Interesting! In an interview with a French TV station two days ago, President Evo Morales of Bolivia, a world-reknown, long time defender of the environment, has called for the creation of an international "climate justice court". This was on the sidelines of the recently concluded "One Planet" Summit that was held in France this week. Leaders from all over the world were in attendance at the summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez. Also present were youths from schools and universities from around the world. But more importantly was the attendance by leading NGO's and private corporations who are major investors in the research, development, and commercialisation of clean energy technology around the world. Let's remember that there is an annual $100 billion dollars fund open to countries and the private sector specifically to fight climate change, and these companies & NGO's are initiating great sustainable projects with those funds. I didn't see a top-level delegation from Uganda at this important world event, yet leaders from other developing countries in Africa, Asia and South America made the effort to attend, listen, and contribute to the fight against climate change during this significant meeting. That is where Evo Morales of Bolivia is making his proposal for International Climate Justice. Many ordinary Third World dwellers might need to get themselves out of the state of environmental ignorance and the related negligence so as to not only grasp the magnitude of the upcoming global environmental disaster, but also to fully understand why such endeavours are necessary. We must recognize that it is a common effort to which everyone needs to participate. I personally have been reading alot of well researched articles and watched interesting documentaries about creative efforts towards clean energy and reduction of carbon emissions. The commitment (and results) by some little known individuals and companies out there is quite inspiring. The one subject that many people here are united in being passionately stuck in is political power, yet environmental alarm bells (and the bells for other pressing problems) continue to ring around the world. Surely at the global level it must be established by international law that producing certain levels of green house gases (carbon emissions), general pollution and environmental degradation are a crime not only against humanity, but also against all forms of life currently existing on earth. The 2015 Paris summit on climate change was a major milestone where world climate and environment experts, industrialists and politicians all came together and agreed that we, humanity, were already late in addressing the looming dangers from global carbon emissions. We are late in establishing clean energies to replace the high consumption of the rapidly depleting and highly polluting fossil fuels like oil. The summit agreed that global warming by more than 2° Celsius was going to be disastrous for the entire planet. First of all do we even understand what that means? The vast majority of people in my corner of the planet would not know what someone is talking about if you tell them that it is a huge danger if we experience global warming by only 2° degrees Celsius. To many that would sound like not being a problem at all. To them it's the difference they experience between when they are indoors and they go outdoors for example. Yet in reality at the global scale, such a simple rise in the worlds average temperature could cause major disasters in terms of harsh new weather patterns (both hot and cold), rising sea levels of more than three meters worldwide, together with many other environmental changes leading to abnormal environmental and climatic events that will directly impact life on this earth and it's sustainability. So everyone needs to have the minimum knowledge and global perspective required to comprehend global warming and climate change matters plus the urgency to address them. These issues should already be in school curriculums, including the study of how to solve them. This includes looking at the various technics/technologies being tested and deployed to the market today. At governments level it remains imperative that any means to get countries back on track in quickly addressing the known looming dangers before they negatively impact our daily lives (making us sick from unknown cancers for example, or limiting food resources), the mitigating measures should be immediately embraced by all countries (and all peoples none the less). It definitely requires member states to enforce some stringent pieces of legislation, but it also requires education and sensitization. In this domain, Africa is again lagging so far behind that people hardly notice some of the simple but rampant unhealthy behaviours/habits they practice that contribute to dirty, unhealthy environments even in their homes and neighbourhoods (poor waste disposal and recycling habits for example, plus little understanding of common industrially produced materials like plastics and their impact on the environment). If for example washing hands is requiring major World Health Organizations sanitation campaigns, then what does that say about bathing? The concept of environmental literacy has to be established and recognized as a major tool to address/remedy climate change because it is a common effort that is required starting by each one of us individually. However the criminal responsibility for the highly dangerous environmental degradation, be it at the governments, corporate, or individual levels, should be squarely established by law, especially with the activities that are causing exponentially cumulative disastrous effects against populations, fauna, flora and the environment generally. I bet the worlds leading industrialised countries (who are also the biggest polluters) already don't want to hear about this Morales climate court ever again at the moment. They are clearly already guilty of the major environmental crimes against global populations and even against the planets environment since their carbon footprints and it's impact go way beyond their national boundaries. That is why the Sustainable Development Goals is an attempt to have a meaningful, wholistic, non-confrontational, well-coordinated effort to contain the climate change disaster by 2030. This was re-enforced by the 2015 Paris Agreement, and this week's One Planet summit where even Arab and Israeli leaders first put aside their Jerusalem squabbles temporarily so as to focus on a deeper long term existential threat against humanity which is climate change. It is possible that a global statute establishing a legal institution for International climate justice, might be delayed, undermined or challenged. It might also not find an extensive enough consensus within the next decade or two. It's main problem is that it faces a little known phenomenon called carbon colonialism. Where cash from western countries is also used to attempt to deflect through environmental foreign aid and related elaborate financial schemes, the overwhelming responsibility of industrialised rich countries in causing the current carbon status of the planet. As I said earlier, the sum of $100 billion dollars was agreed upon annually to fight climate change. Money that the big polluters, the rich countries, would disbourse annually through private sector pro-environment initiatives to the poor nations. Apparently the reality is that not even 10% of those funds is paid. The biggest climate criminals are walking scot-free from their climate crimes. It is also quite unnerving for the biggest polluters to now tell the rest of the world what we must do to fight the global warming that they have caused and continue to do so with total impunity. That is why I call their behaviour climate colonialism. But the egg has hatched. And it is in the direct interest of developing countries to rally behind the idea of climate justice and pursue it to fruition. A well-meaning determined effort could see it become reality in a minimum 7 years. But then concerned countries and their regional institutions should start consultations now. International climate justice could help put the pressure where deserving. It is already futile for climate criminals to avoid being labelled as so. But court rulings establish their responsibilities is important in this multi-pronged approach to fight climate change. Mr. Morales therefore deserves support and recognition for initiating this critical, innovative, far-reaching concept of climate justice that could help in the global management of the fight against climate change and in efforts to preserve the environment for future generations.
By Hussein Lumumba Amin. Kampala, Uganda 15/12/2017
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