A critical discourse analysis of english media texts on climate change

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  LƯU THỊ KIM NHUNG A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH MEDIA TEXTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE A thesis submitted to the University of Languages and International Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Field: English Linguistics Code: 62 22 15 01 Hanoi, 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  LƯU THỊ KIM NHUNG A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH MEDIA TEXTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE A thesis submitted to the University of Languages and International Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Field: English Linguistics Code: 62 22 15 01 Supervisors: Ha Cam Tam, Ph.D Tran Xuan Diep, Asso Prof Ph.D Hanoi, 2016 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others The copyright of this thesis rests with the author Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party Hanoi, 18th May, 2016 Signature Luu Thi Kim Nhung i Abstract This study critically analyzed how the power relation between the developed and developing countries as well as the ideologies about these countries‘ responsibilities for climate change were discursively constructed in The Independent and The New York Times‟ coverage of the Conferences of the Parties to the UNFCCC between 2004 and 2013 The method of analysis was a qualitative critical discourse analysis with the support of corpus techniques The findings from the study showed that although the altering but consistent ideologies were struggling with each other, they were all important Three main ideologies were decoded in response to the research questions First, both unity and conflict existed in the power relation between the developed and developing countries at the global climate conferences, with the heavier weight on the conflict Second, the developed countries seemed reluctant and indifferent towards their responsibility for climate change Third, the developing countries were required to take responsibility for climate change due to their rapid growth but they still demanded aid from the developed countries Consequently, no consensus could be reached on a common framework for climate change, and the lengthy process of global climate conferences yielded nothing but confusion and delayed action The linguistic features of lexical choice, lexical relation, metaphor, passivization, nominalization and modality were found ideologically invested in the newspapers‘ portrayal of the power relation and ideologies Also, the ideologies and the language features that conveyed these ideologies were influenced by the two media outlets‘ political commitments, news values, news agenda, and the socio-economic and historical background that embedded the discourse All in all, the media bolstered the asymmetrical power nexus and the ideologies about the responsibilities for climate change in the interest of the developed nations ii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I am especially indebted to my supervisors, Doctor Ha Cam Tam and Associate Professor Tran Xuan Diep, for their challenging questions, immeasurable guidance and support through every stage of my PhD journey so far I really appreciate their astute advice, kind encouragement and insightful feedback on my work I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Professor Nguyen Hoa, Professor Hoang Van Van, Associate Professor Le Hung Tien, Professor Nguyen Quang, who, in one way or another, have inspired me into the field of linguistics in general and critical discourse analysis in particular; to Doctor Huynh Anh Tuan, Associate Professor Ngo Huu Hoang, Associate Professor Nguyen Van Do, and numerous other lecturers at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their immensely helpful guidance and support during my study I would also like to thank the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, and all its staff members for their constant supply of information and advice on stages of my study; my fellow graduate students who have built such a pleasant community to be part of I am really grateful to my colleagues at Faculty of English in particular, at Hanoi National University of Education in general, for supporting me throughout my study My final but definitely not least thanks go to my beloved big family for their unconditional support all along the way I am particularly indebted to my late father for his absolute confidence in my learning capacity and my devoted mother for guiding me into this field of study since my very early years in life A special thank goes to my husband for showing his continuing concern during my studies and beyond Ultimately, a most loving thank to my son and daughter for their always being proud of their mom, and for always being there to remind me of the real significance in life iii List of Tables and Figures Table 2.1 Time frame for data collection 51 Table 2.2 Adjectival collocates of the nodewords ―countries,‖ ―nations,‖ and ―states‖ .53 Table 2.3 Collocation profile of the nodewords ―developed