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Polluter
nations torpedo UN climate change treaty (Chee Yoke Ling)
Attempts at a UN conference on climate change at The Hague
last November to reach an agreement on enforcing the minimum measures
needed to reduce emissions of the ‘greenhouse gases’ which cause global
warming collapsed as a result of the intransigence of some of the
world’s richest nations. Heading the pack of polluters which torpedoed
the agreement in the interests of big business was the US.
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Climate change talks almost hijacked (Chee Yoke Ling)
After
the collapse of The Hague climate change conference, the European Union
made a desperate, last-ditch attempt to clinch a deal with the Clinton
administration before George Bush formally assumed the US presidency.
Fortunately for the countries of the developing world, this attempt to
strike a deal behind their backs failed.
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Global warming worse than feared (Chee Yoke Ling)
A
unanimous report of hundreds of scientists from more than 100 countries
has affirmed, on the basis of new and stronger evidence, that most of
the warming over the last 50 years has been caused by human activities.
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The Kyoto loopholes(Simon Retallack)
Among
the most serious defects of the Kyoto Protocol was the provision for ‘flexible
mechanisms’. Simon Retallack explains why such mechanisms could jettison
the real objectives of the Protocol
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Greenhouse market mania(Adam Ma'anit)
The
UN climate talks have been corrupted by corporate pseudo-solutions put
forward by TNCs and Northern governments to enable them to escape their
promised greenhouse gas reductions. Adam Ma'anit exposes and catalogues
this climate fraud.
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Business as usual (Yin Shao Loong)
The
UN climate change conference at The Hague witnessed a complete integration
of big business into the Kyoto Protocol process and confirmed the fears
of many activists that the real goals of the Protocol are being undermined
in the relentless pursuit of profits.
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A changing climate for disease and death
(Martin Jalleh)
The combination of climate change and environmental degradation
has created ideal conditions for the emergence, resurgence and spread
of infectious diseases - diseases which kill more than 17 million
people annually. Increased climate change has also altered the functional
balance among predators and prey, which is important for controlling
the proliferation of pests and pathogens. Warmer and sometimes wetter
weather may already be extending the range of infectious diseases
beyond regions where they are endemic. These were some of the disturbing
conclusions of a study by Dr Paul Epstein of the Centre for Health
and Global Environment, Massachusetts, USA. Martin Jalleh highlights
the warning signals of the dangers to human health posed by climate
change to which Dr Epstein draws attention in his study.
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Contraction and convergence
(Jim Broad)
The
adoption of a global programme of ‘Contraction and Convergence’ offers
the potential to break the stalemate in the international negotiations
on climate change and to set in place a far more effective and inclusive
political mechanism to curb the consumption of fossil fuels in all countries,
says John Broad.
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Peoples' defence of climate stability
Activists involved in the defence of climate stability have
been concerned about the destruction caused to lands, diversity and
the very existence of communities by the extraction of fossil fuels.
They have been equally concerned over the attempt to use forests and
plantations as ‘carbon sinks’, a process which also involves the destruction
and displacement of communities and ecosystems. We reproduce above
a call for a moratorium on the expansion of the oil frontier by OILWATCH,
an international movement against fossil fuel-mining in the tropics,
and a statement on forest and plantation ‘sinks’ by the World Rainforest
Movement, a global coalition, based in Montevideo, of grassroots communities
and NGOs in defence of forests and indigenous communities.
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Battling on the fence line
(Yin Shao Loong)
Grassroots
activists from all over the world organised a Climate Justice Summit at
The Hague coinciding with the UN climate change conference to give voice
to those bearing the brunt of the polluting activities of the big corporations.
As Yin Shao Loong observes in his analysis of this conference below, this
grassroots summit engendered a solidarity and camaraderie that was sadly
lacking at the UN climate conference
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Climate change - an integral part of US 'Star Wars' programme
(Michel Chossudovsky)
While
world attention and concern have been focussed on the need to prevent
climate change by the control of carbon emissions, the dangers of ‘weather
warfare’ have been ignored. Michel Chossudovsky draws attention to a US
drive to perfect technology under its ‘Star Wars’ programme which will
have the capacity to trigger climate change.
