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Moving Beyond Kyoto: A Responsible Approach to Climate Change
Ray Evans
It is necessary to begin with a brief discussion of sovereignty
and the nation-state, and its political alternative which is imperialism
or, to use the current jargon, "global governance".
The contemporary nation-state, and its sovereignty, grew out
of the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. The Thirty Years War,
1618-1648, was the last desperate attempt by the competing Christian
visions of Rome, Luther and Calvin to win a knock-out blow as
they struggled for control of northern and central Europe. It
is said that between 30% and 40% of the German-speaking peoples
of Europe died during this conflict. Out of it came the Treaty
of Westphalia, which recognised that the Holy Roman Empire was
spent; which proclaimed the full territorial sovereignty of the
former members of the HRE; and resolved the religious issues by
recognising the right of private worship, liberty of conscience,
and the right of emigration, everywhere in Europe except for the
hereditary lands of the House of Hapsburg. The Treaty of Westphalia
laid the basis for the global order we have today, and the UN
Charter of 1945 is a contemporary version of it.
Some scholars regard sovereignty
as a multi-faceted thing, and speak of
- "domestic sovereignty", by which is meant the capacity
of those who are politically responsible within a state (in former
times the sovereign), to actually exercise authority within the
state's territory;
- "interdependence sovereignty" by which is meant
the capacity of the sovereign to control movements of people
and goods across state borders;
- "international legal sovereignty" referring to
the mutual recognition of states or other entities; and
- "Westphalian sovereignty" by which is meant the
autonomy of the sovereign, within the territory of the State.(1)
These distinctions can be useful when considering the special
circumstances pertaining to a country like Taiwan, which is sovereign
in every respect except that it is not recognised internationally
as a sovereign state.
But in the debate over Kyoto, and whether Australia should
ratify or not, these distinctions are irrelevant. The reality
is that under the Australian constitution, domestic sovereignty
is shared between the State Governments and the Commonwealth Government,
and that disputes between States and Commonwealth are adjudicated
by the High Court; the Commonwealth Government controls the movement
of goods and people across Australia's borders; Australia
is recognised internationally as a sovereign nation-state; and
despite the fact that Australia has signed thousands of international
treaties, we are autonomous in our capacity to repudiate them,
if we deem it to be in our national interest to do so.
There is no treaty (including our
defence agreements with the US) to which Australia is currently
a signatory which we cannot repudiate if we decide to do so.(2)
The issue of repudiation is central to sovereignty. Australia
has entered into nearly 2,000 international treaties since we
became, unquestionably, a sovereign nation following the passage
of the Statute of Westminster on 11 December 1931. (We inherited
some 300 treaties from the UK.) Many of these treaties relate
to practical matters in which, for example, telecommunications
standards, protocols for international shipping and air services
are decided. Other treaties are much more political. There are
many UN conventions, to which Australia has acceded, which seek
to establish a worldwide policy which is in accordance with the
views of politically influential groups in North America or Western
Europe. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the
UN Convention on Refugees are examples. Australia can withdraw
from these conventions any time it chooses to do so.
The essence of sovereignty is that it is indivisible. A political
community, or "polity", is either sovereign or it is
subordinate to another political authority. Sovereignty cannot
be shared, or pooled, any more than an individual can share his
personality with another individual. Sovereignty can only be given
up, or lost, in one lump. It is the whole loaf, or no loaf at
all. Sovereignty is to the political community what legal personality
is to the individual. Individuals can die, they can be murdered,
they can lose their faculties and a guardian has to assume legal
responsibility for them: all of these events have political counterparts
in the life of a nation-state. Sovereignty means the capacity
to choose between the various political options which are available
at any time in the global scene and to act accordingly, for better
or worse. The Old Testament, and the writings of men such as Herodotus
and Shakespeare are replete with accounts of such decisions, and
the consequences which followed.
Sovereignty, therefore, cannot be eroded, fragment by fragment.
What can be eroded, and gradually undermined, is our political
will, as a nation, to uphold and defend our sovereignty and our
independence. For example, every time the oxymoronic phrase "international
community" is written without inverted commas, thus implying
that there really is such a thing, our minds are a little bit
more befuddled and our understanding of political reality diminished.
Every time a minister of the crown solemnly intones the phrase
"international obligations" as a legitimising principle
for a policy which cannot stand up on its own legs, we have, likewise,
moved a step from the world of reality into a world of make-believe.
