By Adalid Cabrera Lemuz
La Paz, Dec 20 (ABI) – President Evo Morales denied Monday that Bolivia stood alone at the climate change conference in Cancun, saying instead that it preferred “to be on the side of the peoples of the world that defend life in the face of aggression toward the environment and the planet.”
Morales said Bolivia refused to sign the Cancun Accord “based on the principle of responsibility and the need to defend Mother Earth, which is under attack from the irrational politics of industrialization of the developed nations.”
“It is unfortunate that the industrialized countries fail to assume their responsibility and expect developing countries like Bolivia to carry on their shoulders the crisis generated by capitalism,” he said.
The Ambassador of Bolivia to the United Nations, Pablo Solón, lamented that developed countries “attempt to pay their climate debt with credits that force poor countries to assume the problems affecting the planet due to environmental contamination.”
The diplomat denounced the fact that industrialized countries want to create “fictitious markets to purchase vouchers for greenhouse gas reductions.”
Solón said “Bolivia believes this stance is not aimed at defending nature, since they prefer to spend 10 dollars to buy a reduction certificate for one ton of carbon dioxide, instead of 50 dollars to comply with that obligation within their own countries.”
Based on reports, President Morales said that the decisions approved in Cancun “are worse than those of the conference in Copenhagen last December.”
“Copenhagen established a limit to global temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius and a 23 to 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, while in Cancun, that obligation was reduced to just 13 to 17 percent,” said Morales.
Morales also said that if reducing greenhouse gases by 40 percent would cause a temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius, the decisions made in Cancun would in turn put the world on the verge of a rise in temperature of 3 to 4 degrees.
“Global warming has already had consequences for the world, putting life on the planet in jeopardy due to increased droughts, floods, and ever more frequent natural disasters,” he said.
Morales said that drought prevents the production the food humanity needs to survive.
He lamented the indolence of governments that do not listen to the voice of the people and instead prefer to maintain policies that commercialize the Earth without taking into account the fact that, by choosing this path, they are causing the gradual destruction of the world.
Morales said Bolivia will stand firm in its struggle to defend the environment and Mother Earth and demand that industrialized countries change policies that kill the planet and humanity.
Last April, Bolivia organized a World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which took place in Tiquipaya and produced various recommendations for preserving nature.
Some 35,000 people representing 147 countries participated in that event, including government figures, international organizations, and social movements from around the world.
Among its recommendations was the creation of a Climate Justice Tribunal to sanction countries, corporations, and individuals that threaten the environment.
The conference also demanded that industrialized countries pay back the climate debt they have accrued based on their over-exploitation of natural resources and failure to benefit the development of the peoples.
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February 1, 2011 at 3:40 am
Peter D Carter MD
Thank you Bolivia from the bottom of my heart. Bolivia in the end was the only voice for integrity and of sanity at Cancun.
The worst crime ever against all humanity and the worst evil of all evils is being committed. The global banking and fossil fuel corporations have decided to destroy this wonderful Earth for just a few more years of obscene profits and wasteful spending. Most people like cattle to the slaughter are going along with it.
Bolivia will great stand will be remembered when the world starves.
February 20, 2011 at 2:18 pm
Adam Zemans
Well, President Morales and Ambassador Solon, I think you would agree with me about the following at least:
I am getting so frustrated with people, press and governments saying single weather events cannot be attributed to climate change! The Oven Earth is being turned up by humans yet we do not want responsiblity for the burning pots around the world. Unsophisticated and outdated statistical theory provides a convenient truth. Meanwhile, here in Bolivia El Nino y La Nina still are blamed for natural disasters that should be more clearly linked to global warming.
I know a little bit about statistics and understand how alien, new and scary an extreme weather attribution statement can be for people who want to be taken seriously in the world of science and policy. Non-attribution of single weather events to climate change is a common wisdom mantra and a great way to avoid: a) responsibility and b) depression. You can also save time by not having to deal with complexity and feel good about something you learned in high school, college or graduate school. But there is just a small problem ..>>> reality.
For example, there is reportedly a 90% chance that 1/2 of the risk of the exceedingly hot 2003 European summer that killed thousands came from human-induced climate change, according to Dr. Ben Santer of the United States Government’s Lawerance Livermore Laboratories. See Dr. Joe Romm, the world’s #1 climate blogger, who quotes Dr. Ben Santer’s work, a video of Dr. Santer and his testimony in front of the US Congress: http://climateprogress.org/2010/12/29/ben-santer-attribution-extreme-weather-events-to-climate-change/
For a decent popular media interpretation, see also a recent Newsweek article on the theme: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/27/can-we-blame-extreme-weather-on-climate-change.html
Many of the world’s best scientists agree with me here: it just might be a good time to stop focusing on certainty and start focusing on risk prediction validity and reliability! It is past time to act hard and fast on climate change. Let us not hide political excuses and rationalizations behind improperly understood or outdated statistical analysis.
I congratulate you regarding your concern for Mother Earth and your desire to follow the Precautionary Principle, even though you need to learn to negotiate more wisely.
Perhaps this will help you: civil action liability for environmental damage does not require anything close to certainty!
Que les vaya mejor en las negociaciones internationales del futuro,
Adam Zemans
Executive Director
Environment Las Americas/Bolivia