Letter-writing with Results Canada on Feb 23rd - ask Alex for details
Alex
The environment is making lots of noise in the news/political scene
lately; but there never seems to be anything that links being green
and eradicating poverty. It is always just the same old bickering
about Kyoto and our oil sands -- and sometimes that is hard to swallow
because there isn't anything but rhetoric.
Well for a bit of fresh air (pun intended) I wanted to point out this
interesting idea called the "Canada Climate Change Development Fund".
It was developed in 2000 with over $100M in its budget over 5 years
and it seemed to be doing a really great job at bridging the two
fields together. Great improvements were made internationally (see
below) but unfortunately the Harper gov't cut funding for the program.
So this month's letters are to try and reinstate that funding.
If you are interested please contact me and I'll tell you about the
"secret meeting place" for our letter-writing on the Feb 23rd :-p
Alex
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RESULTS Canada Action Sheet, February 2007
Climate Change and the world's poor: Reinstating funding for the
"Canada Climate Change Development Fund"
"As a result of global warming, we are facing flooding that is more
severe and lasts for longer each year. In 2004 for example, there were
very bad floods; 38% of the country was covered in water that
destroyed 80% of our crops and left 10 million people homeless." -
Nazmul Chowdhury, Practical Action Project Officer, Bangladesh
"Those countries with the greatest responsibility for climate change,
and greatest capacity for action, must commit themselves to the
deepest cuts in emissions, and finance sustainable low-carbon
development in those countries that have less of both." - The Climate
of Poverty, Christian Aid (UK), May 2006
The hot politics of climate change
As Parliament resumed in the last week of January, climate change and
the environment dominated the debate and the headlines. All parties
competed to be the greenest, and to appear the most credible and
determined to deal with climate change and global warming. Prime
Minister Stephen Harper and new Environment Minister John Baird
scrambled to reverse engines and come up with a new plan to respond to
a marked shift in public opinion.
A Globe and Mail/CTV poll in mid-January found that the environment
was cited as the top issue by 26% of Canadians, supplanting the
perennial favorite, health care, which is now the number 2 issue at 18
per cent. The shift amounts to the equivalent of a public opinion
earthquake. Last May, the environment was the top issue for a mere 3
per cent of Canadians. By January, 78% of Canadians said that they
had noticed climate change or global warming in the world around them.
Nothing produces political will like public opinion, especially for a
minority government. This shift means that now is the ideal time to
press for political action. In particular, this is a golden
opportunity to advocate on behalf of those most vulnerable to climate
change: the world's poor.
The forgotten victims of climate change: the world's poor
While the dangers from present and future climate change are
frequently in the news, often overlooked is the fact that the world's
poorest will bear most of the impact. Climate change is now
threatening development goals for tens of millions the world's poorest
people - with a clear danger that recent gains in reducing poverty
will be reversed in coming decades.
According to the British charity Christian Aid, a staggering 182
million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone could die of disease
directly attributable to climate change by the end of the century, far
surpassing the total deaths caused so far by the AIDS pandemic. Many
millions more throughout the world face death and devastation due to
climate-induced floods, famine, drought, deforestation,
desertification, and conflict. According to the UK government aid
agency, some 94% of natural disasters, and 97% of natural disaster
related deaths, occur in developing countries.
Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change. The size of its
land mass means that in the middle of the continent overall
temperature increases are expected to be double the global increase,
with increased risk of extreme droughts, floods, and disease.
In short, climate change threatens to reverse much of the progress
made on poverty reduction over the past 5 decades. It also is a
significant threat to progress toward the Millennium Development
Goals.
Increasing emissions in poor countries
It is clear that the world's poor will be hit the hardest by climate
change, though they are the least responsible for causing it. However
it is also clear that rapid industrialization, especially in large
developing countries such as India and China means their own carbon
emissions are increasing rapidly. China's emissions are predicted to
become the largest in the world, surpassing the U.S. by 2009,
according to the latest estimate. Other large developing countries
are also rapidly increasing emissions as they try to grow their way
out of poverty. It is therefore in the interests of all, rich and
poor alike, that not only do rich countries dramatically reduce their
emissions, but that poor countries develop using clean energy to the
greatest extent possible.
Canadian assistance
Canada's main initiative to help developing countries address the
causes and effects of climate change has been the Canada Climate
Change Development Fund (CCCDF). This fund was established in 2000,
with $100 million over 5 years, and later extended for a sixth year,
2005-06. The CCCDF was administered by the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA), but funding came directly from the central
government not from CIDA's budget.
The CCCDF focus was on programs that helped developing countries with
emissions reduction, adaptation to climate change, reforestation,
carbon sequestration, and capacity building. The largest recipients
of funding were China, Indonesia, India and Brazil - the developing
countries which are the largest emitters of carbon.
