Bond, Patrick (2011) Will Durban be a Conference of Polluters? Bonn confirms urgency of halting dirty climate politics. Eye on Civil Society, 21 June : 1-3.
Judging by what just transpired at last week’s Bonn climate negotiations, it is now certain that five months and one week from today, a conference of procrastinators will launch in Durban, the ‘COP17’, dooming the earth to the frying pan. Global inaction on climate change will make our city’s name as infamous for elite incompetence and political betrayal as is Oslo’s in the Middle East.
For it appears certain that Pretoria’s alliance with Washington, Beijing, New Delhi and Brasilia – as witnessed in the shameful behind-closed-doors Copenhagen Accord two years earlier – will be enlarged, with other saboteurs of the Kyoto Protocol (especially from Ottawa, Tokyo and Moscow) and with Brussels and London carbon traders.
What everyone now predicts is a conference of paralysis during which not only will the Kyoto Protocol expire at the end of its first commitment period in 2012. Far worse, Durban will primarily be a conference of profiteers, as carbon trading – the privatization of the air, selling rich states and companies the property-right to pollute – is cemented in at the foundations of global climate malgovernance.
Indeed, a telling diplomatic move in Bonn was when Pretoria negotiators, inexplicably weighed down by team members from maxi-polluters Eskom, Sasol and Business Unity South Africa, tried to break African solidarity against European Union plans for opening up new carbon markets (in exchange for Europe emitting much more GreenHouse Gas pollution), instead of paying the EU’s vast climate debt to Africa straight up. Alignment is now approaching: digging a vast new R100 billion Transnet port in South Durban, constructing a new R80 billion PetroSA heavy-oil refinery at Coega, and offering the Drakensburg’s scarce water supply to SA, Norwegian and US frackers (as The Mercury reported last week), not to mention Eskom building two of the world’s four largest coalfired powerplants at Kusile and Medupi, are perfectly consistent with Pretoria’s Bantustan type officials promoting ‘climate apartheid’ inside the Durban International Convention Centre.
To top it off, the promised $100 billion/year Green Climate Fund, far larger than any other financing source ever assembled, is co-chaired by another Northern-pliant Pretoria politician, national planning minister Trevor Manuel, who takes his responsibilities so seriously that he offered no visible objection to these climate-destructive investments. Indeed as finance minister, Manuel repeatedly gave Eskom the green light to continue offering the world’s cheapest electricity to BHP Billiton and Anglo American Corporation while raising poor people’s power prices to unaffordable heights, so as to pay back the expensive financing on new coal-fired plants.
Manuel apparently thought so highly of the Green Climate Fund that last month he preferred to stay in the Western Cape unsuccessfully lobbying for ANC votes, instead of going to the Mexico City conference where in absentia he was given Fund design leadership. In all the talk of joining the race for International Monetary Fund managing director, which he pulled out of on the last day, June 10, no word was uttered about climate or his Fund co-chairing responsibilities.
This typifies the disrespect that state and business elites now give climate negotiations. Because Pretoria can’t be trusted, says Michele Maynard of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, “African civil society is calling on the South African Government to have an open, democratic and accountable process. That means saying when, where and who they are meeting and how they will let the people actually impacted by climate change have their say.”
To be sure, the civil society movement Climate Justice Now! is disgusted by Kyoto’s low targets (just 5 percent decrease in emissions since 1990); ease of exit (especially by the world’s worst tar-sands polluter, Canada); lack of sanctions against big polluters for not participating (the US and Australia) or for missing even weak targets (nearly everyone); failure to penalize corporate beneficiaries of vast coal operations in sites like South Africa; and reliance on carbon markets to make emissions cuts more palatable to big capital. But a binding deal is ultimately needed, everyone agrees, and replacing Kyoto with a voluntary ‘Durban Package’ would be disastrous, given the US and EU track-record on cheating, bribery and bullying. To meet scientific requirements for planet-saving emissions cuts requires a genuine global deal of the sort reached in 1987 in Montreal to ban CFCs, the chemical that threatened to widen the deadly ozone hole. But at the last two climate Conferences of Parties (COP), in Copenhagen (2009) and Cancún (2010), Pretoria lined up squarely with the climate-deal chiselers.
