The biggest challenge facing humanity The following two articles are from the recent meeting of the International Committee of the Fourth International in Amsterdam. The first, here in an edited version, was also part of the conference discussions of the ISG in April, and was presented to the IC meeting but not voted on, pending further discussions. The second was voted on and passed. "he ecological crisis, particularly Timate Change, is the biggest challenge facing humanity. But the governmental and corporate response has been woefully inadequate. Evidence mounts by the week of the seriousness of the situation. Last year's hurricane season was just another reminder that climate change (or more precisely the destabilisation of the world's climatic system) is happening faster than most predictions. The last decade was the warmest on record, the last year was again the warmest on record. This a devastating is having impact on communities around the world through increased floods, droughts, and extreme weather events. The melting of the polar icecaps will raise sea levels, wiping out low-lying countries and coastal communities. Low- lying atoll countries are already facing this. Mountain glaciers are thawing across the globe. The melt-rate in Greenland the most recent study in accelerating; reduces its projected melt time from 1,000 to between 100 and 300 years. This would raise sea levels by seven metres. Deserts are expanding and agricultural land is being destroyed. Water is becoming more scarce and it will increasingly become the cause of conflict. Millions will be driven from where they live to become climate change migrants attempting to seek refuge in other countries. The pace of these events is increasing and they will continue to happen unless effective international action is taken to halt the process. It will be the poor and the dispossessed of the world who will pay the highest price. Dramatic reduction in emissions The only solution to this problem is a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, in particular carbon dioxide. Most studies suggest that a reduction of at least 60 percent of current carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 is necessary to reverse the damage now being done. Whilst renewable energy sources can play an important part in this, alternatives alone cannot meet such a target. A major reduction in the fossil fuel burn is unavoidable. Even then it could take a hundred years for the climate system to stabilise. Our job must be to ensure that fossil fuel burn is reduced and that it is not the poor who carry the burden of this crisis. Real change can only come from government action, which has to provide the framework for such changes in life style to take place. But tackling the crisis will involve radical lifestyle changes, and individuals have an important role to play in this. Car usage, as it has developed over the past hundred years in an individualistic society, is completely unsustainable, as is the expansion of air travel at its current rate. The number of air passengers is set to escalate over the next ten years whilst aviation fuel remains uniquely free of tax. The throwaway economies of the western world generated by the logic of the market are an environmental disaster. ALE The way living space is used in the rich countries of the world cannot continue. The systematic corporate abuse of the environment, which takes place right across the world is unacceptable • as is the current globalised nature of food production which transports food unnecessarily over thousands of miles. Tackling all this will involve major changes in the way society is structured. It involves major changes in transport systems with a big reduction in private car usage and in air travel. It involves a radical redesign of towns and cities to reduce energy usage and unnecessary travel. It means the local production of food and a major reduction in food miles and a challenge to the role of the supermarkets. It means a more efficient use of living space to restrict energy consumption. All this relies on decisive governmental action. Emerging nations Meanwhile development, economic in particular the emergence of China and India as major economic powers, means that far from carbon emissions being reduced they are about to rise to new levels. China, which has no oil but large coal reserves, is said to be bringing into commission a new coal-fired power station every two weeks, and it is building forty new nuclear power plants. And with car usage escalating each year China is searching the oil markets for long-term supplies. Emerging nations such as China are unlikely to accept limitations on their growth and development whilst the rich countries of the West remain unprepared to make significant changes. 15
will face the wrath of the police and the • High quality facilities to maximise recycling; If third world countries are to avoid this crisis they have to avoid the free-for-all model of globalised capitalism that is on offer. It is in the dependant countries of Asia and Africa and Latin America that the relationship between economic conditions and the ecological crisis becomes most clear. There, as was noted in the World Congress text, malnourished, 40 million die every year from hunger or diseases caused by malnutrition. Almost 2 billion do not have regular access to clean drinking water; 25 million die as a result every year. One and a half billion human beings suffer from an acute lack of firewood, their only source of energy. In this part of the world, there is a grave shortage of food, water and fuel, the three essential elements for people's very lives. The ability to tackle climate change and the ecological crisis is linked directly to the domination of these countries by the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank and the G8. They cannot tackle climate change effectively whilst saddled with massive debt from western banks and their farmers are made bankrupt by subsidised competition. WTO neo-liberal rules force local markets to open up to international competition This grossly