This slow process of undermining our capacity to think about
our national interests coherently, and thus the capacity to defend
them vigorously when required, is a serious thing. There are,
in Australia, people and interests who either through interest,
or through intellectual incapacity, have become caught up in this
attempt to capture the language of politics leading eventually,
if they are successful, to a situation where we will find it impossible
to use the words we need to defend our sovereignty. At that point
we will lose it. This is the battle-ground on which we are now
engaged.
I have already referred to the Statute of Westminster of 1931
as the declaration to the world that Australia was a sovereign
nation. We have become accustomed to living our lives and taking
part in political life as citizens of a sovereign nation, the
Commonwealth of Australia. But during the nineteenth century,
Australians lived in various colonies, more or less self-governing,
but they saw themselves as subjects of Queen Victoria and as citizens
of the British Empire. The Imperial Parliament of Westminster
was the source of political authority and the Colonial Secretary
was the Minister of State responsible to the Parliament for the
administration of all the British colonies, not just the Australian
colonies. The British Empire was of short duration compared with
the empires of antiquity.
Many books have been written about empires, in particular the
Roman Empire. One point to be made about empires is that they
provide lots of career opportunities for those ambitious people
who can make it into the imperial administration. It is noteworthy
that within the Roman Empire many people from places other than
Rome made it to the top. And I think it has to be said that a
new global green imperialism, headquartered in Bonn or some other
European city, will offer lots of career opportunities for an
up-and-coming generation of green priests and green civil servants
from Australia, as well as from other parts of the world.
Why should the Kyoto Protocol, of itself, presage a new imperialism?
What distinguishes the Kyoto Protocol from every other international
treaty which Australia has ratified? The difference between Kyoto
and every other international treaty is this: If Kyoto is brought
into effect, the economic dislocation which must follow its implementation
will be unprecedented in modern times. It will be equivalent to
the famines of the early nineteenth century in its disruptive
power, (except that the famines were followed by good seasons).
There are some treaties which Australia has ratified which have
caused economic loss to Australians and to people in other countries.
The Basel Convention is the best known example. But the extent
of the economic loss due to Basel is minuscule, at least in Australia,
and understood by very few people. The Kyoto Protocol is a different
thing indeed, compared with Basel.
At this point of the argument the Greens say "No, No,
we are only talking a few percentage points of GDP here"
and misquote econometric studies commissioned by the mining industry,
for example, to bolster their soothing assurances. We need, therefore,
to get behind the econometricians and their modelling exercises,
to understand the significance of what the Europeans call "de-carbonisation"
and others call "carbon-withdrawal".
The thing which makes life different
for us, in contrast to the lives of our great-grand-parents, and
more dramatically our great-great-grandparents, is our use of
energy. For example, we can call up huge trucks which can carry
300 tonnes of ore in their trays. We can fly from Sydney to San
Francisco, non-stop, in 14 hours in aeroplanes which consume more
than 140 tonnes of fuel on the journey. We cool our houses in
summer and warm them in winter.(3) Our
farmers can plant and harvest wheat on 10,000 acres, single handedly,
with the aid of massive tractors, the implements they can pull,
and the energy-intensive fertiliser which enriches the soil and
the crop yields they obtain (tonnes per hectare) are unprecedented
in the history of agriculture. All of this is completely dependent
upon our use of fossil fuels. It is true that in addition to coal,
oil and gas, we have hydro-electricity and, globally speaking,
some nuclear energy. We burn the bagasse from sugar cane in boilers
in the sugar mills. But these are small fractions of the overall
energy scene. In developing countries, animal dung is an important
source of energy for heating and cooking. Developing countries
quite rightly want to abandon that energy source.
To repeat, most of our energy is derived from burning coal,
gas and oil. Some countries use nuclear fuels such as enriched
uranium to provide electricity. In France, they produce approximately
80% of their electricity from nuclear power stations. Theoretically
we could live without coal and oil by using nuclear power, and
producing hydrogen for transportation fuels. Such a technology
would, however, be very much more expensive than our present carbon-based
technology and, of course, the Greens have categorically ruled
out any recourse to nuclear power. This is no accident.
In response to these obvious predictions of energy shortages
brought about by carbon withdrawal, the Greens claim that we can
move smoothly and painlessly into a world of renewable energy.