According to Bolivia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Pablo Sólon, at a Bonn press conference, “We have come out with commitments of emissions reductions that leads us to a scenario of [a temperature increase of] 4 degrees Celsius. And that is absolutely unacceptable. We need to come out of South Africa with commitments of emissions reductions that will put us in a scenario of between 1 to 1.5 degrees Celsius in order to preserve our planet and life as we know it.”
Sólon, who has gained enormous stature as one of the few brave enough to speak truth to power inside the UN’s dead space, concluded, “South Africa is the place to fight against the new apartheid against Mother Earth and its vital systems.” Otherwise Durban will be termed the Conference of Polluters.
(Patrick Bond directs the UKZN Centre for Civil Society and is author of the forthcoming
book, Politics of Climate Justice, for UKZN Press
Kusukela eBonn kuya eThekwini, imihlangano emayelana nesimo sezulu ayizingqungqthelq zabangcolisi bomoya womkhathi
Uma subuka kokwenzeka kulamasonto adlule lapho kwakuboniswana khona ngesimo sezulu emhlabeni wonke komkhulu elidala laseNtshonalanga Jalimani, eBonn, kubonakala sengathi kulezizinyanga ezizayo, idolobha lechweba laseNingizimu Afrika iTheku liyobe linengqungquthela yabavilaphi. ‘iCOP 17’ (Conference of Parties), beyekelela umhlaba ukuba ube sesimweni esibucayi kakhulu. Okunye futhi ukungenzi lutho kwabo mayelana nesimo sezulu kuyokwenza idolobha lethu libe nokuduma kabi njengelababusi abahlulekayo ngisho nakwezombusazwe njengoba kwenza idolobha laseOslo eMiddle East..
Kubonakala sengathi ubuhlobo phakathi kwePitoli kanye neWashington, neBeijing, neNew Delhi kaye neBrasilia, kwaba ubufakazi ngechilo lengqungquthela i2009 Copenhagen Accord, futhi ezodlulela phambili kwabacekeli phansi beKyoto Protocol, ikakhulukazi kusukela eOttawa, eTokyo kanye naseMoscow, kanye neBrussels kanye nabadayisi bensizi engcolisa umoya wasemkhathini baseLandani.
Wonke manje umuntu akuqagelayo ukuthi kuzoba ingqungquthela enovendle.Ngeke-nje kugcine ngokuthi iKyoto Protocol ivunyelwe ukuthi iphelelwe isikhathi ekuzinikeleni kwayo (kwango2012). Kuyokwenzeka okubi kakhulu lapho iTheku liyoba nengqungquthela yabenza inzuzo, njengoba ukudayiswa kwensizi engcolisa umoya womkhathi – ukwenziwa ngasese komoya, okunika izizwe ezicebile kanye nezimboni amalungelo okungcolisa – kuzobe kugcizelelwa njengesizinda seminyaka eyishumi ezayo sokubusa okungenabulungiswa.
Esakubona kwenzeka eBonn ngenkathi abamele iPitoli, benxenxwa ozakwabo abangcolisa kakhulu umoya womkhathi baseEskom, eSasol kanye neNationao Business Initiative, bezama ukuqhekeza ukuhlanganyela kwezizwe zaseAfrika ezimelene nezinhlelo zeEuropean Union ezifuna ukuvula izimakethe ezintsha zokudayisa izinsizi ezingcolisa umoya (ukuze bavumele amazwe aseEurope ukuqhubeka nokungcolisa ngegesi umoya) – esikhundleni sokwenza okwamukelekile ngokukhokha isikweletu esikhulu sokungcolisa umoya esidalwe amzwe eEuropeanUnion emazwei aseAfrika.
