Verdict: Hague climate talks23 November 2000
At the start of the talks, Dutch environment minister Jan Pronk warned the politicians of the public outrage that would result if they left The Hague with no deal to fight climate change. After two weeks of waffle, that is exactly what has happened. Nothing effective has been achieved. Man-made climate change will continue to get worse. People all over the world will lose lives, homes and jobs as a result.
Who is to blame?
Blame countries like United States, Canada, Japan and Australia which fought tooth and nail to exploit every loophole in the only climate change agreement we have - The Kyoto Treaty. These countries demanded a giant free gift of existing forests and farmlands to count towards the reductions in CO2 emissions that the Kyoto Treaty demanded.
Blame some of the world's largest companies, including Exxon (which still denies that climate change is even happening), Texaco and DuPont. They have tried to exploit the talks to create huge new market in CO2 trading, while using the power of their political money to block effective action against climate change in the US Congress. The Senators who came to the Hague to boast that they would do the bidding of these companies have betrayed their electors, and their over-riding duty as politicians for the safety of their citizens and the planet.
The dyke as symbol of hope
At the start of the Conference, Friends of the Earth built a dyke as a symbol of hope for the success of the talks. A sandbag from the dyke was taken inside by Minister Pronk to be present throughout the talks. The bag sat silently, while the politicians talked. But in the end, the bag did the better job.
What happens now?
The failure of these talks is a disaster for us all. No words can truly express our anger at what has happened here, or our sadness for the victims of the climate change that is to come. The world will pay the price in tears. We will not forget or forgive those who wrecked these talks, and put our planet in further danger. We will demand that those Governments who back the Kyoto Treaty continue their programmes of action to fight climate change. And we will work to see that those Governments and politicians who betrayed it pay for their behaviour.
Thank you for all of your messages of support.
© Friends of the Earth
