Well it’s been a long time and lots of stuff has been happening. Yesterday, on day two of the COP12 and COP/MOP2 I met the US delegation, which was without it’s ‘head’ and headed by the ‘alternate head’ Dr. Harlan L. Watson.
The meeting included the US youth groups like sustainUS and others. We tried to ask the delegates about the federal governments about their priorities for this COP, their views on deforestation, on technology transfer as mandated by the KYOTO protocol, on youth participation at the COP, on adaptation, as well as their ideas for post 2012 (which is when the first commitment period of the KYOTO protocol ends). And we got three answers:
1. The US will not ratify the KYOTO
2. The US is spending far more than any other government on environmental issues, so point 1.
3. The US started over 100 projects involving the private sector (corporate?) in different parts of the world, so point 1 (again!)
4. The US cannot allow technology transfer to developing nations or in Dr. Harlan’s words “ countries where there is no rule of law, where the government is incapable of protecting its citizens.”
And the most important thing is that the US cannot be asked to meet the kind of commitments in the KYOTO protocol as long as countries like India and China are not able to reduce their emissions. All said and done the logic of the Americans is irrefutable! Maybe we should all find a planet and get President Bush and his cronies to go live there… and that planet should be full of fossil fuels, ideal for fossils like these….