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IN THIS ISSUE: DURING the recent United
Nations Conference on Climate Change, it became clear that the core
issue of "justice" - who bears the historical responsibility
for greenhouse gas emissions and who pays the price -- and the
essential question of how to improve the lives of hundreds of
millions of people in the Global South in an ever shrinking
ecological space, must be at the heart any viable future climate
regime. Anything less is simply not acceptable. However, few are
ready to acknowledge this because, in contrast to the techno-fixes
and market mechanisms being promoted as "win, win, win"
solutions, a new climate regime that reduces greenhouse gas emissions
in a fair way will require rich countries to make very deep cuts in
their emissions, and very soon. They will also have to make major
financial and technical contributions to compensate and support
transitions in the South and assist those already dislocated by
climate events.
The reluctance of the rich countries -
especially the US - to make these commitments is shameful. Most
analysts agree that the US is unlikely to shift its position before
the 2008 presidential election, but they all assume that the US will
be more reasonable in the post-Bush era. But if 2004 presidential
candidate John Kerry's Bali press conference is any indication of
how the Democrats are thinking, there is little cause for optimism.
In a 30-minute speech aimed exclusively at the US media, Kerry spoke
of the necessity for "global solutions". This is precisely the
same language used by the Bush negotiating team throughout the Bali
conference, and is code for "we won't move until China does."
Kerry also rejected totally per capita targets, championing instead a
cap and trade system, which, he said, would give "certainty to the
market".
Corporations are central to Kerry's
vision of the future and he spoke enthusiastically of the 27 Fortune
500 companies - including Dupont, Dow and BP -- who are positioning
themselves to "take on the climate challenge" (that is "profiting
from the climate challenge"). He also mentioned a recent meeting at
Clarence House (that's where Prince Charles lives) of 150 companies
where they all happily agreed that there is money to be made in a
"green economy." In fact Kerry was so gung-ho about the central
role of corporations in solving the problem that I had the unworthy
thought that the US is dragging out the negotiations simply to give
American corporations time to position themselves to reap the climate
change windfall. (In the meantime, big coal and big oil will continue
to make a lot of money blowing the tops off mountains and digging up
the boreal forests.)
In the Kerry vision of the future, some
corporations will win and others will loose, but capitalism itself
will survive. For some, capitalism is the problem, for some it is the
solution. Others argue that the climate crisis is too urgent to even
ask this question: we simply have to do what needs to be done to
reduce emissions. However, we are inevitably entering a new energy
paradigm that will necessitate new patterns of production and
consumption and possibly new forms of ownership and control. The
opportunity for transforming our societies is real, not theoretical,
because things will (indeed must) change. It's not too late to put
justice at the centre of that future, rather than leaving it to the
corporations.
In this "Bali special" issue of
Focus on Trade, six people who were at the climate change conference
give their take on what happened, and what didn't, and what we need
to do next. We have also included the press statement from the newly
formed "Climate Justice" coalition which is starting to bring
together the environmental and global justice movements: this is
definitely the most positive outcome of the Bali conference. And just
to remind us that some things never change, we finish with an article
by Aileen Kwa about the EU's dirty tactics in the Economic
Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations.
Enjoy the articles and best wishes for
the New Year.
IN THIS ISSUE
ENVIRONEMENT-BALI
THE DAY AFTER...
Walden Bello
NGOS REGROUP AROUND CLIMATE CHANGE
AFTER BALI
Marwaan Macan-Markar
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? BALI, AND THE
LESSONS LEARNED
Tom Athanasiou
WHAT WAS GAINED IN BALI? NOT MUCH...
Janet Redman
REDD: FUNDING FORESTS, PLANTATIONS OR
FORESTERS?
Simone Lovera
TRADE, CLIMATE, AND BALI
Victor Menotti
PLAYERS AND PLAYS IN THE BALI CLIMATE
DRAMA
Walden Bello
PRESS RELEASE: WHAT'S MISSING FROM
THE CLIMATE TALKS? JUSTICE!
TRADE-AFRICA
EU is Using ''Bully Tactics'' to Push
Through EPAs
Aileen Kwa
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