countries‖ in The Independent corpus 55 Table 2.4 Part of the concordance lines for the nodewords ―developing countries‖ in The Independent corpus 57 Table 2.5 Elements in the research design .64 Table Summary of language features in Chapter 94 Table Summary of language features in Chapter 124 Table Summary of language features in Chapter .142 Figure Discourse as text, interaction and context (Fairclough, 1989) 32 Figure Analytical procedure 65 Figure Total tokens in the study corpora 68 iv List of Abbreviations Abbreviation Meaning CDA critical discourse analysis COP Conference of the Parties DHA Discourse-Historical Approach EU European Union IC The Independent corpus IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development NYTC The New York Times corpus UN FCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change v CONTENTS Declaration i Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii List of Tables and Figures iv List of Abbreviations v CONTENTS .vi INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale for the study Aim and objectives of the study 3 Research questions 4 Significance of the study Contextual background Social context Discursive practices 11 Methodological considerations .13 Scope of the study 14 Structure of the thesis 15 CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 17 1.1 Critical Discourse Analysis 17 1.1.1 Basic notions in CDA .18 1.1.2 Major tenets in CDA 23 1.1.3 CDA as a Conceptual Framework and Methodology 26 1.1.4 Critiques of CDA .34 1.2 Corpus techniques in CDA 35 1.3 Previous research on climate change discourse 37 1.3.1 Content analysis of media discourse on global warming and/or climate change 37 vi 1.3.2 Discourse analysis of media discourse on global warming and/or climate change 38 1.3.3 CDA of media discourse on global warming and/or climate change 39 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 48 2.1 Research questions 48 2.2 The study corpora 48 2.2.1 The sources .48 2.2.2 Corpus compilation 50 2.3 Analytical framework 51 2.3.1 Corpus tools used in this study 52 2.3.2 Fairclough‘s Dialectical-Relational analytical framework adopted in this study 58 CHAPTER POWER RELATION .67 3.1 Newsworthiness of the COPs in The Independent and The New York Times .68 3.2 The contextual background 69 3.3 The unity discourse .71 3.4 The conflict discourse 75 3.4.1 The conflict between the developed and developing countries .76 3.4.2 The conflict among the developed, developing, and small countries 90 CHAPTER THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES’ RESPONSIBILITY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE .96 4.1 The developed countries‘ responsibility for climate change 98 4.2 The developed countries‘ responsibility for climate change is a possibility, not a reality .105 4.3 The developed countries‘ attitudes towards their responsibility .107 CHAPTER THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES’ RESPONSIBILITY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE 126 5.1 The developing countries‘ responsibility for climate change 127 5.2 The developing countries‘ attitudes towards their responsibility .134 5.3 The developing countries‘ demands 137 vii CONCLUSION 143 Recapitulation .143 Implications 151 2.1 Theoretical implications 151 2.2 Methodological implications .153 2.3 Practical implications 154 2.3.1 For the media 154 2.3.2 For education 156 Limitations 156 Suggestions for further research 157 REFERENCES 160 APPENDIX CLXXII viii cuts and contribute hard cash in adaptation funding to smaller developing countries (05 December 2013) 2.7 From the concordances of the node “rich and poor’ countries in The Independent corpus Divide and conflict - Rich and poor nations remain divided over the carbon cuts required and the funding that developing countries need to help them cope with global warming (Dec 6, 2009) - The issue of finance also remains a major sticking point, with Mr Soros warning the gap between rich and poor countries on providing money could "wreck" the conference (Dec 10, 2009) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the deal was the only one that could be reached after the summit had revealed deep rifts between rich and poor countries, and within those two blocs themselves (Dec 12, 2009) - With its [the Kyoto Protocol‘s] strict definitions of haves and have-nots, developed and developing, the divisions between rich and poor enshrined in the 1997 treaty are almost as rigid as those between the West and the Eastern bloc in the Cold War (Dec 14, 2009) - So Kyoto's two big power blocs – rich and poor – are beginning to break down here in Copenhagen (Dec 14, 2009) - He [Prime Minister Gordon Brown] will tonight begin an exhausting round of one-to-one meetings with other leaders in an attempt to narrow differences between rich and poor nations (Dec 15, 2009) - Pressure builds to overcome deadlock between rich and poor nations (Dec 20, 2009) - For UN chief Ban Ki-moon and others, the deal at least is the first to combine rich and poor nations in a single framework for emissions pledges (Dec 29, 2009) - Last year's talks were dominated by clashes between rich and poor