UNB, Dhaka :
The impact of the US absence in the Paris climate change deal will be a disastrous one, and countries like Bangladesh will have to bear the brunt of America’s this reckless behaviour, says an international analyst.
“The impacts will be both local and global [ones]. The brunt of this reckless behaviour of the US will have to be borne by countries which are at the frontline in the battle against global warming,” Prof Dr Ali Riaz told UNB on Friday. US President Donald Trump has
announced that he will withdraw the US from the Paris climate change agreement. One of these countries is Bangladesh, where global warming is not a thing of the future but is a daily reality, he said. “The situation in Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable countries to the climate change, like many other countries in the ‘third world’ is not of its own making,” said Prof Riaz, Chair of the Department of Politics and Government, Illinois State University.
He said, as a country with 5 percent population which consumes 25 percent of products, the US has a responsibility towards the world. “We live in a ‘global community’ not in a ‘dog-eat-dog’ world.”
Prof Riaz said the argument by US National Security Adviser McMaster and economic adviser Cohn that the global stage is ‘an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage’ is deeply flawed.
Notwithstanding the fact national interests dominate policymaking, all countries have responsibilities; bigger you have greater responsibilities on your shoulders, he said. “With this decision, not only the United States has demonstrated its unwillingness to take responsibilities but also abandoned its leadership role,” the political analyst explained. With departure from the TPP, he observed, the United States has practically withdrawn itself from Asia and delivered the region to China; the undiplomatic behaviour of Trump displayed during the recent trip to Europe and unwillingness to reaffirm Article 5 of the NATO – the Trans-Atlantic Partnership is in jeopardy. “Now the withdrawal from Climate Deal is a message to the rest of the world: the message is definitely as clear as it could be and I must say obnoxiously loud – ‘we don’t care.’ Perhaps the message is ‘drop dead’ – literally,” Prof Riaz mentioned. As the US decided to abandon the moral leadership, it should well be prepared to see its other diplomatic initiatives fall flat, he added.
Prof Riaz said the United States have joined ‘the club of non-signatories to the Paris Climate Deal.’ Two other members of this three-member club are Syria and Nicaragua. “Interestingly, Syria didn’t sign because it’s in the midst of a war; Nicaragua remained outside the agreement because it insists that the deal favours the rich countries, an argument contrary to the US claim,” he said. Pulling out from the deal means the second largest carbon emitter of the world, the US, will not adhere to the plan to reduce 26 percent to 28 percent of the greenhouse emission by 2025. “The US alone produces 15 percent of global carbon emissions. The plan to reduce emission was set in motion by the then President Obama following the Paris Summit,” Prof Riaz recalled. He said the claim by Donald Trump that the deal costing America ‘a fortune’ is incorrect.
To date, Prof Riaz said, the US contributed only $1 billion to the UN Green Fund, a third of its total commitment. A total of 194 countries signed the deal and raised $10.1 billion. Prof Riaz said the economic consequences of the deal, in terms of jobs, is yet to be properly assessed; but the Trump administration is claiming it to be ‘huge’. “The argument that it will save the coal industry in the United States is not supported by rigorous research. The energy industry is changing rapidly and the jobs in coal industry are unlikely to return,” he explained.
The impact of the US absence in the Paris climate change deal will be a disastrous one, and countries like Bangladesh will have to bear the brunt of America’s this reckless behaviour, says an international analyst.
“The impacts will be both local and global [ones]. The brunt of this reckless behaviour of the US will have to be borne by countries which are at the frontline in the battle against global warming,” Prof Dr Ali Riaz told UNB on Friday. US President Donald Trump has
announced that he will withdraw the US from the Paris climate change agreement. One of these countries is Bangladesh, where global warming is not a thing of the future but is a daily reality, he said. “The situation in Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable countries to the climate change, like many other countries in the ‘third world’ is not of its own making,” said Prof Riaz, Chair of the Department of Politics and Government, Illinois State University.
He said, as a country with 5 percent population which consumes 25 percent of products, the US has a responsibility towards the world. “We live in a ‘global community’ not in a ‘dog-eat-dog’ world.”
Prof Riaz said the argument by US National Security Adviser McMaster and economic adviser Cohn that the global stage is ‘an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage’ is deeply flawed.
Notwithstanding the fact national interests dominate policymaking, all countries have responsibilities; bigger you have greater responsibilities on your shoulders, he said. “With this decision, not only the United States has demonstrated its unwillingness to take responsibilities but also abandoned its leadership role,” the political analyst explained. With departure from the TPP, he observed, the United States has practically withdrawn itself from Asia and delivered the region to China; the undiplomatic behaviour of Trump displayed during the recent trip to Europe and unwillingness to reaffirm Article 5 of the NATO – the Trans-Atlantic Partnership is in jeopardy. “Now the withdrawal from Climate Deal is a message to the rest of the world: the message is definitely as clear as it could be and I must say obnoxiously loud – ‘we don’t care.’ Perhaps the message is ‘drop dead’ – literally,” Prof Riaz mentioned. As the US decided to abandon the moral leadership, it should well be prepared to see its other diplomatic initiatives fall flat, he added.
Prof Riaz said the United States have joined ‘the club of non-signatories to the Paris Climate Deal.’ Two other members of this three-member club are Syria and Nicaragua. “Interestingly, Syria didn’t sign because it’s in the midst of a war; Nicaragua remained outside the agreement because it insists that the deal favours the rich countries, an argument contrary to the US claim,” he said. Pulling out from the deal means the second largest carbon emitter of the world, the US, will not adhere to the plan to reduce 26 percent to 28 percent of the greenhouse emission by 2025. “The US alone produces 15 percent of global carbon emissions. The plan to reduce emission was set in motion by the then President Obama following the Paris Summit,” Prof Riaz recalled. He said the claim by Donald Trump that the deal costing America ‘a fortune’ is incorrect.
To date, Prof Riaz said, the US contributed only $1 billion to the UN Green Fund, a third of its total commitment. A total of 194 countries signed the deal and raised $10.1 billion. Prof Riaz said the economic consequences of the deal, in terms of jobs, is yet to be properly assessed; but the Trump administration is claiming it to be ‘huge’. “The argument that it will save the coal industry in the United States is not supported by rigorous research. The energy industry is changing rapidly and the jobs in coal industry are unlikely to return,” he explained.