There are now two Bills before the Senate, fortunately held up
by Democrat intransigence, the Renewable Energy (Electricity)
Bill and the Renewable Energy (Electricity) (Charge) Bill 2000.
These Bills, if enacted, and upheld by the High Court, will impose
an extra cost of about $800 million per annum on electricity consumers,
by requiring wholesalers of electricity to source a stipulated
quantity of electricity from the high-priced but so-called renewable
generators, at the expense of the coal-based generators which
can provide electricity at a much lower cost. Our black and brown
coal-based generators can produce for about $25 to $30 per MWhr.
The most economical so-called renewable generators are based on
burning wood chips, and their costs of production are about $90
per MWhr. The $800 million translates into a carbon tax of more
than $200 per tonne of coal that is supplanted by wood chips.
Given our present technology, it is an inescapable reality
that to restrict the use of carbon, is to restrict our use of
energy. The Greens have acknowledged, without embarrassment, that
the Kyoto targets, if realised in full, will not measurably diminish
the atmospheric CO2 concentrations which
are blamed for global warming. They accept that Kyoto therefore
is but the first step along the long and difficult road to virtually
complete de-carbonisation, which means the de-industrialisation
of our society. Their ambitions are so audacious that it is difficult
to accept the reality of them.
Australia, because it is a major exporter of energy-intensive
products, and because its CO2 emissions
have already well exceeded the 108% quota we accepted in December
1997 at Kyoto, is the first nation to have to really face up to
the price of Kyoto. Australia is also a democracy, and as the
Inquiry conducted by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties
into Kyoto proceeds, it is becoming increasingly clear that any
political party which goes openly and frankly to the polls, on
a Kyoto platform, will be soundly defeated. And, to repeat, Kyoto
is but the first step towards a fully de-carbonised society.
The architects of Kyoto are determined
to ensure, as best they can, that it will be impossible for those
nations who commit to the Kyoto regime (the first step in a long
journey) ever to change their minds. In order to ensure that the
sovereign rights of withdrawal (which are written into the UNFCCC
and the Kyoto Protocol), can in practice never be exercised, a
new imperial order will have to be created and meaningful and
effective sanctions will have to be imposed on recalcitrants.
Under this new global structure, decisions with the most profound
and intimate effect on Australian economic and social life will
be made by the Kyoto (UNFCCC) Secretariat based in Bonn(4)
and Australia will only be able to escape from entrapment in this
new imperialism through immense political upheaval of the kind
experienced by George Washington and his colleagues when they
rebelled against the authority of the British Crown and established
the United States.
The prospect I have described of a new global imperial order,
based on de-carbonisation, seems so bizarre and so far-fetched,
as to invite ridicule. But the official documents describing a
global carbon tax, international trading in carbon credits, enforcement,
compliance and "facilitation" are readily to hand. The
texts to be considered by the delegates to COP VI, soon to assemble
at The Hague, are replete with these words, and it is a matter
of considerable concern that the Minister representing Australia
at COP VI, Senator Robert Hill, has been entrusted with a brief
which allows him far too much latitude on these issues. None of
these things---carbon taxes, international trading, enforcement
and compliance---can happen, except in the context of a new global
imperial order, in which nations such as Australia have given
up their sovereignty and have accepted an imperial rule legitimised
by the totally weird belief that, in order to save the planet,
we have to de-industrialise our economy and go back to the living
standards of the early nineteenth century.
To say these things is to invite accusations of derangement.
To try to ward of such accusations I quote representative documents
from authoritative sources which, in my view, provide compelling
evidence for the claims I have made.
The first is from the recent issue of the journal Foreign
Affairs. This journal is published by the Council on Foreign
Relations, an organisation richly endowed by the Fords and Rockefellers,
and membership of which is much sought after. The paper, entitled
"The New Sovereigntists: American Exceptionalism and its
False Prophets" is by Peter J. Spiro, Professor of Law at
Hofstra University, and its appearance in this journal means that
his views are regarded, at the very least, as worthy of respectful
consideration by the American foreign affairs establishment. He
is writing about the US.
Indeed, the Constitution will have to adapt to global requirements
sooner or later... During the twentieth century the United
states was able to defy various international norms only because
other countries were unwilling to bear the costs of sanctioning
America for its sins; at the same time international organisations
had little power to wield on their own... Washington will
continue to maintain the fiction of an opt-out capability and
the international community cannot yet force formal participation
in international regimes. But economic globalisation will inevitably
bring the United States in line.
