China
shares the Mekong with six other countries and is the only one not a
member of the Mekong River Commission. The problem is upstream dams and
delicate negotiations for the equitable treatment of downstream farmers
and fishermen.
Then
there are India and Pakistan, perennial enemies, now nuclear
supercharged. They share the Indus and some of its tributaries. Thanks
to the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, they have never fought a water war
although there have been others. Now India is planning upstream
dams. The situation can only worsen if the sources in the Himalayas diminish with global warming.
How should humans respond to these environmental challenges? Should diffuse bodies deal with associated problems, and/or should there be a world environment court as a last resort against individualistic mavericks?
The
Paris Agreement deals with greenhouse-gas emissions
and continues to
function.
It has added new members, despite the US withdrawal, which, by the way, is not effective until November 2020, leaving open the
possibility of a newly elected president rescinding it.
The Montreal Protocol,
dating back to 1987, protected the depleting ozone layer through the
control of substances, chlorine and bromine, causing the problem.
The culprits hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were to
be phased out and replaced by hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The latter
lacking chlorine are safe in this regard.
Governor Jerry Brown is independently hosting the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco (Sept. 12-14) next month to "put the globe back on track to prevent dangerous climate change and realize the historic Paris Agreement."
Then there is the New York Declaration on Forests (2014) that pledges to halve the rate of deforestation by 2020 and to end it by 2030. It resulted from dialogue among governments, corporations and civil society following the UN Secretary-General's Climate Summit in New York.
Meanwhile,
China produces 20 percent of emissions and it will need to address the
consequences of its Belt and Road Initiative. However, an agreement between China and the US, the two largest polluters, could open the intriguing possibility of the US returning to the Paris accord.
Such diffuse bodies dealing with the myriad problems emanating from climate
change and the evident cooperation of different actors relegate an
out-of-sync Trump into a discordant minority. While the US remains a
hugely important party responsible for 18 percent of global emissions, a
hopeful sign is that other politicians in the country are clearly not
following President Trump's lead.
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