ANALYSIS-Nicaragua climate politics in hot water over canal plan
▻http://af.reuters.com/article/africaTech/idAFL5N1NC4S4
Shaking off its climate change “pariah” status alongside the United States and war-torn Syria, Central American nation Nicaragua took the plunge and joined the Paris Agreement to tackle global warming before U.N. climate talks began on Monday.
But environmentalists say Nicaragua’s lecturing of big polluters and ambitious renewable energy goals contrast with its slack environmental protection and a controversial plan to carve out a $50 billion Chinese-backed shipping canal from coast to coast with potentially severe impacts.
“The government talks a lot about respect for ‘Mother Earth’ and care of the environment. But that is just political rhetoric - in practice, the government is too lenient on environmental contamination,” said Jorge Huete-Pérez, University of Central America professor and vice president of Nicaragua’s Academy of Sciences.
In 2015, Nicaragua was the only one of about 195 countries to reject outright the Paris deal, which it deemed too weak to keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, as well as unfair for holding poorer nations to account in the same way as developed countries.
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The decision by President Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla leader, to join the Paris Agreement could help funnel more cash into green energy and other development projects in Nicaragua which once received subsidised Venezuelan oil.
Lauded by the World Bank as a “renewable energy paradise”, Nicaragua generates over 50 percent of its power from geothermal, wind and other clean sources, with plans to reach 90 percent.
Raul Delgado, lead climate change specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank, said joining the Paris accord could open the door for Nicaragua to access money from the Green Climate Fund and other international pots. “It’s a good time for them to join,” he added.
Some said the timing fits with the expected appointment next year of Nicaragua’s chief climate negotiator Paul Oquist to the influential co-chair position at the multi-billion-dollar Green Climate Fund, where he is now an alternate board member.
Je ne me prononce pas sur le bien-fondé des contestations écologiques, mais une chose est sûre, les opposants écologistes à un canal chinois en Amérique centrale ne devraient pas avoir trop de mal à trouver des financements…