8. Outlook on Climate and Development Policies (original) (raw)

Most of the developing world has been seeing flexible instruments as a pretext for industrialized nations to go on burning the earth's fossil fuel reserves while denying the developing world the benefits the industrialized countries have enjoyed until now. Others do not see any need at all for climate policy and think it diverts interest from development matters. The fact is that there are still doubts on the magnitude of the damage caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, while the dangers of poverty, social inequity and pollution are proved daily. However, there is a high degree of probability that today's developing countries will suffer most from climate change. The tropics are highly affected by disastrous climatic irregularities, like hurricanes, floods and droughts that are likely to grow in number and magnitude. Equity is an issue as well for the present and future distribution of emission rights. Development indicators being positively linked to GHG emissions, ...