At least corporations and governments usually promise to do good things for the environment, even when they don't follow through. But the recent 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Doha, Qatar didn't even bother doing that. The nations attending just out and out refused to enact trade restrictions to protect from extinction the Atlantic bluefin tuna, six shark species and 31 types of coral (including red coral, pictured above), all of them crucial or keystone species in the waters that humans as well as other life depend on.
This group has protected thousands of species in the past. But this time..."This failure is not because negotiators weren't doing their job," says Andrew Rosenberg, an adviser to President Obama's ocean policy task force. "It's because short-term economic interests dominated this conference. Some nations just could not give up the last remaining money to be made on tuna and shark fin soup."
And the nations involved were hardly shy about it. In the forefront of blocking restrictions were the Japanese, who "hosted dinner at the Japanese embassy, and served blue tuna the night before the vote."
If any evidence were needed to support James Lovelock's just-published lament that "I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle as complex a situation as climate change."
This group has protected thousands of species in the past. But this time..."This failure is not because negotiators weren't doing their job," says Andrew Rosenberg, an adviser to President Obama's ocean policy task force. "It's because short-term economic interests dominated this conference. Some nations just could not give up the last remaining money to be made on tuna and shark fin soup."
And the nations involved were hardly shy about it. In the forefront of blocking restrictions were the Japanese, who "hosted dinner at the Japanese embassy, and served blue tuna the night before the vote."
If any evidence were needed to support James Lovelock's just-published lament that "I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle as complex a situation as climate change."
No comments:
Post a Comment