By, Damalie Martha Kibuuka – Lawyer, Entrepreneur and Climate Change Advocate
Gone are the days when Climate Change was considered a myth since its effects are more direct than ever before. Notice is now taken of the fact its greatest contributor is mankind, in our bid to develop. It can therefore be said that the trend has always been that the more developed a country is, the bigger its carbon footprint.
In the bid the find a way to minimize this, the first ever monumental conference was held in 1992, whose result was the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is not monumental because it was the first conference on Climate Change to be held because it actually isn’t, but it was monumental because it was the first conference where States agreed to be bound in writing to the promise to making changes to low their impact on Climate. Shortly afterwards, the Kyoto Protocol was released which gave more details and measures that would be taken to ensure that the levels of Greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere are lowered. Paramount of the provisions made was the emissions reduction target of at least 5% by 2012 of the 1990 emission levels recorded.
To cater to the Least Developed and Developing Countries whose carbon footprint is more or less negligible but suffer the most from the adverse effects of Climate Change, the International Environmental Law principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities was applied. It is basically an articulation of the concept of equity acknowledged that Countries have differentiated responsibilities with regard to environmental protection because not every country has contributed to the same extent to environmental degradation and the fact that not all countries have the same resources to devote to environmental problems. This principle is what was based on to make provisions in the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol mandating developed countries to provide additional funding to developing countries in order to ensure the implementation of the various Clean Development Mechanisms (CDMs) agreed upon. Examples of such CDMs include the development and use of clean renewable energy, planting more trees, and many others.
For a moment, there was hope that since States had voluntarily agreed to participate and sign these conventions, a new era of actual change and compliance had been ushered in. Those beliefs were quickly dashed when, from the get go, it was found that the allocations of emission reduction percentages were based on political power rather the result of a mathematical comparison of each country’s total emissions percentage against the Total Global Percentage of Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere as had been agreed.
According to the Kyoto Protocol, in order to achieve a minimum global emissions reduction goal, each country was to be given a target varying between 92% to 110% of the reported 1990 Greenhouse gas levels but the target differences between Australia and the EU Bubble where Australia was allocated a target of 110% and the EU Bubble which is much larger and more industrious a target of 92% showed an apparent lacuna in the way these allocations were made. It therefore came as no surprise that the next time these States met to sign on another major Agreement on Climate Change in Paris, the terms were worse than the former. The Paris Agreement basically provides that it is no longer mandatory for developed countries to make donations and contributions of funds to the developing countries to help mitigate the adverse effects of Climate Change to which the Developed Countries are the biggest contributor. It also, with USA as the leader of this school of thought, leaves States to self-determine how they will reduce their Greenhouse gas footprint without being bound legally like the Kyoto Protocol was doing. One then asks, what is the way forward for the Developing Countries which have been relying heavily on the Developed Countries’ contributions to support their Climate Change Regimes? My advice would be to wake and work towards become more self-reliant and independent because Climate Change is the new reality and that’s a fact that we cannot change. So instead of sitting back and playing the blame game, we need to acknowledge that Climate Change is here and take steps to mitigate its effects. Such steps include learning to separate our waste and practicing proper waste disposal; opting for green and renewable energy options, engaging in greener and safer industrial and farming practices, planting trees among others. It is also pertinent to note that these mitigation measures are not made exclusively or practically for governments but for the ordinary people as well.
About the Author:
Damalie,Martha Kibuuka is a Lawyer, Author, Enterpreneur and Climate Change Advocate, Co-Founder of Loud Campaign.