Climate Change Leader as Divisive as Climate Change

Yvo de Boer is the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the helm of a two year negotiation to cut back greenhouse gases and address the global warming crisis, he is tasked with helping 192 countries reach a consensus on an issue that many individuals of similar background and culture cannot agree on. This attempt to achieve unity on a global scale has probably never before been taken, at least not where an environmental issue is concerned.

There are those on the web who agree with his approach and those who don’t, and of course, there are plenty of people who feel that global warming is a myth not worthy of such massive scrutiny.

Phillip Ireland of the site Adopt a Negotiator believes that Yvo de Boer’s choice to begin his opening statement with an anecdote was effective but would work better if it wasn’t tethered to an old-fashioned approach:

So often it seems like the negotiations forget about these stories. Stories that reflect the challenges climate change is already causing and which point to a far more challenging future.

The negotiations so often become only about numbers, about text, about doing all you can to ensure you aren’t doing more than someone else…. not about the faces of real people.

Unfortunately, this opening was followed inevitably by, you guessed it, formal statements and restating positions. So much needs to happen over the next few weeks, and Australia can play a more positive role.

However, Katie Fehrenbacher of Earth2Tech believes that something more than a personal anecdote will be required for genuine change to take place:

(Yvo de Boer) Starts his talk by quoting the words of a young boy after suffering at the hands of a cyclone. Ladies and gentlemen its repetitions of this that we’re looking to avoid. Welcome to Copenhagen.

Copenhagen will only be successful if delivers immediate action the day this conference ends. Focus on a practical proposal that looks at mitigation, adaptation, finance, REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), and technology

Debra Moore of Exposing Liberal Lies believes that dissecting Yvo de Boer’s statement reveals underlying issues:

Without a clear indication from legislation of how much the U.S. is willing to contribute, the treaty probably won’t be finalized in time. Some other industrialized nations are also balking at the cost and regulations in the treaty, prompting U.N. climate Chief Yvo de Boer to say he didn’t think a legally binding agreement could be passed during the upcoming conference, but he thought one could be reached within a year.

Notice his use of the term, ‘legally binding.’ That’s what they’re after, because once the treaty is signed by the president and ratified by the senate, any hope of America extricating itself from the agreement is gone.

William R. Hawkins of American Thinker goes one step further and explains why he believes Boer is focusing on countries like America to pick up the slack:

He also criticized the American and European governments for not making “precise financial contributions” to the developing countries to buy their participation in the climate treaty negotiating process. He said developed countries would need to provide at least $10 billion to enable developing countries to immediately actualize low-emission growth and adaptation strategies. Implementing those strategies may require $150 billion annually in transfers from the developed to the developing countries, according to the European Union.

The U.N. establishment has to concentrate its attacks on the Western states because the developing states, led by China, India, South Africa, and Brazil, have made it clear they will not be parties to a treaty that places any limits on their economic growth.

Finally, the editorial staff of the Guardian Online agree with Boer’s approach and are hopeful it will be effective:

UN bureaucrats are meant to be part of the scenery rather than slap-bang in the foreground. Not so Yvo de Boer, the diplomat in charge of the climate change talks which will reach their climax at Copenhagen next month. After almost a fortnight at the Bali negotiations in December 2007, as talks hit their umpteenth buffer, de Boer had to be led away from the chamber in tears. With all the inevitability of a sunrise, hardened hacks dubbed him the Crying Dutchman. But it was a moment that summed up the frustration of many delegates, and helped force US negotiators into a crucial compromise. That is a hallmark of his style – and of the tension at the heart of his job. Although de Boer describes his team’s role in thrashing out a successor to the Kyoto protocol as “the butlers of the process” – expert yet unobtrusive – he also styles himself “the conscience of the process” – moral, insistent and occasionally annoying. His position is made harder by the fact that he used to be the Netherlands’ negotiator on global warming (after working on Dutch prison policy and housing) – but swapped his player’s position for a referee’s shirt. He sometimes has to make encouraging noises at climate laggards such as George Bush – in more than one sense of the word, a compromising position. But this is a diplomat who has to play to many constituencies at once – both to Washington and Dhaka, to governments and their voters. A tough and sometimes thankless job, but de Boer does it as well as anyone can.

As of December 7^th, Yvo de Boer said that governments have two weeks to “dig deeper” and reach a consensus.

(Photo by Saeed Khan / AFP)