Meanwhile the international community can advance the rule
of international law by working against key US actors---most
notably corporations but also states---in trade and investment
decisions. That way it can directly discipline US entities, circumventing
and constraining anti-internationalist federal policy makers
in the process....
When France undertook nuclear tests in 1995, NGOs launched
a campaign against French wine that helped force President Jacques
Chirac to back down from future testing. Something similar would
happen if America announced an intention to test (nuclear
weapons). Boycotts might threaten certain powerful US industries
(eg, fast-food chains) with lost sales, which would in turn press
the US Government to respect the tests ban....
For example, the chairman of the European Parliament's delegation
for US relations warned George W. Bush in 1998 that European
companies---which hold $38 billions in investments in Texas---were
under pressure from shareholders and public opinion to consider
cutting back investments in states that apply the death penalty.
It will take only so many lost auto plants, business conventions,
and tourist dollars to make the death penalty look dramatically
less attractive to state politicians.
Above all the United States compromises its own interests
by formally refusing to adopt widely accepted international regimes.
Treaty committees and other international institutions usually
extend participation rights only to member states. America thereby
forfeits any right to help shape those regimes that it rejects.
It has no voice in shaping international norms at a critical
stage of their development, even as its ability to resist their
imposition diminishes...
Professor Spiro has set out arguments that are very familiar
in Australia where, compared with the US, our wealth and military
power are very small indeed, and where concerns about telling
the "international community" to stop interfering in
Australian affairs are more keenly felt.
From New York, where the Council on Foreign Relations is head-quartered,
we go to Melbourne, where the Business Council of Australia (BCA)
is located, and my quote is from a letter sent to members of the
BCA by its President, Campbell Anderson, dated September 12, 2000.
He wrote, inter alia
Although there are still uncertainties in the science of climate
change the international community has embarked on a course of
action to constrain greenhouse gas emissions. Notwithstanding
that this has potentially significant economic and social implications
for Australia and all other nations, the international communities
are adopting this agenda and it is in this context that we as
Business Council are operating."
When this sentence is deconstructed it is evident that we are
dealing here, in the heartland of corporate Australia, with the
triumph of faith over reason. Campbell Anderson acknowledges that
"there are still uncertainties in the science of climate
change", which one can reasonably interpret, given what follows,
as a euphemism for saying that the science doesn't matter anymore.
Belief in global warming has become a matter of faith.
We therefore have to count the BCA amongst those organisations
which are, at the least, relaxed and comfortable at the prospect
of the new imperial order that I have outlined. That conclusion
is further supported by a paper given on 25 May, 1995 by David
Buckingham, currently Executive Director of the BCA, but who was
then Executive Director of the Minerals Council. His paper was
entitled "AUSTRALIA
IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT: THE UNITED NATIONS AND LAW-MAKING IN THE
21ST CENTURY" and it focused on a number of international
treaties which had seriously impacted on Australia's mining industry,
in particular the Basel Convention and the World Heritage Convention.
His concluding paragraph is noteworthy:
In conclusion, I would suggest that in recent years we have
witnessed an irreversible shift from our domestic, sovereign
prerogative to a situation in which international treaty frameworks
and commitments will, in ever increasing degree, govern the conditions
under which we as a nation will operate. To the extent that this
is the case, we as a nation need to make sure that we are not
only geared to respond effectively to those processes, but that
the results and implications of those processes are generated
and applied in ways all elements of society can accept and respect.
Unless that is the case, the legitimacy of the instruments themselves
will be in doubt and their application a matter of continuing
controversy. The experience with both the World Heritage Convention
and the Basel Convention should be ample proof of this. The more
recent experience with the Framework Convention on Climate Change
suggests we are learning.
My third document is a flier (Appendix
) advertising a Symposium to be held on Nov 15-16 next at
the New York University (NYU) School of Law in New York City.
