UN Climate Summit: A Success?
According to the United Nations, about 101 heads of state showed up at the Summit on Climate Change last month. And they listened to each other.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in a lecture at Copenhagen University on Oct. 3 that "the summit helped turn up the heat in a good way. It mobilized political will and focused the attention of world leaders on the urgent need for action."
Most interesting to me was President Mohamed Nasheed from the Republic of Maldives, who said his country has been characterized as "the canary in the coal mine." He said the solution to the political deadlock on climate change was to
- accept a more ambitious carbon reduction to result in less than 1.5 degrees C in temperature change,
- develop binding targets, and
- provide adequate financing.
Maldives intends to become climate-neutral by 2020.
Leaders did discuss the financing that is needed from developed countries to help developing countries grow in greener ways. One proposal called for a contribution of $100 billion per annum over the next decade. Several leaders made reference to having only eight years left to prevent catastrophic climate events.
A student-led video played for the delegates suggested leaders should financially support the war against climate change instead of the war against other human beings. There's an idea.
This link will take you to pre-recorded videos showing the perspectives from 44 different countries.
Posted by L.K. Williams, EPonline on Oct 06, 2009