The seventeenth UN Convention on Climate Change, COP-17 is
currently taking place in Durban,
South Africa.
It began November 28 and will run until December 9. Once again developed
nations that are doing the most to accelerate global warming have a chance to
commit to making a difference. "Climate Change is a matter of
Justice." declared Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu of the General Council
of Elders. The nations that are most
affected by climate change are the ones least able to put a stop to it. One
example is the Republic of the Maldives,
a small island nation in the Indian Ocean.
Laura Flanders of The Nation describes a conversation she had with Dr. MohammedWaheed Hassan, the vice president of Maldives. They have seen the sea
level rise 8 inches causing erosion, most of their fresh water to become brackish,
and the dying of their coastal reefs. As a people they have lived on these
islands for 3000 years and are looking at the possible destruction of their
nation.
And they’re not alone. The small Pacific island nation of Kiribati is facing the same problems. Parts of their country are already underwater and the
contamination of fresh water supplies is affecting their ability to grow crops.
The president, Anote Tong, is encouraging his people in what is called
merit-based relocation. They have worked out deals with Australia and New Zealand that allow young people
who successfully complete training in professions that are in-demand to stay in
their countries. This will hopefully give their families preferential status for
migration. This is preferable to emergency evacuation on down the road, but how
sad that an entire nation might have to leave their ancestral homes. And there are others. Twenty-two Pacific island nations are home to
approximately 7 million people. Where will they go? Most nations in the world
are not prepared to accept large numbers of environmental refugees, but that may be exactly what we are looking at within the next generation.
Many people are still skeptical about our ability to affect global warming, even though the vast majority of scientific organizations have issued
statements that support not only global warming, but that human activity is a
large contributing factor. The few that disagree are at best non-committal on
the involvement of human activity. Richard Muller, once a beloved scientist of
the skeptics, has completed his own study and come to the same conclusions as
other studies, that the earth is warming at an increasing rate.
In the mean time, there appears to be an attempt by
developed countries to allow access to the Green Climate Fund by multinational
companies, bypassing the governments of the developing nations it was created
to help. This would allow Wall Street companies, for example, to directly
access those funds. The problem is that many of the initiatives required may
not be financially lucrative, but that doesn’t mean they are not still
necessary. Given the recent record of some Wall Street firms with regard to
their concern for people in general, I have a hard time believing that they
would have the best interest of these small “insignificant” island nations at
heart.
I am a skeptic,
but not a skeptic about global warming, a skeptic about the ability of people
who are not directly affected by global warming to care. It’s sad to say that,
but there it is. I do hope I am proven wrong. During the conference in Durban, the US and other large developed
nations have the chance to really make a difference. I’m hoping that this year
we will finally take a stand in favor of the other people in the world who need
us, not worrying about the inconvenience it might be to us, or whether or not
we can profit while helping, just whether or not we can help.
