The climate after Cancun
The good news about climate and its changing patterns and how nations cope with it is that there is fresh new ground for hope. What has transpired in Cancun is something quite removed from the stalemate and chaos which descended on Copenhagen at this time last year. Where miffed and shocked negotiators simply could not understand why nothing was working in Copenhagen, this time around matters appear to be rather under control. There is certainly nothing of the dramatic sort that has occurred in Cancun, of course, but after Copenhagen there appears to have been a conscious effort made toward avoiding the old mistakes.
Watch the results thrown up by Cancun. A new fund, called the Green Climate Fund, involving billions of dollars to aid poor nations fight off the effects of industrial emissions has been agreed upon. The United States, Japan and the European Union have made pledges of 100 billion dollars a year beginning in 2020, along with 30 billion dollars in what has been described as rapid assistance. Affluent countries are required to cut emissions by 25 to 40 per cent by 2020. Developing nations will be assisted, through new market mechanisms, in curbing gas emissions. Surely one of the significant results emerging from the conference is the wide support that has been voiced regarding a saving of the world's forest regions from destruction. The draft anti-deforestation regulations developing nations have been asked to prepare speaks not only of the persistent threat to the environment but also of the serious approach being made to contain the threat. Finally, the move by the conference to disseminate technical know-how to developing nations on containing emissions and adapting to climate change is indicative of the seriousness with which climate change is being tackled.
So the deal is there and everything now ought to fall in place. That is the feeling. Not quite, though. What is now required is systematic and foolproof monitoring of the implementation of the agreement. Not all of the goals set out in the deal will be fully implemented before next year's talks in South Africa. But given that a sense of common worry has been at work in Cancun, it is reasonable to expect that a more substantive target will be set -- and achieved -- next year.
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