https://theintercept.com/2019/12/18/un-climate-cop25/
"At issue in Madrid and in the demonstration that provoked last
Wednesday’s lock-out is wealthy countries’ abdication of historical
responsibility, both for the mess the planet now finds itself in and for
its crucial role in keeping things from getting infinitely worse. The
U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which officially governs
the Paris Agreement, is clear on the “common but differentiated
responsibility” held by parties which are signed on to it. Wealthy
countries, that is, built their economies in large part through the
burning of fossil fuels. This development was also furnished by the use
of land, labor, and resources from what is today the less developed
“global south,” including several dozen former colonial holdings.
Cruelly, it’s those places that are already being hammered by the
impacts of fossil-fueled development in the “global north”; climate
equity advocates argue that larger economies which have benefited from
historical processes like colonialism and slavery have the capacity to
transition more quickly, and should allow countries and people that have
traditionally been exploited the time and capacity to catch up.
Throughout Democratic and Republican administrations, the United States’
team of career State Department negotiators have spent years stymying
calls for more ambitious climate policy, coming most vocally from
“global south” countries already experiencing the climate emergency.
Climate finance, in particular, has been their bête noire."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