Into esinye esiyibonayo manje yokuhlanganyela eqhamukayo ilapho izikhulu nababusi ababusa njengalabo abaebsa ezabelweni ngesikhati sobandululo beyokwenza kubesemthethweni ‘ubandlululo lwesimo sezulu’ ngenkathi sekuqala iCOP 17 eDurban International Convention Centre, ngesikhathi futhi lapho bexhasa yonke iminyakazo yasekhaya, ecekela phansi isimo sezulu:
· Njengokwakha izizinda ezine zamandla kagesi ezixhaswa ngamalahle ngenani lika$20 billion sisinye eKusile naseMedupi (singakabali izizinda zamanuclear);
· Bemba ichweba elibiza u$14 billion eNingizimu neTheku, njengoba besanda kumemezela;
· Bakha ubhayela omusha obiza u $12 billion wamafutha ePort Elizabeth; kanye
· Nokuhlonzwa kokufunwa kwamalungelo okumbiwa kwegesi eNingizimu Afrika, nasezimbonini zaseNorway kanye nezaseMelika endaweni ebuthakathaka yasezintabeni zoKhahlamba (njengoba lokhu kusanda kudalulwa yizintatheli ezinolhonze ezibhala ngezemvelo zaseThekwini uTony Carnie kanye noColleen Dardagan).
Futhi okwenza lesimo sibe muncu ukuthi lo$100 billion/ngonyaka othenjisiwe we Green Climate Fund, omkhulu kakhulu kunenye imali eyake yahlanganiswa, omunye wosihlalo bayo okungusombusazwe wsePitoli uTrevor Manuel, indoda engawenzi ngokuziqhenya umsebenzi wayo engazange imelane nokuphikisana ngomthelelo wokutshalwa kwalezizimali.
Impeleni ngengongqongqoshe wezezimali, uManuel wayephindelela ezikeza mandla ezimbonini zombuso waseNingizimu Afrika oEskom ilungelo lokuqhubeka nokunikeza ugesi oshibe kakhulu emhlabeni wonke ezimbonini ezingoBHP Billiton kanye ne Anglo American Corporation ngenkathi futhi enyusa inani likagesi okhokhelwa ngabampofu ukuze kukhokhelwe lezizinda ezakhiwayo ezibizayo.
UManuel wayeyicabangela kakhulu i Green Climate Fund (GCF) ngangokuthi kuze kuphele inyanga kaApril wabona kungcono ahlale ekhaya eKapa, ezama okungenampumelelo ukuthola amavoti eqembu elibusayo (elalahlekelwa yilamavoti iqembu lontamolukhuni ngokhetho lukakaMeyi lukamasipala), esikhundleni sokuya kwingqungqthela eyayyisedolobheni laseMexico lapgo ngenkathi engekho wanikwa ukuba ngomunye wabaholi abazohlongoza ukuhlela Igcf. Kuyoyonke inkulumo yakhe esehlanganyela nokhetho olwalungenabulungiswa lweEU lokuba ngomqondisi jikelele weInternational Monetary Fund, futhi buye wawushiya umncintiswano walesisikhundla ngosuku lokugcina, ngoJune 10, akukho nelilodwa izwi alikhuluma ngokushintsha kwesimo sezulu noma ngokakusongili njengomunye wosihlalo be GCF.
IGCF kungenzeka yenze umonakalo omkhulu kunokuhle, ikakhulukazi uma iqembu lika Manuel linika imvume “yezisombululo ezingamanga’ njengebiotech, izihlahla nezitshalo ezakhiwa ngamakhambi, amandla enuclear, ukubanjwa komsizi kanye nokugcinwa kwawo. Vele useshilo ukuthi iGCF kufanele ikhulise imali yayo ngokudayisa umsizi.
