Category: United Nations

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United Nations

April 17, 2007 – UN Security Council finally discusses the most important security issue of all…

On April 17 2007, the United Kingdom Government managed to get climate change onto the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. I haven’t bothered to check, but this probably didn’t particularly please the George W. Bush administration. Bush by then, thought  was a lame duck, and had been really, ever since the utterly ineffectual response to Hurricane Katrina had crashed his credibility. 

Stepping back, it’s hilarious (if you are mordant enough) that the global body designated as being  about concerned about security, should not talk about climate change until 2007, 20 years after the issue broke through into the world stage.  But then, really the United Nations Security Council is nothing more than a Polaroid of the world in 1945 And would need a serious overhaul, but that’s not gonna happen.

Why this matters. 

The question of climate change, forever in the too-hard basket, is routinely kept away from the agenda, if it possibly can be. The (shit)show must go on, eh?  Anyone who has any faith in our Lords and Masters has either not been paying any attention, is as thick as mince, or is doing some motivated reasoning. These are not mutually exclusive categories…

What happened next?

Nothing, except more carbon dioxide.

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Australia International processes Predatory delay UNFCCC United Nations United States of America

Feb 25 1992- business groups predict economic chaos if action is taken on #climate

On 25th of February 1992 20 business associations from nine different countries try to slow down progress towards the impending Rio Earth Summit agreements by predicting economic calamity and doom: the same old story. 

1992 On 25 February at UN headquarters (New York City, USA), 20 business associations from 9 countries released a joint statement to the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change….

Anon. 1992. International Business Associations Issue Statement on Climate Negotiations. Global Environmental Change. Vol. 4, No. 5 13 March.

You will be shocked, shocked to learn that Australian business interests were in that mix – “The business associations, nearly half of which are from Australia, are in the fields of fossil fuel and energy production, manufacturing, and metals.”

Why this matters

We need to remember that whenever governments and state institutions are forced to consider the long-term well-being of constituents/future generations, there will be short termist vested interests pushing in the opposite direction. That’s just the way it is. 

What happened next

A weakened Earth Summit. Treaty text was put forward, not entirely due to business interest, but also the US administration of George HW Bush in June of 1992. This was then ratified and then gave us the COPs for climate and biodiversity. Meanwhile, the carbon dioxide accumulates, the biodiversity collapse accelerates. And to young folk out there, I’m sorry. We old fuckers, we blew it. You have every right to feel betrayed and gaslit let down by your parents and your grandparents

The business associations? They’re singing differently, but the song remains the same…

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UNFCCC United Nations

Jan 27, 1989: UN General Assembly starts talking #climate

January 27 1989. On this day, the United Nations General Assembly passed the first agreement about a climate change treaty. It was propounded by Malta. And it led to a series of ministerial meetings now long forgotten in places like the Hague, Bergen, and so forth, with the second World Climate Conference in Geneva in late 1990 becoming a venue for political manouevres too. The UNFCCC process that began in January of 1991 and culminated in Rio in June of 1992. 

Why this matters? 

Small island states have been banging on about the problem of sea level rise for a long time. And they’ve been humored, patronized, condescended, ignored, whether they’re in the Caribbean, the South Pacific, or even really, the Mediterranean. 

What happened next.

INCs, Summits, 26 COPs (and counting) and countless other gabfests. If well-meaning (sometimes) talk saved the world…

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UNFCCC United Nations

2005, January 13: UN Secretary-General calls for “decisive measures” on climate change

On this day, 17 years ago, the UN Secretary-General called for “decisive measures” on climate change. 

“PORT LOUIS, MAURITIUS, 13 January — The United Nations Conference convened here to address the economic and environmental vulnerabilities of small island developing States opened its high-level segment today, with Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling for ‘decisive measures’ against climate change and a global early warning system in the wake of last month’s Asian tsunami disaster.”

[Link]

What happened next.  Oh, lots of decisive measures.  And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you, in Sydney.

Why it matters. People keep investing hope in these international processes, as if someone is gonna arrive to save them. God help us all (see what I did there?). What Annan could have said was “The UNFCCC process is a farce. The lack of targets and timetables in the Framework Convention – because of Uncle Sam doing what Uncle Sam always does – means it’s a relentless talking shop.  Probably in 16 years they’ll still be holding ‘last chance to save the planet’ meetings. I mean, wtaf.