Copenhagen summit is crucial
Published Friday November 6th, 2009
The buzz around the December UN climate summit in Copenhagen is increasing.
Some of you may be wondering what it's all about. Why is this one meeting so important? And does it matter if it succeeds or fails?
The answer is that it matters a lot, especially if we want to tackle global warming rather than just talk and argue about it.
Global warming is a global problem requiring global solutions. The atmosphere doesn't stay within federal or provincial boundaries.
Every nation must do its part. And each country needs reassurance that others are also acting. We need a global agreement that is legally binding with rules clearly outlined.
The science of climate change is evolving rapidly. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's last report is now two years old, and the research in that report is more than four years old.
Recent scientific information shows that the impacts of climate change are happening more quickly than expected. The polar ice cap is melting at an astonishing rate. Ocean levels are rising more rapidly than predicted. And weather-related disasters are mounting.
Leading scientific institutions such as the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.K. Royal Society and the Royal Society of Canada have declared that current scientific information points to a need for immediate action.
We have no time to waste. Copenhagen is our moment. In fact, two years ago the world agreed that the Copenhagen summit would be the deadline for forging the next global agreement to strengthen and build on the Kyoto Protocol.
Kyoto was always considered the first step by industrialized countries, whose fossil-fuel-powered growth created the problem. Establishing the legal framework was an important part of that first step, as were modest emission reductions.
But Copenhagen has to be more than just another small step. Science suggests the issue is urgent, so this step needs to be much bigger if we want our actions to keep pace with increasing climatic changes.
Industrialized countries need to accept binding commitments to reduce their global warming pollution much more dramatically in the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol, after 2012. But we also need to craft a companion treaty to Kyoto, one that lays out the kinds of actions that major developing countries, like India and Indonesia, will take to curb their emissions.
A recent study commissioned by Global Humanitarian Forum president and former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan indicates that 50 of the world's poorest countries collectively produce less than one per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
Yet, these very same countries have been disproportionately affected by climate change. Thus, an essential part of any fair climate agreement must include support from industrialized countries to poorer nations - support in the form of financing and clean technologies so that poorer nations can wean themselves off fossil fuels and better adapt to the impacts of climate change.
This principle - that rich countries like ours have filled up the atmosphere with pollution in the course of our development, and that it's now our responsibility to assist less-developed countries to follow a clean path to prosperity - goes back to 1992. It was enshrined in the Rio Convention, reiterated in Kyoto, and again two years ago in Bali. But we have yet to meet that promise.
It is now up to our global leaders - presidents and prime ministers, ministers of finance and environment - to be visionary, to look beyond shorter-term political time lines and imagine a future world of security and prosperity, where our homes and workplaces are fed by clean energy.
Visionary leadership requires active and engaged citizens to keep the politicians' feet to the fire. Your efforts have never been needed more to help make this happen.
David Suzuki's column appears Fridays. Send comments to letters@dailygleaner.com.
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The science of climate change was determined by Mr. Gore. Yes the IPCC Report is 2 years old, and the research is 4. But you forgot to mention that the primary findings are being ignored by all who have been invited too Copenhagen, it is part of the UN Mandate.
The primary finding stated that Carbon 14 Dioxide is the fastest growing Green House Gas, the openly ignoring FACT is that it is NOT a Carbon Emission. Carbon 14 Dioxide is made when Oxygen and Nitrogen Atoms bond after they have been caused to resonate under the influence of Radiant Energy. This event only takes place in the Atmosphere. This one fact says Carbon Emissions are not the loan cause!
Turning off the manmade Frequencies that cause Oxygen Atoms to resonate will stop making manmade C14O2, it was done on Sept 11 2001! No one invited is even allowed too push for this!
Only the narrow minded have been invited to Copenhagen!
John R. Staples