CNS STORY: Climate summit reveals differences between developing, wealthy nations

CLIMATE-TIME Dec-15-2009 (790 words) xxxi

Climate summit reveals differences between developing, wealthy nations

By Barbara J. Fraser
Catholic News Service

The heat is on climate negotiators who are "running out of time" because of differences between developing countries and the world's wealthiest nations, an African observer at the Copenhagen climate conference said.

"It's extremely difficult to say what is going to happen now," Stephen Mutiso of the Kenya office of Trocaire, a Catholic aid organization, told Catholic News Service Dec. 14 in a telephone interview from Copenhagen.

Talks at the climate conference were suspended for several hours Dec. 14 when African delegates walked out. They and delegates from other developing countries accused rich nations, including the European Union, Australia and Japan, of trying to do away with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which obligated industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a specific amount every year through 2012.

Negotiations leading to Copenhagen have referred to a "two-track process" -- continuing and tightening the emissions restrictions called for by the Kyoto Protocol and establishing a new, long-term agreement to address issues not covered by the Kyoto pact. Industrialized countries have proposed an entirely new agreement, but developing countries fear a new deal will not include legally binding limits or will loosen the Kyoto targets.

"The opposition to a two-track process is mainly to avoid a legally binding agreement," Mutiso said. Opponents "would prefer a political agreement, which has no legal compliance mechanism."

Wealthy countries are worried about the cost of meeting targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A study early in 2009 by a network of 200 economists estimated that reducing emissions enough to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius (about 3-and-a-half degrees Fahrenheit) would cost about 2.5 percent of global gross domestic product. The study said the cost would increase if action were delayed.

Industrialized countries also want rapidly developing countries, especially China, India and Brazil, to abide by emissions targets. Those countries do not have targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

"Even with a two-track approach, there is a likelihood that (countries) such as Brazil, India and China will also make commitments," Mutisa said.

Humanitarian and development organizations say poor people in developing countries will suffer most from effects of climate change, such as drought and disasters caused by extreme weather. Rising sea level is increasing erosion along coastlines of many countries and could swamp some Pacific islands.

To reduce the risk from rising global temperatures, Catholic activists say, countries must turn away from an unsustainable development model and excessive consumption of natural resources.

One obstacle in Copenhagen are "interests that are strongly marked by the desire to continue obtaining more and more money, in a development model based on endless growth, which is an illusion," Roberto Urbina of Caritas Chile told CNS Dec. 14 by e-mail. Caritas is the Chilean bishops' aid and development agency.

"Addressing climate change means addressing a situation that, based on what we have learned in the Gospel of Jesus, is unacceptable. The cause of these effects lies in the lifestyle of a consumer society based on an economic model that has been condemned by the magisterium of the church," Urbina wrote.

While the negotiations have emphasized greenhouse gas emission reductions, mitigation efforts and funds to help poor countries adapt to the effects of climate change, bishops in the Patagonia region of southern Chile and neighboring Argentina called on Copenhagen delegates to make water a priority.

"We are deeply concerned by the threats afflicting Patagonia arising from mining, hydroelectric, aquatic, forestry and even nuclear waste projects, which will seriously and irreversibly damage nature and human life in this 'life reserve' of the planet," two Chilean bishops and eight Argentinian bishops wrote in a letter sent to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the top U.N. climate official.

Citing pollution, scarcity and misuse of water, which could lead to conflicts and jeopardize food supplies, the bishops called water a "gift from God, a human right and "a common heritage of humanity" that cannot be privatized or sold.

Water "is a vital element not only for life, but also for cultures, religions, the economy and politics," the bishops wrote, and "should be a motive for solidarity, justice and equity amongst peoples."

Climate negotiators are heading into the final days of the Copenhagen conference. Mutiso said the goal is to have the agreement drafted by the time government ministers converge on the city Dec. 16. The leaders of more than 100 nations are expected to attend Dec. 18, the last day of the conference.

Urbina of Caritas Chile said the greatest challenge is to reach "agreements that are centered on life, human life and ecological balance."

That means taking "ethical responsibility toward today's world and toward our children and grandchildren," he said. "We cannot bequeath them a destroyed world that continues to jeopardize their future."

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