Kodwa uManuela uzohluleka ngenxa yokuthi njalo imakethe edayisa umsizi ihlale iwa kodwa ngoba, umqondisi weThird World Network uMeena Raman wasokola kumasonto amblwa adlule, “Kunezinsuku eziyisithupha kauphela ezibekelwe ukuthi iGCF Technical Committee kusukela manje kanye naseThekwini, kanti kunezinkinga eziningi ezinzulu ezifuna ukucutshungulwa.. (Bbangakwenza kanjani) ukubhekena nesimo esinzima kanjena nesibaluleke kanjena esikhathini esifishane kanje?” Ngeworkshop eyayingo30May eBonn, omunye wosihlalo, u Kjetil Lund waseNorway nguye kuphela owayekhona kwezinye izingxoxo, kodwa uManuel kanye nosihlao westhathu, uErnesto Cordero Arroyo waseMexico, babengekho.
Lokhu kukhombisa ukungawuhloniphi umbusazwe kanye nokuthi ababusi bezohwebo abazikhathaleli izingxoxo zesimo sezulu. Ngoba iPitoli angeke lithenjwe ukuthi lihole umhlaba ngoDisemba. kusho uMichele Maynard of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, “Imiphakathi yaseAfrika ifuna ukuthi uhulumeni waseNingizimu Afrika ube nohlelo oluvulelekile, olubuswa intando yeningi. Okusho ukuthi ikuphi, inini lapho behlangana nokuthi bahlangana nobani nokuthi batshele abantu ukuthi kuyobani yini umthelela wesimo sezulu ezimpilweni zabo ngakho-ke kufanele bakhulume.”
UMaynard waqhubeka, “lokhu kubalekile kakhulu njengoba sizwa ukuthi iNew Zealand neMelika ibona abazobe beshayela izinkulumo ezethula izimakethe ‘zoumhlabathi wemsizi’ ezingxoxweni. Lezizimakethe ziyizixazululo ezingamanga ngoba ziyoqhubela phambili ukuthathwa komhlaba waseAfrika kanye nokubukela phansi imizamo yabampofu ukuthi bazondle bona.”
Wonke umuntu ucabanga ukuthi inking yokuqala kuyobba ukucekelwa phansi kweKyoto Protoco eThekwini. Amazwe aseNyakatho afuna “ukuzimbandakanya kwezombusazwe” okuzokwenza ukuthi kubukelwe phansi imigomo enengcindezi yokwehliswa kwezimfunekp ezenziwa eKyoto ngo1997.
Ukuqinisekisa, izinhlangano zemiphakathi i Climate Justice Now! Inyanyile ngeKyoto
· Ubheka kancane (amaphesenti ayisihlanu okwehliswa kwezinsizi kusukela ngo1990);
· Ukwehla kokuphuma (ikakhulukazi kwabangcolisi abakhulu ngetiyela baseCanada);
· Ukungenzi ukuvinjelwa kwezimboni ezingcolisa kakhulu ukuthi zizimbandakanye (iMelika kanye neAustralia) futhi nokungayashayi indiva ngisho amatarget amancane (cishe njengabao bonke);
· Ukuhluleka ukujezisa abazuzi bezimboni ukusebenzia izimboni ezinkulu zamalahle ezizindeni ezifana nezaseNingizimu Afrika; kanye
· Ukwethembela ezimakehe zomsizi ukukhiqiza umoya okgcolisa umkhathi ukuthi inqanyulwe, ngenxa yezivumelwane ezingenabulungiswa ezenziwa ngu Al Gore ngo1997 ukuze kuxhaswe iMelika (kodwa iSenate yavota imelene neKyoto ngo95-0!).
