NGOs demand governments to act now on climate change

By: Imelda Abano on December 7th, 2007

BALI, Indonesia—As leaders gather in Bali to discuss the important issues of climate change, various environment groups are demanding all governments agree on the key elements of a post-Kyoto accord and create a detailed agenda to ensure that negotiations are concluded by 2009.

With the opening of the climate-change summit on Monday, international environment watchdog Greenpeace unveiled a giant thermometer outside the venue of the UN climate conference here to warn the delegates of rising global temperatures.

“For years, governments have let us, their citizens, down by failing to get to grips with the problem of climate change. They have left us increasingly exposed to the biggest threat that civilization has ever faced,” said Stephanie Tunmore of Greenpeace International.

Tunmore said developed countries, responsible for over 80 percent of all the man-made emissions currently in the atmosphere, must find ways to help the developing world deal with the impacts of climate change and to obtain renewable-energy technologies.

“While the major responsibility rests on the industrialized countries to cut back on their greenhouse-gas emissions now, it is equally important that developing countries like the Philippines avoid the mistakes made by the west,” said Greenpeace Southeast Asia climate and energy campaigner Jasper Inventor.

Inventor stressed that the industrialized world must help wean developing countries away from fossil fuels and ensure the availability of financial and technological assistance, especially in the areas of renewable-energy development and energy efficiency.

Greenpeace believes it is possible to keep the worst impacts of climate change—such as extreme weather events, water crises and increased hunger—from putting millions of people at risk.

This will take a revolution in the way we use and produce energy, and a strong commitment to stop deforestation worldwide, the group said.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) agrees. The WWF said rich countries should lead the way to implement ambitious climate goals by drastically reducing their emission gases by less than a percent every year in the next 13 years.

“Time is fast running out. We need to use the Kyoto system to expand global carbon markets and stimulate investments in clean technologies,” said Dr. Stephan Singer, head of the WWF’s European Climate Change Programme.

A WWF report released last week cited that annual rainfall in archipelagic nations like the Philippines has fallen by 2 percent to 3 percent, while average temperatures have risen by 33°F.

It warns that global sea levels are rising at about 2 millimeters per year and are projected to accelerate to a rate of about 5 millimeters annually over the next century.

Development-projects funder Oxfam International, on the other hand, said the Bali summit should mandate the search for new funds for adaptation, especially in vulnerable countries.

“Future commitments to cut emissions are a must, but additional financing for adaptation cannot wait until 2012. Here in Bali, dozens of delegates from poor countries will tell you that they need it now,” said Kate Raworth, senior researcher for Oxfam.

The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), another nongovernment organization dedicated to ending poverty and inequality, is calling for concrete actions and policy reforms to reduce the causes of climate change, as well as urgent measures to help poor countries begin to adapt and overcome its effects.

“Tackling climate change is a question of justice for poor people. Rich countries caused the buildup of greenhouse-gas emissions, and now poor countries are being made to pay for this problem. In Asia, people have fallen victim to relentless and severe flooding, and harsh droughts, devastating the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor Asians, and this is being replicated in other poor parts of the world,” said Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of the Coastal Association for Social Transformation Trust and member of the GCAP-Bangladesh coalition.

Chowdhury said that there is a huge setback in terms of the efforts to eradicate poverty in Bangladesh, adding that urgent measures must be taken to reduce the risks for people in low-lying areas to mitigate the worsening poverty and hunger in their country.

GCAP said: “We are bringing our loud collective voice to Bali so we are not left on the sidelines of scientific discussions. Climate change is about real people’s lives and livelihoods, and what are needed are real actions to enable us to adapt to our rapidly changing environment.”