Environmental federation Friends of the Earth International has strongly condemned the governments of industrialized countries for blocking action on the climate crisis at the failed UN climate summit in Qatar.

“The Doha deal is as empty as a desert mirage. Despite the official spin, these talks delivered nothing: no real progress on cutting greenhouse gases and only an insulting gesture at climate finance”, said Asad Rehman, Friends of the Earth International spokesperson in Qatar.

In a press released issued by FoEI on Saturday, when the talks ended, Rehman added: “ The blame lies squarely with the rich industrialized world, most notably the US. The Obama administration is succeeding in its efforts to dismantle the UN global climate regime and other wealthy nations have joined in, paralyzing the climate talks and forcing the world’s poor to pay the price.”

Several news outlets have pointed out that the COP 18 ended with an agreement to extend the Kyoto Protocol for a second commitment period until 2020. The Kyoto Protocol is the only legally binding agreement signed in 1997 that sets mandatory emission reduction targets to industrialized nations based on the fact that they have been the primary responsible for the climate crisis. However, the Protocol without setting emission reduction figures is an empty instrument.

Besides, the second commitment period has not been approved by Japan, Russia,
Canada and New Zealand, while the US never ratified the treaty. Some of the most polluting countries in the world are therefore not parties to the Protocol.

FoEI said at a press conference held on Saturday that there was no significant progress at the UN COP18 on Climate Change in terms of the promises of industrialized nations to address their historic responsibility of having caused climate change.

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992 that paved the way for the Kyoto Protocol, the developed countries have the commitment to reduce their polluting emissions based on science and equity, and of providing finance for adaptation and mitigation to climate change in developing countries. The bottom line is that the nations of the Global South should develop under sustainable patterns that will not worsen the climate crisis. But the current finance is minimum and there is no technology transfer from North to South to support sustainable development.

“ We demand justice for the people of developing nations who suffer the most from the crisis, a crisis caused mainly by the rich industrialized world.”, said Rehman. “ Hope for a solution lies with the people. We must demand action from our governments and reject them if they fail to deliver.”

Photo: http://www.rnw.nl