Italy G-8: Poverty of Principles and Fragile Gimmicks-II
-By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
Climate Change
G-8 has had a lot of fun debating climate change for fun, at the cost of weak nations. USA, China and India are worst polluters of universe but they avoid both punishments and responsibility for corrective measures with deadlines. Apart from carbon emissions and war pollutions, the major rouge states have meddled with atmosphere for scientific experiments by controlling natural state and flow of nature around. As a result, weather has become erratic and unpredictable. The US-led NATO terror wars in Islamic world have generated enormous pollution in terms of decomposed dead bodies and destroyed buildings. Wars have tremendous impact on the fluctuating climate conditions globally today threatening the very existence of isolated island nations.
Temperatures have risen by about 0.7 Celsius since the Industrial Revolution ushered in widespread use of fossil fuels. It seems necessary to slash global greenhouse-gas emissions just 50% below 2000 levels by 2050--a far less aggressive goal than what the environs say is necessary to avert climate catastrophe and even if the West reduced its emissions by 80% below 2000 levels, developing countries would still have to return their emissions to 2000 levels to meet the 50% target. Most scientists agree that even a slight increase in average temperatures would wreak havoc on farmers around the globe, as seasons shift, crops fail and storms and droughts ravage fields. G8 countries agreed among themselves on a goal of cutting global emissions by 50 percent by 2050, with the USA accepting this for the first time. They also set a reduction goal of 80 percent in aggregate for developed countries. China has just overtaken the U.S. as the world's biggest polluter, and India, which is close behind. The comments came at the conclusion of a meeting of the 17-nation Major Economies Forum, which includes the G-8 - Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan and the USA - and other emerging countries: Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, South Korea and the European Union also are in that club of the world's major polluters.
Unbridled economic growth by all means does allow any real solution to the impending climate disaster. Developing nations along with more than 30 world leaders invited, argue that they have to consume more energy to end poverty and that rich nations must make deep emission cuts of their own by 2020. They say G8 needs to take responsibility and support efforts of governments in developing countries to put in place or restore sustainable, equitable, and resilient agricultural systems. G8 should recognize the need for developing countries to have policy space to determine agricultural policies that meet the needs of their populations.
Human beings are not equipped to comprehend the dangers of an overheating planet before they fry to death, without US lead and the cooperation of the developing countries there is simply no way to avert climate change. At the G8 summit in Gleneagles in 2005, world leaders promised to increase annual aid levels by £30 billion by 2010, half of which was meant to go to African countries. But aid organizations say some countries have gone back on their word, especially this year's G8 host Italy, and African heads of state said they would voice their concerns. Ethiopian Prime Minister M. Zenawi said the key message for them is to ask the G8 to live up to their commitments." The leaders of Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa are expected to push their demand for compensation for the ravages of climate change.
The G8 member Russia objected saying it could not hit any target by 2050 and Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice said 80 percent was an "aspirational goal". China used the broader forum on the second day to make its argument -- backed by Russia, India and Brazil -- for long-term diversification of the global reserve currency system away from reliance on the dollar, a sensitive issue on currency markets. Progress was hampered by the absence of Chinese President Hu Jintao, who left L'Aquila to attend to ethnic clashes in China's northwest that have killed 156 people. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he hoped the temperature target would be agreed by "all the countries around the table today" plus emerging powers like China, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, India and Mexico. But one G8 source said it was "not realistic" to expect a deal on emissions. Progress on the environment was impeded by Chinese President Hu Jintao returning home due to unrest and state terrorism killing the Muslims in northwestern China in which 156 people, mostly Muslims, have died. Before Hu left, summit host Silvio Berlusconi spoke of Chinese "resistance" on climate goals.
President Obama said industrialized countries, the USA included, had a "historic responsibility" to take the lead in emissions reduction efforts because they have a larger carbon footprint than developing nations. The chasm between rich and poor on how to address climate change burst into the open at the G-8 summit, showing how difficult it will be to persuade the world to make lifestyle and economic sacrifices needed to save the planet from global warming. Especially reluctant to commit to change were two budding powers that are just now getting comfortable economically: India and China. Obama said developing nations have to do their part, as well.
The best commitment that the USA can make on climate change lies with energy legislation moving through Congress as well as Obama's desk that puts in place a system, a market-based system that lessens the amount of greenhouses gases in the air.. The House has narrowly passed a bill demanding caps on greenhouse gas that industry emits, enabling polluters to purchase the rights for emissions from others to encourage the development of alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar power. The measure faces a battle in the Senate, however, with the Republicans criticizing a plan that will add to the cost of household energy bills over time as a "national energy tax.''
G8 leaders are looking for avenues to squander the resources of weak nations and also leave the environmental burdens to them. They believe the world economy still faces "significant risks" and may need further help; summit draft documents suggest failure to agree climate change goals for 2050. Documents before the G8 summit began on 08 July cautioned that "significant risks remain to economic and financial stability" while "exit strategies" from pro-growth packages should be unwound only "once recovery is assured." the International Monetary Fund said it believed the global economy was starting to pull out of recession but recovery would be sluggish and policies needed to remain supportive.
African poor nations complain that the developed nations only promise aids but do nothing to keep their promise. Usual practice of "approving" something was done in Italy too, only for records sake. The G8 approved a new $15 billion (£9bn) for agricultural development in poor countries to ensure food supplies. They used a meeting on the problems of the developing world to announce the spending plan over three years to boost agricultural investment in poorer countries. The focus on agricultural investments reflects a US-led shift away from emergency aid assistance towards longer-term strategies to try to make communities more self-sufficient. The capitalist regimes that finance state terrorism have never kept their word before, but they only squeezed the somewhat wealthy nations outside G8 having plenty of money stolen from common folks.
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Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
Independent Researcher in International Affairs, The only Indian to have gone through entire India, a fraud and terror nation in South Asia.
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