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We need a fair deal, a safe deal, a strong deal that binds countries to their commitments
On Sunday I will take the train for 20 hours from Oxford, UK to Poznan, Poland for the first week of the 14th UN climate change conference. Last year, I attended the 13th in Bali, Indonesia where thousands of people flew to Bali to stay in a 5-star resort to discuss how to take action to tackle climate change, the human-exacerbated phenomenon widely recognised as the greatest existing threat to people and the planet.
We are witnessing an unprecedented crisis. The actions of human beings, especially in the industrialised nations, are devastating the lives of already poor and marginalised groups through more extreme weather events, desertification and resource scarcity.
I think often of a good friend I made whilst working in China in 2003. Yu was a goat herder on the banks of the Yellow River in central China. The Yellow River is known as the Mother of China as it irrigates so much land and brings fertility to vast swathes of central China. Except today the river is running dry and much of the time it does not even reach the sea. Yu's goats were dying as the water they relied on to irrigate the land for food production ran out.
Nobody needed to tell Yu that we are witnessing a crisis, it was clear to him as his herd, his livelihood, died around him. But it seems that we need to tell our leaders that a crisis is happening.
The definition of a crisis is a turning point, a critical moment when something devastating could happen. So why are governments and business responding so slowly. Another crisis of our day, the global financial meltdown has produced an unprecedented and urgent response. Billions of dollars has been found overnight, governments – who claim their cannot interfere too much in the market – have stepped in and taken over failing banks. Where is this level of response to the climate crisis. Governments are not providing it so we must.
In December 2009, a global deal must be reached for a follow up deal to the existing, weak, Kyoto protocol. We need a fair deal, a safe deal, a strong deal that binds countries to their commitments.
In Poznan I want to see:
- Action so the world's poorest and most marginalised people are at the heart of a new deal
- Action so that rich countries reduce their emissions rapidly, to a level 90% below 1990 levels by 2050
- Action so that rich countries meet their historic responsibility for significant reparations for past climate damage including money over an above existing aid commitments
- Action from poor countries
to invest in national plans that support the poorest and marginalised
You can take action:
Go to www.whitebandaction.org to call on governments to take action 'In My Name'
Join the global day of action on December 6 – go to www.globalclimatecampaign.org to find out what is happening in your country.
