2009 Copenhagen - UN Climate Change Conference
Today I decided to communicate my thoughts about a climate change meeting coming up in just a couple weeks in Europe. While I make a living as a realtor, I do find some spare time to talk about something else than houses. Climate development is one specific area that interests me.
From the 7th - 18th December this year Denmark is holding the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Climate Change mitigation is an important issue to be introduced by individuals attending the conference. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t see this conference as a forum of climate change activists. The movement is anything but united.
Forceful developments in climate change mitigation were wanted when Barack Obama became president. What individuals are wanting to be told is how can we move this change forward. The Kyoto protocol, believed to be a springboard for conferences of this kind, is less and less thought of, even by environmentalists themselves.
Whilst the protocol was decided in 1997 it is recognized that the need the agreements made need to be thought out again. People around Obama hope for an agreement on a 20% CO2 shrinkage by 2020 (from 2005 levels). The Kyoto decisions called for a 5% decrease on the 1990 levels so the new figures are drastically higher. The protocols of Kyoto are being relaxed further even though there is a very lax approach to keeping the the schedule in the first place.
This concern is tied to another critical area of discord. Countries in the South such as Brazil, South Africa and India who are found to be large polluters are unlikely to be troubled by any environmental action taken, but countries in the North could see a massive impact on their economy. These southern countries are more changed by climate issues therefore they believe the northern countries owe them. With China arising as a world power and the economic issues around the world, developing countries such as India and Brazil are not pleased about making sacrifices; though the North acknowledge the need for higher fuel emissions in developing countries.
The campaign for anti-climate change has another big concern in relation to the emissions trade. Having market rules that offset any negative economic impact of restrictions is also debatable according to opponents, who see this as an opportunity for the black market trade. They request deep changes to economic and social structures (greater power and control in hands of local communities), in order to stop climatic disaster.
If your aiming for forward thinking decisions, then you likely to be disappointed with any decisions made in Denmark. But maybe more significant is the amassing of pressure groups across the whole society, which can be seen nowadays. This can only be great news as more voices are raised maybe those at the conference in Copenhagen will listen.
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