Big brother, deputy sheriff or responsible neighbour?
There’s an article in today’s Australian Online Opinion by Cam Walker, National Liaison Officer for Friends of the Earth Australia, asking Big brother, deputy sheriff or responsible neighbour?
[Australian] Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell noted that “climate change is having far reaching impacts globally and in our region” yet this is barely noticeable in terms of how Australia’s aid program is currently delivered. A growing number of climate scientists, environmental NGOs and aid and development organisations are realising that the likely impacts of global warming will undermine many attempts to lift recipient nations out of poverty.
Accordingly, the idea of adaptation (or resilience) should now be a core element in delivery of all our ODA [Overseas Development Assistance]. This would mean ensuring that all aid helps communities build their capacity to respond to the changes that will come with global warming, as well as reducing our funding of new sources of greenhouse gases.
So what is the Australian government doing?
Australia refuses to rein-in Australian companies who cause problems in our region. In recent years it has even lobbied on behalf of Australian mining companies to encourage the Indonesian Government to open previously protected forests to mineral exploration and extraction. According to the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, “at the behest of mining companies BHP-Billiton, Placer Dome, Rio Tinto and Newcrest, Australian embassy officials have on nine occasions pressed Indonesian government ministers and parliamentarians to relax their environment standards”.
Finally there is the question of how we should respond to the human displacement that will come with global warming. While the ALP [Australian Labor Party], Greens and Democrats have all acknowledged the reality of “climate refugees”, the Coalition is taking a “wait and see” approach. Already there are two environmental refugee programs operating in our region; between New Zealand and the Pacific nation of Tuvalu and, more recently, Papua New Guinea is working to move the population of the Carteret Islands to Bougainville.
As the AMA [Australian Medical Association] noted last year, “climate change is likely to exacerbate poverty, increase migration and may lead to large scale population displacement through the Asia-Pacific region”. Estimates of the likely numbers of environmental refugees in the Asia-Pacific region vary but a common figure cited by many, such as Professor Norman Myers of Oxford University, is of the order of 65 million people.
Finding housing and security for an additional 65 million people is no small challenge. Isn’t it better to be acting now, and fast, to reduce the concentration of CO2 in the air. Buying carbon credits now could save us all a tonne of money in the future; and save millions of lives. You can be the change. — DS
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