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Rather than starting a new decade full of hope, developing countries have been failed by the outcome of the United Nations climate change talks in Copenhagen.
In the run up to the summit, hopes were high for a fair and just deal for those most vulnerable to climate change, yet no legally binding deal was agreed. At the last minute a ‘deal’ was agreed by world leaders, but the ‘Copenhagen Accord’ leaves much to be desired. The main points include:
- No emission reduction targets for industrialised counties
- No plan for how to implement adaptation support for developing counties
- No timeframe for resolving these issues
It is felt the Copenhagen COP has put talks back by two years, leaving developing countries not further forward than they were following the Bali talks in 2007, where it was decided 2009 would be the final deadline for a post Kyoto successor.
And while NGOs and key members of country delegations were effectively locked out of the talks or forced to queue for hours, celebrity and rock stars seemingly had easy access to the conference. This meant experts were unable to scrutinise text coming out of the conference and raise important questions regarding the detail.
This year’s indecision and lack of leadership means millions of people across the world will continue to suffer as climate injustice adversely affects the lives of those who have done little to contribute to the problem.
► Practical Action's work in climate change adaptation
Blog from Copenhagen
Our international team reported back with in-depth news and comment from the UNFCCC talks.
20 December
The Copenhagen climate conference has failed the most vulnerable people. We hoped that justice would prevail; that in 2009, those responsible for climate change would face up to the crisis looming and act - stop contributing to the problem and start compensating those already suffering. This was has not happened ... Read more in the full blog»
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, 7-18 December 2009, Copenhagen
Representatives from nearly 200 nations met in Copenhagen tasked with forging a global climate deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. This agreement needed to set out the most ambitious plan ever to tackle the problem of climate change. We are now at a vitally important moment for the world, none the least because recent research into global warming’s effects produces increasingly more worrying evidence. It is particularly crucial for those people already living with climate change – those in the developing world that have emitted the least greenhouse gases but are being hit first and worst.
Nothing short of a fair, ambitious and effective deal that will end climate injustice and avert the worst impacts of climate was acceptable - 2009 needed to be the year of the climate deal.
Ambitious emissions reduction targets
Reducing greenhouse gases is essential to keep the increase in global temperature well below +2°C. Higher temperatures will affect the whole world to some extent, but it is now of greatest concern for those in the most vulnerable situations. If people here are to stand a chance of surviving the impacts of a changing climate, industrialized countries and the largest developing countries need to make significant and rapid reductions in their emissions. Based on recent assessments of the scale of global warming these reductions are advised to be in the region of 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% below 1990s by 2050. The Copenhagen deal should have contained clear and binding emissions reduction targets for developed countries in line with these figures.
Support for adaptation
The poorest people are already suffering from climate change and, even if emissions completely stopped today, the world is still locked into some further temperature increases because of the greenhouse gasses currently in the atmosphere. The poorest people in developing countries are already being forced to adapt even though there is little international support to help them. To cope with the scale of adaptation required now and in the future, the Copenhagen climate deal needed commitments to greatly increase the funding available to vulnerable countries for adaptation, should have set up a mechanism for generating and dispersing these funds to the poorest, and should have provided the means to transfer the technology needed for adaptation and clean development.
Why we needed a fair deal at Copenhagen
Veena Khaleque, director of Practical Action Bangladesh, and Daniel Rodríquez (Programme Director, Practical Action Latin America), explain why the developing world needed a fair, ambitious and effective deal that will end climate injustice and avert the worst impacts of climate change.
Human chain - 11 December 2009
There is a fear that the voices of indigenous groups are not being heard. The seemingly never ending chain is a protest to highlight that groups such as the Amazonian peoples have no rights within the negotiations and that their perspectives are not being listened to by industrialised nations:
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