Why Did The Hague Climate Conference Fail? Study of the article Suraje DESSAI

Résumé du document

In the year 2000, the Hague Climate Conference took place from the November 13 to November 25 of the same year. It was eight years after the Rio Earth Summit, where the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or Conference of Parties, opened the way to a global co-operation over tackling climate change by adopting the Agenda 21 and emphasized the notion of sustainable development. The Hague Climate Conference (COP-6) was the sixth conference of this kind, in the heart of the Kyoto Protocol process, aiming at reducing or controlling carbon gas emissions and implementing flexible mechanisms. In this context, the conference prompted high expectations. Its goal was to finalize the ambitious work program already engaged in the Buenos Aires and Bonn conferences in 1998 and 1999. However, the Hague Climate Conference was regarded as a failure. This article exposes many arguments explaining why the conference was doomed.

Extraits

[...] Then, I will explain why The Hague Conference was too a complex process to reach an agreement. At last, I will analyse its final outcomes. The first reason, and probably the most obvious, is the invariant and uncompromising positions of the United States and Europe. There were many controversial issues over which both could not find an agreement. The first point of disagreement was the “supplementary”: whereas the EU pressed on the other countries to determine a quantitative cap on the Kyoto mechanisms, the Umbrella Group Japan, Russia, Canada, Australia ad New Zealand) opposed to it arguing that this may threaten economic efficiency. [...]

[...] Moreover, a BBC reporter, describing the total unreality of the conference, compared it to an “Alice-in-Wonderland world.” Furthermore, we should not neglect the noxious atmosphere surrounding the conference: the massive protests from thousands of citizens across Europe (even Jan Pronk, the President of COP-6, took part in them), the chief US negotiator Loy who got pied by a protestor, the Chirac's provocative attitude towards him etc. The author consequently points out the lack of global governance. Finally, the Hague Climate Conference has failed to reach a clear outcome. That is also why it is regarded as a failure. The countries could not go through all the issues they wanted to. [...]

[...] To conclude, The Hague Conference, even if it was a failure, helped to become seriously aware of the emergency of the situation. In my opinion, climate politics is much more efficient as a day-to-day issue, rather than gathering everybody in the same room. Plus, I think that here, we clearly saw the lack of a real Global Governance for climate politics. It seems that countries are more led by economic self-interest and strategies of co- operation rather than by the initial objective: preserving environment. [...]

[...] Why Did The Hague Climate Conference Fail? Etude de l'article de Suraje DESSAI The Hague Climate Conference took place from the 13th to the 25th of November 2000. It was eight years after the Rio Earth Summit, where the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or Conference of Parties, opened the way to a global co-operation over tackling climate change by adopting the Agenda 21 and emphasizing the notion of sustainable development. The Hague Climate Conference (COP-6) was the 6th conference of this kind, in the heart of the Kyoto Protocol process, aiming at reducing or controlling carbon gas emissions and implementing flexible mechanisms. [...]