Terror Defense No Al Qaida Terror

Warming Defense

Warming Inevitable

Warming inevitable even if we cut emissions to zero—oceanic thermal inertia

First, is the global warming caused by CO2 emissions irreversible?  Unfortunately, on any time scale of relevance to existing human civilizations, the answer to this question is “no”, the warming we cause is not reversible.   There are two reasons for this.  One is that even if we stopped all man-causes CO2 emissions today, it would take about 200 years for today’s elevated level of atmospheric CO2, approaching 400 ppm, to naturally decay down to a level of about 340 ppm, a level we had in 1980 – still much higher than the preindustrial level of 280 ppm. Yes, it takes a long time for the extra biological carbon we put into the Earth’s carbon cycle to dissipate into stable geological reservoirs of carbon such as limestone. And yes, it will take about 200 years to undo the CO2 increase we have caused over the last 30 years. In addition, the heating of the Earth is delayed by the huge thermal inertia of our oceans, and the timescale of that delay just happens to be nearly equal to the rate of CO2 decay just described. Thus, these two slow processes described above go in opposite directions and tend to cancel each other’s effect so that the Earth’s temperature will remain approximately constant after that envisioned point in time when all anthropogenic CO2 emissions have been eliminated. Then, of course, what has taken a long time to warm up (the oceans primary) also takes a long time to cool off. Putting all of this together, the warming we have created to date is approximately what we are stuck with in the future.  That is, the temperature change that has been caused up to present is already set and is not reversible.

Not Anthropogenic

Climate change is natural—lead IPCC author

Bastasch 15 [Michael, reporter for the Daily Caller, “Former UN Lead Author: Global Warming Caused By ‘Natural Variations’ In Climate” The Daily Caller, May 22 2015, http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/22/former-un-lead-author-global-warming-caused-by-natural-variations-in-climate/] AW

Global temperature change observed over the last hundred years or so is well within the natural variability of the last 8,000 years, according to a new paper by a former Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) lead author. Dr. Philip Lloyd, a South Africa-based physicist and climate researcher, examined ice core-based temperature data going back 8,000 years to gain perspective on the magnitude of global temperature changes over the 20th Century. What Lloyd found was that the standard deviation of the temperature over the last 8,000 years was about 0.98 degrees Celsius– higher than the 0.85 degrees climate scientists say the world has warmed over the last century. “This suggests that while some portion of the temperature change observed in the 20th century was probably caused by greenhouse gases, there is a strong likelihood that the major portion was due to natural variations,” Lloyd wrote in his study. The United Nations’ IPCC claims there’s been 0.85 degrees Celsius of warming since the late 1800s, and concludes that most of this warming is due to human activities– mainly, the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use. The IPCC says that “more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010” have been caused by human activity. If Lloyd’s results hold, the IPCC may have to revise how much warming it attributes to mankind. In any case, the IPCC’s estimate of man-made and natural warming (0.85 degrees) is still below the standard deviation for the last 8,000, according to Lloyd’s results. This means that warming is not very significant within the context of the Earth’s recent climate history.

Warming is natural—IPCC models are flawed—ignore decadal cycles

Bell 12 [Larry, Professor of space architecture at the University of Huston, “Global Warming? No, Natural, Predictable Climate Change”, Forbes, Jan 10 2012, http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2012/01/10/global-warming-no-natural-predictable-climate-change/] AW