The Symposium is entitled:
Combating International Eco-Crime in a Global Economy:
The Use of Technologies and Information Management
to Monitor
Compliance with International Agreements,
Prosecute Environmental Crime, and Reform Environmental
Law and Trade
The Opening Statement is to be given by Michael Penders, First
Chairman, G-8 Nations' Law Enforcement Project on Environmental
Crime, and the sessions listed in the flier include
- International Environmental Law: Obstacles to Enforcement,
Impacts on Free Trade and Development, and the Promise of New
Technology;
- The Utilisation of Remote Sensing and Other Technologies;
and
- The Use of Technology by Non-Governmental Organisations
The NYU Law School Symposium is a new development. To my knowledge,
no one has publicly canvassed the extent of the police powers
which will be necessary to ensure compliance with the Kyoto Protocol
in the frank and open way which is set down in the agenda for
this symposium. NASA imaging and NASA electronic environmental
reporting, for example, are listed as topics for discussion.
The language in this conference flier is crystal clear when
compared with the text of the Report of the Subsidiary Body for
Implementation (SBI) of the UNFCCC (and the Kyoto Protocol) on
its 12th Session, Bonn, 12--16 June 2000. The text is heavily
square-bracketed (i.e. text which is subject to dispute) and replete
with competing euphemisms, but quoted here is the text, with the
square brackets ignored, taken from page 33 et seq:
Section IV. Outcomes and consequences
of non-compliance or potential non-compliance, taking
into account the implications of Article 18(5)
1. The compliance branch may, depending upon the case before
it, decide upon one or more of the following consequences
(a) Provision of advice and assistance to individual Parties
regarding implementation of the Protocol;
(b) Facilitation of financial and technical assistance,
including technology transfer and capacity building to non-Annex
I Parties;
(c) Making recommendations;
(d) Publication of non-compliance or potential non-compliance;
(e) Issuing of cautions;
(f) Initiation of the enforcement procedure set out in
annexe b.
(The penalties set out in the following text comprise "fines"
under which the offending Party has its CO2
"allowance" reduced by a formula related to the amount
of emitted CO2 over and above the Kyoto
target.)
Under
we find:
Option 1
The Party in question shall, within three months of the
determination of the compliance body, determine and commit itself
to a compliance action plan, approved by the compliance body,
which shall include, inter alia:
(i) An analysis of the reasons for the Party's non-compliance;
(ii) Policies and measures that the Party intends to implement
in order to restore 1.x times the excess emissions and an analysis
of their expected impact on the Party's greenhouse gas emissions;
(iii) A quantified assessment of the use of each of the
mechanisms under Articles 6, 12, and if provided for by an amendment
to the Protocol, Article 17 during the commitment period;
(iv) A declaration not to make transfers under Article
3, paragraph 11, for the duration of the implementation of the
compliance action plan;
(v) Detailed information on the economic dimension of the
implementation of any action under (ii) or (iii) above;
(vi) A timetable for implementing the measures within a
time-frame not exceeding three years, including clear benchmarks
for measuring annual progress in the implementation;
(vii) An assessment of the compatibility of the compliance
action plan with the strategy developed by the Party to comply
with its obligations during the commitment periods in which the
compliance action plan is implemented.
Measures implemented under the compliance action plan shall
not contribute to any Party's compliance with its quantified
emission limitation or reduction commitments during the commitment
period in which the compliance action plan is implemented.
The SBI meetings at Lyon did not get very far in terms of reducing
the numbers of square brackets (ie disputed words), in the text,
and the widely held view is that the meeting of the Parties to
the UNFCCC (COP VI) to take place next week at the Hague will,
likewise, make little progress with respect to any of these issues.
If George W. Bush, after the recount in Florida, does make it
to the White House, his victory will upset the concentration of
many of the American delegates to COP VI (all of them Clinton--Gore
appointees). Contrariwise, if Vice-President Gore wins, then the
pressure exerted by the US delegation on Australia to concede
ground will be very great.
The main problem we now face in asserting Australia's sovereignty,
and upholding our political traditions of self-government is the
fear, which some of our political leaders entertain, that the
"international community" will invoke trade sanctions,
or send us to some of sort of international Coventry, if we defend
our national interests. The questions and answers during the JSCOT's
Inquiry into Kyoto have been illuminating in this regard.
On November 3 last, Professor Richard Lindzen, the Sloan Professor
of Meteorology at MIT, a distinguished scientist, and without
doubt the most scientifically eminent greenhouse sceptic, appeared
before JSCOT, and although most of his presentation was taken
up with the state of the science debate, he was asked, as an American,
about the alternative greenhouse consequences depending on the
outcome of the presidential election, and the international ramifications,
for Australia, if we should decide to withdraw from the UNFCCC
and thus from the Kyoto Protocol.