Noma kunjalo kusafanele kubekhona isivumelwano esinesibambiso, esizobakhona endaweni yeKyoto kanye ne ‘Durban Package’ eyoba inhlekelele uma sesibhekene nomlando weUS, neEU ne Japanese wokuxhasa kancane ngezimali, ubuxoki kanye nenkohliso. Lokhu sibonga ukuphuma nonyaka odlule ngoDisemba kwezindaba yiUS State Department ngu Julian Assange beno Bradley Manning (njengoba esahleli ejele engakabekwa cala eLeavenworth e Kansas), ngeke kuphikwe ukuthi ababengaphansi kuka Clinton oTodd Stern kanye noJonathan Pershing bayizidlamlilo okufanele bangavunyelwa ezingxoxweni zangomuso. UConnie Hedegaard weEU wahlanganyela nabo ngenjabulu ukucekela phansi ukungaxhaswa ngezimali kweGCF ngo February 2010, njengokubika kweWikiLeaks.
Ukuhlanganyela nemigomo ebekiwe yokusindisa umhathi ezobambelela njengomzamo owenziwa ngo1987 eMontreal ukuqeda amaCFCs, ikhemkhali elalibhoboza imbobo emakhathini. Kodwa njengoba sibona kukhula ukubuswa ngongxiwankulu (ngo1990, ukubuswa ngontamolukhuni (ngo2000) kanye nokuphikelela kwabo njengenzindlela zokubusa phakathi neNhlangano Yamazwe eZizwe, asibona okwenzeka eMontrela kwenzeka maduze.
Ezingqungqutheleni ezimbili ezedlule zeCOP. eyayise Copenhagen (ngo2009) nase Cancún (ngo2010), iPitoli lahlanganyela kanye nabangcolisi bomkhathi abahamba phambili. Umpuhumela, ngokusho kwenxusa laseBolivia eNhlanganweni Yezizwe Zomhlaba, u Pablo Sólon, kwabezindaba eBonn, wathi “ukuzimbandakanya nokwehliswa kokungcoliswa komkhathi okuzoholela (ekunyukeni kwezinga lokushisa). Lokho akwamukelekile. Sidinga ukubuya eNingizimu Afrika sizimisele ikwehlisa ukukhiqizwa kwesisisi ezingcolisa umoya kwehlisiwe ukuze sisindise umkhathi wethu nempilo yethu njengoba siyazicommitments of emissions reductions that leads us to a scenario of [a temperature increase of] 4 degrees Celsius.”
Eseqedela u Sólon, ongomuye wezikhulum kulezizingxoxo enesibindi sokukhulma iqiniso ngaphakthi kweNhlangano Yezizwe, “INingizimu Afrika indawo yokulwa nobandlululo lolusha lobandlululo olusha lomkhathi kanye nezinye izizinda zawo.”
Izishoshovu zalapha ekhaya ziyohlanganyela nempi zibe zazi ukuthi abezombusazwe kanye nezikhulu bangabacekela phansi. Esinye isizathu esiyokwenza iTheku kusasa eliyokwaziwa njengendawo eyaqhakambisa ukubandlululwa kwesimi sezulu, ngoba ukulambela kwababusi ukwenza imigomo futhi nokujabulela ukubuswa ngokudayiwa kwensizi njengezinhelo zeReducing Emissions from Deforestation kanye neforest Degradation (REDD) programme.
Ngokusho kukaSólon, “Kwavela icebo esivumelwaneni saseCancún esibhekelela konke … imhlahlandlela yamahlathi yokubamba insizi ye CO2. Akufanele sibhekane nokulngiselela amahlathi njengengxenye yezimakethe, kufanele silwe nokuqedwa kwamahlathi manje.”
Abamele kakhulu iREDD iBhange Lomhlaba, futhi elibuye libe ngabanye abangamele i Green Climate Fund, okwenza imiphakathi inyanye kakhu;i. “Ibhange Lomhlaba liyingxenye yenkinga yesimo sezulu, hayi isisombululo,” kusho u Sebastian Valdomir weFriends of the Earth International eBonn. “Umlando walo omubi kakhulu kanye nomthelela walo kufanele ngabe yikho kwenza bangabi yingxenye yalezizingxoxo ekuzimbandekanyeni ne Climate Fund, nomna ukuxhasa izinhlelo zokushintsha kwesimo sezulu.”
