You never know who you are going to run into on the train. This morning (12/7/09), on the train ride over to Copenhagen for the first day of the U.N. Convention on Climate Change COP-15, Alex Sheker just happened to be seated beside three ministers of the environment from the Democratic Republic of Congo. We then proceeded to discuss with the ministers what they were fighting for in these negotiations, including funding, technology, building capacity, and reducing poverty.
The ministers of the environment from the Congo stated that their main objective was to not sacrifice the Congo’s development, while still maintaining sustainable agriculture. The ministers said, “To adapt we need technology, and that is our fight. And we fight poverty as well.” They emphasized the complexity of deforestation and recognized that “the forest is not the only issue. Water, animals, people [are all at stake].” They said they were responsible for “the interest of the forest, and the interest of the whole world.” Well-managed, sustainable, and protected areas are what are needed. Currently, the Congo has seven protected areas, larger than in any other country.
The Congolese ministers of the environment were primarily looking for funding, “to bring schools for our children. To reduce poverty, you have to learn how to teach the population, like how to do agriculture in a sustainable world—new seeds, new materials. By doing this, you reduce poverty and human pressure on the forests.” Tropical deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of world greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report by Nicholas Stern on the economics of climate change, in October 2006.
When asked about the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), the ministers said, “CDMs are not working…REDD is better for us. Our fight is that the REDD mechanism must be part of the final agreement. Natural forest must be taken into account to reduce global emissions….Forest is part of the problem, but we must make it part of the solution, as well.”
One of the most difficult challenges to implement sustainable practices in the Congo is money. “Money is like conversation. You just talk, but you can’t do anything without money,” one of the ministers said. There must be opportunity to replace the financial activities that sustained people’s livelihoods in the rainforests before.
3 comments:
What a great writer you are!!!
Fam. Sheker
As you know back at SES we are reserching various topics that have to do with population in the on, and then we will present our finds. The topic that I chose has to do with poverty rates in the United States, and their effects.
As I was reading your blog I saw something that resonated with the research I have been doing, "To reduce poverty, you have to learn how to teach the population" (Congolese Ministers). In my research I read an article, "Poverty and Education" that talked about the relationship between poverty and a childs education. A child living at or below the national poverty line is at greater likely hood of having behaviour problems, such as ADD, or ADHD, and have a 50 percent drop out rate, however in an article in the New York Times a child living in poverty that has an attentive parent or parents is more likely to finish high school and go on to achive a higher education. Because, a child's parents affect their children greatly, children's whose parents are poor are most likely to remain there.
Ive been reading up on similar events in history to Copanhagen, and one of the things I learned about was the earth convention that took place in Brazil 1992. One of the main issues that stopped delagation about environmentally friendly developement, was protests from the lesser-developed countries that it would be too difficult for them financially to go green and to do so would cost them their ability to provide education and services for their people. I think it must be kept in mind that many of the practices used to help stabilize third world countries, are the ones we are seeking to eliminate. This is what halted the earth conference delagations and Im sure its something that will be brought up at Copenhagen as an issue.
In order for legislature to go through globally, the problem of replacing old practices with new financially and environmentally friendly ones, needs to be addressed
-kayla vandyke GOLD house
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