The news is - sadly - roughly what you'd expect. The poor countries of the world are frustrated by the rich countries' unfairness in negotiating tactics and their unfairness in what they are willing to do to solve the climate crisis. In some cases, effective negotiators of poor countries have been kicked off the delegations and sent home, making their task of negotiating a fair deal even harder. In the meantime, a few days ago The Guardian newspaper released news that the US, UK, and Denmark had come to their own private agreement that would benefit rich countries over poor ones. From The Guardian:
The agreement, leaked to the Guardian, is a departure from the Kyoto protocol's principle that rich nations, which have emitted the bulk of the CO2, should take on firm and binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, while poorer nations were not compelled to act. The draft hands effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank; would abandon the Kyoto protocol - the only legally binding treaty that the world has on emissions reductions; and would make any money to help poor countries adapt to climate change dependent on them taking a range of actions.
So where is agriculture in all of this?
Annie Shattuck of Food First wrote about Vilsack's comments in Copenhagen, which are roughly what you'd expect. Bla bla bla agrofuels bla bla bla GMOs are good, etc. However, he DID note that local food has a role to play in combating climate change.
The panel was interesting more as an indicator of the tone of future negotiations. The key issues for agriculture in Copenhagen are whether or not food security (much less food sovereignty) will get official consideration in addressing the role of agriculture in mitigation, and what governments are framing as the need or potential for increasing production as a tool to address farming's role in cooling the planet. From the tone of the official panel today, the push to include agriculture will unfortunately be centered around proprietary technologies, rather than unlocking the creativity and resilience of the world's small farmers.
Hmm. Awesome. Then there's the plans for Agriculture Day - Saturday, December 12. This is being put together by a number of groups who favor industrial ag and in fact favor spreading industrial ag to parts of the world where it does not yet exist. There will also be a grassroots agriculture protest that will take place in the next few days. I've heard 2 different dates for it, and I can't seem to find info on it via Google, so that bodes poorly for its impact on the overall negotiations and the global debate about the climate crisis. If you do want updates on what grassroots groups (including representatives from indigenous peoples and poor nations) are doing in Copenhagen, I highly recommend watching or listening to Democracy Now daily during the remainder of the conference.
Sadly, it seems to me that any hopes we had for Copenhagen are already squashed. The US negotiator has said that he entirely rejects the idea of climate debt - the idea that rich countries who are primarily responsible for the climate crisis pay poor countries to help them adapt to changing climate conditions. Those who are there report a different environment inside the negotiations - which are largely dominated by corporate interests - and outside, where the entire world has converged to call for a solution to the climate crisis. The U.S. and other developed nations need to entirely change the way we operate for there to be any hope of avoiding catastrophic consequences of climate change, and I just don't see that happening. Whether it's Copenhagen or our pathetic Congress and their attempt to pass a climate bill, this is NOT the change we need, and I fear what will happen as a result in the future.
Here are some Copenhagen headlines from Grist:
Big News from Copenhagen: Radical Cuts Urged, Deal in Jeopardy
The Yes Men Posed as Coca-Cola Employees, Urging People to Never Drink Coke Again
US Takes Daft Position on Agriculture at Climate Talks
Yes Men Take on Coke in Copenhagen
EU Pledges $10 Billion to Help Poor Nations with Climate
Eugene Mirman Reports from Trash Can in Copenhagen
Youth and Indigenous People Escalate Rally for Vulnerable Nations Inside the Climate Talks
International Chamber of Commerce: "We're Not With Stupid" (Hint: Stupid = U.S. Chamber of Commerce) |