Isibonelo-nje ukunikeza kweBhange u$3.75 billion kuEskom ngonyaka odlule, ukuxhasaisizinda seMedupi kube kungekho ukubona ngasolinye kwezindingo (Ukutshala kwezimali kukaKhongolose ukwakhiwa kwesincibilikisi seHitachi) kanye nokuhluleka kokukhokhela ugesi ngabampofu baseNingizimu Afrika, abaqhubekayo bebhikilishela ukukhokhela ugesi kanye “nokulethwa kawyo okungagculisi” okukhulu kakhulu emhlabeni
Kunokuba lezizikhohlakali zabatshali bezimali babhekane nalenkinga angaka esibhekene nayo, u Sólon wathi akwenziwe izikhwama somhlaba sentela esizobhekane nezindleko zokubhekana nokusiza isimo sezulu. Amazwe aseNshonalanga azibophezela ukukhipha u $30 billion ethembisa uHillary Clinton eCopenhagen kuze kube u 2012, kufanena nesithemnbiso esenziwa yiG8 eGleneagles Summit ngo2005 sokuxhasa iAfrika.
Izingqungquthela zabathembisi ziningi kakhulu, njengoba besho eMelika, izingqungqthela ezinganalutho, njengokwenza kukaClinton’s, njengoba kwacaca eBonn ngozakwabo ngo June 7 (“ngeke kube khona u$100 billion ngonyaka eGCF”), bonke banenjongo eyodwa: ukubohlisa ulaka lomhlaba ekutheni isimo sezulu liyinkinga kuthina sonke.
Kukhona futhi ubuqili esibulindele eThekwini, njengoba kwenzeka eGoli nge Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development ngo2002,ngennkathi Umartin Khor weThird World Network egxeka usihlalo (uThabo Mbeki) owafika nendlela yokukhpha inyumbazana ngokwenza eminye imihlangano emincane ibe ngasese eWorld Trade Organisation’s eyayaziwa ngama‘Green Rooms’.
Abamele iVenezuela eBonn bakugxeka ukungenelela ngokuxikiza kwePitoli “kwizinhlelo ezinenqubekela phambili’s” ezazixoxwa ngasese.
Kulezizinkinga esibhekene nazo ezinje, ngabe izishoshovu zingakwazi ukunyakazisa ababusi? Usuzophela umhlangano waseBonn, umholi we Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo, ongowokuzalwa eThekwini wakhombisa umfutho odingakalayo, ngenkathi ezama ukuletha imibiko engu 50,000 lakumbiwa khona amafutha elwandle eCairn Energy ngaseGreenland.
Ngesikhathi uNaidoo ebhekene nerig, i the Leif Eriksson (eyabizwa emva kwebutho laseScandinavia, isizwe esasaziwa ngokuntshontsha, ukweba kanye nokudlwengula), wahlangabezana namanzi abanda kakhulu futhi waboshwa “okunganqunyiwe” ngokweqa umgomo wasenkantolo..
Ngokusho kukaNaidoo, “Ukumbiwa kwamafutha eArctic iyona mpi enkulu kakhulu esibhekene nayo ezimpini zezemvelo ngesikhathi sethu. NginguAfrika kodwa ginendaba ngokwenzeka lapha. Ukuqhubeka ngesivinini kokuncibilika kweqhwa lolwandle laseArctic umyalelo onobungozi kakhulu kuthina sonke, kufana nokuhlanya kwezimboni ezifana no Cairn ezikubona njengethuba lokumba lamagugu okusenza sibhekane nokushintsha kwesimo sezulu kwasekuqaleni. Kufanele sisukume sithi sekwanele.”
Lomkhuba kuzofanele futhi wenziwe kumelwene neDurban Conference of Polluters, futhi kubonakala sengathi ngoMgqibelo, kaDisemba 3 kobe kuwusuku lomhlaba wonke wombhikilisho lapho iTheku nendawo yangakini, kodwa bame ngesibindi esikhulu ukubekana nalesisibhicongo.