Africa bloc leads walkout over suppression of debate

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

African countries at the COP-15 climate change summit in Copenhagen led a walkout for several hours on Dec. 14 to protest the efforts of the United States, Britain and other imperialist countries and their allies to sidestep responsibility for the worsening impact of carbon dioxide emissions. The increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has caused climate change that threatens the total collapse of agricultural production on the African continent.

The walkout could have derailed the entire conference. Heads of state from 120 countries were scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen within a few days.

Drought killed the livestock of this farmer in Zambia.

Developing nations in Asia and Latin America, along with the People’s Republic of China, joined the African states in accusing the summit’s Danish president of refusing to allow discussion on the major issues that affect the overwhelming majority of people on the planet.

Developing countries refused to participate in the working groups scheduled to begin on Dec. 14, the second week of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The African bloc, along with the Group of 77 developing countries, is demanding universal adherence to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which sets goals for emission standards to be reduced beyond 2012.

These emissions result from the burning of oil, gas and coal. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps solar heat, causing a rise in the earth’s temperature. Atmospheric scientists have predicted that, if no serious actions are taken over the next decade, the planet will warm significantly and there will be an escalation of drought, floods and storms, along with rising sea levels, that will bring famine to billions of people throughout the world.

A new United Nations environmental report has indicated that approximately 60 million people have suffered the effects of 245 natural disasters this year alone. More than 90 percent of these serious weather-related events have been amplified by climate change.

African states have made the case that their region is the hardest hit by pollutants generated by the industrialized states, whose governments refuse to agree on limits to emissions. At the same time, these governments are unwilling to provide compensation to developing countries for the damage caused to the environment.

The U.S. has not even signed the Kyoto Protocol, which set modest goals and timelines for curbing pollutants.

World Wildlife Fund director Kim Carstensen told the BBC, “The point is being made very loudly that African countries and the wider G77 bloc will not accept non-action on the Kyoto Protocol, and they’re really afraid that a deal has been stitched up behind their backs.” (BBC, Dec. 14)

China vs. U.S.

The dispute escalated between the developing states, allied with China, and the imperialist countries when the Danish government made an attempt to place another draft agreement on the agenda and consequently ignore the Kyoto Protocol.

During the first week of consultations in Copenhagen, tensions arose between the People’s Republic of China and the U.S. over setting goals for the curbing of emissions. China accused the U.S. and the West of trickery for their attempts to shift the focus of discussion from the concerns of the developing states to broader, undefined talks. Such a vague approach would absolve the capitalist countries from taking any action to address the worsening food crisis in Africa and other parts of the world.

African states and other developing countries demanded that conference president Connie Hedegaard of Denmark place the question of curbing emission standards for the industrialized states at the top of the agenda prior to the arrival of world leaders in Copenhagen. These countries, along with China, believe that the Danish government is working to destroy the Kyoto Protocol.

G77 chief negotiator Lumumba Dia Ping stated in relationship to the stalled talks, “It has become clear that the Danish presidency — in the most undemocratic fashion — is advancing the interests of the developed countries at the expense of the balance of obligations between developed and developing countries.” (BBC Radio 4’s “The World at One,” Dec. 14)

“We are seeing the death of the Kyoto Protocol,” said Djemouai Kamel of Algeria, who is leading the 53-nation Africa group. (AP, Dec. 14)

One Western negotiator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that discussions involving 50 environmental ministers on Dec. 13 were contentious as a result of the “growing disputes between the Americans and the Chinese.”

“At the back of everyone’s mind is the fear of a repeat of the awful scenario in The Hague,” when another climate change conference held in 2000 that was designed to set up definite guidelines related to the Kyoto Protocol broke up without an agreement. (AFP, Dec. 14)

During the previous week of consultations in Copenhagen, the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu had created a crisis with the simple demand that efforts to amend the U.N. climate convention and the Kyoto Protocol be debated fully at the summit.

African states demand compensation

African countries, including even the pro-Western Ethiopian regime, planned to demand $50 billion in compensation for the damage done by industrialized states to the continent’s environment over the last several years.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, “Africa is the worst hit when it comes to global emission. We are going to Copenhagen with one voice and our position is that the developed countries should pay us $50 billion in the short term. Our requisition also is that in 2015, the compensation should be increased to $250 billion.” (Xinhua, Dec. 11)

The African Union’s Presidential Commission has agreed on this position unanimously, saying that the continent, which generates only 4 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, has been the most severely affected by climate change. In addition to compensation through funding, Africa is also demanding technology transfers that would foster the replacement of outmoded machinery.

In making its case for compensation from the Western industrialized countries, the Monitor newspaper published in Uganda wrote in an editorial on Dec. 14, “The entire Eastern Africa region has, for example, this year witnessed extensive drought with crop failure and livestock deaths commonplace in semiarid areas. Secondly, Africa is home to a big percentage of the world’s natural rain forests, which help stabilize climate by sucking carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases — methane, nitrous oxide, perflourocarbons, hydroflourocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride.”

The Monitor editorial continues by stressing, “We must be compensated for each tree standing. Modalities of compensation should be a key item on the agenda in Copenhagen. The USA, the principal culprit, must be at the forefront of efforts to both save the environment and to pay reparations.”

Demonstrations outside the UNFCCC have drawn tens of thousands of people. At a vigil held outside the City Hall building in Copenhagen, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa handed over a petition signed by more than 500,000 people demanding immediate action to curb the threat posed by rising greenhouse gases.

Tutu told the crowd, “This is a problem. If we don’t resolve it, no one is going to survive.” (South African Mail & Guardian, Dec. 14)

A pre-conference article in the Irish Weekly An Phoblacht states, “An alliance between the developing countries, progressive forces in the industrialized states and the growing global climate change justice movement is facing hugely powerful governments and business interests at the Copenhagen summit that are determined to prioritize short-term profit over the survival of the planet. Public opinion, pressure and mobilization are the keys to changing this balance of forces and ensuring action is taken.” (anphoblact.com, Dec. 10)

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