PresidentDonald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from dozens of international organisations, conventions and treaties — including the world’s primary global treaty for coordinating international responses to climate change — has drawn sharp criticism from scientists, policy experts and civil society leaders worldwide. In apresidential memorandumissued on 7 January, Trump directed the withdrawal of the US from 66 international organisations that the White House said “no longer serve American interests”. The memorandum outlined the US’s intention to once again withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the cornerstone global treaty to combat climate change, which has been signed by 197 countries.
It also ordered the US to exit major science and conservation bodies including theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), theIntergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services(IPBES) and theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN), describing them as “contrary to the interests of the United States”. Once the withdrawal from the UNFCCC takes effect one year after signing, the US will be the only country in the world not participating in the treaty. According to the White House, the memorandum instructs all executive departments and agencies to cease participation in and funding for 35 United Nations organisations and 31 UN-affiliated entities deemed to operate against US national interests, security, economic prosperity or sovereignty.
“These withdrawals will end American taxpayer funding and involvement in entities that advance globalist agendas over US priorities, or that address important issues inefficiently or ineffectively,” the White House statement said. The US was instrumental in creating both the convention and the Paris Agreement “because they are entirely in its national interest”, notedSimon Stiell, the executive secretary of the UNFCCC. “While all other nations are stepping forward together, this latest step back from global leadership, climate cooperation and science can only harm the US economy, jobs and living standards,” Stiell said in a statement.
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“It is a colossal own goal that will leave the United States less secure and less prosperous.” “Collective global action remains the only viable path to securing a livable future,” Cleetus said, warning that withdrawal would further isolate the US, erode its international credibility and expose Americans to greater climate-related health, economic and environmental risks. The US withdrawal from the UNFCCC was a strategic blunder, said David Widawsky, the director of the World Resources Institute’s US programme.
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