OTTAWA — 60 seconds and 2 clicks. That's all it takes for you to tell the Prime Minister and Canada's key officials your views on the upcoming international climate change negotiations. And www.EcoAction.ca lets you do it.
Canadian negotiators aim to undermine the international climate change accord
The fate of future international action on climate change will hang in the balance at a meeting in The Hague, Netherlands from November 13-24, 2000. Negotiations will determine whether the Kyoto Protocol will be riddled with loopholes that would sabotage international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, Canada is trying to reduce the environmental effectiveness of the Kyoto Protocol. Canadian negotiators are expected to push several regressive positions, including getting 'clean development' credits for exporting nuclear power to developing countries and creating 'sinks' by planting trees instead of actually cutting pollution. Says Brenda Morehouse, EcoAction.ca Manager, "Canadians will be the losers if our negotiators get their way at this international climate meeting."
The first campaign of EcoAction.ca for the Joint Ministers Meeting (JMM) was a success in terms of numbers: close to 2,000 actions were taken. Actions ranged from sending an automatic email to all 26 ministers attending the JMM to the more dedicated action of sending personalized letters by post. Only three of 26 ministers replied, demonstrating that our governments are not well equipped to respond to public requests.
On the other hand, the JMM itself was an exercise in futility. Matthew Bramley, Senior Policy Analyst at the Pembina Institute, who attended the JMM in Quebec City on October 16 and 17, reports: "Of the five major greenhouse gas-emitting provinces in Canada, only two announced significant new measures to reduce emissions. We have to conclude that Canada has no credible national strategy to address climate change at the level that the issue merits. This JMM, like so many of the previous ones, has to be considered a failure."
But we are not giving up.
Join our COP6 campaign. Take a minute. Click twice.
For more information contact:
Leslie-Ann Robertson
Research/Analyst, Pembina Institute
Office: 613-235-6288
Email: leslie-annr@pembina.org