| Details1: | Climate controls dangerous to developing countries — IPPA
By Victor Ahiuma-Young
Sunday, January 11, 2004
THE Institute of Public Policy Analysis (IPPA) has warned African countries that Kyoto protocol on climate control aimed at reducing energy use amongst other things, would halt economic growth and worsen the poverty situation in developing countries.
IPPA in a statement by its Nigeria coordinator, Mr. Thompson Ayodele, said attempts to control the climate would thwart human’s ability to adapt to climate change.
According to the statement: “Various contributors across the globe argue that policy makers should focus on strategies to enhance society's ability to adapt to climate change. Adapt or Die proposes constructive alternatives to climate control which would enable humanity to cope with negative impacts of climate change without excessive costs and human suffering. Climate treaty like Kyoto Protocol has not factored in the concerns of the people in Africa. What the advocates of climate treaty are saying is that African countries should forget economic growth and prosperity. By simply reducing energy use, they want to deny poor people clean and efficient technologies that will positively transform their lives and deny them the splendour enjoyed by the people in the West. Obviously, this will result in subjecting three quarter of the world's population into abject poverty and misery. Ultimately, climate treaty will further worsen the harsh economic situation in developing countries”.
“To deal with climate change, we should adopt policies that promote human well-being both today and in the future. We could do this today by eliminating disease and poverty, developing new technologies, and reducing humanity's vulnerability to climate change. In contrast, the Kyoto Protocol requires huge expenditures today for negligible benefits in the far future, says the book's editor, Kendra Okonski, Director of the Sustainable Development Project at International Policy Network, London. Attempts to control the climate through restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions” explains Okonski, “would have little effect on the earth's climate, but would harm our ability to adapt to climate change by slowing economic growth and diverting resources into inappropriate uses,” says the book's editor, Kendra Okonski.
According to the statement: “Under the Kyoto Protocol, parties would restrict emissions of carbon dioxide in the hope that this might mitigate global warming. Yet, it is increasingly clear that Kyoto has costs with no benefits, and it is unlikely ever to come into force. Signatories are therefore searching for alternatives that will achieve the goals of the UNFCCC, without burdening the world with unnecessary costs. The book's experts tackle the science, politics and economics of global warming, showing that: The Kyoto Protocol and other attempts at climate control will not achieve the desired end of mitigating climate change or preventing negative consequences from global warming”.
“The victims of such policies would be European consumers and tax payers, and people in poor countries. Such policies are extremely expensive, and the desired ends could be achieved in a more just and cost effective manner. To reduce the effects of global warming for people everywhere, we should focus on reducing vulnerability to climate change today. This means eliminating disease and poverty, enhancing access to existing and new technologies, and improving infrastructure. Adaptation to climate change is fostered by policies that promote certainty, flexibility, and decentralised responsibility. The benefits of an adaptation strategy for climate change would spill over to other, as yet unknown future problems that will be encountered by humanity”.
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