He was obviously troubled on his return home, about the answer
he had given to his interlocutor (Senator Barney Cooney), and
he asked me to ensure that Senator Cooney received the following
message, amplifying his off-the-cuff response. I'm sure that Senator
Cooney would not object to my concluding this paper with Lindzen's
statement, since he is second to no-one in his concern for Australia's
well-being and its continuing sovereignty and independence. Lindzen
wrote thus:
As an American, I hesitate to chide an Australian Senator
for a lack of pride in Australia. Nevertheless, I was taken aback
by your stated concern that an attempt by Australia to defend
its own interests would form a target for criticism by other
nations. Permit me to remind you that Australia is a great and
successful nation that has rarely asked for help from other nations,
and has generously and courageously come to the assistance of
others in all modern times of difficulty from the first and second
world wars to Korea and Vietnam. By comparison with Australia,
most other nations must certainly be regarded as 'lesser' nations.
Although I believe the abandonment of Kyoto to be in Australia's
and the rest of the world's best interest, I am willing to accept
sincere differences in opinion. However, the fact that Australia,
having decided as to its best interests, is hesitant about putting
them forth due to fear of criticism from these 'lesser' nations
is much harder to accept. I feel confident in assuring you that
Australia's moral stature in the world is not dependant on the
approval of other nations, but on Australia's incontrovertible
contributions to the world's welfare. In defending its legitimate
interests, Australia will not even begin to expend any of its
moral capital---capital not even available to most other nations.
Endnotes
(1)
See Stephen D. Krasner, Sovereignty: Organised Hypocrisy, 1999,
Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey.
(2) It
should be noted that an answer given by an Attorney-General concerning
Australian sovereignty over World Heritage Areas indicates that
Australian sovereignty has been ceded to officials abroad. Senator
Peter Walsh, on 17/10/91, put the following question on notice:
"What legislation or regulation is required by Commonwealth
law to delist from World Heritage status, areas which had previously
been listed?" The answer stated, inter alia, "A
Commonwealth Act or regulation could not operate to remove an
area from the World Heritage List ... A removal can only take
place if approved by a majority of two thirds of the UN World
Heritage Committee."
On 11 Aug 1994, Attorney-General Lavarch, in a letter to the AFR,
supported journalist Christine Wallace who had quoted Judge Robert
Bork 'under our constitutional system no treaty or international
agreement can bind the United States if it does not wish to be
bound ... Congress may at any time override such agreement by
statute'. Wallace claimed that 'Bork's statement is as true
for us as it is for them', a position endorsed by Lavarch with
the words, Wallace 'hit the nail on the head'.
Michael Costello, then Secretary of DFAT, put a similar argument
in an article published in the AFR on 22 November 1994,
and in a letter to the AFR on 18 January 1995. Gareth Evans,
then Minister for Foreign Affairs, had claimed, with respect to
the ratification of international treaties, on 6 December 1994,
that "we retain the sovereign capacity to make and apply
our own laws as we see fit". But neither Ministers Lavarch
nor Evans ever stated unambiguously that any law passed by the
Australian Parliament, or treaty ratified by the Executive, may
be amended, repealed or repudiated by a future parliament at any
time. Nor have their successors, Ministers Williams and Downer.
This is not just semantic quibbling. The High Court has already
shown its propensity to interpret our laws in accordance with
international treaties when it deems appropriate (as in the Teoh
case). An unambiguous statement from Ministers Downer and Williams
might deter a political court from doing so again, at least with
respect to Kyoto. Greenpeace has already attempted to litigate
planning decisions on the basis that they conflict with our "Kyoto
obligations".
The confusion between the answer given to Walsh in October 1991
and the Lavarch letter of 11/8/94, is presumably explained by
the extreme reluctance of DFAT and AG officials ever to advise
ministers that treaties can, through the withdrawal processes
set out in each treaty, be repudiated. The time has come to advertise
this fact and at the same time remove the spectre of trade sanctions
from public discourse.
(3) During
the 1960s, as a young engineer with the SECV, I recall that the
maximum demand for the year was a winter event, determined by
frosts and other cold weather events. Wagers were made on the
size of the MD and when it would occur. Today, the maximum demand
is a summer event, well above the winter peak, driven by the demand
for air-conditioning. Tropical and sub-tropical Australia is now
regarded as habitable only because of air-conditioning.
