U.S. “optimistic” about climate talks
Todd Stern, US Special Envoy for Climate Change
Today, delegates of the world’s major economies completed the first preparatory session of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in Washington D.C. The meeting, held one month after President Barak Obama announced the initiative to help facilitate a U.N. agreement on global warming, ended on an optimistic note with discussions on the advancement of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
The lead U.S. delegate, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman who chaired the session, said that, “After two days of very constructive dialogue, I think we’re off to a productive start, and I can say that people left with a very positive view of the forum…” The major economies who took part in the meeting include: Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United States.
The United States Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern, described himself a bit more optimistic and said that “everybody – the Chinese, the Indians, the Brazilians, everybody – came out of that room feeling – I think, feeling more optimistic than they went into the room…”
The Obama administration views this forum as practical opportunity to engage countries such as China and India in climate change conversations. The hope is that the world’s major industrial nations will find common ground through this mechanism and bring that consensus to a global Summit to be held in Copenhagen later this year. At this UN conference, leaders hope to secure a global agreement on greenhouse gases that will replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.
The next preparatory meeting is planned to convene this May in Paris. These preparatory sessions are to culminate with a major meeting on the subject in La Maddalena, Italy in July, hosted by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Right now it is hard to predict the areas where the United States and others, especially China, will agree – but the potential for progress has never been stronger.
Further Analysis:
“Rise of the Green Dragon” – Center for American Progress
Taliban troops take control of town 60 miles from Islamabad
Extremists belonging to a loose coalition of al-Qaida-allied groups called the Taliban Movement of Pakistan have taken control of a strategic district called Buner, just 60 miles from Pakistan’s capital. Last month, after receiving concessions from the Pakistani government, the same Taliban fighters secured their control over a nearby area called the Swat Valley. The government-sanctioned peace deal granted the Taliban permission to enforce Sharia, or Islamic law, in the onetime tourist paradise. Reports in the news claim that since entering Buner, the Taliban has set up checkpoints, begun patrolling roads and ordered barbershops to stop shaving beards.
The local UN office and local media are circulating reports that some of the roughly 1 million residents in Buner have begun to flee and political analysts around the world fear that the Pakistani government lacks the will to impose its authority against the growing threat.
Speaking before the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that “Pakistan poses a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world,” She went on to day, “and I want to take this occasion to state unequivocally that not only do the Pakistani government officials, but the Pakistani people and the Pakistani diaspora … need to speak out forcefully against a policy that is ceding more and more territory to the insurgents … .”
Europe Walks Out
Speech prompts walkout at racism conference – New York Times
Envoys walk out of U.N. anti-racism conference – CNN International
Ahmadinejad attack on Israel sparks UN forum walkout - Bloomberg
Expect more walkouts at UN anti-racism conference
This Monday, the second meeting of the UN World Conference Against Racism will convene in Geneva, Switzerland. However, the prospects of this forum to produce any meaningful advancement towards the reduction of racism in this world are bleak.
Over the weekend, Australia and the Netherlands joined the United States, Canada and Israel in their boycott of the meeting. As of Sunday, a spokesperson for the German foreign ministry said his government was still undecided about attending and Great Britain has only agreed to send a “low-level” delegation.
Recalling the debacle of the conference’s first gathering, held in 2001 in Durban, South Africa where anti-Israel voices hijacked the podium – the U.S. State Dept. released a statement saying it could not attend the conference because it “singles out one particular conflict and prejudges key issues that can only be resolved in negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.” Diplomats involved in the drafting of this year’s conference text, said Iran, Cuba and Libya were some of the most active countries in shaping the meeting’s agenda and they worry that the conference will further impose restrictions on free speech and focus attention on anti-Semitic views. Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is set to deliver a speech to the conference on Monday. It will be interesting to see how he chooses to use this opportunity and whether or not more delegations leave Geneva after his speech.
Additional Reading:
-Official Website of The Durban Review Conference
Protecting Darfur, UNAMID’s Mission
UN SG Ban Ki-moon (centre) confers with Jean-Marie Guéhenno (left), USG DPKO, and Michael Gaouette, DPKO, en route to Khartoum in 2007. UN Photo/Evan Schneider.
Peace remains elusive in the western Sudanese region on Darfur. To date close to 400,000 people have died in the crisis and almost 4 million have been displaced. The monumental task of maintaining peace and providing an environment for international NGOs to facilitate humanitarian assisance has fallen on the soldiers and civilian attachment of the African Union/United Nations Hybrid Force (UNAMID). UNAMID’s team leader at UNHQ, Michael Gaouette joins us for this week’s podcast to provide his insights on the mission’s logistical and political operations. In this 30 minute interview, he outlines the pragmatic issues facing the UN in Darfur and addresses key elements to an eventual peace agreement.