An extensively peer-reviewed study published last December in the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics indicates that observed climate changes since 1850 are linked to cyclical, predictable, naturally occurring events in Earth’s solar system with little or no help from us. The research was conducted by Nicola Scafetta, a scientist at Duke University and at the Active Cavity Radiometer Solar Irradiance Monitor Lab (ACRIM), which is associated with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It takes issue with methodologies applied by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) using “general circulation climate models” (GCMs) that, by ignoring these important influences, are found to fail to reproduce the observed decadal and multi-decadal climatic cycles. As noted in the paper, the IPCC models also fail to incorporate climate modulating effects of solar changes such as cloud-forming influences of cosmic rays throughout periods of reduced sunspot activity. More clouds tend to make conditions cooler, while fewer often cause warming. At least 50-70% of observed 20th century warming might be associated with increased solar activity witnessed since the “Maunder Minimum” of the last 17th century. Dr. Scafetta’s study applies an astronomically-based model that reconstructs and correlates known warming and cooling phases with decadal and multi-decadal cycles associated with influences of planetary motions, most particularly those of Jupiter and Saturn. This “astronomical harmonics model” was used to address various cycles lasting 9.1, 10-10.5, 20-21, and 60-62 year-long periods. The 9.1-year cycle was shown to be likely related to decadal solar/lunar tidal oscillations, while those of ten years and longer duration relate to planetary movements about the Sun that may have solar influences that modulate electromagnetic properties of Earth’s upper atmosphere which can regulate the cloud system. Scafetta’s findings contradict IPCC claims that all warming observed from 1970 to 2000 has been man-made (“anthropogenically-induced”) based upon models that exclude natural quasi 20-year and 60-year climate cycle contributions. These cycles have been clearly detected in all global surface temperature records of both hemispheres since 1850, and are also evident in numerous astronomical records. The 60-year cycle is particularly easy to observe in significant surface temperature maxima that occurred in 1880-1881, 1940-1941, and 2000-2001. These momentarily warmer periods coincided with times when orbital positions of Jupiter and Saturn were relatively close to the Sun and Earth. A 60-year modulation cycle also corresponds with warming/cooling induced in the ocean surface which appears to correlate with the frequency of major Atlantic hurricanes, and is seen in the sea level rise since 1700 as well as in numerous ocean and terrestrial records dating back centuries. Further evidence of a 60-year cycle is referenced in ancient Sanskrit texts among observed monsoon rainfall cycles. Scafetta believes that a natural 60-year climate cycle associated with astronomical cycles may also explain calendars adopted in traditional Chinese, Tamil and Tibetan civilizations, since all major ancient civilizations knew about 20-year and 60-year Jupiter and Saturn cycles. Indeed, Scafetta pointed out to me that in the Hindu tradition, the 60-year cycle is known as the cycle of Brihaspati, the name of Jupiter, and that every 60 years special ceremonies are celebrated by some populations, such as the Sigui ceremony among the Dogon people of Africa. Proper reconstructions of natural 20-year and 60-year cycles, along with other independent studies, indicate that the IPCC has seriously overestimated human climate contributions. For example, according to all GCM simulations, increased CO2 concentrations should have produced an increased tropical warming trend with altitude, which is contrary to what balloon and satellites observations actually show. GCM interpretations also allege that volcano activity may have contributed an offsetting 0.1-0.2 degrees of cooling influence between from 1970 to 2000. However, that conclusion appears to significantly overestimate the volcano signal because the models predicted deep and large cooling spikes associated with eruptions which are observed to be much smaller in global surface temperature records. Accordingly, this too suggests that the 1970-2000 warming effect attributed to anthropogenic influences should be reduced. Moreover, some of the observed 0.5 degrees of warming recorded by surface stations during the 1970-2000 period which IPCC models associated with human greenhouse gases emissions, may be explained by improperly corrected urban “heat island” effects and other land use change influences. Finally, three major available global surface temperature record sources report a steady-to-cooling trend since 2001. These measurements contradict the strong warming predicted by all IPCC models during the same period that are attributed primarily to a continuing increase in CO2 emissions. Indeed, only one global surface record source shows a slight increase in the temperature since 2001. This occurred because missing temperature data needed to be adjusted or filled in to complete the records…which appears to be the case with NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies model data resulting from poor sampling during the last decade for Antarctic and Arctic regions and the use of a 1200 km smoothing methodology. The Duke University/NASA JPL study estimates that as much as 0.3 degrees of warming from 1970 to 2000 may have been naturally induced by the 60-year modulation during the warming phase, amounting to at least 43-60% of the 0.5-0.7 degrees allegedly caused by human greenhouse emissions. Additional natural warming can be explained by increased solar activity during the last four centuries, as well as simply being part of a natural and persistent warming recovery since the end of the Little Ice Age of AD 1300-1900.

