Thursday, December 2, 2010

Day 3: December 1

I started off my second day at the conference by attending the second session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocal (CMP). These negotiations are meant to discuss the contentious issue of the future of the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that has recently caused a major uproar following Japan's statement in the opening ceremony implying that the country will not agree to a second period of the KP under any circumstances. This comment has not helped foster the trust and collaboration that was hoped for Cancun; if the KP dies after the first period, there will no longer be any international legally binding commitments to emissions reductions. Given that less-than-pleasant precedent, I was excited to see how the discussions would go.

The discussions focused mainly on CDM (clean development mechanisms), with a strong voice coming from fossil fuel exporting nations requesting the inclusion of CCS (carbon capture and storage) in the CDM. Inclusion of CCS would allow for net reductions in emissions from these countries, without jeopardizing their main industries. Interest was also expressed in permitting more local projects (such as those on a city-wide level) under the mandate of the CDM, as development is often managed on a local level anyway. The delegate from Palestine made a compelling speech requesting special consideration for occupied territories (of which Palestine remains the only one), which have tried and failed to receive funding under the CDM. Palestine lamented not having control over its water resources, and requested help from the parties with accessing funding. When the delegates finished speaking, the Chair entertained a comment from the World Bank, which presented a 5-pointed proposal to streamline the mechanism of the CDM governance to improve implementation and funding access. A speaker on behalf of over 300 NGOs, primarily women's organizations, made a powerful speech against the inclusion of nuclear energy under CDM funding, claiming it to be polluting, dangerous, and excessively expensive.

After the negotiations, I headed back to Cancunmesse for a few side events. The first event I went to was held in the EU Pavillion, and consisted of a variety of speakers talking about ecosystem-based approaches to climate change mitigation. The first speaker, a representative from the Seychelles, presented just a small glimpse of the misfortune his country is currently facing. The Seychelles has been adapting to ecosystem changes out of necessity for a long time--their main industries are marine tourism and fishing, and thus the economy depends entirely on ecosystem stability. Several years ago, the country ran out of flat land on which to build, and in an effort to preserve the existing forest ecosystems, decided to build new islands out of the ocean. These islands had to be built on top of coral reefs (building in deep water is far too expensive), and thus one ecosystem was sacrificed to preserve another. Destroying the reefs, however, came at a huge cost: coral reefs serve as the islands' first and only defense against coastal erosion and damage due to wave intensity. In addition to the reef problem, due to an increased demand in tourism, the Seychelles needs to add a second runway to their airport. However, the airport as it is now is only 10m above sea level, and is surrounded by water on 3 sides and a cliff on the other. There is nowhere to build a second runway, and even if there was space, due to sea level rises, the entire airport really needs to be raised anyway, which obviously just cannot be done. On top of all of these problems, the nation is also suffering from the worst drought it has ever experienced: most islands have received between 1 and 15% of the rainfall they should have by this time of year, and households are limited to one hour of piped water each day. Despite these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the country remains ready to combat climate change, and just desperately needs outside assistance.

A representative from the Center of Biological Diversity (CBD) spoke next, speaking about how ecosystem restoration can prove to be a cost-effective way to manage impacts due to climate change. Restoring coastal mangroves, for example, prevents flooding and helps improve water storage mechanisms: concrete walls cannot absorb excess water during flooding events; mangroves and salt marshes do just that. In addition, forest restoration can help stabilize land slopes, decreasing the incidence of landslides and avalanches, and regulating water flow to prevent flooding and inefficient water dispersal. The environment is naturally designed to manage its own disasters; the way to mitigate the problems created by climate change, in the long run, will need to come from ecosystem restoration.

The next side event I attended was sponsored by the U.S., and was a presentation on a program that works to develop famine early warning system, working primarily in East Africa. The group has compiled data concerning weather and food production patterns, and works to highlight anomalies in the data to predict and mitigate famine events.

I had to leave that event early to make it in time for the next presentation, which was about food security. The speakers spoke about the importance of reforming the agriculture industry, shifting from an agrobusiness focus back to an agro-ecological one. Small farmers, the use of bio-pesticides, and a 3-crop rotation system must all be supported and more widely implemented. As it stands now, there is plenty of food to feed everyone on the planet. Ignoring the sustainability issues associated with some farming practices, the issue of hunger is due largely to lifestyle and food dispersal: on a typical indian diet, there is enough food produced today to feed 11 billion people. However, there is only enough food to feed 2.75 million people on a typical American diet.

The final side event I attended was sponsored by Israel, and consisted of a series of presentations about practical solutions the Israeli people have developed to allow for food production in hot and arid climates. The first presentation was on water harvesting: by redirecting water conduits and building stone terraces, farmers have managed to collect water resources in small valleys, allowing them to grow trees and crops in regions that receive a maximum of 50mm of rainfall a year. The harvested water is then stored deep in the ground, so it will not evaporate during times of flooding (yes, apparently it does flood there), but not so deep that the plant roots cannot access it. The second speaker spoke about the Israeli dairy farming industry, which is surprisingly successful and eco-friendly. Cattle have been bred to tolerate the harsh environment of the Negev desert, and are fed a specialized diet that makes use of available resources while allowing the cows to manage a large heat load. The diet and feeding practices have been designed to increase milk production while decreasing methane expulsion and thus the carbon footprint of dairy farming. The last speaker spoke about making use of impure water resources. Though the technologies are not yet cheap and the process may not prove to be sustainable in the long term, many farmers have found ways to grow crops using the brackish water available to them. Some plants, such as dates and olives, have proven to be more tolerant of high salt levels, and other plants, like bell peppers, have miraculously been able to be harvested using copious amounts of salt water. Because the process is expensive, it works best with high-yield crops. Some lingering issues remain, mostly concerning what to do with the water after irrigation (water that is now salty, full of fertilizers, etc). A possible solution is to purify the water before irrigation. The main goal of these practices is to make the desert regions of Israel economically viable, and to provide the people living there with livelihoods, so the environmental concerns are still being worked out.

No comments:

Post a Comment