Climate change: playing ball?

"Tackling climate change calls for global teamwork, but some countries have been less-than-perfect partners," writes The New Scientist, referring to a Climate Cooperation Index produced by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich that compares the cooperative behaviour of countries within the international climate change regime.

It provides an interesting look at the drivers -- different political systems, poverty, and the cost of climate change adaptation -- forcing a government to cooperate with international climate policy. Two indicators measure whether and how fast countries have committed to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. Three additional indicators quantify how effectively measures have been implemented in-line with these agreements: reporting, financial contributions, and development of per capita CO2 emissions in relation to the per capita gross domestic product of each country.

Who is not cooperating? Click here to see a map.

Results show that:

• Richer, more reliable? Developed countries with emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol ratified the protocol more often and faster, submitted their report faster, and were more reliable when paying their annual financial dues to the UNFCCC.
• Reasons for concern: Countries that have experienced an increase in the variability of their climate are generally better at cooperating.
• Poorer, but cleaner: Developing countries are evaluated more positively than developed countries in terms of CO2 emissions.
• The culprits: The following large countries are ranked according their level of cooperation in ascending order: the United States, Australia, Russia, Canada, Brazil, China, India, South Africa, and large European countries.
• Unlikely lads? At the top of the list are Latvia, Micronesia and Slovakia -– nations which have both cut their emissions and submitted their paperwork.
• The dunces: The least cooperative countries are Iraq, Brunei, Andorra and Somalia, which have not inked climate agreements and also failed in other areas.

Climate and conflict

It is not surprising that the effects of global warming will interact with political and socio-economic problems. The Climate Cooperation Index shows that there is a strong correlation between insecurity and the inability to adapt to climate change.  Future environmental changes might exacerbate existing conflicts.

• Violent conflicts are a frequent feature in states where weak steering and problem-solving capacities already predominate, thus the socio-political effects of environmental degradation are likely to have more severe consequences.
• The effects of climate change will be more profound and destabilising in poor countries than more developed states. Climate change will have tangible economic costs for such countries, including drops in agricultural yields, extreme weather events and migratory movements, all of which can impede economic development. Climate change thus could reinforce obstacles to development and heighten poverty, thereby increasing the risk of violent conflict.
• Many of the least cooperative countries on the index are the world's most densely populated, and located in coastal areas, making them vulnerable to rising sea levels and increased frequency and strength of storm systems. A recent study from the International Institute for Environment and Development found that one-tenth of the world's population -- some 634 million people -- live in coastal areas between zero and ten metres above sea level. In countries and regions with high population growth and density as well as poverty, climate change could exacerbate resource scarcity and thus heighten the risk of conflict.