You can decide to boycott the Copenhagen Accord -- but that comes at
a price. For Bolivia, that's $3 million; for Ecuador, it's $2.5
million.
Bolivia emerged as one of the most vociferous critics of the U.S.-
brokered climate deal last December, arguing that the political deal
aimed at establishing a global trading system for greenhouse gas
emissions amounted to an assault by capitalist countries on poor ones.
Bolivian president Evo Morales has organized his own climate
conference, which will take place later this month.
Ecuador, for its part, submitted a letter on Jan. 31 stating that it
"will not join" the agreement, unlike 122 other countries who have
either signed on or have pledged to endorse it.
Both nations were in line for funding under the Obama
administration's Global Climate Change initiative. The State
Department's congressional budget justification for fiscal year 2010
included a request for $3 million for Bolivia and $2.5 million,
according to administration officials, but Congress pared down the
$373 million for U.S. AID climate change assistance programs to
$305.7 million.
After reassessing the budget, State has decided to deny both Bolivia
and Ecuador climate assistance.
Since all these funding decisions are subject to congressional
concurrence, the process is not complete, but it clearly reflects
administration policy.
"There's funding that was agreed to as part of the Copenhagen
Accord, and as a general matter, the U.S. is going to use its funds
to go to countries that have indicated an interest to be part of the
Accord," said U.S. special climate envoy Todd Stern in an interview.
He added this policy test was "not categorical," so some nations
that declined to sign on could still obtain circumstances.
But David Waskow, climate change program director for Oxfam America,
challenged Stern's reasoning.
"No one can question that poor people in Bolivia and Ecuador are
extremely vulnerable to climate change impacts. We should be making
these decisions based on the merits of which communities need our
support, not some other factors," Waskow said.
"If you want to build confidence and trust among developing
countries, this would not be the way to do it, especially in light
of the fact that we haven't yet passed a climate change bill."Washington Post
