THE FOUR WINDS

Reprinted from WORDS THAT COME BEFORE ALL ELSE

Environmental Philosophies of the Haudenosaunee Task Force

By Les Benedict

Continued from last week

SECTION II: WHY THE FOUR WINDS ARE HAVING TROUBLE

This time success will require that we heal the divisions among us. The first and most important task for developed countries is to hear the immediate needs of the developing world. The United States had listened and we have learned. We understand that your first priority is to lift your citizens from the poverty so many endure and to build strong economies that will ensure a better future.

And let me be clear in our answer to you. We do not want to founder on a false divide. Reducing poverty and protecting the Earth’s environment are both critical components of truly sustainable development. We want to forge a lasting partnership to achieve a better future. One key is mobilizing new investment in your countries to ensure that you have higher standards of living, with modern, clean and efficient technologies. That is what our proposals for emissions trading and joint implementation strives to do.

To our partners in the developed world, let me say we have listened and learned from you as well. For our part, the United States remains firmly committed to a strong, binding target that will reduce our own emissions by nearly 30 percent from what they would otherwise be – a commitment as strong or stronger than any we have heard from any country. The imperative here is to do what we promise, rather than to promise what we cannot do.

All of us, of course, must reject the advice of those who ask us to believe there really is no problem at all. We know their arguments; we have heard others like them throughout history. For example, we remember the tobacco company spokesmen who insisted smoking does no harm. To those who seek to obstruct and obfuscate, we say: We will not allow you to put narrow special interests above the interests of all humankind.

So what does the United States propose that we do? The first measure of any proposal must be its environmental merit, and ours is environmentally solid and sound. It is strong and comprehensive, covering all six significant greenhouse gases. It recognizes the link between the air and the land, including both sources and sinks. It provides the tools to ensure that targets can be met. It is also economically sound. And with strict monitoring and accountability, it ensures that we will keep our bond with one another.

Today let me add this. After talking with our negotiators this morning and after speaking on the telephone from here a short time ago with President Clinton, I am instructing our delegation right now to show increasing flexibility if a comprehensive plan can be put in place, one with realistic targets and timetables, market mechanisms and the meaningful participation of key developing countries.

Earlier this century, the Scottish mountain climber W. H. Murray wrote: “Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative… there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, providence moves, too.”

So let us press forward. Let us resolve to conduct ourselves in such a way that our children’s children will read about the “Spirit of Kyoto,” and remember well the pace and the time where humankind first chose to embark on a long-term sustainable relationship between our civilization and the Earth’s environment.”

Another agreement, the Montreal Protocol, was established to reduce the emissions of ozone depleting compounds, such as Freon used in refrigeration and as a propellant in consumer aerosol cans. The Montreal Protocol was signed in September 1987.

The Ozone Secretariat summarizes the importance of the ozone layer and how the ozone layer is being destroyed (The Ozone Secretariat is the Secretariat for the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and for the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The Secretariat is based at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) office in Nairobi, Kenya).

“The Layer is found in the stratosphere between 10-50 km above the ground. Ozone molecules have three atoms of oxygen instead of the normal two. The Ozone Layer protects us from the harmful effects of certain wavelengths of ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun, specifically UV-B. Any significant decrease in ozone in the stratosphere would result in an increase of UV-B radiation reaching the earth surface.

Increases in levels of UV-B radiation can result in the increase in skin cancers, suppress the immune system, exacerbate eye disorders including cataracts and affect plants, animals and plastic materials.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) invented in 1928 found many uses in aerosols, foam refrigeration, air conditioners, solvents, fire extinguishers, etc. These CFCs are long lived, their emissions reach the stratosphere and cause ozone depletion. This ozone depletion had been dramatically confirmed through the Antarctic “Ozone Hole” discovered in 1985 and observations, since then, of ozone depletion in the middle and higher latitudes.”

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has been addressing this issue since 1977. Under the auspices of (UNEP), the governments of the world arrived at the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer in 1985. Through this Convention, governments committed themselves to protect the ozone layer and to co-operate with each other in scientific research to improve understanding of the atmospheric process.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was agreed to by governments in1987 and has been Amended three times so far, in London in 1990, in Copenhagen in 1992 and recently, in Montreal in 1997. The Protocol aims to reduce and eventually eliminate the emissions of man-made ozone depleting substances.

The list of countries which are Party to the Conventions, the Protocol, as well as information on the ratification dates, are detailed in the Status of Ratification. The Parties have agreed on Rules of Procedure which apply to any meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol and of the Conference of the parties to the Vienna Convention. A depository notification Concerning the Montreal Adjustments and the Amendment which were adopted by the Parties on September 17, 1997 at their Ninth Meeting tin Montreal, was transmitted by the Secretary General of the United Nations to all Parties, on December 1997.

To be continued next issue