The UN and NGOs dramatic push for improved climate change policies and actions
Dr. James Hansen, prominent physicist and Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), theorised about climate change back in the early 80s and warned us all about its implications.
Over the years, the issue has become a major worldwide concern, and has drawn increasingly heated debates in the media, conferences and books. For Dr. Hansen, 2013 was to be a turning point to counterbalance the current negative path humanity has taken.
The UN IPCC asks governments to act, the UNFCCC weeps for the planet
The latest debates on climate change in autumn of 2013 were triggered by the September 2013 publication of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC) report Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Released every six years, the document reflects research conducted by experts from around the world. The 2000+ page report based on more than 9000 scientific studies concludes with 95% certainty that humans are the cause of the current negative effects of climate change on our planet.
A few weeks before the release of the report, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN IPCC warned:“We cannot isolate ourselves from anything that happens in any part of this planet. It will affect all of us in some way or the other. The sooner move, the better, because what we do today will have major implications 10-15 years into the future.”
In late October 2013, Ms. Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), could not refrain from shedding tears when discussing the effects of climate change on the future at a London meeting. Ms Figueres noted that it was unfair to leave the planet to our children in its current, and even worsening, situation: "I just feel that it is so completely unfair and immoral what we are doing to future generations, we are condemning them before they are even born. We have a choice to change the future we are going to give our children."
NGOs go on strike at UN Climate Change Conference
On 21 November 2013, participants from NGOs attending the latest UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland, abandoned the meeting and returned their attendance badges to the UN. Their reaction was in protest of the fact that they believed the talks were “on track to deliver virtually nothing”. The over-800 people were delegates of NGOs such as OXFAM International, WWF, ActionAid, the International Trade Union Confederation, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace.
Another walkout happened earlier during the conference, when 133 developing countries, led by the G77, the largest coalition of developing countries at the UN, temporarily left the negotiations to show their disagreement with developed countries, which they believed were refraining from improving compensations on climate change consequences.
The conference was still deemed successful by the organisers. Peru will host the next UN Climate Change Conference in 2014.
For more information, see:
UNFCCC &UN IPCC : unfccc.int, www.ipcc.ch, www.bbc.co.uk
NGOs and G77 at 2013 Warsaw Conference : www.theguardian.com, www.lemonde.fr, www.lefigaro.fr, www.theguardian.com, www.ipsnews.net
