Jola Ajibade (2008-2009) ‘s critique of The Cancun Accord[s] is published on Sahara Reporters
The Cancun Accord: A Manufacturing Of Disaster

Some have hailed the Cancun Accord as a leap in the right direction. I do not subscribe to such position. The outcome of the UN Climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, November 29 to December 10, is completely disheartening.

We expected an agreement that will be ambitious, binding and far reaching for emission reductions but what did we get? – Another extension of the Copenhagen loose talks on voluntary emissions with no penalty.  The Cancun Accord to my mind is nothing short of a disaster in the making; it is the height of political immorality on the part of world governments.  First, the fact the Accord did not lay a foundation for the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol or other new binding treaty for emission reduction foretells danger especially for countries like Tuvalu on the front lines of the climate crisis. The existing legally binding climate change treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, set mandatory targets which industrialized countries are supposed meet by 2012. But, many of these countries including Canada, US, Australia, and New Zealand, are yet to meet their respective targets while continuing to undermine processes that could ensure the continuity of Kyoto." More