concessions on other issues.
" 'You listen to them debate over every comma and realise they could be arguing over anything,' said Helena Paul of EcoNexus, a British-based environmental group that participated in the CBD meetings. NGOs can observe but are not participants except for the occasional opportunity to express their views.
" 'Many countries have lost the sense of why we are here -- instead it's about playing political games,'Paul told IPS in Bonn. 'There is no real commitment to protecting biodiversity.'
"Global environmental challenges like biodiversity and climate change are borderless issues, but many countries endlessly manoeuvre and fight for their own self-interest using the same competitive thinking as if it were some kind of trade deal. However, scientists and environmentalists have long stressed that the problems humanity faces cannot be solved by trade-offs or insincere promises.
"However, under Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 18-month-old government, Canada has obstructed consensus on any decisions to slow biodiversity loss. Harper was one of three national leaders to attend the meeting in Bonn and told delegates from 190 nations that the world "was losing wildlife species at an alarming rate". Then Canada's negotiators, acting on orders from the prime minister's office, did whatever they could to keep the global community from taking any action.
"One of Canada's favourite ploys was to add the phrase "consistent with international obligations" -- which meant World Trade Organisation rules would trump any CBD decision. What then would be the point of making any decision at the CBD or on any international agreement, a delegate from Norway asked during one negotiation session.
"Last December, Canada was also accused of acting as a U.S. proxy by obst ructing negotiations at the last international climate change conference in Bali. Canada is a major oil producer and the Harper government is neo-conservative very much in the mould of the Bush administration, despite the latter's numerous policy disasters, alienation of the international community and pushing the U.S. economy to the edge of bankruptcy."
There you have it: Harper's government is like the Bush administration: protect the wealthy, the hell with the common good.
And like the Bushites, Canada's current "neo-conservative" government doesn't give a hoot about the life-and-death issues of climate change, only corporate profits.
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