No Warming

Warming is slowing—ocean and land interactions—more specific data

Li and Brown 15 [Wenhong, Assistant Professor of Climate at Duke University, Patrick, PhD student in the Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences under the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, “Global Warming More Moderate Than Worst-Case Models”, Duke Environment, Apr 21 2015, https://nicholas.duke.edu/news/global-warming-more-moderate-worst-case-models] AW

DURHAM, N.C. – A new study based on 1,000 years of temperature records suggests global warming is not progressing as fast as it would under the most severe emissions scenarios outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “Based on our analysis, a middle-of-the-road warming scenario is more likely, at least for now,” said Patrick T. Brown, a doctoral student in climatology at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. “But this could change.” The Duke-led study shows that natural variability in surface temperatures -- caused by interactions between the ocean and atmosphere, and other natural factors -- can account for observed changes in the recent rates of warming from decade to decade. The researchers say these “climate wiggles” can slow or speed the rate of warming from decade to decade, and accentuate or offset the effects of increases in greenhouse gas concentrations. If not properly explained and accounted for, they may skew the reliability of climate models and lead to over-interpretation of short-term temperature trends. The research, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports, uses empirical data, rather than the more commonly used climate models, to estimate decade-to-decade variability. “At any given time, we could start warming at a faster rate if greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere increase without any offsetting changes in aerosol concentrations or natural variability,” said Wenhong Li, assistant professor of climate at Duke, who conducted the study with Brown. The team examined whether climate models, such as those used by the IPCC, accurately account for natural chaotic variability that can occur in the rate of global warming as a result of interactions between the ocean and atmosphere, and other natural factors. To test how accurate climate models are at accounting for variations in the rate of warming, Brown and Li, along with colleagues from San Jose State University and the USDA, created a new statistical model based on reconstructed empirical records of surface temperatures over the last 1,000 years. “By comparing our model against theirs, we found that climate models largely get the ‘big picture’ right but seem to underestimate the magnitude of natural decade-to-decade climate wiggles,” Brown said. “Our model shows these wiggles can be big enough that they could have accounted for a reasonable portion of the accelerated warming we experienced from 1975 to 2000, as well as the reduced rate in warming that occurred from 2002 to 2013.” Further comparative analysis of the models revealed another intriguing insight. “Statistically, it’s pretty unlikely that an 11-year hiatus in warming, like the one we saw at the start of this century, would occur if the underlying human-caused warming was progressing at a rate as fast as the most severe IPCC projections,” Brown said. “Hiatus periods of 11 years or longer are more likely to occur under a middle-of-the-road scenario.”

Alt Cause

Alt causes to warming—livestock

Carrington 14 [Damian, the head of environment at the Guardian, “Eating less meat essential to curb climate change, says report”, The Guardian, Dec 2 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/03/eating-less-meat-curb-climate-change] AW

Curbing the world’s huge and increasing appetite for meat is essential to avoid devastating climate change, according to a new report. But governments and green campaigners are doing nothing to tackle the issue due to fears of a consumer backlash, warns the analysis from the thinktank Chatham House. The global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, planes, trains and ships combined, but a worldwide survey by Ipsos MORI in the report finds twice as many people think transport is the bigger contributor to global warming. “Preventing catastrophic warming is dependent on tackling meat and dairy consumption, but the world is doing very little,” said Rob Bailey, the report’s lead author. “A lot is being done on deforestation and transport, but there is a huge gap on the livestock sector. There is a deep reluctance to engage because of the received wisdom that it is not the place of governments or civil society to intrude into people’s lives and tell them what to eat.” The recent landmark report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that dietary change can “substantially lower” emissions but there is no UN plan to achieve that. Past calls to cut meat eating by high-profile figures, from the chief of the UN’s climate science panel to the economist Lord Stern, have been both rare and controversial. Other scientists have proposed a meat tax to curb consumption, but the report concludes that keeping meat eating to levels recommended by health authorities would not only lower emissions but also reduce heart disease and cancer. “The research does not show everyone has to be a vegetarian to limit warming to 2C, the stated objective of the world’s governments,” said Bailey. The report builds on recent scientific studies which show that soaring meat demand in China and elsewhere could tip the world’s climate into chaos. Emissions from livestock, largely from burping cows and sheep and their manure, currently make up almost 15% of global emissions. Beef and dairy alone make up 65% of all livestock emissions. Appetite for meat is rocketing as the global population swells and becomes more able to afford meat. Meat consumption is on track to rise 75% by 2050, and dairy 65%, compared with 40% for cereals. By 2020, China alone is expected to be eating 20m tonnes more of meat and dairy a year. Two recent peer-reviewed studies calculated that, without severe cuts in this trend, agricultural emissions will take up the entire world’s carbon budget by 2050, with livestock a major contributor. This would mean every other sector, including energy, industry and transport, would have to be zero carbon, which is described as “impossible”. The Chatham House report concludes: “Dietary change is essential if global warming is not to exceed 2C.” The consumer survey in the report, covering 12 nations including the US, China, India, Brazil and the EU bloc, found a link between the awareness of climate change and its impacts and the willingness to change behaviour. Acceptance that human activities cause climate change was significantly higher in China, India and Brazil than in the US, UK and Japan. The good news, said Bailey, was that “the majority of future demand appears to be in the countries [like China and Brazil] that are the most receptive to change”. He said it was “pretty disappointing” that in developed countries, where meat and dairy eating is highest, awareness of livestock’s impact on the climate is low and willingness to change is low.

