There is disquiet in the air. Everybody is moving around, looking so busy. But nobody knows what is being negotiated. Old hands will tell you that deals are being made behind closed doors. Conference chairperson, Jan Pronk, an experienced politician is expected to move things on. Somewhere there will be a deal to clinch all deals.
November 17, 2000 Back to Basics by Anil Agarwal Why is equity so important for mitigating climate change? Very simple: because we are all human beings. Not Americans, Europeans, Japanese or Chinese. Or more intelligent or less intelligent. We are humans. Just humans. Full stop. Now we have to decide whether we want to be like a bunch of raucous kids or a group of consenting adults.
November 17, 2000 A visitor to the Congrescentrum would never guess it, but there is only one reason why we are here: the Western model of economic development which is heavily dependant on carbon-based fossil fuels has turned out not to be such a good idea after all, and we need an alternative. Fast.
November 17, 2000 Findings on the impact of climate get bleaker while negotiations hobble along
November 17, 2000 St Lucia shows the way "My small country is taking the lead to invest in renewable technology. We challenge others to bite the bullet," said Kenny Anthony, prime minister of St Lucia, speaking at the meeting on Contraction and Convergence: From idea to deal? Organised by the Global Commons Institute (GCI), GLOBE, CSE, Climate Network Africa and Counterpart Europe, the meeting brought together a group of politicians and NGOs calling for the need for equity in climate negotiations.
November 17, 2000 Should financial institutions be asked to stop fossil fuel funding to developing countries?
November 15, 2000 Despite uncertainties, long drawn negotiations focus on sinks as an option for carbon mitigation.
November 15, 2000
November 15, 2000 The mention of technology transfer usually results only in a barrage of words at the climate negotiations, as in almost all other environment negotiations. Yet, transfer of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) from industrialised to developing countries is a commitment under article 4.5 of the climate convention, and an important tool to control carbon dioxide emissions.
November 15, 2000 Southern proposals on equity mysteriously disappear
November 15, 2000 Fungibility? Is it a pasta dish? No. Is it a fungus then? Yes. It is a new fangled mushroom. It grows on a thing called the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). It means that that the Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) once bought from developing countries can be traded, transferred or exchanged. Good business.
November 15, 2000 Back to Basics by Anil Agarwal
November 15, 2000 We at Equity Watch are probably among the most arrogant people on earth. We are the rich of the South, trying to represent the poor of the South. We still haven't decided whether we should also represent the poor of the North. Perhaps one day we will. But we hope our readers will pardon this arrogance. It is an arrogance with a cause. An attempt to give a voice to the voiceless, a ear to the unheard and an eye to the blinded.
October 25, 2000 Cheap Fix: The rush to make profits out of carbon-fixing engenders another kind of colonialism
October 25, 2000 Should Northern groups be pushing international financial institutions to stop funding fossil fuel projects in the South?
October 25, 2000 The only way to a lasting international climate treaty is to accept equal rights of all human beings to release greenhouse gases, acknowledges a recent UK study.