As the online science resource Climate Action Tracker <\/a>notes, \u201cEmissions are at a historic high while actions are not.\u201d The Canc\u00fan Agreements did manage to form \u201cthe largest collective effort the world has ever seen to reduce emisssions,\u201d as well as \u201cthe most comprehensive package ever agree by Governments to help developing nations deal with climate change,\u201d and a \u201ctimely schedule […] for keeping the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius\u201d (UNFCCC-Canc\u00fan<\/a>).\u00a0 Does this new agreement represent one \u201cstep\u201d closer to the type of international agreement needed to keep life on Earth safe?<\/p>\n Hey Big Pollutors: Stop Being Babies at COP17!<\/p><\/div>\n Jennifer Morgan of the World Resources Institute argues why Canc\u00fan does<\/a>. Among the successes, she lists the new UNFCCC monitoring of\u00a0 countries\u2019 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets, the increase in transparency in emissions reporting by all countries, and the new establishment of a \u201cGreen Climate Fund<\/a>\u201d which garners financial support for developing countries. Morgan also names a few short-comings of COP16 which lead to the preparation for COP17. Still, scientists are predicting that the majority of countries will not meet their greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. How will the world deal with the changes wrought by their decisions?<\/p>\n In relation to the COP15 at Copenhagen in 2009, the 2010 meeting in Canc\u00fan does represent progress. How can COP17 be even more successful at the mitigation of greenhouse gases and the adoption of adaptation strategies for the future? Maybe negotiations should no longer be \u201cglobal\u201d? Maybe what it takes for the world\u2019s largest emitters to reach an agreement is to lessen the number of negotiating countries? What might new decisions look like if countries such as the United States and China used mutural coercion to agree upon mitigation and adaptation strategies? For more discussion on the reduction of the number of international players, see David Victor\u2019s article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The game theory<\/a> of international relations proves true here upon the reflection COP15, 16, and 17, to show that international climate agreements are indeed based upon the iterations of meetings. The more COP, the better. Like NYTIMES opinion writer Thomas Homer-Dixon<\/a> argues, world leaders will not make significant changes until more crises appear. However, the world cannot wait for negotiators to make \u201cbaby\u201d steps. Hopefully the delegates of COP17 will mature a bit before arrival in Durban.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Resources:<\/p>\n UNFCCC-Canc\u00fan Agreements.<\/p>\n Climate Action Tracker. http:\/\/www.climateactiontracker.org\/country.php?id=2901<\/p>\n Homer-Dixon, Thomas. Disaster at the Top of the World. http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/08\/23\/opinion\/23homer-dixon.html?pagewanted=2<\/p>\n Morgan, Jennifer. Reflections on the Canc\u00fan Agreements. http:\/\/www.wri.org\/stories\/2010\/12\/reflections-cancun-agreements<\/p>\n Victor, David G. http:\/\/muse.jhu.edu\/journals\/global_environmental_politics\/v006\/6.3victor.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Claire Tighe ’13![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/files\/2011\/09\/baby-steps1-300x300.jpg\")
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\nAccording to the UNFCCC website, the Canc\u00fan Agreement, resolved in Mexico at COP16 in 2010, accomplished quite a bit for the continued international efforts at mitigating and adapting to climate change. However, negotiations are by no means complete, and delegates at COP17 will have to continue these \u201cbaby\u201d steps in the climate agreements. But are \u201cbaby steps\u201d enough to solve climate change?
\nAs the online science resource Climate Action Tracker notes, \u201cEmissions are at a historic high while actions are not.\u201d The Canc\u00fan Agreements did manage to form \u201cthe largest collective effort the world has ever seen to reduce emisssions,\u201d as well as \u201cthe most comprehensive package ever agree by Governments to help developing nations deal with climate change,\u201d and a \u201ctimely schedule […] for keeping the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius\u201d (UNFCCC-Canc\u00fan).\u00a0 Does this new agreement represent one \u201cstep\u201d closer to the type of international …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":529,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19448,34197,1],"tags":[34320,17730,34341,1301,34302,1861,2624,34192,34319,34342,40498,34251,34235,34343,1907,34321,1573,40499,40500,34249,34340],"class_list":["post-813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change-2","category-key-cop17-issues","category-uncategorized","tag-cancun-agreements","tag-claire-tighe","tag-climate-action-tracker","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-negotiations","tag-cop15","tag-cop16","tag-cop17","tag-copenhagen-accord","tag-emissions","tag-game-theory","tag-global-climate-change","tag-governing-climate-change","tag-green-climate-fund","tag-international-cooperation","tag-jennifer-morgan","tag-mitigation","tag-prisoners-dilemma","tag-thomas-homer-dixon","tag-unfccc","tag-world-resource-institute"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813","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\/529"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}