Natural Disasters

Squo solves natural disasters—new international partnership

DID 15 [Department for International Development, a United Kingdom government department responsible for administering overseas aid, “UK and US join forces to boost natural disaster warning systems”, SciDevNet, June 9 2015, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-us-join-forces-to-boost-natural-disaster-warning-systems] AW

A new partnership will bring together organisations from across the globe to improve access to weather forecasts and climate information. The UK government and the Met Office will join forces with the US government, NASA and Google to help improve early warning systems for natural disasters across the developing world, International Development Secretary Justine Greening said today. The new partnership, launched in Washington D.C. today, will bring together organisations from across the globe to improve access to weather forecasts and climate information in poor countries. This will help farmers to plan ahead and boost food production as well as help to predict and plan for weather related disasters like droughts, floods and storms. Justine Greening said: The UK’s Met Office is home to some of the world’s leading climate scientists. Our British Met Office experts, NASA and Google will improve the weather warnings the poorest countries need to get better prepared earlier for devastating natural disasters such as droughts, floods and storms. The work these leading British experts will be doing won’t just boost vital agricultural production and protect livelihoods, it will also, ultimately, save lives across the developing world. Met Office Chief Scientist Professor Dame Julia Slingo said: This partnership will tap into the enormous potential for science to provide better tools to help people in the developing world tackle the risks from weather and climate extremes, something drawn out by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction agreed earlier this year. The tools and services developed through this partnership will contribute significantly to greater resilience and preparedness, helping to protect the lives and property of some of the poorest in the world. DFID’s contribution to the project will support projects that will: Strengthen early warning systems for drought, floods and storms and ensure warnings reach the most vulnerable people Bring new forecasting technologies into use, giving people more time to prepare for extreme weather Produce the first continent-wide detailed future climate projections for Africa working with the Met Office, UK universities and African scientists Help businesses, governments and communities in developing countries to adapt to climate change through making better information available As well as producing high-resolution climate projections for Africa, the Met Office will: Support the modernisation of weather services in Africa and Asia by building their in-country capabilities Develop weather and climate data, information and services to help prepare for extreme weather now and in the future Work with partners on the ground to test new ways of communicating weather forecasts and climate information, such as seasonal forecasts Google will provide free access to one petabyte (1,000 terabytes) of cloud storage to house satellite observations and climate and weather data.

Squo solves disaster response—our tech is sufficient

Pomerleau 15 [Mark, Editorial Fellow at Government Computer News, “The many ways government tech is aiding in disaster relief”, Government Computer News (GCN delivers technology assessments, recommendations, and case studies to support Public Sector IT managers who are responsible for the specification, evaluation and selection of technology solution), May 07 2015, http://gcn.com/Articles/2015/05/07/Earthquake-agency-tech.aspx] AW

