The mouse that roared

Today the negotiations became even more lively, when the tiny Pacific Island of Tuvalu put its foot down in the Conference of Parties (COP) to insist that they won’t allow talks to progress unless countries commit to considering options for a legally binding treaty (rather than a politically binding treaty)

This rather bold stand for basic survival caused chaos in the negotiations, but all for a good cause.  Countries like Tuvalu that are very threatened by climate change need strong action from polluters and they need the action to be contained in a legally binding international treaty.  Otherwise it won’t happen.  History is littered with non-binding political promises that have come to nothing.

By the time the COP met again during mid afternoon over 100 people had gathered to cheer Tuvalu on.

Tuvalu was backed by many other vulnerable countries, but sadly New Zealand wasn’t willing to stand up for Tuvalu. So what’s New Zealand up to instead?

New Zealand is busy in the closed informal meetings; the supposedly secret negotiations.  On the positive side of the ledger they challenged the European Union for not having enough ambition on ending tropical deforestation.

But they opposed drawing a link between adapting to climate change and food security.  Given recent comments from John Key and Tim Groser about how increasing numbers of people will need to be fed.  Well it seems that New Zealand is so keen to feed the world that it wants to stop the world from feeding itself.  It all seems to incongruent with the offer at CHOGM to assist developing countries with agricultural research.

 Image: Activists demand action from developed countries