The last two days of negotiations are extremely important for the American
people because during these waning hours, the major players will confirm
that this conference has nothing to do with climate change and everything
to do with economic issues.
The stage is set for the final ceremony which will lead to the U.S. signing
of the Kyoto Protocol even though the Buenos Aires meeting will not appease
the U.S. Senate resolution passed by 95-0 before the Kyoto conference. It
called for the President not to sign any treaty that placed legally binding
obligations on the U.S. to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions "unless
the protocol or agreement also mandates new specific scheduled commitments
to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for Developing Country Parties
within the same compliance period." Regretfully, the U.S. Senate neglected
to reference scientific evidence, thereby leaving a loophole for the
President to feign "meaningful participation" by the developing world and
to sign the Treaty.
International courtesy and national sovereignty are foreign ideas to
Mbareck Diop, President of the Senegal's National Climate Change Committee,
present at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Buenos Aires.
He is making a "demand for equality" and the "clean development mechanism"
(CDM) will padlock his demand.
The CDM would enable industrialized countries to finance emissions-avoiding
projects in developing countries and receive greenhouse gas emission
credits for doing so. This avenue would allow governments and private
corporations to transfer and promote "clean technologies" and wealth.
Senegalese Diop prophesied, "We believe that the CDM will give us the
opportunity to achieve the structural basis we need in order to attract
investments…. We are attending COP4 [Conference of the Parties 4th meeting]
with one idea in mind: equality. For years now, there has been only one
pilot project in African territory…. We do not agree with this kind of
geographic distribution…. Annex 1 countries [the U.S. included] are
responsible for around 80% of the GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions…. We must
find financial resources to foment such economic growth."
Diop condemns any opposition to his scheme. "Aligned behind the interests
of certain governments [the U.S.] are private groupings [freedom-loving
Americans]. That explains the lack of progress seen by some nations:
sometimes their private sectors are not comfortable with certain
positions…. This is why we consider this type of conference highly
valuable," concluded Diop. He represents only one of the G77/China (132
developing) nations, but his insults toward the U.S. and expressions of
class warfare are typical at UN conferences.
The G77/China group expects compliance with the Kyoto Protocol to procure
world equity. In Buenos Aires, they're like bloodhounds looking for the
scent and the Clinton-Gore team has granted the scent by promising to sign
the Treaty before the one-year deadline of March 1999 (possibly even
today). Diop has powerful help from Senators Joe Lieberman, D-Connecticut
and J. Robert Kerry, D-Massachusetts who are in Buenos Aires calling on
President Clinton to sign the Kyoto Climate Change Treaty
Senator Lieberman says, "The Kyoto agreement is only a beginning, not a
complete agreement. Kyoto set the goals and described the means of
addressing climate change, and in Buenos Aires, the parties are seeking to
fill in the details so we can bring the programs to life…. By signing the
agreement, the Administration ensures that the U.S. will have the
credibility to continue to take a leadership role in shaping and
implementing these programs and in persuading the developing nations to
become a part of the solution." Mr. Lieberman's "leadership role" means to
rape, pillage and plunder American businesses and their associated jobs,
lower our standard of living and dismantle national sovereignty granted by
the U.S. Constitution.
Senator Kerry is a member of the official U.S. delegation in Buenos Aires
and has met with the lead negotiators for Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and
South Korea to discuss their positions on climate change and the Kyoto
Protocol. He will deliver the undefined "meaningful participation" by
developing nations to President Clinton.
With only two days remaining, the negotiating committees have reached no
agreement on a number of issues that will now be forwarded to the COP
Plenary: methodological issues on GHG inventories, technology transfers,
the document preamble, the calendar of meetings, commitments, flexibility
mechanisms and even whether some developing countries would make "voluntary
commitments."
Yet, U.S. lead negotiator Stuart Eisenstat says that we have to meet the
ambitious environmental targets set in Kyoto "with flexibility mechanisms
and a compliance regime that will have us achieve these goals." He added
that the final document "could very well include issues like technology
transfer; the impacts of climate change on developing countries; financial
mechanisms; the review of the adequacy of commitments by all parties;
flexible mechanisms; compliance; and possible new pathways for developing
countries to participate." Eisenstat concluded, "This is a marathon and not
a sprint, and we have a long way to go."
Don't hold your breath until the Conference of the Parties produces a final
document in Buenos Aires even though you'd be withholding greenhouse gases
from the atmosphere. Instead, be a true American and shout from the
mountaintops that global warming is a hoax intended to redistribute
economic wealth around the globe.
--END--
