Canada Declared ‘Prize Fossil’. Tuvalu Wins First Ever Ray of the Day
TUVALU WINS FIRST EVER ‘RAY OF THE DAY’
TUVALU WINS FIRST EVER ‘RAY OF THE DAY’
In an historic new award, NGOs from around the world united in voting Tuvalu the first ever winner of Ray of the Day — to be given on rare occasions for actions to substantially advance progress in global climate talks. The tiny Pacific island nation was celebrated today for its bold proposal to discuss a legal outcome from the Copenhagen summit. Along with other small islands Tuvalu will be one of the first victims of rising seas as warmer temperatures melt glaciers and expand oceans.
FIRST PLACE FOSSIL: CANADA and CROATIA
Canada and Croatia share first for pushing in a Kyoto Protocol contact group against the 1990 base year. Canada in particular has been relentlessly opposed to measuring emissions in relation to the internationally accepted base year of 1990, in favor of–as a senior negotiator put it in a stakeholder meeting–a “more contemporary” base year. Could Canada’s desire to erase the past have something to do with fact that tar sands emissions have more than doubled from 1990 to now? Or is it just an effort to make its tiny little 3% target look a bit bigger?
SECOND PLACE FOSSIL: RUSSIA
Russia wins second place Fossil today for proposing, during the Kyoto Protocol plenary discussion, that Presiden
t Medvedev’s announced 20-25% reductions were “an important political statement” — not an actual submission for the Kyoto Protocol. “We will not be ready to submit those most recent figures announced by the president,” said Russia’s negotiator, “because they were not intended for the KP.” If you’re not in the Kyoto discussions to discuss Kyoto, what are you here for?