This response will explain the notions of ‘differential responsibility’ and ‘differential vulnerability’ and how these concepts provide insight into the challenges of achieving sustainable development in the contemporary period. The challenges include the issue of the BRIC countries and achieving consensus.
The term ‘differential responsibility’ is linked to the concept of common but differentiated responsibilities. This was enshrined as Principle 7 of the Rio Declaration at the first Rio Earth Summit in 1992. This concept has to do with the who should be responsible for green house gas emissions (GHGs). ‘Differential Responsibility’ states that some nations will carry a greater share of the burden of responsibility than others. Global …show more content…
The first challenge that the concept of ‘differentiated responsibility’ has shed light on is the emergence of the BRIC countries. The BRIC countries are Brazil, Russia, India and China. The issue with the BRIC countries is that in Paris Agreement and the Kyoto protocol they are considered apart of the non-annex countries. This means that they are under little to no obligation to address their GHG emissions, despite the fact that in recent years they have become some of the highest emitters of GHG (Clémençon,2016,5). A lot of the Annex (developed, industrialized countries) have an issue with this, in that they are made to be responsible for a large share of the emissions and the BRIC countries do not share that same responsibility. If one was to look at gross annual emissions, then the BRIC countries would be the highest emitters. The notion of ‘differential responsibility’ as it has been applied to climate change, has not taken into consideration that capabilities of responsibility adjust over time. The second challenge these concepts shed light on is the issue of consensus. In many of these environmental protocols and conventions, it is hard to illicit consensus among all parties. Developing and developed countries have a hard time agreeing with who should be responsible and what
The term ‘differential responsibility’ is linked to the concept of common but differentiated responsibilities. This was enshrined as Principle 7 of the Rio Declaration at the first Rio Earth Summit in 1992. This concept has to do with the who should be responsible for green house gas emissions (GHGs). ‘Differential Responsibility’ states that some nations will carry a greater share of the burden of responsibility than others. Global …show more content…
The first challenge that the concept of ‘differentiated responsibility’ has shed light on is the emergence of the BRIC countries. The BRIC countries are Brazil, Russia, India and China. The issue with the BRIC countries is that in Paris Agreement and the Kyoto protocol they are considered apart of the non-annex countries. This means that they are under little to no obligation to address their GHG emissions, despite the fact that in recent years they have become some of the highest emitters of GHG (Clémençon,2016,5). A lot of the Annex (developed, industrialized countries) have an issue with this, in that they are made to be responsible for a large share of the emissions and the BRIC countries do not share that same responsibility. If one was to look at gross annual emissions, then the BRIC countries would be the highest emitters. The notion of ‘differential responsibility’ as it has been applied to climate change, has not taken into consideration that capabilities of responsibility adjust over time. The second challenge these concepts shed light on is the issue of consensus. In many of these environmental protocols and conventions, it is hard to illicit consensus among all parties. Developing and developed countries have a hard time agreeing with who should be responsible and what