Recent disasters such as the earthquake in Nepal or the Ebola outbreak in West Africa have brought renewed calls for technology to support search and rescue as well as streamlining communication among first responders. The government technology community has responded in force -- with data, satellite imagery and applications: The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has created an public website in to host unclassified geospatial intelligence data, products and services in support of U.S. and international relief efforts following the Nepal earthquake. NGA launched its website the day after the earthquake, sharing the platform it used for its Ebola support site, which launched in October 2014. Both use Esri’s ArcGIS platform and are hosted by Amazon Web Services. The Nepal portal hosts search and rescue atlases covering Kathmandu and six other affected areas, with maps, imagery and data overlaid to assist rescuers and relief planners. Other products and data layers will be added as they become available, NGA said. NGA also is providing direct support to disaster relief and humanitarian organizations through the All Partners Access Network, through which the Defense Department shares unclassified information with non-military organizations around the world. NASA said it is supplying optical and radar satellite data pulled from a number of domestic and international partners and compiling them into a variety of data "products." These include vulnerability maps and damage proxy maps that can tag danger zones and determine the extent of existing damage in other areas. In addition to the imaging data, NASA said it has also dispatched a new ground-based portable radar sensor called FINDER (Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response), which can locate people buried as deep as 30 feet below crushed materials and 20 feet below solid concrete, based on their heartbeats and breathing patterns. The technology was developed by the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate. The data gathered by satellite will be used to create risk models and assess infrastructure damage. The data can also be used to see into remote areas where landslides, river damming and avalanches might complicate recovery efforts. A joint initiative between NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development, meanwhile, integrates satellite observations, ground-based data and forecast models to monitor and forecast environmental changes and to improve response to natural disasters. The project, called SERVIR, originally began in 2004 as a collaborative effort that also included the World Bank and the Central American Commission for Environment and Development. And new software, developed by two summer interns, now makes it possible for the SERVIR team to segment the large disaster images into subsets or ‘tiles’ that can be transmitted to recipients in in Nepal, where bandwidth is currently limited. Then the software reconstructs the pieces on the recipient’s side, where the images can be printed. Earlier this year, the U.S. Geological Survey released several sets of data collected on land elevations in India in order to help scientists better understand and monitor rising sea levels. The data was also made available for public viewing via the USGS’s Earth Explorer website. It is believed that the release and examination of these image data sets will assist in preparedness for droughts, glacial retreats, flooding, landslides and coastal storm surges. In light of the disaster in Nepal and others such as Hurricane Sandy, the White House has announced several new ideas, tools and initiatives under America’s PrepareAthon! and National Day of Action, which is aimed at “encouraged entrepreneurs, makers, technologists, and creative #DisasterTech innovators to get involved, unleash innovation.” Examples of new initiatives announced include the Department of Health and Human Service’s GeoHEALTH platform, which features interactive mapping to support agencies and community organizations in preparing for the health impacts of emergencies.

Political Will

Alt causes to political will to solve warming—public support and lifestyles

McCright, Xiao, and Dunlap 14 [Aaron, Associate professor in the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University, ChenYang, Associate professor of Sociology at American University researching behavior concerning environmental policies, Riley, President of the International Sociological Association's Research Committee on Environment and Society, “Political polarization on support for government spending on environmental protection in the USA, 1974–2012”, Science Direct Vol 28. pgs 258-259, Nov 2014] AW

Since the early 1990s the US conservative movement has become increasingly hostile towards environmental protection (Jacques et al., 2008 and McCright and Dunlap, 2000). Conservative foundations, think tanks, and elites have mobilized to challenge the legitimacy of environmental problems and thus undercut the necessity for government action to deal with them (McCright and Dunlap, 2003). This is especially the case with respect to anthropogenic climate change (e.g., Demeritt, 2006 and McCright and Dunlap, 2010), but also holds true for environmental science and policy more generally (e.g., Brown, 1997 and Goodell, 2010). Political polarization on the environment among political elites (e.g., party activists and members of Congress) has resulted from this increasing anti-environmentalism of conservatives and Republicans (e.g., Dunlap et al., 2001 and Gershtenson et al., 2006), a trend amplified by the conservative movement-supported Tea Party pulling the Republican Party even farther to the Right (Skocpol and Williamson, 2013). Consistent with the expectations of party sorting theory, such political polarization on the environment has extended to the US general public (Guber, 2013). Since 1992, there has been significant partisan and ideological polarization on support for government spending on environmental protection within the general public. This political polarization is unlikely to reverse course without a noticeable convergence in support of environmental protection among political elites (see, e.g. Brulle et al., 2012), with prominent conservative figures and Republican Party leaders becoming less anti-environmental in their public statements and voting records. Within the general public, political polarization has serious implications for fostering support for environmental protection. For some time now, political orientation (party identification and political ideology) has been one of the strongest predictors of environmental concern. Furthermore, recent studies find that political orientation moderates the well-established positive relationship between education and environmental concern—not only on the issue of anthropogenic climate change (e.g., Hamilton, 2011, Hamilton and Keim, 2009, McCright, 2011 and McCright and Dunlap, 2011), but also on seemingly less controversial issues of urban sprawl impacts, the conservation of natural resources, and support for conservation regulations (Hamilton et al., 2010). The effect of increased education on environmental concern is positive for liberals and Democrats, but is weaker or negative for conservatives and Republicans, undercutting the efficacy of efforts to “educate the public” about the seriousness of environmental problems and the importance of taking action to deal with them. Political polarization also shows up in environmentally relevant behaviors and reactions to campaigns to stimulate such behaviors. For example, Costa and Kahn, 2010 and Costa and Kahn, 2013 find that liberal homeowners consume less energy than do their conservative counterparts, and are more likely to respond to campaigns designed to encourage energy conservation. In fact, they report that “while energy conservation ‘nudges’ work with liberals, they backfire with conservatives” (Costa and Kahn, 2010, p. 19). Similarly, Gromet et al., 2013) find that self-identified conservatives are less likely than their liberal counterparts to support energy efficiency when it is framed as a means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and less likely than liberals to purchase an energy efficient product if its packaging includes a pro-environmental message (e.g., “Protect the Environment”). The fact that political identifications among the general public not only influence their support for environmental protection programs (as suggested by our results), but also their environmentally relevant behaviors and responses to campaigns to promote such behaviors, is striking. Further, this is a major departure from earlier decades (1970s and 1980s) when there was only a modest political divide on environmental issues in the general public. Combined with the enormous degree of current polarization among political elites on the environment, the situation does not bode well for our nation’s ability to deal effectively with the wide range of environmental problems—from local toxics to global climate change—we currently face.

