Can
Kyoto Protocol Be Doha Protocol or Doha Accord?
There’s no gainsaying the fact that some developed countries
are plotting the death of the Kyoto Protocol; to say the obvious, the United
Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark also known as the 15th
Session of the Conference of Parties (COP15), would have indeed laid a
foundation of a new treaty to either replace the Kyoto Protocol or become a
Post-Kyoto agreement; Perhaps the ‘Copenhagen Accord’ which was the outcome of
COP15 would have completely become a ‘sealed deal’ as it was originally
proposed, but unfortunately, the truth came as no surprise as Article 3.9 of
the Kyoto Protocol (with emphasis added) which provides that: “Commitments for
subsequent periods for Parties included to Annex 1 shall be established in
amendments to Annex B to the Protocol, which shall be adopted in accordance
with the provisions of Article 21, paragraph 7” was used as a political tool in
the hands of some ‘senior’ Annex 1 Part(ies).
Kyoto Protocol is not yoghurt; it does not have to expire
before we must negotiate for climate justice? The Kyoto Protocol is the only
legally binding international law that sets quantified commitment targets for
each Annex 1 Party to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions; and the survival of
the Kyoto Protocol is of utmost importance, especially since there is no better
alternative. However, it’s time for both working groups (trackers) which are
the Ad hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex 1 Parties under the
Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) & Ad hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative
Action (AWG-LCA) to Stand for Action! Stand for Justice!! Stand for a Deal!!!
What then shall we say, can ‘Kyoto Protocol’ become ‘Doha
Protocol’ or a ‘Doha Accord’? Failure by the Annex 1 Parties to agree to the
binding targets of Kyoto Protocol would certainly mean working away in
departure from its legally binding (negotiating) mandate. While in the AWG-KP,
the Annex 1 Parties are no doubt still promoting the so-called “Bottom-up”
pledges which require targets far below what science and equity demand, the
developing countries on the other hand, are demanding for a scientific and fair
deal of emission reductions.
Nonetheless, it’s going to be a very disappointing effort if
we all allow Bali Action Plan to find its way down the drain, because the
developed countries will obviously gain huge success in passing the burden of
climate change mitigation & adaptation onto the developing countries. If
Kyoto Protocol is abandoned and a new deal sealed or agreed, the new
international treaty on climate change may perhaps take many years to enter
into force, that is, if at all it may ever enter into force.
The time to act is now! As youths, if we don’t fight for
climate justice now, the run away climate change of today may be part of our
future generation. Again, if we must survive the embarrassment of our great
grandchildren yet unborn who certainly would ask us one day in the future,
saying “Grandpa, what did you do to save the earth from dying from climate
change? What did you do in the fight for climate justice?
Consequently, Let us all once again ask ourselves some
questions as our grandchildren would ask 50years from now, ‘what did you do to
save ‘Kyoto Protocol’? What did you do when ‘seal the deal’ in Copenhagen
turned to ‘Copenhagen Accord’? What did you do when Kyoto Protocol was killed
at Doha? Can ‘Doha Protocol’ replace ‘Kyoto Protocol? Can Protocol in Kyoto
(1997) actually expire at Doha (2012) without any better alternative?
Well, Whether Kyoto or Doha, what we need is climate
justice. On climate justice we stand!
Friday Efik is an environmental economist/climate change
advocate. He was a Youth Party Delegate for COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark 2009. He is the Founder/Director of Green Development Programmes Nigeria (GDP Nigeria);
also the National President of the Nigerian Union of Ecological/Environmental
Economists (NUEEs).
No comments:
Post a Comment