December 8, 2011

AT CLIMATE TALKS, A FAMILIAR STANDOFF BETWEEN U.S. AND CHINA

Posted by The Himalayan Voice:
[Negotiators appear close to agreeing on how to structure a fund that is supposed to generate $100 billion a year in public and private financing for climate change programs by 2020. They have also made progress on programs to save tropical forests from clear-cutting, transfer clean-energy technology to emerging nations and refine systems for verifying that countries are taking steps to cut emissions.]
By John M. Broder
 Alexander Joe/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images
Xie Zhenhua, China's lead negotiator at the United Nations 
climate change talks in Durban, during a news conference 
on Monday.
DURBAN, South Africa — China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has once again emerged as the biggest puzzle at internationalclimate change talks, sending ambiguous signals about the role it intends to play in future negotiations. This week, the nation’s top climate envoy said that China would be open to signing a formal treaty limiting emissions after 2020 — but laid down conditions for doing so that are unlikely ever to be met.

China’s lead negotiator at the United Nations climate change talks here, Xie Zhenhua, said that China was prepared to enter into a legally binding agreement after current voluntary programs expire at the end of the decade, seemingly a major step. China has always contended that because of its rapid economic growth and the persistent poverty of millions of its citizens, it cannot be bound by the same emissions standards as advanced industrialized nations.

Mr. Xie outlined five conditions under which China would consider joining such a treaty as a full partner, the major one being that China and other rapidly growing economies must be treated differently from the so-called rich countries. But that has been a deal-breaker for the United States for years and is the central reason that the Senate refused to even consider ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 agreement whose goal, still unmet, is to limit global greenhouse gas emissions.

“These conditions are not new,” Mr. Xie acknowledged at a briefing here where more than 190 nations are gathered for the 17th annual conference of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. “These have been negotiated for the past 20 years.

“What is most important so far is to implement existing commitments and review efforts undertaken by the parties, and after that we can think about what should be done after 2020 and beyond.”

Todd D. Stern, the American climate change envoy, said that the United States would be happy to discuss a formal treaty and then spelled out his conditions, which also were not new and appeared to rule out any sort of deal like that envisioned by Mr. Xie.

For a legally binding agreement to take hold, “it’s going to be absolutely critical that it applies to all the major players, and China obviously is one of them,” Mr. Stern said at a briefing.

“All the major players are going to have to be in with obligations, with commitments that have the same legal force,” he added. “And that means there’s no conditionality, they’re not conditional on receiving technology or financing, there’s no trap doors, there’s no Swiss cheese in that kind of an agreement.”

The dispute between the United States and China, the two largest sources of the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, has come to be an enduring feature of these negotiations and a source of deep frustration for the other players.

Jo Leinen, the German Social Democrat who leads the delegation from the European Parliament, lashed out at both superpowers on Wednesday afternoon.

“What is really frustrating to see is this conference is again hijacked by the Ping-Pong game between the U.S. and China,” he said. “It is unacceptable and no more tolerable that this game is blocking the overall process. Now that China has done some moves, let’s test their seriousness. I don’t see the same commitment, the same signals from the U.S. The one is not yet ready; the other is not willing. We really have a problem.”

The standoff has threatened to derail the process in each of the past several years, but at the end of the two-week session the parties usually pull back from the brink and announce an incremental, face-saving deal. This year’s talks appear headed for the same sort of conclusion.

Negotiators appear close to agreeing on how to structure a fund that is supposed to generate $100 billion a year in public and private financing for climate change programs by 2020. They have also made progress on programs to save tropical forests from clear-cutting, transfer clean-energy technology to emerging nations and refine systems for verifying that countries are taking steps to cut emissions.

The holy grail of these talks, a global treaty encompassing all nations and limiting temperature rise to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels, appears as elusive as ever.

Weary of the inconclusive jousting on a treaty with teeth, many delegates and observers say that small progress may not be a bad thing.

