Peace and Environment News* June 1995
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Peace and Environment News * June 1995 |
by Louise Comeau
Calls for real action on climate change by small island states fell on deaf ears at the First Conference of the Parties meeting in Berlin in April.
The conference was held to develop a plan of action for the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the climate control pact signed at the 1992 Earth Summit.
The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), exposed as they are to the potential impacts of sea level rise and intensified storms, believe they are seeing climate change today and want commitments to reductions of at least 20 percent in greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries.
A protocol submitted by AOSIS calling for 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, by 2005 was ignored in Berlin. Instead, political leaders acknowledged that current commitments to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000 are inadequate to prevent global climate change and then—launched a "process."
The process, to be finished by 1997, is to "elaborate policies and measures and to set quantified limitation and reduction objectives within specified timeframes..." The goal is to have governments ratify a protocol or amendment to the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Tokyo in 1997.
While the outcome from Berlin falls far short of what the atmosphere needs, it is a significant political achievement given how resistant countries like Canada, the United States and Australia are to any suggestion that these energy-intensive economies will actually have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Burning fossil fuel energy like coal, oil and natural gas, deforestation, and agriculture—all these release carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions, which trap heat in the lower atmosphere. This additional heat energy is increasing surface air temperatures and is expected to change precipitation patterns and ocean and atmospheric circulation. Potential impacts include displacement of plant and animal species as temperature zones change, drought, flooding, rise in sea level, increased storm intensities, forest fires, and pest outbreaks.
Canada uses more energy per capita than any other industrialized country, and it is the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide per capita. Canadians have a special responsibility to do what they can to use energy more efficiently and to increase their reliance on renewable energy sources like solar, wind, biomass and small-scale hydro.
Canada has ratified the Climate Change Convention and has developed an action plan that is almost exclusively voluntary. Projections are that unless the Voluntary Challenge is an extraordinary success, greenhouse gas emissions will exceed the stabilization goal by at least 13 percent by the year 2000.
Higher efficiency standards for buildings, vehicles and equipment, as well as a concerted effort to retrofit existing buildings, elimination of subsidies to the fossil fuel sector, and higher energy prices are all part of the answer for Canada.
Responding to climate change will not lead to economic Armageddon, as provinces like Alberta and the fossil fuel sector suggest. Studies show that investments in energy efficiency reduce operating costs, improve competitiveness and productivity, and create jobs. Using less energy also reduces emissions causing acid rain, ozone, and smog.
The scientific evidence is building that climate change is happening now. That signal will not weaken. Significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of 60 to 80 percent globally will inevitably have to come. Climate change is an issue that will affect fishers, foresters, farmers, every aspect of tourism, the insurance and financial industry, and city dwellers. These sectors must begin working together to build a constituency in Canada for action on climate change which can balance the calls for inaction by certain industrial groups.
For more information on how you can get involved, contact the Sierra Club at 241-4611.
Louise Comeau is Climate Change Campaign Director at the Sierra Club of Canada.
(A version of this article will also appear in the next issue of Delta: Newsletter of the Canadian Global Change Program.)
Converted July 7, 2000 - Lg
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