EU climate cash pledge "not enough" say small nations

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8408821.stm

Summary:

Though European leaders decided to pay poorer nations $10.6 billion to help poorer nations deal with problems caused by climate change, these poorer nations did not think this would be enough. The sum would be paid over a time period of three years and is a part of a larger package intended to aid struggling countries face global warming. The poor nations pointed out that the money that is not new money but rather is composed in part by money that has already been paid or promised to the countries. Furthermore, they complained that after three years they would be on their own but would continue to face challenging problems.

Reflection:

The European countries gathering this money will certainly have to cope with challenges caused by global climate change over the next three years. They too will have to address energy that comes from unsustainable sources and reform their mindset about reasonable growth. However, their own difficulties are not an excuse to offer such an insignificant amount to countries that are less prepared to rectify their problems. "Hot, Flat and Crowded" discussed that to expect nations who had less of a chance to enjoy the explosive growth triggered by fossil fuel exploitations to bear equally the burden of cleaning up the mess created by this irresponsible and unsustainable boom is unreasonable and unjust. Furthermore, the European nations are acting as if breaking free from their own fossil fuel addiction will end their problems completely. Unfortunately for them, they share the same Earth, drink the same water and breathe the same air as the poorer nations, and environmental degradation anywhere results in a degraded environment everywhere. Therefore, paying the struggling nations a little more is not really a sacrifice at all, because they will reap the benefits of sustainable growth as much as the nations that receive the money. It is not as if they are paying the countries a large amount and the greedy and ungrateful nations are seeing if they can squeeze any more money out. The UK paid a ridiculously small amount--only $800 million a year, a tiny fraction of their GDP--but they were in fact the largest contributor of the EU nations. Besides, this money was largely composed of "repackaging or re-announcing existing aid commitments"--in other words, money that would already have to be paid anyway. Also, some nations even refused to pay cash at all and instead promised a percentage of future carbon credit sales--sales which may or may not take place.

I think that the United States, Europe and other developed countries should be leading the transition to sustainability, and paying such a small amount so grudgingly is not a good way to lead.

Bibliography:

"EU climate cash pledge 'not enough' say small nations.

news.bbc.co.uk 11/12/09. Web 10 Dec 2009.