Elliot Diringer, executive vice president of the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions, a private research and advocacy group in Washington, said that while a legal treaty remained an important prod to action, it should not get in the way of more immediate steps.

“This preoccupation with ‘binding’ has become more an obstacle than a means of progress,” he said in an e-mail. “The reality is that key players including the United States and China are not prepared at this stage to take on binding commitments to reduce their emissions.

“Rather than arguing over that year after year, we should focus on strengthening the international climate framework step by step.”


BRIDE-BUYING IN PUNJAB AND HARYANA: A DISGRACE FOR THE HUMANITY


[The purchased brides are duplicated as maids and eventually abandoned. Moreover failure to give birth to a male child can result in dire consequences for them. Sunil Singh of the Rahi Foundation, an NGO active in Punjab, says,“These women, who have been bought as wives, have no rights at all. They are brought here only as commodities and nothing else. One can also see that women are being trafficked here from states with high poverty like Orissa and West Bengal because their families need the money given in exchange.” Apart from parents voluntarily selling their daughters off in dire need of money, there are cases of kidnapping as well where the families never get to know of the whereabouts of the girls.]

 

By Ritika Chawla

In the villages of Punjab and Haryana marriage is no more a sacred union of two individuals. Instead it has increasingly become a trade, whereby brides are purchased from far off states of Eastern India for a meager price ranging between Rs.30,000.00 and Rs.50,000.00 The situation does not look as surprising if we considered the sex ratios of these states, with Punjab having 893 females per 1000 males and Haryana lagging behind even more at only 877 females per 1000 males (The Hindu dated 28/08/2011).
This issue raises two major concerns. Firstly, what has caused the sex ratio to look so dismal? And secondly, the human rights issue involved with this whole practice of purchasing of brides. Looking at the first reason, the cause of the issue is the age old practice of discrimination against girl child which takes the form of female foeticide and female infanticide. Carrying forward their primitive mindsets the people of these states continue to show a shameless bias for sons. They consider son a blessing who will earn for the family and will be the inheritor of its wealth. On the other hand, daughters are considered to be a burden. To us, this sounds appallingly backward but this is the reality of these northern parts of our country. What follows this is a serious dearth of girls available for marriage and thus the practice of buying of brides. This leads us to our second issue. These girls who are purchased from poverty stricken villages of Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam are treated as commodities. They are frequently subjected to increased domestic violence and abuse, forcibly cloistered inside their homes to cook, keep house and, above all else, produce male offspring(s). Thus, the major expectation from these girls is that they will provide the family with the son of the house.

The purchased brides are duplicated as maids and eventually abandoned. Moreover failure to give birth to a male child can result in dire consequences for them. Sunil Singh of the Rahi Foundation, an NGO active in Punjab, says,“These women, who have been bought as wives, have no rights at all. They are brought here only as commodities and nothing else. One can also see that women are being trafficked here from states with high poverty like Orissa and West Bengal because their families need the money given in exchange.” Apart from parents voluntarily selling their daughters off in dire need of money, there are cases of kidnapping as well where the families never get to know of the whereabouts of the girl.

Finding a solution for this will require us to look at both the problems simultaneously. The long term solution to the problem is literacy and awareness. There is a need to change the mindsets of the people regarding the girl child. And this is the only solution if we wish to completely uproot this problem. However, while this happens we cannot sit on it and let it take its time. Strong penal measures need to be adopted against killing and trafficking of girl child.
To curb the exploitation against these brides both government and human rights NGOs have an important role to play. While the government can come up with stricter and more effective laws against women exploitation, NGOs can help with the awareness and implementation part. Also these organizations can provide support to the victims of trade marriages by supporting them and helping them in becoming self dependent. They can provide assurance to these exploited women and fight for their cause.
It is important that we understand that with practices like these being followed in parts of India, the dream of India becoming a developed state will remain a distant dream forever.
If you come across such cases of bride-buying, we highly recommend getting in touch with Jagori and informing them about the case. If they are not functional in your city, they will put you in touch with the right people there.