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CLIMATE CHANGE GIVES RISE TO A NEW ORDER

Once again, humanity is facing the risk of catastrophe. The terror of destruction by nuclear missiles ready to be launched at the touch of a button has given way to the disturbing^(a) possibility of global warming going past the point of no return, and this is turning traditional international coalitions and geopolitical concepts upside down.

Although the seriousness of the threat to human survival has been acknowledged^(b) in diplomatic rhetoric, the international powers are still not giving the climate crisis the absolute priority^(c) it deserves. The old divisions and disputes arising from strategic, economic, trade and ideological issues continue to predominate.

According to Eduardo Viola, a professor of International Relations at the University of Brasilia, Brazil should join the European Union (EU) in a “virtuous and responsible alliance,” and distance itself from China, the country that now emits the greatest volume of greenhouse gases and has an “irresponsible” attitude to climate.

In the view of this pioneer Brazilian scholar of global climate security, only cooperation between the main greenhouse gas emitters can create the conditions needed to avoid dangerous climate change, which will occur if the average surface temperature of the planet rises^(d) by more than two degrees during the course of this century.

Brazil, the sixth largest greenhouse gas emitter after China, the United States, the EU, India and Russia, could contribute to climate-friendly progress by allying itself with European governments and Japan to work for “a transition to a low-carbon economy,” assuming major^(e) commitments and recovering the degree of environmental leadership it enjoyed in the 1990s, said Viola.

Together, China and the United States account for 43 percent of global emissions. China has adopted an economic growth model based on heavy environmental and climate impacts, said Viola, who puts both countries in the “irresponsible” category.

Global climate security depends on a “grand agreement” between the 13 largest emitters, which each contribute over 1.5 percent of the world total, to achieve a substantial reduction in global carbon dioxide emissions. by Mario Osava

Inter Press Service News Agency, Dec. 26, 2007

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