Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The deal struck by the European Union (EU) to deliver its "20-20-20" targets - reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent and meeting 20 per cent of energy requirements from renewable sources by the year 2020 - has been heavily criticized. "This could have been one of the EU's finest moments, but once again short-sighted national self-interest has been put ahead of the long-term safety of the planet," commented Friends of the Earth. Oxfam described that final package as "business-as-usual tied up in a green ribbon," saying that "EU leaders bowed to business lobby pressure and faltered at an historic moment."

In a series of compromises, concessions were granted with regard to the auctioning of carbon emissions permits to protect industries that "face particular challenges." According to one estimate, the deal will allow around 80 per cent of the EU's emissions cuts to be made outside the economic group through the Kyoto Protocol mechanisms. "This is an impossible message to send to the third world. We're only going to make a fifth of the effort ourselves at home and get everyone else to do our work for us?" said Claude Turmes, Green member of the European Parliament. Member states will control how revenue from the auctioning of permits is spent. It had been proposed that a certain percentage would be committed to green measures and adaptation efforts in the developing world.

Australian environmentalists mounted a series of protests in the nation's major cities in response to the government's announcement of its new emissions target, reduction by five to 15 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2020. "The Australian government, given the global financial crisis, makes no apologies whatsoever for introducing responsible medium-term targets to bring down our greenhouse gas emissions, capable of being built on in the future more ambitiously," said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Greens leader Bob Brown described the policy as "an appalling and disgusting failure by the Rudd government in their duty to this nation's future."

Analysts argued that, in adopting a modest target, Rudd was aiming to appease business and protect jobs. "He's made a decision based on winning votes, rather than winning plaudits from the green movement," commented Nick Economou from Monash University. "Kevin Rudd's emissions trading blueprint is laden with caution rather than vaulting ambition, as the government tries to navigate through a dreadful economic outlook and a hostile Senate," said Michelle Grattan, political editor at The Age. Climate change minister Penny Wong said that "what we've been determined to do is to strike the right balance, to find the right policy that will drive the change that is required in the Australian economy over time."

The United Nations has launched guidelines to help countries collect the data needed for effective relief operations following natural disasters. "As recent history has shown, natural disasters often lead to large contributions of humanitarian aid. However, to ensure that this influx of aid reaches the people that need it most is a daunting and highly complex task," commented Joachim von Amsberg, World Bank country director for Indonesia.

Based on case studies from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, recent hurricanes and floods in Guatemala, Haiti and Mozambique and the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, Data for Natural Disasters concludes that information management systems are a critical element of an effective humanitarian response. The book highlights the United Nation's cluster approach," which seeks to improve the strength and effectiveness of the response in the event of a large-scale emergency.