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Over to Warsaw

They came and talked, in a low-key voice though, many things other than the core issue of climate crisis at the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in the capital of Qatar–Doha. About 200 high-ranking diplomats and government officials burnt their midnight oil only to agree not to disagree on the next round of negotiations to be held in Poland’s—Warsaw in 2013. Well, they decided to extend the Kyoto protocol by eight years, albeit without any new or binding commitments to cut greenhouse gases. ‘For all practical purposes the Doha talks had failed to deliver increased cuts to carbon pollution, nor did they provide any credible pathway to $100 billion per year in finance by 2020 to help the poorest countries deal with climate change’.

If anything the much publicised Kyoto protocol has been a failure to reduce carbon emissions while allowing the planet earth becoming a bit more hotter with its associated consequences.

The principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—common but differentiated responsibilities, inter-generational equity, and polluter pays —have been undermined in favour of market mechanisms. The three main pillars of the Kyoto agreement—the clean development mechanism, joint implementation and emissions trading schemes—have been completely ineffective in reducing emissions, yet they continue to be at the centre of the negotiations.

Kyoto is based on carbon-trading mechanisms which allow Northern countries to continue business as usual by paying for "clean development" projects in developing and transition countries. This is a scheme designed deliberately to allow polluters to avoid reducing emissions domestically. Clean development mechanism projects, which are supposed to support "sustainable development", include infrastructure projects such as big dams and coal-fired power plants, and monoculture tree plantations. Not only do these projects fail to reduce carbon emissions, they accelerate the privatisation and corporate take-over of the natural world, at the expense of local communities and Indigenous Peoples.

The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) scheme could create the climate regime's largest ever loophole, giving Northern polluters yet another opportunity to buy their way out of emissions reductions. With no mention of biodiversity or Indigenous Peoples' rights, this scheme might give a huge incentive for countries to sell off their forests, expel Indigenous and peasant communities, and transform forests into tree plantations under corporate-control. Plantations are not forests. Privatisation and dispossession through REDD or any other mechanisms must be stopped.

It is unlikely that logjam at the Warsaw COP in 2013 will be ironed out smoothly. In truth nothing spectacular will happen. The reason is simple : solutions to the climate crisis cannot come from industrialised countries and big business. Market ideology has totally infiltrated the climate talks, and the UNFCC negotiations are now trade fairs where lobbyists work overtime to explore investment opportunities. Real solutions lie in initiatives of indigenous peoples, peasant communities, fisher-folk, and especially women in these communities as they have been living harmoniously and sustainably with the planet earth for millenia. [contributed]

Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 25, Dec 30-Jan 5, 2013

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