by Mukundi Mutasa
The run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, has been characterised by several meetings on the subject, book launches and adoption of action plans.
Concerned parties have carried out a serious onslaught on climate change and developed nations that offer ‘half-baked’ commitments to the mitigation efforts.
The period also saw a government that did not subscribe to the Kyoto Protocol being voted out of power in Australia.
The new government, led by Kevin Rudd, has already promised to give climate change mitigation efforts the priority and also sign the protocol, in what many climate change fighters consider as ‘a successful coup for a good cause’.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had also released its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) synthesis report on 17 November.
In Kampala, Uganda, the Commonwealth leaders adopted a Climate Change Action Plan during a recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
The leaders also emphasised that there is need to work together in fighting the challenge termed the ‘defining issue of our era’ by the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon earlier in the year.
All these events painted a grim picture if the challenge is not addressed through a combined effort from all stakeholders.
Ban Ki-moon has also appealed for everyone to cooperate in Bali for the good of the future generations.
“In Bali, let us not point fingers or apportion blame. Rather, let us find common ground. Let us recognize that the effects of climate change affect us all,” said Ban.
His sentiments were also echoed by Kevin Watkins, the global Human Development Report 2007/2008 lead author.
Watkins said that there should be concrete outcomes from Bali. “We have enough communiqués; we have enough speeches telling us how urgent the challenge is, how grave the threat. We need to see coming out of the Bali conference a decisive action…not just setting a timetable,” he told IPS.
On 27 November, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched the HDR 2007/2008 report titled Fighting Climate Change: human solidarity in a divided world.
The HDR 2007/2008 explores climate change issues, emphasising the need for developed world to consider the developing nations’ weak position and lack of resources to address the issue.
The report argues that the world is drifting towards a ‘tipping point’ that will negatively impact on the human development endeavours, and this situation needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
“Working together with resolve, we can win the battle against climate change,” said Watkins.
With this said, and more, the stage is surely set for Bali, and hopefully out of Bali concrete commitments and actions will be set towards mitigating the challenge before it becomes catastrophic.
The Conference will be held from 3 to 14 December, and will begin the negotiations towards a possible Kyoto Protocol successor. The targets set out by Kyoto expire in 2012.
