WE ARE NO DEBTORS! WE ARE CREDITORS OF A HISTORICAL, SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL DEBT!
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BOLIVIA - Evaluating developed countries’ historical climate debt to developing countrie s |
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Monday, 08 June 2009 |
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Evaluating developed countries’ historical climate debt to developing
countries
Submission by Bolivia
Introduction
We call on developed countries to commit to deep emission reductions in
order to advance the objective of avoiding dangerous anthropogenic
interference with the climate system and its consequences, to reflect
their historical responsibility for the causes of climate change, and to
respect the principles of equity and common but differentiated
responsibilities in accordance with the UNFCCC.
The causes and consequence of climate change
Since 1750 the emission of greenhouse gases has increased significantly
as the result of human activities. These emissions have accumulated in
the atmosphere leading to current atmospheric concentrations, which now
far exceed levels dating back hundreds of thousands of years. These
concentrations, in turn, are warming the Earth with significant and
catastrophic effects. Current levels of warming are already damaging
forest, mountain and other ecosystems, melting snow and glaciers,
thinning ice sheets, causing the oceans to rise and acidify, threatening
coral reefs and intensifying droughts and floods, fires and extreme
weather events. These adverse effects threaten to worsen the damages
already produced by the current global warming on the Earth’s systems.
The countries most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change
are developing countries. Climate-induced disasters, water stress,
adverse impacts on agriculture, threats to coastlines, ecosystems and
infrastructure, and altered disease vectors are already imposing
substantial and rising costs, damages and setbacks in development –
undermining developing countries’ rights and aspirations to development.
The historical cumulative emissions debt of developed countries
Responsibility for the majority of the historical emissions contributing
to current atmospheric concentrations and to current and committed
future warming lies with developed countries. Developed countries with
less than twenty percent of the world’s population are responsible for
around three quarters of historical emissions. Their current per person
emissions continue to exceed those of developing countries by a factor
of four. Their accumulated historic emissions on a per person basis
exceed those of developing countries by a factor of eleven.
Developed countries – which have contributed disproportionately to the
causes of climate change – now seek to appropriate a disproportionate
share of the Earth’s remaining environmental space. By basing their
future emission allowances on their past excessive level of emissions,
they seek an entitlement to continue emitting at 70% or more of their
1990 levels through until 2020 (i.e. consistent with reductions of 30%
or less). At the same time, they propose limiting developing countries –
which most need environmental space in the course of their development –
to much lower levels of per person emissions.
The excessive past, current and proposed future emissions of developed
countries are depriving and will further deprive developing countries of
an equitable share of the much diminished environmental space they
require for their development and to which they have a right. By
overconsuming the Earth’s limited capacity to absorb greenhouse gases,
developed countries have run up an “emissions debt” which must be repaid
to developing countries by compensating them for lost environmental
space, stabilizing temperature and by freeing up space for the growth
required by developing countries in the future.
Quantifying developed countries’ mitigation commitments
Developed countries’ commitments to reduce emissions should be
sufficient to address their historical emission debt, minimize their
contribution to further adverse impacts on the climate and developing
countries, provide sufficient environmental space for developing
countries to develop, and conform with the ultimate objective of the
Convention.
The scale and timing of these commitments should reflect the latest
scientific information and be rooted in the objective, principles and
provisions of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol. They should be
quantified on the basis of a clear and objective methodology that
reflects, among other factors:
• The historic responsibility of developed countries for current
atmospheric concentrations;
• The historic and current per-capita emissions of developed countries; and
• The share of global emissions required by developing countries in
order to meet their first overriding priorities which are the economic
and social development and poverty eradication.
The establishment of assigned amounts of emissions for developed
countries is a question of policy as well as science and must address
issues of equity as well as effectiveness. The level of their assigned
amounts also bears a close relationship to the extent of their
obligations to provide compensation for the effects of climate change.
Bearing in mind these considerations, the Annex to this document offers
some possible elements of a methodology for evaluating developed
countries’ emission debt and associated further mitigation commitments.
Emissions and adaptation debts are components of climate and ecological
debt
Despite not being responsible for the problem of global warming,
developing countries are among the worst affected its adverse impacts.
The historical emissions of developed countries, as well as denying
developing countries the atmospheric space they need for development,
are harming poor countries and people who live daily with rising costs,
damages and lost opportunities for development.
These impacts are the direct result of current atmospheric
concentrations, which have been caused predominantly by emissions from
developed countries. Developed countries are thus responsible for
compensating developing countries for their contribution to the adverse
effects of climate change as part of an “adaptation debt” owed by
developed countries to developing countries. Developed countries
“climate debt” – the sum of their emissions debt and adaptation debt –
are part of a broader ecological debt reflecting their heavy
environmental footprint, excessive consumption of resources, materials
and energy and contribution to declining biodiversity and ecosystem
services.
Repaying their climate debt
The climate debt of developed countries must be repaid, and this payment
must begin with the outcomes to be agreed in Copenhagen.
Developing countries are not seeking economic handouts to solve a
problem we did not cause. What we call for is full payment of the debt
owed to us by developed countries for threatening the integrity of the
Earth’s climate system, for over-consuming a shared resource that
belongs fairly and equally to all people, and for maintaining lifestyles
that continue to threaten the lives and livelihoods of the poor majority
of the planet’s population. This debt must be repaid by freeing up
environmental space for developing countries and particular the poorest
communities.
There is no viable solution to climate change that is effective without
being equitable. Deep emission reductions by developed countries are a
necessary condition for stabilizing the Earth’s climate. So too are
profoundly larger transfers of technologies and financial resources than
so far considered, if emissions are to be curbed in developing countries
and they are also to realize their right to development and achieve
their overriding priorities of poverty eradication and economic and
social development. Any solution that does not ensure an equitable
distribution of the Earth’s limited capacity to absorb greenhouse gases,
as well as the costs of mitigating and adapting to climate change, is
destined to fail.
Developed countries must therefore fulfill their responsibilities
through deeper domestic emission reduction commitments than so far
considered in the current negotiations, and through all available means
to generate the opportunities required for developing countries to
achieve their development. Developing countries are willing to play
their part in addressing this common challenge. But any such
participation can and must be based on the provisions of the Convention,
on a clear understanding of the causes of climate change and its
consequences, and on an equitable approach to stabilizing the Earth’s
climate system and to ensuring a sustainable future.
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