To: A one percent Tobin tax to abound the Green Fund and more projects, for example of Saharan climate engineering...
A one percent Tobin tax to finance the fight against climatic instability
A generalized Tobin tax of 1 % on all financial transactions represents huge sums of money, hundred billions of dollars a year which would be levied without hurting too many people and would be the best way to, at last regulate the Finance. It could be levield by a binding UNO resolution adopted by the General Assembly.
These sums of money could have diverse uses : They could be used, to participate in the debt paydown of States, to finance the energetic transition, for sustainable projects, to abound the Green Fund for the climate, to counter the effects of the climatic disorders and fight the causes of this instability, to finance works on Saharan climate engineering...
Why is this important?
Sahara is the largest arid desert in the world ; its recent progression, due to human action, is a blatant example of climatic change.
Saharan climate engineering is a set of pragmatic projects intended to locally and durably improve the Saharan climate. These are only parts of the solutions for a geoclimatic, socioeconomic readjustment of sustainable development. To have this desert becoming green again, even partially, is only one of its goal ; it is a tangible hope.
1) Projects undertaken
The Great Green Wall, 15 km wide and 7500 km long, is intended to stop the desertification of the Sahel. The project started in Senegal but is held up through lack of finance.
Sahara forest project with The Peace Canal : Starting from Aqaba, will bring water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea with increasing salinity along the route : vegetable production thanks to desalination, hydro and solar power production, green jobs. Norway and Qatar ( with pilot experimentation more than successful ) supporting the project.
The Toshka lakes, bypass from Lake Nasser and the New Valley Project will allow an increase of at least 10 % of the agricultural area of Egypt and will accommodate up to 3 millions persons.
Desertec : Will produce solar and wind power and will supply DC power to the Maghreb and to Europe. Siemens is investing in the project.
2) Projects waiting for feasibility studies :
Seawater Greenhouse, for arid coasts : desalination and market gardening...
Flooding the depressions of Qattara (Egypt) with Mediterranean water brought by canals. Some 2000 km2 of evaporation zone could be obtained ( the evaporation of water absorbs some heat ) ; allowing condensation by a number of solar updraft tower with vortex on artificial lagoons. Thus quantity of steam would be sent high in the atmosphère and would condense due to the cold.
This condensation could produce :
dew
clouds, resulting in less heat
rainfalls, therefore vegetation
Flooding of the Chotts, West of Gabes, in Tunisia and Algeria, thanks to canals and powerful pumps that could provide an enormous evaporation zone (9000 km2) with the same condensation effects thanks to a number of vortex towers. Hundreds of tousands of cubic meters of water from the Mediterranean Sea would be used a day and would thus act, even if in a limited way, against the rise of oceans. That would also be a stocking zone in saline ground for a number of pollutants from the Mediterranean Sea.
SaharaCenterCity : a new town in the depth of Sahara fit for a number of institutions and international events, a pole of socioeconomic development. This implies a lasting stabilisation of Libya and the bordering countries, wich is not obvious nowadays. This is a visionary concept, an international Brasilia.
If you agree with this Tobin tax being useful and with the developments it could finance, in particular in the Sahara, sign this petition and talk about it around you so as to launch a movement of opinion before the Conférence on the climate, COP 21 in Paris in December 2015.
We do not claim to propose a solution to all the problems of the world, but the multifactorial elements of response strategy in the current situation and to come.