Alt causes to international political spillover—technical, financial, and infrastructure capabilities

Muffett 14 [Carroll, President and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law, “Lack of 'political will' hampering environmental laws”, DW (German international broadcaster), June 6 2014, http://www.dw.com/en/lack-of-political-will-hampering-environmental-laws/a-17730845] AW

Carroll Muffett: There are a number of challenges that face international environmental law. One of the most important is political will. The best laws in the world won't matter if countries don't have the political will to take them seriously and to enforce them. Closely related to the question of political will, which applies across every country, is the question capacity, technical capacity, financial capacity and the infrastructure to enforce the laws. For the last 20 years and more, the developing world has looked to countries like the US, looked to the countries of Europe and the OECD to provide financial support so that if developing countries are taking on new commitments under these treaties, there is some sort of technical and financial assistance to help them meet those commitments. Regrettably one of the most consistent themes that we've seen over these last 20 years is that those financial commitments from the developed countries to the developing countries are not being met. What can be done to encourage that political will? I think that's a thousand dollar question. In terms of creating political will, moments like this UNEA conference help coalesce and help focus that will. They provide terrific moments for countries to make political statements, to make political commitments that do count for something. Ultimately the challenge lies in what happens when leaders leave the UN and go back to their capitals. Are they getting the support internally to deliver on those commitments? One of the biggest challenges we see here in the US is that for many years our own Congress and particularly our own Senate have been a key barrier to delivering on those commitments. And so ironically whereas the US was an early leader in the development of international environmental law for many years, now we've been a barrier to progress in international environmental law. One rare promising sign is that the US was actually the first country to ratify the new mercury convention. What has been the impact of the slow progress in implementing internal environmental laws? We see the impacts all around us. If you look at rising global temperatures and the impacts of climate change which are increasingly evident all around us - that's a clear impact of failing to deliver on commitments that were made to the international community. If you look at declining biodiversity and accelerating rates of extinction and species loss - that is evidence of continuing failure to meet commitments to the international community with respect to biodiversity. Ironically, wildlife trade is one of the areas where the international community made a great deal of early progress under the CITES treaty (Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species). The international community adopted it in the early 1970s and many of the problems we were facing at the time have now receded into the past. CITES is a testament to how we can solve problems if we work at them together. But commitment to wildlife enforcement has to remain constant. One of the challenges to CITES has been that the trade itself doesn't go away and so you need constant vigilance. Here again you face the question of political will. If you look at the moratorium on elephant ivory under CITES, in its early history, this was a place where elephant populations began to recover and the ban was having a positive effect. Not satisfied to let that ban stay in place, parties under pressure began adopting exceptions and loopholes to the elephant ivory ban. Those exceptions and loopholes sent signals to poachers on the ground and you know what - there was a market there again, whereas once there was no market, now there's market.

Directory: file -> view
view -> Western Europe after wwii
view -> Author study: paul fleischman
view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide
view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg
view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh
view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce
view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy
view -> Table of Contents Lesson #
view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad

Download 2.62 Mb.

Share with your friends: