Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sosene Sopoaga has criticised demands for evidence that his country is suffering harm caused by anthropogenic climate change.
According to the Australian ABC;
Paris climate talks: Tuvalu PM Enele Sosene Sopoaga criticises demand for evidence of claims
Tuvalu’s prime minister says his country is being expected to provide unreasonably robust scientific evidence to prove it is a victim of climate change to qualify for international support.
Enele Sosene Sopoaga issued another stark warning to fellow negotiators at the Paris climate talks that without a binding deal to limit global warming, his tiny Pacific island nation could be wiped out.
He said the required evidence was hard to come by in a nation of only 12,000.
…
After a meeting with the president of the climate talks French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, Mr Sopoaga said climate change was a challenge for the whole world.
“I think there’s a moral challenge to people of the world,” he said.
“Are we going to allow this to happen to some of our fellow nations?
“If we can reach the planets and … the Moon, and we cannot save our own kinds, this is a shameful world.”
Mr Sopoaga said that the deck had been stacked against small countries, like his, which do not have enough delegates to attend the vast numbers of working groups happening at the conference.
Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-05/tuvalu-pm-criticises-demand-for-evidence-of-climate-change-claim/7004090
While we obviously sympathise with Mr. Sapoaga’s inability to finance flights to Paris for the entire population of Tuvalu, this isn’t the first small time small island nations in the Pacific have faced difficult questions about climate change.
When failed Kiribati climate refugee Ioane Teitiota was finally deported back to to Kiribati, the reporter who did the followup discovered the surprising fact that New Zealand is struggling to fill places in a citizenship lottery offered to residents of Kiribati. Upon being asked about this oddity, President Anote Tong of Kiribati explained that is because things aren’t desperate enough yet.
Having visited New Zealand, I can assure readers that life in New Zealand is probably quite enjoyable. The weather is a little cold for my taste, but the water of Lake Taupo, a vast inland lake which sits in the caldera of one of the world’s most active super volcanoes, was pleasantly warm when I went for a swim.
Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sosene Sopoaga has criticised demands for evidence that his country is suffering harm caused by anthropogenic climate change.
He is scared of Tuvalu missing out on western money if he admits the truth … that there is no scientific evidence that Tuvalua is suffering from a changing climate, no matter what is changing the climate.
He is dancing the ‘climate hustle’!
Tuvalu is considered ‘Ground Zero’ for Global Warming and global sea level rise. My question would be why is this sea level ‘rise’ so localised. Tuvalu has experienced an 8cm sea level ‘rise’ but why only here if this is a global issue. It is already part of our knowledge that water extraction will make the land subside, and this can be in metres and not cm. Places that have seen land subsidence because of man made changes to the local hydrology are Florida, the Nile Delta, the Mississippi Delta and any land not made out of rock where water extraction takes place on a large scale. The argument is being forced towards a single idea that the AGW and in this case sea level rise is the only story in town. There is now no such thing as land subsidence (either natural or human induced).
Land subsidence in the delta regions such as the Mississippi is mainly due to a combination of soil compaction and oxidative decomposition, as a result of channelizing the flow of the rivers which had previously built up and nourished the land.
Just sayin’.
Menicholas December 5, 2015 at 5:17 am
Land subsidence … is mainly due to a combination of soil compaction and oxidative decomposition, as a result of channelizing the flow of the rivers …Just sayin’.
Well yes. And not caused indirectly by the burning of coal and oil.
Nope.
I agree.
***surely Dr Koko Warner will verify!
3 Dec: news.com.au: Victoria Craw: Population of Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru already migrating due to effects of climate change
A survey of nearly 7000 people in more than 850 households in Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu, found nearly everyone there had been affecting by the rising sea levels, floods and drought due to climate change.
While nearly one quarter of people in Kiribati had already moved due to climate change, another 70 per cent said would look to migrate if the impact on their homes and country got any worse. Eight per cent of those in Tuvalu had already moved while 70 per cent said they would also consider moving, as did 35 per cent of those in Nauru.
***United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) expert Dr Koko Warner, who carried out the study, said while people often move from outer islands in towards the capital, this not a “durable solution” long term…
Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Enele Sosene Sopoaga said at the opening of the conference he believed no leader carried such a weight on their shoulders…
http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/population-of-tuvalu-kiribati-and-nauru-already-migrating-due-to-effects-of-climate-change/news-story/f90541a7704f43318dd87c4193896846
pat December 5, 2015 at 3:30 am
***surely Dr Koko Warner will verify!
“…..While nearly one quarter of people in Kiribati had already moved due to climate change,”
This is leading the witness. Whether it is encroachment of sea water or shortages of drinking water or lack of work and opportunities or all of these and other motivations, to just assert it is due to climate change doesn’t make it so. How has it been established that their reasons for leaving are due to climate change unless they have been told this is the reason?
The fact that no other reasons are given for the islanders predicament forces me to be sceptical of the claim that this is my fault and I must compensate these people for causing this. This is not the way to get assistance or even understanding.
I have to agree with the President. There is no robust evidence for human induced climate change anywhere. Why should he be forced to provide any?
Just make a computer model, just like the real scientists.
The sad thing is, many people will agree with the above.
Truly, we live in astonishing times.
Greenpeace and the Small Island States: Interview with Tuvalu Climate Negotiator Ian Fry
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6360
“Q. How did you, an Australian native, become Tuvalu’s lead climate negotiator?
A. I’ve been on the job for 11 years. I was working for Earth Negotiations Bulletin and Greenpeace before that. I met the prime minister of Tuvalu at a meeting and provided him with a briefing on climate change. He then invited me to come onto their delegation at [the 1997 climate negotiations in Kyoto, Japan]. It evolved from there. I now work full time for the Tuvalu government as an international environment advisor.
Q. How did Tuvalu decide to push for a target of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and atmospheric greenhouse gas levels to below 350 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide equivalent?
A. Within the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), we had commissioned work by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and we’ve done our own research on vulnerabilities based on work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It was clear that a global temperature rise above 2 degrees would be disastrous for Tuvalu. We were even saying well below 1.5 degrees. At 1.5 there are probabilities of sea-level rise that could be quite disastrous for Tuvalu. Well below 1.5 degrees relatively equates to 350 ppm.”
Move on then to the Potsdam Institute and an Aussie called Bill Hare, http://www.climateanalytics.org/
“CLIMATE ANALYTICS GmbH is a non-profit organization established in Potsdam and hosted at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) A major project carried out by CLIMATE ANALYTICS is the PREVENT-Project “Assessing and preventing dangerous climate change”. PREVENT’s aim is to provide policy and analytical support for delegations of developing countries, in particular the Least Developed Country Group (LDCs) and Small Island States (SIDS), in the ‘post-2012’ negotiations.”
Hare was a Lead Author for the IPCC’s Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change component of its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) and a Topic Leader on long term issues and Article of the UNFCCC in the Synthesis Report of the IPCC AR4. He has been a Visiting Scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research since 2002 whilst continuing to advise Greenpeace International on all aspects of climate change.
In fact until at least August 2008, and for all his time at Potsdam since 2002, he was Director of Climate Policy for Greenpeace. As shown at this link, he held this position at the time of AR4, of which he was a lead author and summary writer.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/greenpeace-urges-climate-speedup
27 August 2008
“Too much time is being wasted arguing about procedural details and restating historical positions and not enough real substance is being put on the table,”said Bill Hare, Director of Climate Policy at Greenpeace International. “This is the third round of talks since the two-year process was launched in Bali last year, and by now the deal that will be agreed at the end of 2009 should be taking shape.”
http://www.iisd.ca/climate/sb28/9june.htm: Both Hare and Fry in photos at the 28th Sessions of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies and Sessions of the AWGs 2-13 June 2008, Bonn, Germany. They have both been on the case a long time and were “witnesses” at the Aus. senate committee in 2000, “The Heat is On: Australia’s Greenhouse Future”
Another activist aquires a low lying island:
http://www.climatevulnerableforum.gov.mv/?page_id=52
“Speech for the Climate Vulnerable Forum” – Mark Lynas, (Former) Climate Adviser to the Maldives
“We are here today because we know what climate change means. For us, this is not a scientific abstraction. Here in the Maldives, the very integrity of the nation is being eroded, by a triple-whammy: rising ocean levels which swamp the islands, higher sea surface temperatures which kill the coral, and ocean acidification which dissolves the carbonate rocks the reefs are built from.”