countries, particularly over the issue of what to about the existing Kyoto protocol which commits developed countries - but crucially not the US - to cutting emissions (Nov 24, 2010) - But continuing tensions between rich and poor countries, along with the failure of the US to lead by example, make the chances of an agreement remote (Nov 28, 2010) CCII - The increasingly polarised dispute between rich and poor nations threatens the talks with the same impasse that led to the breakdown of the previous UN climate conference in Copenhagen last December (Dec 8, 2010) - Here you have 194 countries all with vastly different domestic agendas and pressures, all with widely-diverging self-interests, who might have trouble agreeing on the colour of an orange, and you're asking them to shelve all that and sing from the same, vastly complicated song sheet It is barely conceivable that it can be done at all, and in Copenhagen last year, essentially because of an argument between rich and poor countries about who should take on what, it fell apart (Dec 17, 2010) - The dispute over Kyoto, essentially an argument between rich and poor countries about who does what to combat global warming, brought the 2009 Copenhagen conference to within a whisker of complete breakdown (Nov 26, 2011) The diminishing international cooperation in climate politics - The UN talks in Bali, which end on Friday, ran into problems yesterday when delegates failed to agree on a plan to promote trade in "green goods", such as wind turbines and solar panels, between rich and poor countries (Dec 10, 2007) - On Thursday and Friday, the leaders of rich and poor nations descended and the main plenary hall became a sea of rhetoric The conference became a mess of hastily arranged and cancelled press conferences … But it was not what anyone had hoped for (Dec 20, 2009) This was a seemingly intractable argument between some rich and poor countries over renewing the Kyoto protocol, which runs out at the end of 2012, and which commits rich industrialised countries to make legally binding cuts to their emissions, while committing the poorer developing nations to nothing (Dec 12, 2010) Several issues need to be resolved by then, including how to spread the burden of emissions cuts between rich and poor countries That is unlikely to be decided in the Qatari capital of Doha, where negotiators will focus on extending the Kyoto Protocol, an emissions deal for industrialised countries, and trying to raise billions of pounds to help developing countries adapt to a shifting climate (Nov 26, 2012) - - 2.8 From the concordances of the node “rich and poor” countries in The New York Times corpus Divide and conflict - Mr Clinton said that, given the impasse over global targets for emissions, countries might better to consider specific, smaller initiatives to advance and disseminate CCIII - - - - - - technologies that could greatly reduce emissions in both rich and poor countries (Dec 10, 2005) He outlined how climate-driven disruption of resources like food, water and land had the potential for disastrous effects on world stability, including the loss of islands and coastal communities to flooding, mass migration leading to increased tensions between rich and poor countries, and a rise in disease and malnutrition (Dec 11, 2007) Now, a 16-member board of representatives from rich and poor countries will oversee the [adaptation] fund (Dec 13, 2007) According to a recent analysis led by economists at the Electric Power Research Institute, if rich and poor countries not together divert from ''business as usual,'' the concentration by 2040 could exceed 450 parts per million, a threshold that many scientists say could set in motion harmful changes for centuries to come (Dec 16, 2007) Yet it was the gulf between rich and poor nations, not the science of global warming, that dominated talks here on Tuesday as delegates fretted about different pieces of draft language for a new climate treaty circulating in the halls (Dec 9, 2009) He [Mr Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International] sees his role as bridging the longstanding divides between North and South, rich and poor, green and black (Dec 7, 2011) Delegates this time have three years‘ planning time to fashion a new treaty, but the hugely difficult issues of national sovereignty, compliance verification and equity between rich and poor nations will not easily be resolved, no matter how much time is available (Nov 26, 2012) Although the divide between rich and poor nations has bedeviled international climate talks for two decades, the debate over how to address the disproportionate effects has steadily gained momentum (Nov 16, 2013) - Rich and poor countries are at odds over damages for disaster losses The United Nations climate talks here are bogging down over the old divide between rich and poor nations on the question of who should pay when climate-related disaster strikes, with developing nations staging a symbolic walkout early Wednesday in protest at what they consider inadequate financial support from wealthy countries (Nov 20, 2013) - He [Xie Zhenhua, China‘s chief climate negotiator] reaffirmed