The climate negotiations have finally begun to focus on the criteria for reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases to be agreed by 2015, and new pitfalls have emerged.
Speaking at an international workshop on Equity and Climate Change, held on April 12, the minister for environment and forests, Jayanthi Natarajan, sought to build a consensus on the inter-relation
Preparations for the Rio+20 United Nations conference on sustainable development have begun, but the first round of preparatory meetings did not address important issues such as sustainable resource use, production and consumption.
Read this note on Rio+20 negotiations by Mukul Sanwal, as UN member states are meeting in New York from 25-27 January for reading of first draft of the Rio+20 outcome document.
The various mechanisms evolved through global negotiations to deal with shared environmental problems, such as climate change, fall short because they are not located within a larger debate on dealing with human well-being and instead focus only on limiting damage. The United Nations is best placed to support a common understanding on patterns of resource use that are in principle common for all by generating strategic knowledge, also leading to deepening coherence of the global agenda.
Since 20 years of talks have not resolved the differences, we may need a new paradigm
New data, based on national communications, released by the United Nations, shows that emissions from the US rose over 15% during 1990-2008, and will rise another 7% till 2020. The strategic issue for us now is to consider whether a new paradigm will be necessary to ensure global sustainability.
