Thirty four years ago, on this day, May 2nd, 1990, another declaration…,
See here for pdf
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 354.5ppm. As of 2024 it is 425ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that there were ongoing meetings about climate and “sustainable development” in the aftermath of both the Brundtland Report and the 1988 upsurge. There was to be a meeting in Bergen, about sustainable development. And here we have Africans saying, “hey, maybe there should be nothing about us without us”.
What we can learn is that these sorts of declarations are being made all the time. My other favourite is the Male Declaration of November 18, 1989, about sea level rise, and then forgotten. Now, all that’s remembered is what the rich largely white nations said or agreed to do (and then didn’t do).
What happened next, the emissions kept rising. Every so often there were more declarations and we’re here we are
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
References
1990 Nairobi meeting with Woods Hole folks http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Nairobi_Declaration_on_Climatic_Chan.html?id=MRfPAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
Paterson 1996 page 39
Also on this day:
May 2, 2009 – Australian Liberals warned of wipe-out if seen as “anti-climate action” #auspol
May 2, 2012 – CCS is gonna save us all. Oh yes.
May 2, 2019 – Committee on Climate change report on net zero by 2050