Yvo Boer, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC which is having its talks regarding climate change in Poznan Poland, said that the expected results for the next UNFCCC meeting at Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009, may not be achieved! The present talks are being bogged down, among other things, by how the Adaptation Fund would be managed. Developing countries wanted a direct access to it but developed countries wanted it to go through the World Bank. They hope that the high level segment meeting, which happens in the last two days of the conference and which will involve top environment officials of each member country, would resolve the issue.
This is very alarming! This questions the sincerity of the concerned (those who are responsible for the carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere) countries. Since the early sixties, clarion calls had been sounded off regarding the rapid degradation of the earth due to increase in average global temperature resulting to climate change. Couple this with the abuse that had been made in nature, we may have the perfect combination for the sixth extinction! But this time, slower but painful! The United Nations had been in this for more than twenty years now. The Kyoto Protocol was a big step in forcing countries to make commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (save for the U.S. which is the only member nation that had not signed the protocol). But more is needed to be done. The UN had identified four building blocks, Adaptation, Mitigation, Financial Assistance, and Technology Transfer. Fourteen general meeting and many more sectoral meetings had been done, but a final document is yet to materialize. This dilly-dallying, many scientists had predicted, will cost us so much including the lives of billions! The clock is ticking. Ice is melting in the Arctic, global temperature continues to rise because of continuous gas emissions, sea water level is rising, etc.
Vested interests dominate the talks. Developed countries do not want to jeopardize their economy which is super-dependent in fossil fuel. Some who had made commitments were not being faithful to them. Those who believe they can cope with the envisaged onslaught of the devastation to come are not in panic mode whereas those who will be affected first, who are ironically not responsible for the gas emissions, are in quandary! So much time had elapsed that many were of the opinion that we had reached the point of no return!
Everybody is of the opinion that the time has come for a change of lifestyle. In the end, all the adaptations, mitigation, and counter-actions would not be sufficient. The amount of devastation it would incur may reach a very high proportion unpredicted and unprecedented in humankind history. One economist estimated that it will be more than the two World Wars and the Great Depression combined! Unless we get out of our selfishness and individualism, we are doomed. Some may go first, but definitely, all will follow!
God Bless Us!
No comments:
Post a Comment