CFE agenda 121415 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

BY JUSTIN CATANOSO Correspondent overnment leaders FROM PAGE C'4 L I M AT E by sea -level rise triggered by global warming for which it bears no responsi- bility. The situation there threatens to upend the lives of 345,000 people. That's the intersection between climate change and human rights that concerns the United Na- tions. Knox's written re- ports recommend what can be done, such as ask- ing industrial countries that are the largest source of greenhouse gas emis- sions to compensate the Maldives so it can build protective sea walls. It's a tough sell. "If you're really con- cerned about climate change," Knox said, "you don't take two decades to get to a decision. But we've got this issue: We don't have one world ..........- .............................................................................................. ............................... agreement to burn less fossil Wake Forest professor optimistic about negotiations fuels in order to keep the Earth ...................................................................................................... ............................... from heating up so fast. This year has already been goal is to forge a framework that preceded Paris. While there declared the hottest on record, they hope will spare the planet have been intermittent success - as were the previous 14 years. from the kind of catastrophic es in many of the meetings, The results are with us now: warming by 2100 that many environmentalists argue that Rapidly melting Arctic ice caps climate scientists see as inevi- elected leaders have failed for leading to sea -level rise. Warn= table. two decades to achieve the most ing oceans leading to dying Twenty U.N. summits have fundamental outcome: a binding coral reefs-and -more frequent government; having the world divided up into nearly 200 countries makes the problem infi- nitely harder to deal with." Remarkably, Knox sur- veys a grim landscape and insists he is optimistic about the outcome of the Paris negotiations, which run through Dec. 11. Why? "For the first time ever, the world's three largest leaders in carbon emis- sions are on board: China, the United States and the European Union (which is counted as one entity)," Knox said. "Those three alone account for 50 per- cent of all carbon emis- sions. With that kind of leadership, other nations will fall in line." Then there is this: Since the high - profile failure of storms of greater intensity. Persistent droughts leading to water scarcity not just in poor sub- Saharan Africa but also in wealthy California. Wake Forest University law professor John Knox is the Unit.;; ed Nations spe- cial representa- tive on climate change and hu- man rights. In his role, he travels Knox the world, primar- ily to poor countries in tropical regions to evaluate the ravages of climate change being experi- enced. Knox visited the tiny island country of Maldives in the Indi. an Ocean. It is being swallouyd, Climatologists say weather is now more unpredictable and erratic. I ne unpreceaentea power and destruction of hurricanes Katrina, pictured, and Sandy are possible examples. the 2009 negotiations in Copenhagen, where poor countries fell bullied by powerful nations and bailed out of any accord, an entire strategy was ditched. No longer would the U.N. try to dictate to nearly 200 countries what each should be doing. The name of the game now? Do what you can. "Copenhagen was the gravestone for the top - down approach," Knox says. "Instead, more than 150 nations pledged earlier this year to reduce their own carbon emissions to levels they believe they can achieve. Those (pledges) make it extremely likely that the voluntary commit- ments will be drafted into an accord that nations can agree on. That's never happened before:"