1:11 a.m. - 2002-09-15
As Long As Rivers Flow
I've signed up for a workshop on environmental/resource law through our university.
There is an awful lot of debate on this issue in Alberta. Many factors are making it so. First, our primary economic activities are in the area of resource development - especially farming, ranching, and oil and gas. These three sectors are already at great odds over a number of issues such as the use of water and land. We also have several treaties with a number of aboriginal groups that have varying requirements for the sharing of the environment. How do you find a balance? What about the rest of the population? What are their rights. The severe drought and an incident that shut down our city's main water reservoir for the month of July highlighted how little room for error there is in making choices. We have one of the highest rates of respiratory illness in North America without knowing why - or so we're told. What needs to be done about air quality.
In addition, one of the thorniest national debates right now is whether to ratify the Kyoto Protocol or not. This is an international treaty proposed by the UN to control and mitigate the damage already done to the environment. Everyone seems to agree that our environment should be protected wherever possible, but how that should be achieved is another matter. Over time I've found it necessary to understand a lot of the legislation that governed areas where I volunteered - you need to know what the rules are before you try to enforce or change them. Normally I don't have a lot of difficulty understanding what the text is saying. However, for this treaty I think you would have to be an environmental specialist to understand the implications in real time effects on your community. The web site to check out the rules is: http://unfccc.int/text/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.html
With this treaty it appears that what is causing the debate is the fact that a signator (country) may not invoke reservations to any part of the accord as is the usual practice with UN treaties. This and the short period of time required to implement the standards prescribed make it very difficult for nations to commit to it because of the actual costs as well as the effect on the economy when certain key industries will find the cost of carrying out their business much more expensive. Alberta will bear the brunt of this in Canada. Some nations such as China, India, and Mexico, who are major polluters, are being given exempt status because they are developing nations. That is understandable in some ways, but what is not is that the nations required to meet the terms of the treaty are also required to pay for the costs of developing and implementing technologies to improve environmental conditions for the exempt nations. How then will those nations be made accountable for their environmental responsibilities.
The final factor is the issue of precedence. Most countries are already committed to a number of multilateral trade agreements like NAFTA, the GATT agreements and the European protocols. Which has precedence?
Since this is an issue that will affect my familys' lives enormously for a long time to come I want to be able to work through all this information myself and then decide how I feel about it. I guess a couple of days of my time isn't too big a price to pay to figure it out.
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