Sections
DONATE
SUPPORT WWW.JOLLOFNEWS.COM
Account Login
UN Climate Change Conference begins with calls for compromise
Tuesday, 30 November 2010 13:54
By Kemo ChamCancun will be successful if parties compromise and allow others the chance to make their case, said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Mrs Figueres said this as part of an address to the media on the opening day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Mexico.
The sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP16) commenced on Monday, November 29, in the Mexican city of Cancun and it will last until 10 December.
Last year’s conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, stalled amid disagreement over emissions and mitigation, among other burning issues. The past months building to Cancun have seen a sharper polarization among the main actors over the outstanding issues. But according to Christiana Figueres, Cancun offers a new era in the pace of global action on climate change, “where each year brings increasingly effective answers to keep humanity on track to a safer future.”
She said Cancun might not solve everything, but it needed “to keep ambition alive and will be successful if Parties compromise.”
“… You are gathered in Cancún to weave together the elements of a solid response to climate change, using both reason and creativity as your tools. Weaving this tapestry is urgent,” Figueres told the official opening session of the conference. She pushed forward a number of reason to explain the urgency of an agreement, among which is meteorological evidence of the “highest level” concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times. She said the poorest and most vulnerable need predictable and sufficient assistance to face a serious problem that they did not cause. “The task is not easy, but it is achievable,” she stated.
Mexican President Felipe Calderón, in his opening address, cited last year’s hurricane in his country, the devastating floods in Pakistan and fires in Russia as examples of increasing incidences of natural disasters brought about by climate change and already affecting the poorest and most vulnerable.
President Calderón urged negotiators to make progress in the interest of their children and grandchildren. “Climate change is an issue that affects life on a planetary scale. What this means is that you will not be here alone negotiating in Cancún. By your side, there will be billions of human beings, expecting you to work for all of humanity,” he said.
Cancun is the sixteenth Conference of the 194 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the sixth meeting of the 192 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.
Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, who was elected new President of the Conference, said it was time to make a concerted effort before it was too late.
“We can only achieve the results if we commit to making progress…” she said. She added that governments meeting in Mexico can reach a deal to launch action on adaptation, technology transfer and forests; along with creating a new fund for long-term climate finance.
Presently, a number of politically charged issues need to be resolved in order to reach an acceptable outcome. Primary among these is how to address the issue of mitigation. And any agreement must include finance, technology and capacity building for the most affected countries.
“When the stakes are high and issues are challenging, compromise is an act of wisdom that can unite different positions in creative ways. I am convinced that governments can compromise to find their way to a concrete outcome,” Ms. Figueres said. “That outcome needs to be both firm and dependable and have a dedicated follow-on process for future work,” she added.
Some 15,000 participants, representing government delegates from the 194 UNFCCC Parties, business and industry, environmental organizations and research institutions, are attending the two-week gathering in Cancún.
With 194 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. Under the Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.
Meanwhile, next year’s conference, COP 17, has been confirmed for Durban, South Africa. South Africa announced at the opening of the launch of the host country website for the 2011 conference.
Jollofnews Poll
Who do you think should be the next President of The Gambia?
Follow us on Twitter
-
McGuinness wants dissident talksDeputy First Minister Martin McGuinness offers to hold talks with dissident republicans, saying their violence...
-
Egypt candidate to seek election suspension: lawyerCAIRO (Reuters) - Leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahy will file an appeal for Egypt's presidential election...
-
Bristol Rovers Speed Merchant Could Be Racing To Posh(GamSports) – Peterborough United are thought to be one of a number of Championship sides...