Tick, Tick, Tick

By Renton de Alwis

The 18the COP Conference, the UN's annual talk-shop on Climate Change just concluded of all places in the built up city of Doha, within walls of some of the world's most luxurious facilities. Here are some concluding comments from the website that reported the event at :

http://us.oneworld.net/doha?gclid=CITL3c6ckbQCFUV66wodlhUABw 

" NGOs condemn Doha Climate Gateway as vague and weak"
" Two minutes of gavel mayhem end two weeks of talks. US picks and chooses its favoured agreements."

Kumi Naidu, Head of Green Peace had this to say "There were some winners here - the coal industry won here, the oil industry won here, the fossil fuel industry won here. This wasn't an environmental or science-driven discussion. This was a trade fair."

I leave you to judge as to what cop outs these talk shops are ....

The following column was written in early December 2009, just before the talk shop held in Copenhagen. There was hope, and they were shattered then .... and the story lived to be told another day.

Yes, the clock is ticking. Critical climate change talks that will determine the future of all of us on this planet is to be held just days away in Copenhagen. Climate scientists, anti-global warming activists, environmentalists, leaders of small island nations, sensitised and sensible leaders of nations are all hopeful that consensus will emerge from the talks to help reverse the levels of CO2 emissions to manageable and healthy proportions. Movements such as tcktcktck.org, led by former UN secretary General Kofi Annan and avaaz.org (meaning action organisation), have called for citizens’ vigils on the day the talks begin (12^th December) to involve people from all over the world to participate in exercising pressure on their leaders to be sensible and not bow to pressures from bad but strong industry, business and other interest lobbies.

 

In Sri Lanka too, like in 235 other nations, there will be such vigils held and policy decisions taken. As concerned citizens, we shall have a responsibility by the future generations to ensure that we will leave this lush and beautiful island, in an even better shape than it is now, for them.

 

Our own clock

 

We also have another clock ticking alongside, in our own socio-political front. As all sound conservation minded thinking will tell us, uncertainty is the worst enemy of resource depletion and of sustainable development. We as a nation, after many failed attempts earlier, were able to put an end to the reign of terror of the LTTE of nearly three decades. To the rational mind, there can not be any doubt that it was the result of committed and determined leadership, a solid team effort and focussed and effective management. We had thereupon, begun to see a semblance of certainty setting in on us, with a resolve in seeking a unity within our diverse national social fabric. Equitable development was taking shape with a focus on backward and affected regions. In spite of attempts of some at gaining rapid self-gains, we saw some sanity, where environment and people-friendly decision making was taking shape.

 

End uncertainty

 

I am in no way suggesting that all was and is, in an ideal state. We have observed several instances of violations of the rule of law and continuance of corruption and excesses. Institutions that needed to be set up to make the system more accountable and transparent are wanting. An unnecessarily large cabinet of ministers and a top heavy structure of governance are in place. Most of this can, I believe be attributed, to be the result of the uncertainty that prevails, where a coalition-based political governance structure has to be managed and held together. In spite of these political game-plays, one was able to observe a policy direction that showed resolve, in wanting to make things better for the nation as a whole.

Having examined the options before us I, as a non-partisan citizen of this country, is willing to back a leader with a proven track record of leadership with resolve, focussed action and strong political acumen. I am willing as a simple but thinking citizen of this country to give that leader, with that resolve, the time needed to put what is now wrong, right. For that to happen, there need be an end to the uncertainty and room for sound policies and actions to thrive. But, with the antics we see on the political front, with strange alliances forming, demonstrating Machiavellian intents, may get us back into those dark holes of petty, divisive and dirty politics.

 

Enough is enough

 

Politicians well versed in the art of treachery, deceit and below-the-belt shots may thrive on these antics. We see how what was said yesterday being nullified or reversed today with turn-coat-swiftness. Policy statements made yesterday turn into meaningless noises to meet today’s on-ground self-serving political agenda. How we the people, are left to feel like ignorant fools and idiots.

Sadly, the result of all of this will be doses of mistrust, disunity and even chaos and mayhem, as we have seen unfold in our political past on several periods and occasions. What we need now are leaders who will place the nation before their own-self interest and petty ambitions to take on a path of ‘Mahatma’ politics, to ensure that the clock will tick for our Motherland, radiating strong positive vibes.   

Solid action

 

Back again on the global front, a petition signed on the Internet as a call to world’s leaders read “We call on our leaders to go to Copenhagen and sign a global climate treaty that is; AMBITIOUS: enough to leave a planet safe for us all; FAIR: for the poorest countries that did not cause climate change but are suffering most from it and BINDING: with real targets that can be legally monitored and enforced.

The rhetoric on the need to take urgent action to mitigate global warming has been heard in many of the world’s conference platforms and policy making assemblies. It is no different to what we hear in our own country on many other issues of critical importance to our survival and well-being. What has sadly being missing is solid and proven action on the ground, where words are turned into deeds. On the global warming mitigation front, there is much hope as the level of awareness that has been created, within a short period of time, by activists backed by scientific findings has been remarkable. Although the pressures from self-serving interest groups are many, the survival instincts of the rational human mind has, now come into play.

Let rational mind decide

What we need on our own socio-political front is also to feel this survival instinct as a people and as a nation. We must not let the clock tick for us to reverse any gains we have made, but actively seek to consolidate them. We must learn from the follies we have made in the past and make our rational minds determine what courses of action we must follow.

For the sake of our own future well-being and those yet to be born, both in Sri Lanka and on Mother Earth, we need to ensure that, our clocks go on ticking shunning short-term, self-serving interests that lead to more and more uncertainty. We need to let them click precise, loud and clear in support of vision-driven sustainable development thinking and action.