Paris Climate Treaty: Time to Reduce Footprints

Paris Climate Conference Treaty Beneficial for Caribbean States and Tourism Initiatives

By William Doyle-Marshall

“Canadians can be proud of the strong and positive role we played during these very important international negotiations to address one of the biggest challenges of our generation,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emphasized after there was agreement on the Paris Climate Agreement earlier this month. He acknowledged there is much tough work that still needs to be accomplished at home and around the world to implement the agreement.

Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party, a long-time advocate for climate change said in an interview that her standards are pretty high. “I don’t want to paper over a bad deal and say ‘hurray, we have something’. I have been working at this too long; I have been working on trying to get a climate treaty since 1990. This is not the end of the road but unlike Copenhagen, this at least puts us on a good path to continue to reduce emissions as rapidly as possible,” May explained.

While admitting the agreement has the right framework to keep pushing and it’s got what developing countries need to see, she observed “it doesn’t have enforcement mechanism, that’s a key problem but we haven’t had enforcement mechanism in an environmental treaty since 1987.” That’s a political problem, the Green Party Leader affirmed “because world leaders give more attention to trade than they do to climate but given what we have in our hands as possible, when this negotiation began November 30, the climate and our grand kids have done very well.”

At the COP 21 climate conference in Paris, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accompanied by (clockwise from top left) Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Belgrade, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Dion, New Democratic Party Leader Thomas Mulcair, Conservative Environment and Climate Change Critic Ed Fast, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.

     Following the Paris meeting Trudeau noted the world gathered to fight climate change and its devastating impacts on our earth, our health, our economy, and our very way of life. He proclaimed that the gathering had a common vision to leave a sustainable planet for “our children and grand children” The Prime Minister was pleased Canada and 194 other countries were able to reach a historic, ambitious, and balanced agreement to fight climate change. Trudeau promised to meet with the Premiers within the next 90 days to work on a plan to realize Canada’s international commitments in tackling climate change and transitioning to a low carbon economy. In addition he promised to work with a wide array of stakeholders – and all Canadians – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including through carbon pricing.

   As some question the importance of this conversation, researchers and scientists have presented proof that melting ice caps means rising sea levels; threatening coastal populations around the world with some islands at risk of disappearing. Melting arctic soil is opening up sink holes, ruining railways, roads and homes and warmer climes. Scientists say climate change shows up in earlier springs and warmer summers which is good news for sun lovers but warmer waters also means an increase in the number and strength of hurricanes and typhoons. Inland warmer temperatures mean drier weather; many lakes have spent most of the last 15 years at levels well below average; forest fire season is starting earlier and ending later and a longer summer also means more pollen; worst allergies for those who suffer from them.

   A Grenada delegate at the conference Dessima Williams an avid advocate for justice told  participants that small island states like Grenada in the Caribbean can not only get dwarfed in the negotiations but are also some of the nations right on the front line, suffering the most from the effects of global warming. She was there in support of the work of Oxfam International. “The way of life as we knew it, which was relatively stable and known, is no longer the case. Our agriculture, our tourism is at risk because 65% – 63%-65% – of all our physical infrastructure and, most of all, commercial activities are on the coast and that’s getting inundated with the sea. Our airport is at risk, it will go underwater if we have a metre rise.

   While Ms. Williams could not say whether the rich countries understood the plight of Caribbean states, she was confident that over a hundred countries do, and that’s why her delegation asked for a maximum of 1.5C as a tolerable global average temperature so that the small states would not be put at further risk. “I think the more powerful countries, that larger physical mass, may not quite understand the immediacy of the threat and the impact of climate change to small islands, to coastal countries. And we have been fighting to get that message across for many years. I think it’s beginning to sink in a bit but the policymakers, some of them, still feel that there is time and space to manoeuvre because they have big economies, big land mass,” the Grenada delegate continued.

   She reminded the conference that many countries in Africa, across Africa, the Pacific, the Caribbean, have small economies that cannot continuously finance the destruction caused by climate change, neither do they have large land mass where people can in fact escape the ravages of the sea and the rains and so on. “So I think we have an uphill battle to meet in the commons of justice,” she concluded.

