Climate talks: Should rich countries pay for damage caused by global warming?

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 12:10:01 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/climate-talks-rich-countries-pay-damage-global-warming>

Quote from Saleemul Huq, senior fellow at the International Institute for
Environment and Development (IIED):

In my keynote address to the  meeting in Bangkok, I said that in the
context of the UNFCCC, the issue of loss and damage is like a house
with many rooms. The poor countries want to go in and explore those
rooms but the rich countries don't want to enter the house. This is
because the rich countries know that there is a room there called
"liability", which leads to another room called "compensation". They
are afraid of ending up in that room, and so have tried to prevent
anyone from even entering the house. But the rich should not be
scared of this house. It has many other rooms with names like
"research to minimise losses", "sharing knowledge", "insurance",
"risk retention" and "solidarity payments". Moreover, the rooms
called "liability" and "compensation" are behind a big door labelled
"attribution", and that door is locked shut.

Via Colin Mackay.

Cheers,
    *** Xanni ***

Andrew Pam
Partner, Glass Wings http://glasswings.com.au/

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