The world is hotter today, climate change greater, and global emissions of greenhouse gases 25% higher than in 1990. Now is the time to address climate change.
A few months ago, the President of the Maldives announced that he would begin searching for a new homeland for his people as his country may soon disappear beneath the waves.
Himalayan glaciers provide drinking and irrigation water for 1/6 of the world’s population. At current melting rates, these glaciers will shrink by 80% in only 30 years leaving over 1 billion people without access to clean water.
We are in the thick of an unprecedented global climate crisis.
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In December 2007, at the UN climate conference in Bali, Indonesia countries launched a two-year negotiation process to step up the global fight against climate change. These negotiations are scheduled to wrap up in December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, where governments have agreed to finalize the new international climate change agreement as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol was always considered an important but preliminary step towards global emissions reductions to slow climate change. However, few countries have even met their Kyoto targets, including Canada whose emissions have actually increased to 33.8% above Kyoto commitments. It is imperative that countries must immediately commit to much deeper emission reduction targets as well as adaptation assistance for developing countries in Copenhagen.
Climate science tells us that, to avoid dangerous climate change, the world’s GHG emissions must peak in just a few years — mostly likely by 2015 – and then drop off drastically. The new agreement to be reached in Copenhagen will likely last until 2020. So the world’s fight against catastrophic warming could be won or lost based on the outcome in Copenhagen. That is a scary thought.
What Needs to Happen
According to the IPCC, industrialized countries must reduce their emissions by 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80-95% below 1990 by 2050 to avoid dangerous climate change. This very range (25-40% by 2020) is up for discussion over the next few months. This presents a real opportunity for industrialized countries to show leadership and commitment and to build trust with developing countries that are wary of committing to emissions reductions. But, to be sure, Canada and possibly others will be seeking to prevent agreement on this.
As well, developed countries must commit to adaptation assistance for developing countries; and in turn the developing countries must commit to non-binding emissions reductions targets. The media often ignores this, but the success of the negotiations turns on these two points. If they are not resolved it is likely that an agreement will not be reached. So far Canada has not indicated any support for developing country adaptation assistance.
With only 4 months left until Copenhagen, Canada has a shrinking window of opportunity to move from laggard to leader. The stakes have never been higher, and the costs of failure are all but unthinkable.
The Canadian Government can be moved on this issue, but it is up to us to make this happen. With an upsurge of public pressure we will make it politically untenable for our government to block progress in Copenhagen.
Let us rise to the challenge.
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