Greenpeace criticizes environmental irresponsibility of the Stephen Harper government on Global Warming

Edited by John Stokes

As the United Nations Climate Change Conference opens on 3 December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia, Greenpeace is calling on the Canadian government to honour its Kyoto commitment and enact new legislation requiring mandatory emission cuts to prevent dangerous climate change at home and around the world.

"Canada's challenge is to transform itself from the one of the world's worst in the global warming fight, to one of the world's best. We have heard a lot of talk about climate change from the Harper government, but action speaks louder than words," said Dave Martin, Greenpeace Energy and Climate Campaign Coordinator.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, Canada agreed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by six per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012. However, emissions actually increased 25 per cent by the end of 2005. Canada currently ranks seventh from the bottom amongst 41 industrialized nations in terms of emission changes since 1990.

However, rather than take immediate, decisive action to combat global warming, Prime Minister Harper has discouraged support for Kyoto and opposed the extension of binding greenhouse gas emission targets for industrialized nations after the end of the first Kyoto commitment period in 2012.

Prime Minister Harper and Canadian environment minister John Baird have also undermined Kyoto at the G8, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and most recently at the Commonwealth meeting. Harper has tried to supplant Kyoto by joining the United States' Asia-Pacific Partnership, which promotes the use of coal, and relies only on voluntary measures for control of greenhouse gas emissions. "Canada is the only Kyoto signatory to openly abandon its commitment to reduce emissions.

Contrary to his claim, Stephen Harper is not a leader on combating human instigated Global Warming. He is a laggard and the last unabashed climate apologist for U.S. President George Bush among western industrialized nations," said Martin. Greenpeace is also calling on the Canadian government to take action on the Alberta tar sands, which contain oil reserves second only to those of Saudi Arabia. Because of their dramatic growth, the tar sands are the most serious threat to progress in Canada's fight against Global Warming.

Action is also needed to protect the world's boreal forests, which stores more carbon dioxide than any other land-based ecosystem on Earth.

Logging releases greenhouse gases and increases the forest's vulnerability to fires. If current trends continue, degradation of Canada's Boreal Forest and rising global temperatures could lead to massive releases of carbon into the atmosphere.

Less than 10 per cent of Canada's Boreal Forest is protected from industrial development. The United Nations climate conference in Bali is the 13th conference of the 192 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 13), and the third meeting of the 176 countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 3), which entered into force in February 2005.

The Harper government continues to claim that Canada's Kyoto target is unachievable, and if pursued, would result in economic disaster. Neither is true. Greenpeace's report, Energy (R)evolution, detailed how GHG emissions can be cut in half by 2050, with no coal or nuclear power, while allowing increased energy consumption and economic growth. Canada can still meet its Kyoto commitment by aggressively encouraging green energy technologies and efficiency measures, and by discouraging the burning of fossil fuels.

Deforestation, or the permanent conversion of forest to other land uses, is responsible for about one-fifth of GHG emissions worldwide. But greenhouse gas emission are even higher when those caused by industrial logging and other types of forest degradation are included. While tropical rainforests have been a central focus of international climate negotiations, protecting Canada's Boreal Forest is essential for regulating global climate as well. The Boreal stores more carbon in its trees, soils, and peatlands than any other land-based ecosystem in the world.

Canada's Boreal Forest is being logged at a rate of 900,000 hectares per year.This logging not only releases carbon directly into the atmosphere, but it also decreases the forest's ability to resist and recover from forest fires, insect outbreaks, and other disturbances that cause carbon to be released. Already, forest fires in Canada's Boreal have become more frequent and more intense. If current trends continue, forest degradation combined with rising global temperatures could lead to a massive release of carbon into the atmosphere. Less than 10 per cent of Canada's Boreal Forest is protected from industrial development.

Greenpeace is calling for completion in 2009 of formal negotiations on binding emission reduction targets for a second five-year phase of the Kyoto Protocol 2013-2017. Countries such as the United States, Australia and Saudi Arabia have opposed the extension of binding emission reduction targets and tried to derail progress on negotiations. However, the recent defeat of the Howard government in Australia has deprived Bush of an important ally. The government of Kevin Rudd has already committed to have Australia join the Kyoto Protocol. Demonstrations calling for action on climate change are taking place in Canada and around the world on Saturday, 8 December.

Become a Member:

Would you like to see other similar articles and critical commentaries in The Canadian National Newspaper? Then, show your support. Make a member-pledge donation, in support of the Membership Drive of the Pro-Democracy Media Foundation.

The Canadian can only continue to publish investigative articles in such areas, with the donations from members of the public in Canada, the U.S., and abroad. Consider making a donation of $50.00, $75.00, $100.00, $200.00 or more. Donors are eligible to receive our first collector's print edition in mail. Alternatively, you can send us a note to be placed on our special email list of members. Member-donors can also suggest articles or commentaries to be published in The Canadian.

The Canadian is a socially progressive and not-for-profit national newspaper, with an international readership. We provide an alternative to the for-profit commercial focused media, which often censors vital information and perspective of potential interest to the diverse Canadian public, and other peoples internationally.

Become a member of The Canadian, with your donation-pledge. Help support independent, progressive, and not-for-profit journalism.