Hugo Chávez, enemy of climate

So, COP-15 reached its end. The two year process that began at Bali has been now extended a further year, and it will hopefully be in Mexico where the nations look to negotiate what they couldn't in Denmark. Both working groups (the one looking to extend Kyoto and the one looking for a new binding agreement that included the United States) essentially failed to reach an agreement.

It was a close to last minute intervention by a group of leaders from the world's major emission producers what prevented the COP-15 from becoming a sounding failure. The surfacing of a text which was agreed upon by the US, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, and twenty other nations allowed the conference organizers to bring it to a close with a qualified agreement, which was recognized by COP-15 leaders, but not adopted.

The following is the most important part:

Since the COP operates under a mechanism of consensus, any opposition to a proposal, even if by a single member, means that passage is impossible. So, who was in opposition? Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Sudan, and Venezuela. It is a well known fact that the latter exercises an undue amount of influence over the governments of Bolivia and Nicaragua, and, absent Fidel, over that of Cuba. So, Hugo managed to throw a spanner in the gears of something that is necessary for humankind. Not just for Venezuela or whatever puny characters are under its sphere of influence, but of every single person - every single living being! - on our planet.

To borrow a phrase from a friend of mine, during the last few years it's become increasingly clear that as climate change gains importance in every political agenda, the debate at UNFCCC has steered away from the merely environmental and more towards political discourse.

Part of the problem was trying to work on two things at once. Extending Kyoto might have been doable, but the stubborn refusal of the US to adopt it pushed the interested parties to develop a second agreement that courted Washington's approval but that was in turn refused by many developing nations. The second track pushed the first one to the back burner in many desks, and it is the opinion of some people present in Copenhagen that if the focus had been solely on extending Kyoto, this might have been achieved.

The political focus that this has adopted gives the Venezuelan president yet another podium to stubbornly oppose any prposal backed by the US. Venezuela signed and ratified Kyoto in 197, two years before Chávez became dictator. Back then, there must not have been a big reason for him reject the accord. But today, when he needs only to pompously stand and just say 'No' to derail the closest thing to a global binding agreement on climate change, he must feel (wrongly) vindicated.

Is this blind opposition to Washington his only motivation? It most certainly is not. There os a very important factor in the equation. The more the world steers away from fossil fuels (namely oil) the more the Venezuelan government will see its ability to remain in power threatened. The country's stability depends directly on the income generated from selling oil. If the world suddenly decides (or, through a Kyoto-style agreement, is forced to) move towards electric cars, solar panels, wind turbines, and other renewable energy sources, Chávez's government will see itself become unable to remain standing. If the radical leftists in Caracas are taken out of the picture, the whole of Latin America's extreme left governments and parties will take a serious blow.

I've said before that, regardless of what happened in Copenhagen, we all have the moral imperative to do whatever we can on a personal and local level to stop and revert climate change. If this happens, benefits to our living standards and the world's ecosystems are a given. Now, there's an additional benefit: removing Chávez from power.

So, let's use public transportation and bicycles. Let's recycle, and let's become more conscious of our impact on the environment. Venezuela will be thankful for that.