unfair conditions. under worsens the conditions of dependency, leads undermines social conditions and to an irrational increase in international trade even in food products. International treaty Climate change is therefore both a political and an international issue. The earth has only one atmosphere. An international only one that will is the solution ultimately count since measures taken by one country can be cancelled out by the actions of another. This is what makes an effective international treaty on climate change, taking into account the conditions faced by third world countries, SO important. The December demonstrations rightly demanded, 'that the entire world community move as rapidly as possible to a stronger emissions reductions treaty that will be both equitable and effective in stabilising greenhouse gases and preventing dangerous climate change'. It 's a good demand around which to build an international movement. Kyoto is not the answer. It calls for the of carbon at stabilisation emissions evels that are too high to reverse global «arming even if these targets were met. •e: even these inadequate targets are •:-ted by many of those who have signed = = Kyoto. The world's biggest polluter, - = SA. has refused to sign up at all. =:: - any of the mechanisms that are being used to implement Kyoto, such as carbon-emissions trading unsupportable market-based mechanisms. However it remains an urgent task for all of us to push the question of an effective international treaty on climate change higher up the political agenda. The alternative to Kyoto presented by the environmental movement is the idea of an alternative international treaty based on 'Contraction and Convergence' (C&C). 'Contraction' refers to the need to reduce CO2 emissions to a level which would halt global warming and which would become the basis for a budget of carbon emissions. 'Convergence' refers to an allocated quota of emissions to every country based on this budget and the size of its population. Unfortunately C&C shares with Kyoto the principle of carbon trading, or 'pollution for sale', as its method of functioning. It also offers no solution to the sticky problem of the enforcement of such a scheme or its imposition on reluctant governments. Capitalism cannot solve the problem The capitalist mode of production cannot resolve the problem of climate change, in fact by its very nature it creates the As socialists, of course, we problem. regard the ending of capitalism and the establishment of socialism as fundamental to tackling the ecological crisis. But we cannot accept, that there is nothing that can be done whilst capitalism remains. Nor that capitalist governments cannot be forced by mass pressure to take measures to protect the environment. Such a conclusion would be to misunderstand the potential mobilising power of the issue. The next 20 or 30 years are going to be crucial for the environmental crisis but there is no guarantee that socialism will be established as a world system in that period. We have to make it central now to our revolutionary programme and perspectives. Climate change and its consequences will be crucial in the struggle for socialism in the coming period. Wars and conflict resources are built into the process of climate change. There will be wars over oil, over water, over Population movements desertification or flooding will fall foul of national immigration controls and immigration service. The UN estimates approximately 50 million people are 'environmental refugees', forced to leave their regions of origin in the wake of drought, floods, soil erosion, and the extension of export oriented agriculture. Governments will resort to repressive measures to resist these processes. These are all issues around which the struggle for socialism will be based. We support the following demands • Emergency action to reduce the use of fossil fuels alongside massively increased investment in sustainable energy, including solar power, bio-fuel, and wind and wave power; government support for more energy efficient lifestyles. The rich countries must take the lead in this with developing countries taking different, less carbon based, forms of development. • Tough action against corporate polluters; control of all forms of industrial strict pollution. goes well • An international treaty that beyond Kyoto in controlling carbon dioxide emissions. • Global action to help third world countries including sustainable development in debt cancellation and an end to western agricultural subsidies. • Stop the destruction of the rain forests, defend biodiversity, massive reforestation programmes. • Curtail activities not essential to human wellbeing, such as the advertising, sales, arms and many other industries. • An international plan on the use of water; with the increasing deal measures to problems of drought and floods. • Public ownership of the oil, gas, coal and water companies. • Redesign towns and cities to improve and reduce the environment energy consumption: public facilities at manageable out of town shopping, distances, end prioritise walkways and cycle lanes. food to reduce food • Locally grown miles, and measures to protect the small producers; public ownership of the major supermarkets. • Cheap and integrated transport systems to provide a real alternative to the car, even in rural areas; publicly owned transport - buses, railways and airlines. • A halt to road building programmes, particularly in the developed countries, except where improvements would lead to lower fuel consumption and would not lead to more cars; prioritise research into emission free vehicles. • Halt airport expansion, new runways, and end the fuel tax-break to the airlines. • Increased public investment to make homes and public buildings energy efficient; new buildings to be carbon neutral. no new incinerator building. • No more nuclear power! We oppose nuclear power and all attempts to present it as a clean, safe, carbon neutral, alternative to fossil fuel. • A halt to the import and export of nuclear waste, and the dumping of it or third world countries.