Copenhagen Climate Change Conference

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said at the opening ceremony that if the temperature increase is to be limited to between 2.0 and 2.4 C, global emissions must peak no later than 2015 — barely six years from now. By December 18, I hope that the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference will conclude with an agreement that ensure a secure climate future for us all and for the future generations. There is no time to wait for a concerted action to protect people and our planet from global warming. Mitigation of emissions is essential. China, United States and India are the three major greenhouse gas polluters in the world. Therefore, they are key to the success of this important Conference. They should come up with a common strategy and mitigation action to cut their emissions by 25 to 45 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2020. Small Island states, the most vulnerable to global warming and the rise of sea-water, calls for a target of keeping the temperature rise since pre-industrial times below 1.5 C. They are also concerned about funding to help them deal with the impact of climate change. It is hopeful that the European Union has pledged to contribute $10.6 billion over the next three years to help the poorer countries in adapting to climate change. I think government representatives should seriously consider the recommendations from the People’s Climate Summit taking place at a sports facilities in Central Copenhagen, to completely stop the use of fossil fuels within the next 30 years and to bring down the carbon dioxide emissions to not more than one ton per capita in each single country by 2025. Whether there will be an agreed text at the end of the Conference is anybody’s guest. I hope representatives of 192 countries that attended this Conference will base their negotiations on the survival of humankind and the future generations, and not on their country narrow domestic economic interests. We, the people of the world, are waiting for a new Copenhagen agreement that will add to what had already been agreed to in the Kyoto Protocol, adopted on 11 December 1997 in Japan by 187 states to combat global warming.