Gloomy weather: How UN talks are failing to deliver on climate change

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THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE
Issue No. 358 (2024/1) Click on cover to download the magazine (PDF) COVER: Gloomy weather: How UN talks are failing to deliver on climate change* Mixed reactions of elation and frustration An overview of the Dubai climate outcomes By Meena Raman The COP 28 United Nations climate conference in Dubai, UAE, on 30 November–13 December brought together representatives of governments which are Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement. Meena Raman runs the rule over the major outcomes from the meeting – including a headline decision that doesn’t quite live up to its attendant fanfare – and what they entail for the effort to save an overheating planet. COP-out in Dubai By Asad Rehman The hollow deal from COP 28 to transition away from fossil fuels will not avert climate breakdown, but meaningful change can still be won. Sharing the carbon budget By Hilary Kung Instead of simply targeting global emission cuts, the UN climate negotiations must consider how the limited space left for carbon use is shared between developed and developing countries in light of their different needs and responsibilities. A discussion held on the sidelines of COP 28 explored this and other facets of climate justice. Fossil fuel phase-out – hype and hypocrisy By Radhika Chatterjee and Indrajit Bose Radhika Chatterjee and Indrajit Bose give the lie to developed-country claims of leading the shift away from fossil fuel dependence. Fossil fuel phase-out in developing countries requires new economic order By Radhika Chatterjee Developing-country representatives at COP 28 stressed the importance of economic and financial support for the move away from fossil fuel dependence in the Global South. Green face, old tricks By Nick Dowson The free market is unlikely to deliver the required transition to a clean-energy economy, much less one that works for all. Rich countries are in (climate) debt default By Fadhel Kaboub The Global South is effectively owed a climate debt of some $2.4 trillion by the historical polluters of the North. What it’s getting instead is a mix of financial crumbs, structural traps and dubious promises of ‘green industrialisation’. The grim realities of Western climate change discourse on Africa By Nteranya Ginga, Tshimundu, Koko Ginga and J. Munroe As the climate crisis intensifies, and as the Global North increasingly looks to Africa’s vast mineral resources and natural carbon sinks for salvation, we must be ever more vigilant in asking where African peoples fit into these narratives.	ECONOMICS The harmful harvest of monopoly agriculture By Daisy Pearson and Nick Dearden A global agricultural system controlled by a handful of mega-corporations is hurting food producers and consumers alike and ruining the health of people and planet. Davos elites talk about rebuilding trust. The people talk of system change By Jenny Ricks While the yearly Davos confab of the rich and powerful discusses pallid prescriptions for the world’s ills, people on the sharp end of inequality are demanding altogether more radical change. WORLD AFFAIRS The New Cold War and the risk of nuclear annihilation By Charles Derber and Suren Moodliar Rampant militarism and leaders willing to take a chance on the fate of the world for economic advantage are increasing the threat of nuclear disaster. US attacks on the ICJ are a declaration of empire By Stephen Zunes Washington’s criticism of the International Court of Justice – which has provisionally ruled that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza – must be seen as part of a broader effort to unfetter any restraints on US power. Indigenous leaders saved Guatemala’s fragile democracy By Jeff Abbott More than a hundred days of Indigenous-led protest played a key role in defending Guatemala’s democracy, but the struggle continues. HUMAN RIGHTS Argentina wants to whitewash its military junta. Unfortunately, there’s video evidence By Juliet Jacques A new documentary about the trial of the military junta leaders who brutally ruled Argentina in 1976–83 is a powerful rejoinder to attempts at rewriting this terrible episode in the country’s history. WOMEN Navigating climate change and menopause By Sanket Jain For some of India’s mostly women community health workers, the uncomfortable experience of menopause is compounded by job stress, social stigma – and climate change. ACTIONS & ALTERNATIVES The MST at 40 By Gabriela Moncau Gabriela Moncau traces the four-decade-old history of the inspirational movement spearheading the struggle for land, agrarian reform and social transformation in Brazil. TRIBUTE John Pilger’s reporting demolished Western propaganda’s myths By Daniel Finn The journalism of John Pilger, who passed away on 30 December, laid bare the cynicism and ruthlessness underlying much of global geopolitics. Third World Resurgence Page
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