How and why stop climate change?

Michael Jacobs of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment in London, said of the Durban Climate Conference:  ”The agreement here has not in itself taken us off the 4 °C path we are on… But by forcing countries for the first time to admit that their current policies are inadequate and must be strengthened by 2015, it has snatched 2 °C from the jaws of impossibility. At the same time it has re-established the principle that climate change should be tackled through international law, not national voluntarism.

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What did the talks in Durban help to achieve?

Negotiators at the Durban conference worked tirelessly to come up with a legally binding deal called the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, which will be prepared by 2015, and to take effect in 2020.  Even the US, which refused to sign the Kyoto agreement 1997 to cut carbon emissions, agreed to the new framework.  Many countries committed to voluntary and transparent emissions reductions pledges.  It was the first time that India, China and Brazil had agreed to legally binding commitments.

There was also progress regarding the creation of a Green Climate Fund (GCF). The fund is to distribute US$100 billion per year to help poor countries adapt to climate impacts.

Did the Durban conference go far enough?

Even if these commitments are a step in the right direction, they are insufficient and they are not enough to satisfy island countries such as the Maldives, which is imminently threatened by rising seas from climate change. At the conference, Fouad Mohadji, Vice President of the Comoros islands, said that millions of people were living with a death sentence over their heads adding that without sufficient action now from his fellow delegates: “History will condemn us for causing climate genocide.”

The effects of global warming are most severe in the poorest countries. Lobbying groups from Green Peace, Oxfam and other organisations have made it clear that the agreements made will do little to help the poor in Africa who are vulnerable to climate change and the failure of rains and thus crop production.  For example, Niger occupies bottom position of the 182 countries ranked in the UN’s Human Development Index. The UN launched a $191 million appeal for food and assistance for 3 million  of Niger’s people.  On 18^th January 2012, the BBC, on its breakfast programme, showed footage of malnourished children being treated at a health centre, and interviewed a UN representative who said that millions of children across Niger are at risk from malnutrition.

What else can be done to stop rising sea levels and desertification caused by climate change?

The Climate Parliament http://www.climateparl.net a UK Charity, has called for a greater allocation of the EU’s resources to tackling the climate problem by giving practical support to renewable energy such as wind and solar power in developing countries.  According to Climate Parliament we will have a chance of avoiding a rapid rise in global temperatures, only if we can help Asia, Africa and Latin America to choose a clean energy pathway.

The charity also believes that richer countries should invest into researching ways of making solar and other forms of energy cheaper.

What else do you think can be done to stop climate change?