ICSC chief science advisor, Professor Bob Carter of James Cook University in Queensland, Australia agrees, “By quitting Kyoto, the Canadian Government has set an important example for other nations to follow. Instead of focusing our energies on futile attempts to control the planet’s climate, we need to prepare for inevitable climate change—warming and cooling, drought and flood, etc.—so as to reduce many of the very real and tragic consequences that often accompany natural climate variability.”The agreements reached in Durban specify that “social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries.”
“This makes sense, of course, but it effectively gives developing nations an out clause that developed nations do not have,” Mr. Harris warns. “Any future UN climate agreement based on Durban may therefore not be materially different to the skewed approach of Kyoto where most of the world is not held to any limits at all. The government made a mistake in agreeing to this and should consequently rescind their support.”
Professor Carter concludes, “These traps could be avoided if more governments followed the example of Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus, and simply recognized the truth about climate change, which is that the science is immensely complex and that much controversy remains about even its most basic fundamentals. In such circumstances, expensive and ineffectual greenhouse gas reduction agreements are not only premature, but also an irresponsible waste of money.”



0 comments:
Post a Comment