4.5 billion years ago, the planet was created
540 million years ago, life first stirred the oceans,
The rainforests have been growing for 130 million years,
Our coral reef for 18 million years
200 000 years ago, human emerged and settled on the Earth,
It took only one century, to put our planet in danger!
Now is the time to act.
Raise your voice to change climate change!
The rainforests have been growing for 130 million years,
Our coral reefs for 18 million years
Monday Dec 07 2009 is the Day, the Copenhagen conference COP15 on climate change.
Little Mermaid of Copenhagen
Every country will put forth their team of best negotiators to commit its affordable share of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions reduction, without jeopardizing its development and economy.
Just a brief explanation for the novice in climate change terms and developments.
The Intergovernmental Panel ( IPCC ) on Climate Change 2007 Assessment clearly demonstrated that climate change is already occurring, and that warming greater than 2oC presents a severe danger to environment, forest, glaciers, ecosystem, biodiversity and ultimately human destruction!. Without governmental commitments and immediate action, mankind may loose the ability or methodology to contain warming to below 2oC.
Climate change has occurred, manifested in more frequent occurrences of
extremes of climate, like
severe drought,
forest fire
excessive and torrential rainfall, coastal flooding,
glacial melting,
If we act quickly, we can contain the risks from warming and adapt in ways that are consistent with goals for sustainable growth and development. The technologies required to shift from current high carbon path to a low carbon, climate resilient path are available and the costs are manageable at this moment.
Negotiations to seal a climate change treaty at the upcoming meeting COP 15 in Copenhagen have been dogged by numerous issues. The most challenging of them being: disagreements over targets for cuts in carbon emissions; and a fund from rich nations to help developing countries tackle climate change as stipulated in the Kyoto protocol.
IPCC reports states that current state of climate is primarily the outcome of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by the developed nations during their industrialization and uncontrolled deforestation.
China, India and other developing nations have urged developed nations to honor their international duty to cut emissions by 40% - 45% in view of their historic greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for today’s global warming. They too have been putting up stiff opposition to binding emission targets imposed on them by developed countries, as they said that could harm economic growth and poverty alleviation.
Brazil's president Lula observed, "A country that started its industrialization process 150 years ago has more responsibility than one starting yesterday; the United States has more responsibility than China, and Europe more than South America or Africa."
They also called for the payment of the historical debt owed to developing countries due to their overuse of the carbon space in the atmosphere, transfer finance and technology resources and promote sustainable development in developing countries.
China has reiterated the principle of " common but differentiated responsibilities". In simple words, every country needs to reduce emissions, but the developed nations must reduce more because they pollute more.
The European Union meanwhile has only agreed to reduced emissions by half the target requested by developing countries, and maybe more, if the 20% is also agreed upon by other developed countries. It is not likely that the US will agree to that. US only want to commit a 4% reduction of the 1990 level.
They pressure China, to come out with substantial reduction targets, saying that without China's substantial commitment, any reduction effort would be futile. Though China is not an Annex I country thus not bound by the Kyoto Protocol to meet reductions target.
China is in a very special category by itself, as it had by 2007, overtaken US as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
With the major emerging economies ( China, India and Brazil ) taking a common stand on one side of the Copenhagen negotiation sea-saw, and the developed nations the other side; each party stiffly adhering to their justifications and numbers on binding targets, the war to combat climate change would have appeared bleak, not until the visit of US President Obama to Beijing in November 2009, that might start to cast some light at the end of the tunnel.
US and China together emit 42% of the global greenhouse gas, commitment and cooperation between the two is essential for reaching a new treaty in Copenhagen. Both countries have recently agreed in principle to boost investment and cooperation in energy efficient green technology to fight climate change.
US President Barack Obama
US President Barack Obama on returning to US, announced that he would attend the Copenhagen conference, with an offer to cut US emissions by 3% below 2005 levels by 2012, 17% by 2020 though still fall short of the blueprints drew up in Bali in 2007.
China, almost immediately after US announcements, on November 26, 2009, says it is taking a voluntary action based on its own national conditions to airm for energy efficiency, to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by up to 45% by 2020.
India, the world's 4th largest carbon emitter, initially refused to set any binding target, too, follows suit to announce that it would reduce emission intensity by 20% -25% of its 2005 level by 2020.
Climate change is a global crisis, all parties, developed and developing, need to talk to address this crisis at earliest possible time frame. Beyond the 2oC rise target, the extent and magnitude of impacts are likely to be dangerous and irreversible.
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