Environmentalist Sunita Narain on US Climate Policy
As heads of state begin to arrive to the COP15 summit here in Copenhagen, the rift between rich and poor countries continues to widen. With less than three days to go, there is no final agreement or breakthrough on the future of the Kyoto Protocol, which industrialized nations, led by the United States, are seeking to dismantle. We speak with leading environmentalist and political activist from India, Sunita Narain. [includes rush transcript]
Guest:
Sunita Narain, leading Indian environmentalist and political activist. She is the director of the New Delhi, India-based Center for Science and Environment and editor of the magazine Down to Earth.
AMY GOODMAN: As heads of state begin to arrive at the COP15 summit here in Copenhagen, the rift between rich and poor countries continues to widen. On Tuesday, officials from China, India, Brazil and South Africa spoke out angrily after being pressured to sign a deal dictated by rich countries. With less than three days to go, there is no final agreement or breakthrough on the future of the Protocol—the Kyoto Protocol, which industrialized nations, led by the United States, are seeking to dismantle.
I’m joined now by a leading environmentalist and political activist from India. She’s the director of the New Delhi, India-based Center for Science and Environment and the editor of the magazine Down to Earth. In 1991, she co-authored the publication “Global Warming in an Unequal World: A Case of Environmental Colonialism.” In a recent article, she writes, quote, “The inconvenient truth is not that climate change is real, but that confronting climate change is about sharing that growth between nations and people. The rich must reduce so that the poor can grow.” Sunita Narain, that’s her words.
We welcome you to Democracy Now!
SUNITA NARAIN: Thank you, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: You have said this is the worst conference, is that right? The worst COP, conference of parties?
SUNITA NARAIN: Yeah. I don’t know, Amy. It could be that I’m getting old and that I just see this differently, but I was at Rio, I was at—in Berlin when the Berlin—
AMY GOODMAN: Rio was 1992.
SUNITA NARAIN: Ninety-two. I was in Berlin when the Berlin Mandate was set. That was ’95 when the Berlin Mandate was decided upon. I was in Kyoto when we talked about the Kyoto Protocol in end of 1997. And every conference had definitely difficulties. Definitely we’ve had difficulties between the North and the South. But I think the kind of distrust that you have at this meeting, the kind of bad organization that you have, the lack of process, the lack of transparency, the enormous effort there seems to be to somehow fix the deal—and that’s completely unacceptable. And I think, you know, if it’s the Danish government or if it’s the US government working with the Danish government, I think the only lesson to them is that they really cannot do this and get away.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think is being lost right now? Explain, as hundred—more than a hundred heads of state come to Copenhagen.
SUNITA NARAIN: Time. I think what is really being lost today is time. We know that climate change is urgent. We need to do something about it. We need to reduce the emissions that we have. And this conference was to come after two years of negotiations.
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