the principle of separate responsibilities for rich and poor countries, but he also signaled that China would work toward a treaty that provided benefits to all parties, rather than punishes one group of nations to reward others (Nov 21, 2013) The developed world’s reluctance and resistance CCIV - - And the United States by far the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases -continues to say that emissions targets or requirements would stunt economic growth in both rich and poor nations (The New York Times, 04 December, 2005) Disagreements exist across a wide range of issues and between numerous blocs of countries but the United States has come under especially strong criticism here by countries rich and poor and by its own domestic critics (Dec 14, 2007) 2.9 From the concordances of the node “rich countries” in The Independent corpus The rich countries’, especially the UK and the US, responsibility - It [The U.K Government] wants one [a workable international agreement] that involves the US government, which refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol committing 40 rich nations to cutting their carbon emissions (28 November 2005) - Britain, as the first industrialising country, contributed disproportionately to existing CO2 concentrations and therefore has a moral responsibility to take the lead with other rich countries before expecting developing countries to their share (15 November 2006) - If a treaty is to be agreed there, enormous progress will have to be made from last week's talks, with rich countries agreeing to cut emissions of greenhouses gases by some 40 per cent by 2020 and poor ones undertaking at least to limit the growth of their pollution (14 December 2008) - Behind developing countries' objections lies the fear that the rich countries want to away in the ultimate agreement with the existing climate-change treaty, the Kyoto Protocol They are attached to Kyoto as it commits the rich countries to make legally binding cuts in their greenhouse has emissions, while committing them to nothing (17 December 2009) - And rich countries should provide funds for developing nations to adapt to climate change and low-carbon growth [according to Lord Prescott, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's rapporteur on climate change] (25 November 2010) - The 18th annual climate change talks in Doha achieved nothing The advertised ―historic agreement‖ under which rich nations conceded that they should provide financial aid to poorer countries struggling to cope with the damaging effects of climate change just ended in more procrastination (21 December 2012) CCV - Rich countries can protect their citizens with flood defences, insurance and social welfare programmes But when climate disaster strikes the central Philippines or the Horn of Africa, it can destroy overnight the assets and the hopes of people living on the margins of existence – people who, unlike the citizens of rich countries, bear no responsibility for the climate crisis (18 November 2013) - In office, one of his [Australian ambassador‘s] first acts was to slash A$4.5bn (£2.6bn) from the foreign aid budget and abolish the government‘s international development agency – sending ―a blunt signal … that Australia is a spoilt and selfish country that‘s indifferent to the moral obligations of the richest nations to the poorest‖, as Mark Baker, editor-at-large of Melbourne‘s The Age newspaper, wrote (18 November 2013) 2.10 From the concordances of the node “rich countries” in The New York Times corpus The rich world’s responsibility - US also plans to press for commitments by rich countries to spend more to refine and deploy nonpolluting energy technologies, including systems for capturing carbon dioxide emitted by power plants, and for all countries to change trade and tariff policies to speed the diffusion of such technologies to places where they are needed most, like China (3 Dec 2007) - The adaptation fund is to be maintained using a percent tax on transactions in the Clean Development Mechanism, under which rich nations receive carbon credits for investing in sustainable projects in developing countries (13 Dec 2007) - An additional $10 billion to $20 billion would come from taxes on fuels used in aviation and shipping The rest, $25bn to $35bn, would be loans and grants from rich nations to poorer ones (9 Dec 2009) - The urgent question remains how much wealthy countries, which built their economies by burning fossil fuels, are willing to for poorer ones that face the climatic consequences Mindful that rich countries are hamstrung by deficits and tight, Mr Soros said he had decided to wade into the debate on global warming (11 Dec 2009) - The outline [a six-page informal outline of a new climate agreement] calls for wealthy nations to commit themselves to sharp reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions in the next decade, and for all nations to seek jointly to nearly eliminate the emissions by 2050 (12 Dec 2009) CCVI - What really is at play here are politics on the broadest scale, the relations among Europe, the U.S., Canada, Japan and three rapidly rising economic