14 DAY TRIAL // The upcoming UN Climate Summit, scheduled to begin in Copenhagen, Denmark, in just a few days, will be a cornerstone for the international community. It's highly unlikely that any compromise will be achieved during the meetings, analysts say, as there still isn't any will at high levels to take care of our planet, and prevent global warming and climate change. Unfortunately, the oil companies have too large of a hold on governments, policymakers and lobby groups to allow for that to happen. But, some say, at least some progresses are possible. One hope is that rich nations will assist poorer countries by providing them with low-carbon technologies.
This type of proposals, which is among the few that actually stand a chance of nations agreeing on it, states that developed countries, which are largely to be held responsible for our current situation, will provide the developing world with cleaner technologies, as well as with know-how to build and operate, for example, wind farms and solar power plants. As far as the most important goals go, there is still little chance that a successor to the Kyoto Protocol will be decided upon. Large countries have either not promised to reduce emissions, or have vowed to do so insufficiently.
One idea that has been circulating in the past few weeks is the creation of a centralized technology-transfer body, which is to work under the direct supervision and control of the United Nations (UN). Another idea would be the creation of regional centers that could fulfill roughly the same functions. The main idea is to sustain the technology-transfer processes with capable supervisors that could direct experts in developing countries on the right path towards managing their new acquisitions. Energy infrastructure, government policy and workforce development would be among the main issues addressed through these measures, Nature News informs.
But even technology transfer will not be fully completed. Rich and poor nations have been arguing over the use of patented technologies for a long time. This is yet another way through which capitalism manages to keep the developing world subservient and in control, even when the faith of the planet's climate is at stake. “You have to come back to the basic question about how technology is flowing to the developing world, and it's primarily flowing through transactions within the business community,” Bjorn Stigson, who is the president of the Geneva, Switzerland-based World Business Council for Sustainable Development, says.