COP19 has failed

SUBHEAD: In Warsaw the fifth consuccessive UN Climate Change Conference is a complete failure.

By Tory Aardvark on 17 November 2013 for ToryAardvark.com -
(http://toryaardvark.com/2013/11/17/cop19-now-the-fifth-successive-unfccc-failure-is-complete/)

[IB Publisher's note: No surprise really. For some good news out of Warsaw see article below this one.]


Image above: Lectern and stage of UNFCCC COP19 in Warsaw, Poland. From original article.

That’s 5 UNFCCC COP failures in a row, an unprecedented record of failure, each Conference of the Parties has disintegrated faster than the COP that preceded it, with COP19 holding the current record.
There was never any doubt, from the outset that COP19 was going to be the biggest failure since records began, what has been surprising is the speed of that collapse, COP19 was effectively dead before it had begun.

It has just taken 5 days for COP19 to realize it was dead and hit the floor.

The make or break issue for COP19 was “loss and damage“, wealth redistribution to us regular folks and that great Green Socialist Barack Obama made sure that loss and damage was deader than Osama Bin Laden, before COP19 even started.


An internal briefing document from the US State Department made it clear there is no money for the Green Climate Fund:

US envoys to the UN climate talks have been given strict instructions to block attempts to develop a climate compensation scheme say reports.

So much for the Obama’s climate change rhetoric, just so much substance less Green socialist bullshit to appeal to the Greens and Democrats back home.

“The US supports pragmatic approaches to address the substantive issues raised in loss and damage discussions and supports the establishment in Warsaw of a loss and damage ‘task force’ under the Adaptation committee of the UNFCCC,” it adds.
The US and other countries classed as ‘developed’ oppose basing financial and emission reduction obligations on what is known as “historical responsibility”.
They fear this could lead to huge claims of reparations from poorer nations, and would be politically impossible to present to domestic audiences.

“Politically impossible to present to domestic audiences” or more accurately put the people of the industrialized world no longer believe the Green prophets of false doom and gloom scenarios, so giving away billions to support Agenda 21 wealth redistribution objectives is electoral suicide.

The lack of money for the GCF has caused outrage amongst Green NGOs and the other grasping hands that were promised Green bribe money to play along with the Anthropogenic Global Warming boondoggle, now that it is becoming clear that there will be no significant pledges of climate finance, anger is mounting:

African delegates have been encouraged by non-governmental groups to withdraw from the UN climate negotiations, after the process has so far failed to yield any new pledges on climate finance.
Augustine Banter Njamnshi of the Pan African Justice Alliance, that represents 500 NGOs across the Continent, said the group had asked governments to walk out of the talks. A similar move at a UN climate meeting in Barcelona in 2009 brought the talks to a standstill.

The new government of Tony Abbott in Australia said this very week that Australia will not be contributing further monies to any Green scam run by the UN, or anyone else come that.

This frustration has been exacerbated by obstacles from a perceived lack of interest from Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA.
Instead of attending the UN discussions taking place in Warsaw, Australian environment minister Greg Hunt will stay at home to work on the government’s election pledge to repeal the carbon tax.

Unthinkable, even last year that an environmental minister would stay away from a COP meeting to dismantle a carbon tax, yet in 12 months the slide of Climate Religion has been so fast that one country decided to announce a massive cut in what the Greens call carbon ambitions, again during the COP19  meeting:

Japan has announced that it will revise its previous ambitious target of a 25% reduction on greenhouse gases according to 1990 levels to a 3.1% increase

Cue traditional Green response of outrage and waves of other negative anger emotions that the whole movement is so wedded to, Japan is aware of Green angst, but not really bothered:

Speaking today at a press conference in Warsaw, the head of the Japanese delegation Hiroshi Minami acknowledged that the new targets had not been welcomed by the developing countries at the conference.

“It seems to me that most of the developing countries are very disappointed with this mitigation target,” he said.

He added that the Japanese government was still fully committed to fighting climate change and that “if there is any development in the exercise for the energy mix policy perhaps we may be able to revisit the energy policy target in the future.”

That’s it for Climate Religion in Japan then, “may be able” just politico speak for never happen.
In another further clear demonstration of how far and fast the AGW scam has come apart, the usual suspects are looking to the EU to take up what they euphemistically call, the slack in GCF funding:

Seychelles Ambassador Ronald Jumeau, a negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), said he hoped that the actions of Japan and Australia would not lead to other developed countries easing off on their ambitions.

“In fact, we hope some of them would take up the slack,” he said.

