2007 proposal globalization proposal

GLOBALIZATION WORKING GROUP PROPOSAL TO THE IPPNW BOARD OF DIRECTORS OCTOBER 5-6, 2007 LONDON, ENGLAND SUBMITTED BY: RO...

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GLOBALIZATION WORKING GROUP PROPOSAL TO THE IPPNW BOARD OF DIRECTORS OCTOBER 5-6, 2007 LONDON, ENGLAND

SUBMITTED BY: ROBIN STOTT

Dear Colleagues on the Board, The resolution of both the gap in access to resources between the advantaged and disadvantaged and climate change is an essential prerequisite to the evolution of a society in which nuclear and other war will be much less likely. To do the above would be to remove our global finger from the nuclear war trigger. My perspective on globalisation is simple. I see the two greatest threats to humanity as global climate change and the increasing disparity in access to resource between the advantaged and disadvantaged peoples. Whatever the cause of these problems (and in our paper to the board some years ago, Antonio, Carlos Pazos and I suggested a range of possibilities), the facts of their occurrence are undisputed. The symptoms, in terms of deteriorating health for billions of people are also clear. Those of us on the globalisation group believe that these two problems constitute the global finger on the nuclear trigger. They provide the casus belli, whether through anger at cultural domination, fear through military oppression, jealousy through the daily diet of rampant consumerism fed to the poor or desperation to get access to limited resources, whether by migration or protection of these resources. So any attempt to reduce the threat of nuclear war HAS to tackle these two problems, as well as moving toward a nuclear weapons convention. The globalisation group can work on a number of issues--clarifying the underlying problems, articulating them more clearly and the like. I can understand that the IPPNW board feels that these activities lack focus and are somewhat nebulous. So what might the board do? My suggestion is that we seek to support and advocate for a global framework which when implemented will help resolve both the problems of climate change and resource disparity AT THE SAME TIME. This last point is crucial, since if we tackle either climate change independently, or resource disparity independently, we will NEVER get a global accord for action. Taking the finger off the trigger should be part of IPPNW's remit, and the most feasible option is the framework based market of Contraction and Convergence. What are C and C? The concept was developed by Aubrey Meyer (www.gci.org.uk). The Contraction element is to set a global cap on the allowable emissions of carbon, and reduce the amount over a pre determined period (probably 40 years) until we only emit the amount of CO2 which the globe is capable of handling without raising atmospheric CO2 levels. Furthermore the cap should be set so that the atmospheric CO2 doesn’t rise above the likely tipping point of 450 parts per million. Aubrey has done the necessary calculations which you can see on his website. Having set the global carbon cap, the total amount is allocated as entitlements to each adult SECTION VIII: WORKING GROUPS – GLOBALIZATION Page 1 of 2

inhabitant of the globe. As we have equal rights to the environment, each adult will get equal entitlements. However, those who live in the yet to be industrialised parts of the world will not use all their entitlements, and will be able to trade in unused entitlements, for which they will get hard cash. Those of us in the industrialised world will need to buy extra entitlements. There will thus be a market in carbon entitlements, but crucially this will be a constrained market, framed and constrained by the global carbon cap. It will also clearly be in the market interest of the rich to move toward a low carbon economy, and of the poor to use their newly found cash for low carbon projects (Otherwise they will have fewer entitlements to sell). I have written about the health benefits that this framework will achieve in a recent article in the BMJ. (Stott R. Contraction and Convergence- A healthy response to climate change--BMJ 10.06.06) Disseminating information about C and C and vigorously advocating for its uptake could be a specific and focussed campaign for IPPNW as an essential element in reducing the threat of nuclear war. In the meanwhile the globalisation group can work through other aspects of our agenda. I should add that this is my perspective on the issue - I have spoken about it with most of you, whether or not you are members of the globalisation group. I also suggested we agree to promote C and C at the Helsinki congress, pointing out that many climate change aware individuals and institutions are now adopting it. I suggest that this focussed, simple-to-explain campaign would be a great starting point for the Board to show our IPPNW commitment to preventing nuclear war by tackling symptoms of our global crises, and so removing important contributory factors for nuclear war. In Peace Robin

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