china taking over usa and the west in climate change coping

Vision for Rio+20: Transition to a Low Carbon Economy and SocietyMukul Sanwal

By: Preena ShresthaRoll: 21

INTRODUCTION

• Text written prior to Rio+20 in 2011• Evolution of the climate change issue• Failings of multilateral accords and

conferences to set agenda and action to ensure “well-being”

• Recommendations to deal effectively with climate change and poverty

Mukul Sanwal has served in various policy positions in the Indian government; was its

representative at the UN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio, in 1992


CHALLENGES IN

CLIMATE GOVERNA

NCE

• Main challenge of Sustainable Development: eradicating poverty, raising living standards, all while minimizing environmental footprint

• Climate negotiations inconclusive debates between old, new emitters focused on environmental systems; ignores social dimension

• Dichotomy between human and natural systems a mistake(Folke et al 2002).


DICTATING AGENDAS

• But developing countries must prioritize eradicating poverty, energy services

• Households consume most electricity in developed countries, but industrial production in developing nations

• Populations of poor nations most vulnerable to climate change -- huge cost, locks the poor in “long-term poverty traps”

• Developed countries should assist in agriculture and resilience-building


Environmental discourses, agendas dictated by industrialized nations: reluctant to curtail

own economic growth. Instead, want developing nations to limit theirs

THE RISE OF CHINA

& INDIA


• Make changes in patterns of production and consumption rather than legal rights and responsibilities

• India and China have moved some steps ahead in green growth via resource conservation, reduction of energy use and efforts to harness wind and solar power

Huge economic success of China and India has spurred more developing nations to

voice opposition against biased policies and wake up to their

own potential to set new rules


RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSION

Not to separate environmental issues from social dynamics, ignored because not so easily

quantified (Cutter et al 2003). But recognition of interconnectedness

between emissions, standards of living and ecological limits leads

global governance forward on dealing with climate change

• Global carbon management via national carbon budgets: every country’s share of carbon space proportional to its share of the global population

• More expansive concept of equity needed to reflect adoptable trends in resource use

• Alternative forums outside of conventional framework could come up with more innovative ideas

Teacher’s Comments

• Very attractive format and presentation and nice coherent flow and articulation with other themes.

• Still each slide could use 50% less words with no reduction of information, feel a little crowded, like reading a dense essay

• Also some main messages of Sanwal, namely the scale of China’s investment in Green Economy, relative to other world players, seems to be lost in other distracting tertiary messages