Lynas was adviser to scuba diving former President Nasheed, who is now in jail in the Maldives for terrorism offences. http://maldivesindependent.com/feature-comment/the-petro-dictatorship-119332
The Maldives is currently the Group Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, but they are a bit out of favour with Lynas, because the the new government is searching for oil around the Maldives. He was planning a deal to turn the Maldives 100% solar panels.
http://maldivesindependent.com/environment/new-study-confirms-presence-of-oil-and-gas-116021
The Maldives really is a basket case and for the full monty on the current politics, check here:
https://tthomas061.wordpress.com
The charges against the deposed Nasheed were clearly trumped up, but he was on the scam for climate money anyway. The prosecution was handled, bizarrely, by Human Rights lawyer Cheri Blair, whose husband has something of a track record with dictators.
Coral atolls grow as sea level rises, unless you have a bunch of pesky humans trampling on them. The key here is those pesky humans. One USN Amphibious Ready Group could have all 12,000 of them moved out in about 9 hours. We could relocate them to someplace like Hong Kong, where 12,000 extra people would barely be noticed. Or we could move them to San Francisco, where there are an enormous number of people who blame all the ills in their life on somebody or something else. Again, they would fit right in.
Maybe Europe could use a few thousand in their suicidal mix of invitees…diversity, yo?
I’m not gonna suggest we take Tuvaluans here and put Iraqis there. That would be cruel. First, people from the warmth of Tuvalu would freeze here, and second, you would not know which way Mecca is in the middle of Pacific. Lets take the refugees here and leave Tuvaluans in their warm paradise.
Yeah, but…what about diversity?
And I am not so sure how much of a paradise it is these days. Parts of it are heavily polluted and short on resources…too many people, and no room.
But, the whole place is a few miles long and a couple hundred yards wide…that is nothing like my idea of paradise.
Being born and living one’s whole life in a place with no room and almost nothing to do and almost zero opportunity?
No thankee.
We must stop all fossil fuel powered transport to Tuvalu. It’s for the children.
If you wonder how off the climate activists are ..
“Tuvalu PM Criticises Demands for Climate Evidence”
If that isn’t more evidence that the hypothesis of man made global warming is a swindle, nothing is!
Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence, got nothing to do with too few inhabitants. High level stupidity and obviously a desperate plea for money, of course, in a dishonest fashion.
But then again, nothing about the man made global scam is honest ..
The rate things are going we in the whole of Europe will be queuing to get on a boat to New Zealand, not because of any climate change but because the rest of the world is intent on coming to dear ol Blighty and Europe. HELP.
Tuvalu is, according to evidence, growing. The PM of Tuvalu is, according to evidence, lying. The PM is the perfect example of the new normal as established in our post modern world: The alarmism of the claim is more important than the evidence of the claim.
A rather amateurish shakedown artist. What’s needed is a shakedown working group.
Well, he is only the top dog in a small pack.
Boss over 12,000 is not even the equivalent, constituency-wise, of a good sized HOA president here in some parts of Florida.
Strange how such a person somehow gains such world stature. His island is no closer to sea level than entire vast cities in other parts of the world.
Regardless of any theories of sea-level change, Tuvalu does not seem to be sinking into or rising from the ocean: any change is masked by the much larger variation during the course of a year[1]. Even Kiribati is barely a foot per century[2]. This sounds like some sort of real-estate scam, based on scaring beachfront landowners to sell cheap to international developers who will build marinas, hotels, airstrips, golf-courses and luxury resorts.
