Political Atmosphere Improving as Climate Crises Deepens?

WWF
International climate negotiations in Bonn have just wrapped up—with not much in the way of progress on key issues like emission reductions and financial support, but at least in a friendlier atmosphere among delegates. Unlike the previous UN meetings in Poznan, Canada was not singled out for obstructing progress. The Bonn-talks have benefited by a new US delegation that has indicated a willingness to engage and become part of the solution, and by ambitious positions put forward by developing countries.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted a meeting of Foreign Ministers from the Arctic Council countries and Antarctic Treaty countries, representing the first time leaders from both poles have met in a joint session. The initiative provides further evidence that the new US administration understands how climate change is rapidly altering the world’s two poles, and that the damage done there will reverberate throughout the rest of the Globe unless governments combine their efforts to prevent it.
With a nearly a billion people worldwide and more than 15 million Canadians voting with their light switches last month during Earth Hour, the signal has gone out in emphatic terms that citizens expect their governments to act.
That message was underscored during meetings in Norway last month, where Canada’s government agreed that climate change was the biggest threat to the survival of polar bears and must be averted if this iconic species is to be saved.
Also last month, the U.S. government released in draft-form the Clean Energy and Security Act—America’s first step toward a strong cap and trade bill that will cut emissions while strengthening the ability of the Obama administration to negotiate a fair and effective global climate deal next December in Copenhagen.
 
WWF’s position is that industrialized countries must commit to reduction-targets that would bring their aggregate greenhouse gas emissions down by at least 40% by 2020.  So far, Canada’s government has not been supportive.
 
Will the political perspective on climate change evolve fast enough to catch up with the global reality? That’s the question Canadians need to see answered before next December.
 
Scott Gardiner