“We know the EU are having problems getting their act together, but we would hope they would look to what’s happening in the Philippines rather than look to what’s happening in Japan, Canada and Australia as to when they are planning what to do next.”

Maybe, just maybe in a rose tinted Green world, the politicians would take on board the Green junk science of attribution, ignore the low confidence of the IPCC in attributing typhoons to man made climate change and dish out billions in Climate Aid money that the EU simply does not have.

Instead every politician in the democratic world has watched what happened in Australia to the Labor Government of Julia Gillard at the elections in September, and learned the lesson that Green and Carbon taxes are fast becoming electoral suicide.

The whole EU climate process and legislation is on the verge of collapsing, with Connie Hedegaard and the other Green hardliners dancing around COP19 hosts Poland, too frightened to push the issue because Hedegaard knows if she loses the case against Poland that will hasten the end of the Green Dream in Europe.

So don’t expect the Green EU cavalry to becoming over the hill anytime soon to drive off the attacking hordes of political reality.

See also: US Fights G77 On Most counts At Climate Crisis Talks, Shows Leaked Document

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Efforts besides COP 19

SUBHEAD: The Global Landscape Forum launches in Warsaw to address real issues of eecosystemand food production.

By Boatsie on 17 November 2013 for the Daily Kos -
(http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/17/1256032/-Warsaw-Global-Landscape-Forum-Lanches-Alongside-COP19#)


Image above: Terraced rice farming in East Bali, Indonesia. From (http://ccafs.cgiar.org/blog/rolling-our-sleeves-agriculture-landscapes-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions#.UouxJ43TlIY).

As climate talks continued at COP19 and climate activists took to the streets of Warsaw to demand an end to business as usual, the first Global Landscapes Forum debuted at the University of Warsaw Saturday, launching a two day conference to promote a novel holistic approach to addressing climate change while meeting the need to sustainably feed 9 billion people by 2050.

Fast on the heels of Rio+20 and the publishing of the twelve Sustainable Development Goals, the GLF attracted hundreds of participants (world leaders, policymakers, scientists, donors, the private sector, indigenous and community groups, and climate negotiators) to participate in discussions on how agriculture and forestry – which contribute up to one third of GHGs - can collaborate to design and implement solutions which surpass traditional sector-specific approaches.

Peter Holmgren, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), who moderated Saturday's opening plenary identified four themes of the conference:

• Investing in sustainable landscapes in forests and on farms
• Landscapes policy and governance for forestry, agriculture and other land uses
• Synergies between adapting to and mitigating climate change in forest and   agricultural landscapes
• Landscapes for food security and nutrition

Fueled by Saturday's announcement that the United Nations' Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) will not be including agriculture on this year's agenda, (Read Why aren't climate negotiators listening to 1.4 billion farmers?), World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte lamented the lack of communication between COP negotiators and both researchers and environmental and agricultural ministers.

While negotiators might not yet realize the link between the landscape approach and food security and mitigation, "it’s never too late to get agriculture and forests incorporated into the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals," Kyte said.

The ‘landscape approach’ significantly shifts how policy and science are applied to address climate change and stresses the integral need to level the playing field when it comes to the equality of voices involved in the process of planning and decision making.

The link between forestry and agriculture is key, as the two sectors collectively employ billions of people, workers who produce all of our natural food and fibers and contribute 10% of our biomass energy. Engaging all stakeholders - from the small farmer or cattle rancher to the investment bankers, governments and NGOs - is key to designing resilient interconnected systems which maintain biodiversity, support ecosystems and ensure a sustainable and safe water supply.

"First off, we think of a ‘landscape’ as a socio-ecological system – a mosaic of natural and/or human-modified ecosystems, influenced by the ecological, historical, economic, and cultural processes and activities of the area," explain EcoAgriculture Partners Sara J. Scherr, Seth Shames, and Rachel Friedman.

One of the most significant topics of the Forum was the highly significant role of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) within the landscape paradigm.

CSA strengthens resilience by improving crop productivity and farmers' incomes while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Employing techniques such as crop rotation, mulching, integrating crop-livestock management and improving water management, CSA also incorporates innovative weather forecasting technologies. (See, for example, aWhere’s New Precipitation Resource and its Importance in Agriculture.)

Speaking on Climate Smart Agriculture at the GLF Sunday, World Food Program Deputy Executive Director for Hunger Solutions Sheila Sisulu stressed the need "to focus on people, to be close to people because we cannot be smart without them ... they are central to landscapes."

With over half of the world's population experiencing some form of malnutrition, Sisulu said she fears the sustainable development goals will not sufficiently address food security and stressed the need for farmers in Africa and India to shift to climate smart agriculture.
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