   WHAT’S THE NEXT MOVE FOR CANADIANS

By William Doyle-Marshall

“Bringing about real change will take more than just individual people – or even individual governments. What is needed is nothing less than a total renewal of the relationship between Canada and the First Nations peoples. I am also proud to say that, as promised, we have begun the process to create a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made this announcement while speaking to the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly in Gatineau, Quebec, earlier this week.

   He made it clear that a priority moving forward will be to make significant investments in First Nations education. He promised to deliver increased funding for First Nations education and to work on education reforms for First Nations children that are led by First Nations.

  Since taking over the reigns of government The Prime Minister and Ms. Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau have participated in numerous affairs locally and overseas including the National Remembrance Day Ceremony. They were received in audience by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. Trudeau was in London, on his way to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in Valetta, Malta, and he attended the Leaders Event in Paris at the 21^st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21), under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

   Trudeau, announced ahead of the Malta conference that Canada will contribute an historic $2.65 billion over the next five years to help developing countries tackle climate change.

Canada is committed to ambitious action on climate change, and is focused on the economic opportunities of our environment and creating the clean jobs of tomorrow. The science on climate change is indisputable and its significant impacts are already being felt by economies and communities, particularly in the world’s most poor and vulnerable countries, he noted.

   Canada’s positive contribution will support the transition to low-carbon economies that are both sustainable and more resilient. Countries in need will receive support, in particular the poorest and most vulnerable, to respond to climate change and adapt to its impacts.

This contribution will support the commitment Canada made under the 2009 Copenhagen Accord to work with partners to jointly mobilize, from a wide variety of sources, US $100 billion annually by 2020.

    Trudeau, announced also Canada’s contribution of $15.3 million over four years (2015-2019) to improve the lives and futures of young people in Africa. This investment will help offer the training needed to find and keep good jobs, with a focus on reducing poverty and encouraging economic prosperity. The Prime Minister made the announcement while attending the Malta Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Canada is partnering with Digital Opportunity  Trust (DOT), a Canadian-based company headquartered in Ottawa, on a project that will help young women and men develop job and entrepreneurial skills, including in the use of technology.

   Trudeau also  announced support for the Vietnam Cooperative Enterprise Development project that will help reduce poverty and contribute to equitable economic growth in Vietnam.The Government of Canada will partner on this project, providing $12.9 million over five years (2015-2020) to help increase the competitiveness and productivity of Vietnamese agricultural cooperatives.

Prime Minister, Trudeau, issued a statement recognizing the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. He joined Canadians and people around the world in recognizing the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. “Violence against women is a violation of the most basic human rights. It destroys lives, tears families apart, impacts entire communities, and has no place within our society,” he stressed. The Prime Minister acknowledged that the day serves as an important reminder that women and girls and particularly indigenous women and girls continue to be vulnerable “to violence in our society” and this must change.

   The Prime Minister promised that the Government of Canada will continue to raise awareness of violence against women, help prevent it, and support the victims who have experienced it, both here at home and around the world. “As leaders, as parents, as community members, we need to make sure we are combating misogyny in all its forms, wherever it is found,” Trudeau added  He urged all Canadians to make a commitment to stopping violence against women and girls.

Welcoming refugees from the Syrian conflict as they settle here in Canada is major conversation among media practitioners, scholars and some opposition politicians. Some Canadians are forgetting that this country has always been a compassionate nation. Mean spiritedness has unfortunately fell into the political ring over the past decade and from all appearances the Liberal Government is moving to correct the situation.

 Long before the last federal election the Green Party and the New Democratic Party have been pledging to work in a manner that would bring Canada back to the kind of country it had been in the past rather than to promote propaganda of fear.

“The Green Party’s platform in regards to short term and long term on refugees and immigrants: called for an overhaul of existing policy. “There are 50 streams to be able to come into Canada and we need to be able to help to streamline policies when we have refugees and when we have immigrants so that the process for them to become citizens,” says Fran Hunt-Jinnouchi, a candidate in last October election. “We need to be able to ensure that the skills and the education that they are bringing are recognized quicker. That is the case in most parts of the world but here in Canada our population and the number of children we were having is exactly decreased except for Aboriginal population which is growing faster than any across the country,” she observed.  

December 10, 2015