Jan 31 deadline on emission-cut plan submission unlikely to be effective
Sunday, 24 January 2010
From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Jan 23: Major emission polluting countries facing a January 31 deadline have yet to submit their plans for reducing emissions of climate altering gases, one of the major provision of the Copenhagen agreement, that bolstered the hope of the robust optimists that the summit after all was not a disaster.
Fewer than 24 nations out of 190 who signed the accord have even submitted letters saying they agree to the terms of the non-binding accord. But more important than that there has been virtually no progress on spelling out terms of nearly $30 billion in short term financial assistance promised to those countries expected to be hardest hit by the climate change. Bangladesh oblivious of what is happening has demanded immediate disbursement of the promised money.
Still unresolved are such basic questions like who will donate how much, where the money will go and who will oversee the spending, the New York Times in a report said Haiti disaster has upset plans in many countries, its emergency being more demanding and cannot wait. The UN official overseeing the Copenhagen summit which he called a near failure is still hopeful of a meaningful result. Another reputed paper said that the January 31 deadline has been totally shelved.
The next meeting is not due to before May in Germany and another in Mexico in November. And officials dealing say many more such meetings will be required. India, China, Brazil and South Africa met in New Delhi to insist on deep cuts from developed countries but offered no concessions of their own. The loss of sixty seat majority in the Senate due to defeat of the Democratic party candidate in the Massachusetts will push the climate change further down in the US agenda.
An International Scientific Panel overseen by the United Nations on Wednesday expressed regret for publishing an unsupported estimate of the speed at which Himalayan glaciers are melting. This flawed document drawn on very old data was not only given Nobel Prize but has remained the basic study which is being relied upon by global warming experts. The prediction that glaciers would disappear by 2035 is not true but there is nothing to be cheerful about. because there is abundant evidence that glaciers are retreating though the scientists only differ on the speed of ice melting.
NEW YORK, Jan 23: Major emission polluting countries facing a January 31 deadline have yet to submit their plans for reducing emissions of climate altering gases, one of the major provision of the Copenhagen agreement, that bolstered the hope of the robust optimists that the summit after all was not a disaster.
Fewer than 24 nations out of 190 who signed the accord have even submitted letters saying they agree to the terms of the non-binding accord. But more important than that there has been virtually no progress on spelling out terms of nearly $30 billion in short term financial assistance promised to those countries expected to be hardest hit by the climate change. Bangladesh oblivious of what is happening has demanded immediate disbursement of the promised money.
Still unresolved are such basic questions like who will donate how much, where the money will go and who will oversee the spending, the New York Times in a report said Haiti disaster has upset plans in many countries, its emergency being more demanding and cannot wait. The UN official overseeing the Copenhagen summit which he called a near failure is still hopeful of a meaningful result. Another reputed paper said that the January 31 deadline has been totally shelved.
The next meeting is not due to before May in Germany and another in Mexico in November. And officials dealing say many more such meetings will be required. India, China, Brazil and South Africa met in New Delhi to insist on deep cuts from developed countries but offered no concessions of their own. The loss of sixty seat majority in the Senate due to defeat of the Democratic party candidate in the Massachusetts will push the climate change further down in the US agenda.
An International Scientific Panel overseen by the United Nations on Wednesday expressed regret for publishing an unsupported estimate of the speed at which Himalayan glaciers are melting. This flawed document drawn on very old data was not only given Nobel Prize but has remained the basic study which is being relied upon by global warming experts. The prediction that glaciers would disappear by 2035 is not true but there is nothing to be cheerful about. because there is abundant evidence that glaciers are retreating though the scientists only differ on the speed of ice melting.