?w=640&h=227
[2]
There are reasons to be wary of building one’s home and one’s life on beachfront property, or anyplace with a few feet of sea level, but ocean rise ain’t one of them…not in the space of a person’s lifespan or the useful life of most buildings.
Coastal storm frequency and severity in places such as the Gulf coast of the US, or the Eastern coastline from Florida to New England, mean that long before the ocean inundates anyone’s home, any given property will be wrecked at least once and possibly many times by flooding and/or wind.
On Tuesday the NY Times had a big front-page story on how the Marshall Isl;ands were suffering from SLR. No SLR figures though, IIRC.
They (climate liars in general) keep repeating lies which have been long since debunked, as if they are uncontested facts.
Truly, they operate on the principle that a lie, repeated often enough, will morph into the truth.
Morphing into “belief” in enough people is unfortunately the same thing, functionally.
Sad but true.
Stephen Skinner – I doubt the study cos look who did it….the UN…and you can’t trust their word on ***anything!
5 Dec: 3news New Zealand: 1.5degC goal dealt blow in Paris
By Elise Scott
A push by vulnerable nations to limit global warming to 1.5degC has been dealt a blow with key scientific research blocked at major climate talks in Paris.
Tensions between developing nations escalated on Thursday (local time) when Saudi Arabia played a key role in blocking the conclusions of a two-year review into the adequacy of the agreed two-degree goal…
The block means crucial research won’t be submitted to the United Nations climate change summit and can’t be used as evidence to back the call for 1.5degC.
Pascal Girot, a member of the Costa Rica delegation, says the review is a critical link between science and policy and believes the negotiating process has politicised the science.
“Now we don’t have the scientific arguments to push forward an ambitious agreement,” he told AAP in Paris.
“It doesn’t bode well for substantiating the need for more investment in adaptation or even worse, for loss and damage.
“Because some will ask ‘where’s the evidence?’ and now the science has been blocked out of the negotiations.”…
***The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change also highlights the review’s importance on its website, saying the 1.5 degree goal would be discussed in Paris “based on the outcome of the review”…
http://www.3news.co.nz/world/15degc-goal-dealt-blow-in-paris-2015120512#axzz3tRwUgSYf
5 Dec: Bangkok Post: AFP: Climate pact ready, now comes the hard part
Despite being riddled with conflicting proposals on most key points, the draft drawn up over four years of tough talks is the skeleton of what has been described as the most complex and consequential global accord ever attempted…
“In the words of Nelson Mandela, it always seems impossible until it is done,” South African negotiator Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko said after the 48-page draft accord was adopted to loud applause at the event known as COP21…
More than 50 personalities committed to combating climate change, from actor Sean Penn to US billionaire Michael Bloomberg and Chinese internet tycoon Jack Ma, gathered to inspire the UN conference at Le Bourget on the northern outskirts of Paris.
“Perhaps this is the most exciting time in human history,” Penn told a special event at the conference.
“Those illusions of having too many difficult choices have always created chaos. Now we live in a time where there are no choices. We have certainty. The days of dreams have given way to the days of doing.”….
Any deal emerging from Paris is likely to fall far short of what is needed to cap global warming at 2.0 degrees Celsius or below.
The key, analysts say, will be agreement on a review every five years at which nations’ commitments may be strengthened, a so-called ratcheting-up mechanism.
There is still no agreement on fundamental issues: how fast and how far to slash greenhouse gas emissions; who shoulders most of the burden and, critically, who should pay…
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/785821/draft-climate-deal-co
Let us examine the robust “logic” of the Tuvalu PM:
“I think there’s a moral challenge to people of the world,” he said.
Appeal to shame. Irrational.
“Are we going to allow this to happen to some of our fellow nations?
Appeal to shame. Irrational.
“If we can reach the planets and … the Moon, and we cannot save our own kinds, this is a shameful world.”
Starts off as False Analogy, but then reverts back to Appeal to Shame. Both confused and irrational.
What, no crocodile tears? I’m disappointed. Maybe later on, as emotions really get ramped up.
