Article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

“This of course reflects Trump administration policy, which counters any focus on climate at international meetings,” said a US researcher and former diplomat.

The Trump administration is under fire over its efforts to have any mention of the climate crisis removed from a scientific report, published this week, aimed at informing nations that are party to a global treaty designed to protect the Antarctic.

Details of the “diplomatic tensions” surrounding the report, which took place during a meeting in May with delegates from around the world focused on the Antarctic Treaty, were detailed by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) correspondent Jano Gibson.

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According to Gibson:

The report reveals that France took issue with the US’s suggestion not to use broad terms such as “climate change” and instead refer to “specific” environmental changes.

“France … expressed it had strong concern about the gradual disappearance of references to climate change in the work of the Committee [for Environmental Protection],” the report states.

“France emphasized that climate change was a reality affecting all countries, regardless of borders.

Claire Christian, executive director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, told ABC that there’s zero controversy within the scientific community that a changing climate due to global warming is having deep impacts on the Antarctic region.

“The evidence is clear: the Antarctic region is undergoing rapid climate change, and this is already having significant effects on planetary systems,” Christian said. “If we don’t reduce our carbon emissions rapidly, these effects will only become more severe and unpredictable.”

While a France warned that “refusing to even name climate change” would set “a dangerous precedent,” Evan Bloom, a former US diplomat and Antarctic researcher involved in international negotiations on the topic said the position taken by the US at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting was very much in keeping with the behavior and policies of President Donald Trump.

The US position, said Bloom, “shows how out of step the US is with most of the rest of the world on climate change. Yet, this of course reflects Trump administration policy, which counters any focus on climate at international meetings.”

Article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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