{"id":1838,"date":"2011-12-06T13:31:37","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T13:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/?p=1838"},"modified":"2011-12-06T13:31:37","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T13:31:37","slug":"u-s-step-aside-developing-countries-step-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/2011\/12\/u-s-step-aside-developing-countries-step-up\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Step Aside, Developing Countries Step Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maggie Rees<\/p>\n

As the negotiations continue, it seems that one of the only ways for progress to happen is if the United States steps aside. \u00a0The US has been blocking other developed countries and developing countries from the progress they wish to see in Durban.\u00a0 China has shown optimistic signals and a willingness to contribute to a legally binding agreement, sharper emissions cuts, or some sort of commitment.\u00a0 The United States, on the other hand, has successfully blocked other countries from making commitments.\u00a0 If the United States, one of the world\u2019s top emitters, is not making a contribution, then why should other nations \u2013 particularly developing nations?\u00a0 Perhaps if the United States were to step aside, agreements could be made.\u00a0 If the US is not going to contribute, move away and let the other nations do what needs to be done.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The European Union has now agreed to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, but only if the top emitters and major economies are willing to contribute.\u00a0 China has also expressed interest.\u00a0 The United States is wasting time with indecisive and inconclusive agreements.\u00a0 The United States seems unable to make a commitment to emission reductions until after 2020.\u00a0 The fact is, 2020 is too late, and by then a 2\u00b0 C global temperature rise is unrealistic.\u00a0 Continuing with a business-as-usual trend of emissions will inevitably exceed a 3\u00b0 increase.\u00a0 A five year second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol is crucial; a longer timeline is only putting off responsibilities and delaying the inexorable.<\/p>\n

If the United States were to get out of the way, developing countries will need to step up and perform acts to show commitment \u2013 even at a local or national level.\u00a0 Sustainable development strategies, adaptation techniques, and appropriate mitigation on a local scale will set the standard for national and ultimately international legislation to follow suit.\u00a0 This bottom-up approach seems to be the only way to get the ball rolling.<\/p>\n

Playing the game \u201cNo, you go first\u2026\u201d is preventing the negotiations from getting anywhere.\u00a0 It is time for developing nations to take the initiative.\u00a0 Beginning to adopt domestic strategies and funding will be more productive than waiting for the resources from abroad.<\/p>\n

We are in need of a legally binding agreement before 2020.\u00a0 We need to set new emission reduction targets and eliminate loopholes.\u00a0 2020 will be too late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maggie Rees
\nAs the negotiations continue, it seems that one of the only ways for progress to happen is if the United States steps aside. \u00a0The US has been blocking other developed countries and developing countries from the progress they wish to see in Durban.\u00a0 China has shown optimistic signals and a willingness to contribute to a legally binding agreement, sharper emissions cuts, or some sort of commitment.\u00a0 The United States, on the other hand, has successfully blocked other countries from making commitments.\u00a0 If the United States, one of the world\u2019s top emitters, is not making a contribution, then why should other nations \u2013 particularly developing nations?\u00a0 Perhaps if the United States were to step aside, agreements could be made.\u00a0 If the US is not going to contribute, move away and let the other nations do what needs to be done.
\nThe European Union has now agreed to a second commitment …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":1839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19448],"tags":[34192,1458,25703],"class_list":["post-1838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-change-2","tag-cop17","tag-kyoto-protocol","tag-maggie-rees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/450"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}