Taking Action on Climate Change - A Matter of Justice

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.