powers, China, India and Brazil Those relations, in turn, are driven by each country‘s domestic politics and the strains the global financial crisis had put on all of them And the question of ―climate equity‖ – the obligations of rich countries to help poor countries to cope with a problem they had no part in creating (10 Dec 2011) - a promise by rich countries to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020 to help more vulnerable states adapt to climate change (29 Nov 2012) As demanded by the poor world - China and India insist that wealthy countries, which generated most of the existing pollution, must take the initiative (3 Dec 2004) - China says rich countries bear responsibility for the increase in global carbon dioxide levels that has already taken place (7 Nov 2006) - a tax …discouraging rich countries from polluting (16 Nov 2006) - Developing countries […] have long insisted that rich countries, which spent more than a century adding carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, should take the first step (15 Dec 2007) - They [The vulnerable countries] want the rich world to commit to far deeper emissions cuts than they already have, and to provide them with cash and technology so they can prepare for the worst and develop a clean energy infrastructure for themselves (06 December 2009) - A negotiator for a large bloc of developing countries meanwhile challenged rich countries to make far deeper cuts in emissions than they have proposed so far (9 Dec 2009) - A speaker from India demanded that rich countries provide technology to develop flood-and drought-resistant crops (13 Dec 2009) - How to compensate those nations hardest hit by climate changes remains divisive, even among advocates for such action Some have argued that wealthy countries need to create a huge pool of money to help poorer countries recover from seemingly inevitable losses of the tangible and intangible, like destroyed traditions (16 Nov 2013) The rich world’s reluctance and indifference - In a statement from London, Lord Martin Rees, the new president of Britain's Royal Society, an independent national scientific academy, said the disputes among CCVII wealthy nations over how to reduce emissions were distracting them from carrying out steps to make the cuts (10 Dec 2005) - A recent UN Human Development Report attacked rich countries for not honoring their original financial commitments to help… (13 Dec 2007) - The rich world, meanwhile, is busy trying to figure out just how to calculate the cost of all this (estimates run into the trillions of dollars), to and how to divvy up the bill (06 December 2009) - But it left unresolved where the $100 billion in annual climate-related aid that the wealthy nations have promised to provide would come from (12 Dec 2010) - He [US chief climate change negotiator Todd Stern] called a news conference, where he blasted the Chinese for not doing enough to reduce climate-altering emissions, the Europeans for demanding too much of the US and the tiniest and poorest nations for demanding ―reparations‖ from rich countries for their part in polluting the planet (The New York Times, 11 December 2009) - A group of nations most vulnerable to climate change declared after a meeting in mid-November in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that the rich countries had failed to make good on promises to provide immediate aid (27 Nov 2011) - For too long, he [executive director of Greenpeace International] contends, the environmental movement has been a project of elites in wealthy countries who care more about saving rare animals than aiding people threatened by poverty and climate change (7 Dec 2011) - US and other rich countries have made their opposition to large-scale compensation clear Todd D Stern, the State Department‘s envoy on climate issues, bluntly told a gathering at Chatham House in London last month that large-scale resources from the world‘s richest nations would not be forthcoming (16 Nov 2013) - Delegates at the international climate talks in Warsaw, which end Friday, lamented Japan‘s move as a blow to worldwide efforts to slow global warming In the Philippines, which is still collecting the dead from Typhoon Hayan, it served as yet another example of the indifference of the rich world to the plight of the world‘s poorest nations on the front lines of climate change (19 Nov 2013) The actions the rich world has taken - The targets sought by Europe and others remain in the action plan – including the need for rich countries to cut emissions by 2020 up to 40% But they are now a footnote to the nonbinding preamble, not a main feature of the plan (16 Dec 2007) CCVIII - Over time, some of the hundreds of billions of dollars the poorer countries are demanding are beginning to flow, as global carbon markets become established and governments in rich countries begin to open spigot (9 Dec 2009) - On the surface, the figures of recent years suggest that wealthy countries have made headway in stabilizing their emissions But Dr Peters pointed out that in a sense, the rich countries have simply exported some of them (2011) - Rich countries tripped over one another to help poor countries and their small farmers, pledging $22bn But a recent report by the Group of industrialized nations found that only 74% of the money has been disbursed (11 Nov 2013) The developing world’s rising power - The fast rise in developing countries has been caused to a large extent by the growth of energy-intensive manufacturing industries that make goods that rich countries import (4 Dec 2011) - The parties agreed last year in Durban, South Africa, to work toward a new protocol or other legally binding instrument that would require actions of all parties, not just rich countries as under the Koyto agreement of 1997 The new agreement is to be concluded by 2015 and enter into force in 2020 (9 Dec 2012) - And the issue of whether the UNFCCC should be modified to require rich countries to bear the cost of disasters exacerbated by global warming is threatening to torpedo the Warsaw talks, which are meant to prepare a global climate agreement to be signed in 2015 (20 Nov 2013) 2.11 From the concordances of the node “poor countries” in The Independent corpus Unity and cooperation - Tackling this problem [climate change] will require action on an unprecedented scale It also needs to be remembered that the consequences of Climate Change hit the poorest hardest (15 Nov 2006) - In the rich world, insurers report a fivefold increase in climate-related insurance claims In the poor world the cost is counted in terms of hidden human suffering, for most disasters are under-reported (28 Nov 2007) - It [An agreement at the COP in Cancun, Mexico] also includes an agreement to set up a green climate fund as part of efforts to deliver 100 billion US dollars (£60 billion) a year by 2020 to poor countries to help them cope with the impacts of global warming and develop without polluting (11 Dec 2010) CCIX The rich world’s reluctance and indifference - Hardly anything is being spent in the poor world, where people were least responsible for global warming but suffer most The amounts donated to the UN's climate change mitigation fund have been equivalent to only one week's worth of spending under the UK's flood defence programme (28 Nov 2007) - While much of the focus at Bali will be on cutting emissions, comparatively little attention is being given to the costs to poor countries of climatic changes that we are already locked in to A UN fund set up by rich countries to help poor countries to adapt to climate change has so far received less than 34m, Oxfam says in a report published today (04 Dec 2007) - "Low targets, goals dropped: Copenhagen ends in failure," said a headline in the online edition of British daily, The Guardian "The UN climate summit reached a weak outline of a global agreement last night in Copenhagen, falling far short of what Britain and many poor countries were seeking and leaving months of tough negotiations to come," reported the newspaper (19 Dec 2009) - There was also agreement on a fund, to reach 100 billion US dollars by 2020, to help poorer countries deal with global warming, but no precise detail on where the money will come from (21 Dec 2009) - Ministers are being urged to set up the "green climate fund", which will channel billions of pounds to poor countries to help them cope with the impacts of global warming and develop without polluting, and find sources of funding for it (7 Dec 2011) - The advertised ―historic agreement‖ under which rich nations conceded that they should provide financial aid to poorer countries struggling to cope with the damaging effects of climate change just ended in more procrastination (21 Dec 2012) - On the sidelines of the conference, climate activists called on developed countries to step up their emissions cuts and their pledges of financing to help poor countries adapt to rising seas and other impacts of climate change (12 Nov 2013) - Poor countries want to see an outcome which guarantees sharp emissions reductions, yet rich countries are trying to delay discussions on the only mechanism we have to deliver this - the Kyoto protocol (14 Dec 2009) Poor countries in fears: CCX Poor countries raised fears they would be left with no legally binding commitments from rich nations to tackle greenhouse gases if the protocol, the first phase of which expires in 2012, was kicked into the long grass (24 Nov 2010) The United Nations’ responsibility - Frustration has grown with hosts South Africa, which holds the annual presidency of the UN process, with many delegates complaining it has failed to enough to broker a deal that better protects the poor countries it pledged to help (The Independent, 10 December 2011) - The outcome of the two-week negotiations, which nearly collapsed in their final hours in a dispute over how to compensate poor countries for the losses they will suffer as the result of climate change, underscored the challenge policymakers face in confronting global warming (9 Dec 2012) 3.12 From the concordances of the node “poor countries” in The New York Times corpus The impacts of climate change on the poor/er/est countries - Representatives of poor countries and communities from the Arctic fringes to the atolls of the tropics to the flanks of the Himalayas say they are imperiled by rising temperatures and seas through no fault of their own They are casting the issue as no longer simply an environmental problem but as an assault on their basic human rights (15 December, 2004) - The emphasis on poor countries has led to another running theme at this year's climate caucus: adaptation Experts and politicians concede that so much carbon dioxide, one of the dominant heat-trapping gases, has already accumulated in the atmosphere that the world must accept global warming and figure out how to adapt to it (16 November 2006) - ''The impacts of climate change on some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world could prove extremely unsettling,'' Mr Pachauri [from India] said (11 December 2007) - But poor countries like them [Bhutan and Bangladesh] will bear the brunt of climate change because of their geography and lack of money and technology to protect themselves (27 November 2011) The rich countries’ responsibility - The conference has succeeded in establishing the broad outlines of an adaptation fund that calls for industrialized countries to help poor countries deal with the adverse effects of climate change through measures like relocating coastal people displaced by floods Though the fund is still tiny, around $3 million, United Nations officials say that it CCXI will grow rapidly and that there is now a plan for how to manage it Each country will get one vote, which will give the developing world a larger voice than that of industrialized nations (16 November 2006) - With little progress on the primary goal of United Nations climate talks here preventing further climate change - a secondary quest to help poor countries cope with the effects of a warming world has now become a central theme of the gathering (03 December 2007) - The final documents produced at the conference contained a few groundbreaking elements, most notably giving nations credit for saving forests and opening up a long-planned fund to help poor countries adapt to climate change However, many countries complained bitterly that the fund did not provide adequate financing Another point of contention was control of a fund that had been created to help poor countries respond to climate change The European Union initially proposed that an outside group like the World Bank the job But that angered many poor countries, and the proposal was dropped (13 December 2008) - A 13-page document that was said to have been drafted by Denmark, the conference's host country, included language calling for mechanisms opposed by poor countries for delivering aid to them to help deal with the impact of climate change The proposal includes more oversight by donor nations than the developing nations want (9 December 2009) - A pledge that could be worth $100 billion each year to developing countries was one of the few concrete outcomes of a United Nations climate summit meeting two years ago in Copenhagen that was otherwise seen as a fiasco The Green Climate Fund would be one of the main ways for the industrialized world — responsible the bulk of warming gases emitted over the past centuries — to help poor and vulnerable countries adapt to fiercer storms and rising seas and help them to make the transition to clean energy systems Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace, has said the pledge shows that wealthy countries are taking responsibility for helping poor countries with the least responsibility for climate change (27 November 2011) The rich countries’ reluctance and indifference - In addition, a group of developing countries called the G-77 complained that their proposals to help poor countries combat climate change generally fell on deaf ears ''We got no support from developed countries whether in technology transfer or finances,'' said Tasneem Essop, of the World Wide Fund for Nature of South Africa (11 December 2008) CCXII - Also, some developing countries said promises by industrial nations to help them cope with climate change seemed to have been put off The fate of a fund to help poor countries adapt to climate change was unclear on Thursday ''We are really disappointed with the progress we are seeing in Poznan,'' said Amjad Abdulla, director general of the Ministry of Environment in the Maldives, a chain of lowlying islands that is threatened by rising sea levels ''We are drowning, and there is this huge gap in commitment.'' (13 December 2008) - ''The expectations for this meeting weren't high, but there have been good developments and the E.U package makes me happy,'' said Frederic Hauge, chief of Bellona, noting that the package contains billions of dollars for developing new clean technology Still, some environmental groups left Poznan unsatisfied ''Over all we are disappointed,'' said Savio Carvalho, of Oxfam Uganda, noting that developed nations seemed too consumed with their own financial troubles to provide genuine assistance to poorer countries (13 December 2008) - Among the most difficult hurdles, many participants acknowledged throughout the day, are achieving adequate cuts in greenhouse gas emissions particularly from big polluters like the United States and China So, too, are securing commitments from wealthy nations to deliver what could ultimately be hundreds of billions of dollars in financing to poor countries, which argue that they are ill equipped to deal with a problem they did little to create (08 December 2009) - Western governments, which in some cases are already starting to consider their own adaptations to climate change, agree in principle that they should help poor countries But they have committed relatively small sums, and they are wary of letting fast-growing countries like China off the hook on emissions Analysts say the likeliest outcome of the Warsaw negotiations is a weak pact that essentially urges countries to what they can to cut emissions (11 November 2013) Divide and conflict - The tax [a carbon dioxide tax] would serve the dual purpose of discouraging rich countries from polluting and helping poor countries deal with the consequences of pollution ''This is not a fight against nature,'' Mr Leuenberger said ''It is a battle against shortsighted egoism.'' (16 November 2006) - To those who have followed the negotiations of the U.N Framework Convention on Climate Change over their nearly 20-year history, the conflicts and controversies to be taken up in Durban are monotonously familiar — the differing obligations of CCXIII - industrialized and developing nations, the question of who will pay to help poor nations adapt, the urgency of protecting tropical forests, the need to develop and deploy clean energy technology rapidly (27 November 2011) And the question of ―climate equity‖ — the obligations of rich nations to help poor countries cope with a problem they had no part in creating — is more than an ―environmental‖ issue (10 December 2011) CCXIV The developing countries’ demands - - - - - - Many of the world's poorest countries have come to demand aid and action in light of the scientific projections that conclude they will be the first to bear the brunt of climate shifts (13 December 2004) Many poor nations are insisting that richer nations make deeper emissions cuts and contribute more to help poorer nations, a split that widened Tuesday as competing documents of a potential deal circulated (9 December 2009) Money is central to the demands by poor nations Most African countries and small island states have demanded aid as a condition for signing a new pact to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 (12 December 2009) Mr Naidoo's [executive director of Greenpeace International] goals at the climate change conference here, which runs through Friday, are more or less mainstream: to save the process initiated by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change; to get the United States, China and other big emitters to agree to a binding international accord limiting emissions; to secure sufficient financing to help poor countries adapt to climate change; and to advance the development of renewable energy (07 December 2011) Poor nations here are pressing for a new effort that goes beyond reducing emissions and adapting to a changing climate While they have no legal means to seek compensation, they have demanded concrete efforts to address the ―loss and damage‖ that the most vulnerable nations will almost certainly face — the result of fragile environments and structures, and limited resources to respond The sheer magnitude and complexity of the issue make such compensation unlikely The notion of seeking justice for a global catastrophe that affects almost every country — with enormous implications for economic development — is not only immensely complicated but also politically daunting (16 November 2013) The United Nations climate conference ambled toward a conclusion on Friday, with delegates saying that the meeting would produce no more than a modest set of measures toward a new international agreement two years from now As usual, the biggest dispute was over money The talks, the 19th annual meeting of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened nearly two weeks ago in the shadow of a devastating typhoon in the Philippines The disaster added momentum to a proposal by poorer nations for the creation of a new mechanism to compensate developing countries for damage from climate-related disasters With the clock winding down and the talks likely to extend into Friday night, the CCXV so-called loss-and-damage proposal remained alive But the wealthy countries that would presumably provide financing for the plan were offering a weaker alternative that would wrap it into an existing area of the climate treaty (22 November 2013) CCXVI ...VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  LƯU THỊ KIM NHUNG A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH MEDIA TEXTS ON. .. climate change 37 vi 1.3.2 Discourse analysis of media discourse on global warming and/or climate change 38 1.3.3 CDA of media discourse on global warming and/or climate. .. (199 5a) Dialectical-Relational approach to CDA was undertaken manually on the most frequent collocates of the nodes This qualitative analysis is the textual analysis of the concordances to examine