By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/ban1enviro072009.html
UNITED NATIONS, July 20 -- Climate change and "sealing the deal" at Copenhagen this year has become the mantra of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. In the final days of George W. Bush, many say, Ban played a useful role. Now under Obama, Ban is largely a cheerleader for what he calls the U.S.'s new engagement.
Then on July 13, Obama's deputy special envoy on climate change Jonathan Pershing was quoted that the talks in Copenhagen "will likely be inadequate" and that "real components of climate change to come from 2010 meetings, likely to be held in Mexico."
On July 15, Inner City Press raised Pershing's quote to Janos Pasztor, Director of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Climate Change Support Team, and asked him to comment on it. Pasztor replied that he'd seen the quote, but that he thought it meant that Copenhagen will "not be easy." Video here, from Minute 9:16.
But inadequate was the word. Inner City Press asked if Ban has asked the Obama administration about this. Pasztor said Ban doesn't ask day to day. On July 16, another Ban advisor told Inner City Press that he hadn't even heard of Pasztor's quote.
On July 20, Inner City Pres asked Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, about Pershing's quote. Pachauri said he hasn't seen it, that he was surprised, that Pershing is his friend. He said, we have to make Copenhagen work and not look beyond it. Video here, from Minute 19:52.
But that is already happening.
Inner City Press also asked about the comments of the environment minister of Pachauri's native India, that the U.S. has not basis to push India to cap emissions. Pachauri essentially agreed, saying that while there are 1.6 billion people on earth without electricity, 400 million are in India, why should they be capped?
Last week, after meeting with Ban Ki-moon, French president Sarkozy proposed a new world environmental organization to replace the UN Environment Program. Inner City Press asked Pachauri what he thought of it, and what he assessed UNEP. Pachauri said that while France and Germany had proposed it, it would have to be more detailed, and would require the consent of the UN member states. That's a less than ringing endorsement of UNEP...
