History of climate change policy and politics.
The politics of Climate change emerged issue in the 1970s when activist and formal efforts sought to address environmental crises on a global scale. International policy about climate change has focused on cooperation and the establishment of international guidelines to address global warming. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a largely accepted international agreement that has continuously developed to meet new challenges. Domestic policy on climate change has focused on both establishing comprehensive internal measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and incorporating international guidelines into domestic law. In the 21st century, there has been a shift towards vulnerability-based policy for those most impacted by environmental irregularities. With the progression of time, concerns have been raised about the treatment of developing nations. Critical reflection on the history of climate change politics provides “ways to think about one of the most difficult issues we human beings have brought upon ourselves in our short life on the planet”. The countries of the world must stand united against this growing menace.
What is the politics of climate change?
According to David Easton’s definition of politics as the “authoritative allocation of values”— i.e., the distribution of resources, including wealth and power, within a system — climate change is fundamentally political: It influences and is influenced by the allocation of rights and privileges across the world and across generations.
The causes of and responses to the climate crisis raise issues of equity, justice, interests, security, and economics that have shaped government and political behavior throughout history.
READ MORE: https://pacificinsight.net/
How Climate Change is linked to Human activities
Firstly, global warming, which leads to long-term changes in climatic conditions, is anthropogenic, i.e., caused by human activity. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is definite about this.
Historical data shows that the Industrial Revolution that started in 18th century Europe catalyzed the burning of fossil fuels that accelerated the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, resulting in a planetary greenhouse effect.
Scientific evidence increasingly shows that the effects of climate change are global, yet those worst affected, people in the Global South, are those who least caused it in the first place.
This gives rise to questions, such as Who caused the problem and who should be responsible for mitigating its effects? How should the worst affected, and least culpable, be best compensated?
Dimensions of Climate Justice
The dimensions of justice that climate change centers on are multiple. On one level, it is a question of global justice that requires fair and universally acceptable settlement mechanisms between developed, more culpable, countries and developing ones. It is also a matter of gender justice, with women and LGBTQ people estimated to be some of the worst impacted because natural calamities exacerbate existing inequalities. It is also an issue of intergenerational justice, with present and future generations dealing with the consequences of their ancestors’ excesses.
Existential Security challenges for states
The phenomenon of Climate change also raises existential security challenges for states. Studies have shown how it can be a threat-multiplier, for example, by inducing resource scarcity, which in turn can lead to the intensification of existing political crises, especially in weak political systems. For example, some studies view the Syrian civil war that broke out in 2011 as an indirect outcome of food insecurity and internal migration caused by drought-induced poor harvests.
There are multiple instances, in which global warming reduces agricultural productivity, exacerbates water scarcity and exposes communities to an array of health problems. Additionally, It also threatens critical security infrastructure such as military, air, and naval bases, nuclear and other weapon installations, arterial access roads and bridges, as well as lines of communication. The Himalayan region shared by China and India, for instance, is one of the most militarized borders in the world and is particularly vulnerable to climate impacts such as rapid glacial melt.
All the above elements threaten countries’ survival, and economically and politically weaker states bear the brunt of these grim scenarios.
Hurdles in the way of decarbonization
The existing political and economic structure is the beneficiary of the status quo. Every year heads of state and officials are being met in multiple meetings and conferences, without significant outcomes. The developed countries have gained much at the expense of developing countries. Global North governments and businesses are putting restraints in the way of decarbonization. For instance, former President Donald Trump, not long after assuming office in 2017, withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement to “promote national economic interests.”
Furthermore, according to Karl Marx’s definition of politics as a class struggle, climate change is indeed a site of contestation not only between competing interests, but also conflicting modes of production, or economic systems. The dominant classes — the political and economic elites — have so far resisted overhauling the system that caused global heating in the first place, namely industrial capitalism.
Global warming is not yet on the agenda of political parties in most countries
A much-needed economic restructuring is an intensely political question with no viable prospects in sight. The irony is that, unlike other issues, climate change is yet to figure on the manifestos of political parties in many major democracies, and rarely do politicians promise to take climate action in their campaigns. This is due to a lack of awareness because there is little demand from citizens to put this issue at the center of the agenda, barring some sparse civil society-led movements.
References
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_climate_change
- Dryzek, John; Norgaard, Richard; Schlosberg, David, eds. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-956660-0.
- Andrew Dessler; Edward A Parson (2020). The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change: A Guide to the Debate. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-63132-4.
- Christiana Figueres; Tom Rivett-Carnac (2020). The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis. Manilla Press. ISBN 978-1-838-770-82-2.
- “António Guterres on the climate crisis: ‘We are coming to a point of no return'”. The Guardian. 11 June 2021.
- The CAP and climate change”. European Commission – European Commission. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- “Greta Thunberg: Who is the climate activist and what has she achieved?”. BBC News. 29 November 2019. Archived from the original on 25 October 2023.
- ^ “Failures of Kyoto will Repeat with the Paris Climate Agreement”. U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
- Simon Lewis (3 March 2021). “The climate crisis can’t be solved by carbon accounting tricks”. The Guardian. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
- McGinn, Miyo (5 July 2019). “OPEC head: Climate activists are the ‘greatest threat’ to oil industry”. Grist. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
- Pilta Clark (23 February 2021). “The new politics of climate change”. Financial Times. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
