Letter to the Editor-
The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) joins civil society groups around the world to express the fear that the Copenhagen Climate Summit will fail to achieve agreement on fundamental issues pertaining to global warming. Many analysts are doubtful that “a deal will be sealed” — which is what optimists like Connie Hedegaard, the Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, are hoping for.
There is nothing to suggest that the three principal challenges confronting Copenhagen will be overcome in the next few days before the Summit begins on 7 December 2009. One, will the United States go beyond the offer to reduce greenhouse gases by 17 percent measured against 2005 over the next decade? It is a paltry offer aimed at accommodating the vested interests that dominate the US legislative process. Two, will emerging economies such as China (which together with the US is the world’s biggest polluter) curb their carbon emissions, when they see the drive for rapid, massive growth as vital for eradicating poverty and uplifting the masses? China has of course pledged to reduce its energy consumption by 20 percent per unit of production, harness sources of energy other than fossil fuels, and reforest parts of the country. But whether the pledge will be translated into reality is anybody’s guess. Three, will the rich, industrialized nations mainly from the Global North provide much needed finance and technology to poor, vulnerable states in the Global South to enable them to adopt measures that will mitigate against the devastating consequences of global warming?
If Copenhagen does not provide concrete solutions to these challenges and merely generates vague promises, we, the citizens of an imperiled planet may not be able to avert the monumental catastrophe that awaits us all. It is a widely held view that if Copenhagen does not succeed to produce a climate treaty that is more comprehensive and more effective than the 1997 Kyoto Accord, the first phase of which expires in 2012, annual greenhouse emissions will perhaps increase by as much as 40 percent over the next twenty years. This will not only cause low-lying island states such as the Maldives to disappear, but also wreak havoc upon countries in the Global North such as Holland. What this means is that neither the North nor the South, neither the rich nor the poor, will be able to escape the tragic impact of the current global climate crisis.
This is why Copenhagen will have to show tangible results — for our sake, for the sake of our children, and our children’s children.
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar,
President,
International Movement for a Just World. (JUST).
28 November 2009.