Weapons for the Weak in the Climate Struggle

[polly7]

By Walden Bello

Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

Sunday, August 19, 2012

http://www.zcommunications.org/weapons-for-the-weak-in-the-climate-struggle-by-walden-bello

Excerpts:

If there is any doubt that the abnormal is now the norm, remember that this is shaping up to be the second straight year that nonstop rains have wreaked havoc in Southeast Asia. Last year, the monsoon season brought about the worst flooding in Thailand’s history, with waters engulfing Bangkok and affecting over 14 million people, damaging nearly 7,000 square miles of agricultural land, disrupting global supply chains, and bringing about what the World Bank estimated to be the world’s fourth costliest disaster ever.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the unceasing rainstorms is that we Filipinos could do little to prevent them. We could have made them less calamitous by resettling informal settlers away from the floodways to Manila Bay and reforesting the hills and mountains that border the metropolitan area. We could have passed the Reproductive Health Bill much earlier and propagated family planning to reduce the human impact on the upland, rural, and urban environments. We could have, in short, taken measures to adapt to changing climate patterns. But to prevent the fundamental shifts in regional and global climate was something we could not do. This is the dilemma of most countries in the South: we are victims and our weapons are few and limited.

But like all diplomacy, demanding action from the other party must be accompanied by offering concessions and substantive goodwill gestures. To show the United States, Europe, and China that it means business, the Philippine government must commit to reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions by some 20 percent by from its levels in the 1990s by 2020, even though the country is not a major emitter. This will mean, among other things, shelving a disastrous plan to set up a national network of coal-generated power plants, which are probably the worst energy generation plants from the perspective of greenhouse gas emissions. The Philippines can’t be seen demanding cuts while increasing its own emissions. Similar potent symbolic moves must be made by other developing countries.

As the last two years have made very clear, climate has become the No. 1 national security issue for developing countries. When diplomacy fails, the threatened nations have no choice but to resort to strategies like anti-diplomacy to safeguard their national security and national interest. Our weapons are few, and often they are only mechanisms of moral suasion, but we must use them and hope for the best.