(4) It is
noteworthy that the German Government has extended substantial
subsidies to the UNFCCC Secretariat in order to ensure that this
rapidly expanding bureaucracy is housed in the parliamentary and
public service buildings of the former West German Government.
Given the strong commitment of successive German governments to
the international carbon-withdrawal project, this generosity has
obvious political consequences.
(5) Article
18 of the Protocol cites Article 14 of the UNFCCC with respect
to dispute settlement procedures and states that the same procedures
shall apply to the Protocol.
Appendix
Combating International Eco-Crime
in a Global Economy:
The Use of Technologies and Information Management
to Monitor Compliance with International Agreements,
Prosecute Environmental Crime, and Reform Environmental
Law and Trade
Symposium
Greenberg Lounge
New York University School of Law
40 Washington Square South
New York, New York
November 15-16, 2000
Preliminary Agenda
Day 1
8:15 REGISTRATION
9:00 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
Allison F. Gardner, Co-Editor-in-Chief, N. Y. U Environmental
Law Journal
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS:
John Sexton, Dean, New York University School of Law
OPENING STATEMENT:
Michael Penders. First Chairman, G-8 Nations' Law Inforcement
Project on Environmental Crime
9:30 PANEL I:
International Environmental Law: Obstacles
to Enforcement, Impacts on Free Trade and Development, and the
Promise of New Technology
Richard B. Stewart, Emily Kempin Professor of Law, New
York University School of Law
Donald Carr, Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam, and Roberts
Hillary French, World Watch Institute
10 30 QUESTIONS
10.45 BREAK
11:00 PANELI II:
Introduction to the Use of Technology
Andrew Reynolds, Deputy Science and Technology Advisor
to the Secretary of State
Michael King, NASA imaging
David Amidei, NASA electronic environmental reporting
Eric Stern, EPA, Region II, remediation
11 45 QUESTIONS
12 00 LUNCHEON SPEAKER
2.00 PANEL III:
Electronic Reporting/ Import-Export data
exchange models/Interface with Customs
David Schwarz, EPA Office of Environmental Information
William Smith, EPA Center for Strategic Environmental Enforcement
Customs Automation official
2:45 QUESTIONS
3:00 BREAK
3:15 PANEL IV:
The Utilization of Remote Sensing and Other
Technologies
Dr. Mario Scaramella, University of Naples II
Secretary General, Environmental Crime Prevention Program
Adam Parker, Western Australia Waste Tracking Project
Coast Guard Representative
4:00 QUESTIONS
4:15 PANEL V:
The Use of Technology by Non-Governmental
Organizations
Kenneth McCallion, Goodkin, Labaton, Rudoff & Sucharow,
LLP
Moderator
Ben Smith, Environmental Defense - Scorecard and
Action Network World Resources Institute, Global Forest Watch
Steve Jamar, Howard University School of Law
Environmental Legal Information Systems, ELIS
5 30 QUESTIONS
5 45 BREAK FOR THE DAY
Day 2
9:00 INTRODUCTION AND RECAP OF DAY ONE:
Michael Penders
9:15 SPEAKER:
New Approaches to International Crime,
Law, and Diplomacy in an Era of Global Commerce
Jonathan Winter, Alston and Bird, Former Deputy Assistant
Secretary of International Law Enforcement
10:00 PANEL VI:
Implications of the Use of New Technology
for International Agreements, Trade, and Environmental Law
Michael Hirz, NYU Visiting Professor of Law, Moderator
Steven Salow, University of Maryland, Past Chief of Environmental
Crime Section, U.S. Department of Justice
USTR/DOS REP
Allison F Gardner, Co-Editor-in-Chief, N.Y.U. Environmental
Law Journal
11.00 QUESTIONS
11.15 BREAK
11 30 SPEAKER: STEVEN A. HERMAN,
U.S. EPA ASSISTANT ADNHNISTRATOR OF ENFORCEMENT;
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
LAWS
11:50 PANEL VII:
Implemental and Resources across agencies
and governments. The Hard Part
Michael Fenders, Moderator
United Nations Environmental Program
ECPP representative
DOJ
1230 QUESTIONS AND ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS
12:45 CONCLUDING REMARKS:
Michael Penders
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Lavoisier the Man Bio and Image |
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Click above for latest SOHO sunspot images. Click here for David Archibald on solar cycles. |
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Where is that pesky greenhouse signature? Click here for David Evans's article. |
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