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 Editorials | Environmental | July 2005 
Group Of Eight Furor Affects Sustainable Development
 Talli Nauman - The Herald Mexico
The furor over the Group of Eight rich nations’ annual meeting caught up Mexico this time around and with good reason: The agenda highlighted collaboration in the international effort to counter global warming for the ultimate purpose of environmental sustainability.
The events surrounding the July 6 to 8 summit of the G8 leaders in Scotland, took place at the same time as a United Nations conference in New York, on achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are to be discussed at a five-year review set for September.
The MDGs target 2015 as the date for reducing world poverty and hunger by one-half, child mortality by two-thirds, and maternal mortality by three-fourths. The objectives include universal primary education, more gender equality, deadly disease reduction and, of course, environmental sustainability.
To reach these and other development goals, U.N. General Assembly member nations pledged 0.7 percent of their GNPs, way back in the 1960s, and only a handful of Scandinavian nations have complied. European authorities recently renewed their commitment by setting specific new dates to reach percentage contributions. But the U.S. administration has sidestepped the issue on various occasions, such as the International Conference on Financing for Development held in Mexico in 2002.
Of the innumerable accounts about the topics being tackled by G8 and U.N. leaders, the one I liked best was taken from a new U.N. Development Program report, because it stresses to policy makers that environmental sustainability is not only an end but also a means.
According to the study, returns are substantial on environmental management investments, in terms of poverty reduction, health and productivity. For example, a US$16 billion project to counter land degradation has potential benefits of US$53 billion in saved agricultural employment and production.
The G8 has become such a powerful force that its members make international decisions not just on economics, but also on politics — including everything from feared nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran to international involvement in Iraq and Israel. So, it is to the benefit and credit of the human race that current G8 chair British Prime Minister Tony Blair has put environment high on the meeting agenda, making the issue of climate change one of the two main subjects of the affair, along with funding specifically for African development demands.
The self-appointed G8 consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. Together, they generate 45 percent of the gases that provoke climate change. Some of the countries’ leaders heard Blair’s argument that aviation emissions’ contribution to global warming could sink the British Isles’ intention to meet mandatory greenhouse gas reduction levels, and they agreed to take actions that offset the pollution their delegations’ flights to Scotland caused.
But the Blair administration failed if it tried to use England’s special relationship with the United States to convince U.S. President George W. Bush to join the parties to the Kyoto Protocol, which sets 2012 as a deadline for developed nations to reduce carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent compared to 1990 levels.
Bush family ties to the oil industry that is responsible for fossil fuel generating most of the greenhouse gases are well-known. And he cynically reiterated his resolve to shun the agreement. G8 critics and protestors responded with a call for more corporate accountability in the protection of the environment.
Blair responded by inviting President Vicente Fox and four other developing nation leaders to Scotland to talk about global economics and global warming in the same breath. Fox shared the honor with the heads of India, China, Brazil and South Africa. Together with Mexico, these are the countries that could tip the balance of nature, depending on their approach to climate change.
Since the developed countries are the ones that most contribute to the problem, if they expect Mexico to help them out of it, they should provide them with more than an invitation. A positive outcome would be some technology transfers for emissions reduction, project grants, scientific and policy exchange programs.
Only time will tell if the gathering will affect the parameters of climate change. Mexico’s involvement as a neighbor to United States should be a revealing factor in the months leading up to the U.N. Climate Change Conference, Nov. 28 to Dec. 9 in Montreal. That’s when negotiations begin for the addition of new national commitments.
Talli Nauman is a founder and co-director of Journalism to Raise Environmental Awareness, a project initiated with support from the MacArthur Foundation. She is the Americas Program Associate at the International Relations Center. (talli@direcway.com) |
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