More popcorn.
The governor of Washington State is using similar logical fallacies in an attempt to create a gigantic carbon tax. He says the recent drought and record wildfires are directly caused by greenhouse gases, without presenting any evidence. Then of course, he’s flying to Paris. Hypocrite.
Reuters says its now 42-page draft text:
5 Dec: Reuters: U.N. climate talks approve draft text, many disputes remain
(Reporting by Alister Doyle, Bate Felix, Barbara Lewis; Editing by Toby Chopra)
The senior government officials signed off on the draft text, running to 42 pages, minutes before a midday (1100 GMT) deadline after working through the night.
The idea is that the text lays out options, ranging from a long-term goal for slowing climate change to rising climate finance for developing nations, that can be resolved by ministers next week at talks lasting until Friday.
Many nations said the draft, the result of four years of work since the process was launched in Durban in 2011, left too many issues unresolved.
“We had hoped that our work would be further advanced,” said Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa, who speaks on behalf of more than 130 developing nations.
“We call on our partners to listen to our concerns as we work together to find solutions.”…
https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/30285185/u-n-climate-talks-approve-draft-text-many-disputes-remain/
Maybe Obama could fly in and do a fundraiser.
And hopefully stay there and never come back
Tom Judd suggests:
Might could. What are the golf courses on Tuvalu like?
I am completely taken by how the climeo-politico actions of Tuvalu and Maldives resemble those of the “European Duchy of Grand Fenwick” in Leonard Wibberley’s 1955 novel, The Mouse That Roared. Please do follow that link and skim the ‘Plot’ section! It is uncanny!! If there is a playbook for such things, we have found it.
Tiny country hatches plot to declare war on superpowers to be defeated and achieve international ‘victim’ status: CHECK.
Country stages ‘hostile’ invasion of United States intending to surrender, but through a series of insane slapstick antics finds itself in possession of a prototype Global Doomsday Bomb (AGW sea rise) and captures it for itself: CHECK
With the ‘weapon’ securely locked in its vault, the Duchy proceeds to use this threat to extort money and power from developed nations: CHECK
The so-called Doomsday Bomb is discovered to be a ‘dud’: CHECK
The Duchy decides to keep this fact to itself, to further the cause of, cough cough, world peace: CHECK
Reality is stranger than fiction.
Since CAGW and doomsday bombs are both works of fiction, the jury may still be out on that one.
But, I tend to agree.
Guess I will have to stop saying “You cannot write this crap! I dare you to try.”
Shall we also compensate them for the potential of the Super Volcano erupting again?
The Guardian was saying farewell to Tuvalu fourteen years ago. Another failed prediction. http://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0%2C3604%2C582445%2C00.html
Who is asking for climate change evidence? I thought all the people at the COP21 were true believers. They wouldn’t ask for evidence.
The individual countries applying for climate
extortion moneyaid have to show they are “victims” of climate change. You know, like people who went through Sandy were “victims” of “climate change”. I mean sheesh, how hard can that be? It’s not like their threshold of “proof” is very high. It’s like he thought they’d just hand them the dough, no questions asked. Sheesh.Evidence, we don’t need no stinking evidence.
Why should I provide you the evidence when your aim is to find something wrong with it? No wait….
h/t Phil Jones
China is building islands. Why doesn’t he ask them to dump some of that sand on Tuvalu?
Sand will not stand in one place, waves will take it and make a river of it. You need planning to control the flow. Even a wave braker could be detrimental as it can increase net loss of sand somewhere.
But if you are careful, the next question is – what does it cost? Is it feasible?
I forgot the sarc tag.
But since CAGW is built on sand, sand should work fine. /sarc
Besides, when talking about CAGW, since when has cost and feasibility been a consideration?
Some information about Kiribati migration to New Zealand.
http://presbyterian.org.nz/sites/default/files/gmo/kiribati/Kiribati_migration_to_New_Zealand.pd
Reading that report I was *appalled* by the way the alarmists have put a whole people in fear.