Examples of solutions to help combat climate change in poor countries
Deforestation causes about 25% of man-made emissions of carbon dioxide
(CO2). Conversely, growing forests absorb CO2 from the air. Planting
trees and reducing deforestation is one of the key ways to lessen the
amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, forests continue
to decrease in Africa, Asia and South America through the period 1990
-2005, and reforestation is an urgent need.
One good example of reforestation is a CCCDF project to restore
peatland forests in Indonesia. These forests capture and store vast
amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. They also regulate water
tables, by preventing floods in the wet season and delivering water
during the dry season. In recent years fires have destroyed more than
2 million hectares of peatland in Southeast Asia. The Canadian
project helped to improve management of the peatlands by improving
agricultural practices, replanting trees, developing alternative
livelihoods to reduce illegal logging, and training local fire
brigades.
In another example, CCCDF provided funding to convert 50 Egyptian
brick factories to natural gas, rather than their usual fuel, a thick
oil sludge. Each factory employs up to 250 workers, and workers and
the surrounding communities are plagued by respiratory disease from
the factory smoke, especially the children. The conversion reduces
greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent, helps mitigate climate change
and brings health and environmental benefits. There are also economic
benefits. Since natural gas is more efficient, factory owners earn
their investment back within a year, a significant incentive for
Egypt's 2000 brick factories.
The CCCDF has also promoted sanitation efforts in cities in Brazil,
encouraging the use of solid waste to generate methane. This is
converted into biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, which are
actively consumed in Brazil. This approach improves city functions in
several areas: waste management, sanitation, air quality, and
transportation.
As a final example, two solar energy demonstration sites funded by the
CCCDF in western China are providing an alternative to coal to provide
rural electricity. Finding ways to reduce the use of coal, especially
in China, is one of the keys to meaningful global emission reduction.
Termination of the "Canada Climate Change Development Fund"
In total, the CCCDF has supported projects in over 50 countries over
the past 6 years, and made a $10 million contribution to the Least
Developed Countries Fund managed by the United Nations and the Global
Environment Facility. It received a positive mid-term evaluation
(link below).
Unfortunately, in March 2006, funding for the CCCDF was not continued
by the new Conservative government. This decision must be reversed as
soon as possible. This must be done with new funding, as was the
original CCCDF, and not through reallocating funds from elsewhere in
CIDA's budget.
Action
1. Write a letter to the editor about the impact of climate change
on the world's poor, and the Conservative government's termination of
funding for the Canada Climate Change Development Fund. The media
is full of the debate over Canada's Kyoto goals, but this will matter
little from a global emissions point of view unless poor countries are
also helped toward a green development path.
2. Write to Environment Minister John Baird. Ask him to reinstate the
CCCDF or a similar program. Stress the need to assist those people
most impacted by global warming, and the need to address the issue of
rapidly rising emissions in developing countries.
3. Write to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Ask that funding for the
CCCDF be reinstated in his next budget. Ask that this be part of the
$425 million increase for foreign aid that Prime Minister Harper
promised during the last election, none of which has been forthcoming
so far.
4. Write to CIDA Minister Josee Verner express your support for the
reinstatement of the CCCDF. Also, ask that CIDA become the first
"carbon neutral" agency in the federal government, as befitting the
agency with primary responsibility for the world's poor, the group
most affected by climate change.
5. Write to Jack Layton and ask him to press the Conservative
government to reinstate the CCCDF. Ask that this be part of the
proposed NDP amendments to the Clean Air Act. Send a copy to Alexa
McDonough, NDP foreign affairs critic, who recommended reinstatement
of the CCCDF in her recent newsletter "Global Perspectives".
Mailing address for MP's: House of Commons, Ottawa, K1A 0A6
Email format for MP's: Layto...@parl.gc.ca
Faxes: Baird: 613 996-9880 Flaherty: 613 992-8320 Verner: 613
954-2269
Layton: 613 996-4565
References
-CCCDF www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/CIDAWEB/acdicida.nsf/En/JUD-4189500-J8U
-Open letter to PM on Climate Change from the CCIC, October 2006
www.ccic.ca/e/docs/
004_commentaries_2006-10-02_sign_on_letter_to_pm_climate_change.pdf
-Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
www.sternreview.org.uk
-Christian Aid report on climate change www.christian-aid.org.uk/
indepth/605caweek/index.htm
-CCCDF evaluation www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/CIDAWEB/acdicida.nsf/En/
8525711600526F0A852571190062214F?OpenDocument
-Globe and Mail backgrounder: Globeandmail.ca/climatechange
Students Against Global Apathy
Slight change in plans... it is now on Sunday Feb 25th from 2-4PM.
If you are interested let me know,
Alex
Allison
tomorrow in class.
Allison
On Feb 7, 10:33 pm, "Students Against Global Apathy"
<questions.s...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey everybody,
> Slight change in plans... it is now on Sunday Feb 25th from 2-4PM.
>
> If you are interested let me know,
> Alex
>
> ...
>
> read more ยป- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -