Environment
A Climate of Change
This month the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change comes back on to the international agenda with the resumed Conference of the Parties 6 (COP 6) being held in Bonn, Germany.
Since the Swedish chemist Arrhenius published predictions back in 1896 of an increase in CO2 emissions from industrialisation, Climate Change has become an issue of true global significance. Following the failure of COP 6 to agree on the means of limiting greenhouse gases last November, the United States rejection of the Kyoto Protocol has intensified an already delicate situation.
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Much of the current dissatisfaction within the international community stems from the argument that it is futile having an understanding to bring global warming to a halt, when the country with the most emissions and is the biggest polluter is not involved. Further, the United States along with some other OCED countries believe that greater flexibility, and voluntary measures are a better form of reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs), than international regulation, that would constrain economic development.
For some time now the Pacific islands has maintained that the associated effects of sea level rise are already being felt here especially on low-lying islands such as Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu. Mainstream scientists are in agreement that the planet is being affected by the buildup of greenhouse gases, and that swift action is needed to check the problem, even though what's currently proposed under the Kyoto Protocol is still inadequate to arrest global warming fully.
Recently SPREP played host to the 13th Council for the Regional Organisations of the Pacific (CROP) meeting. CROP chairperson, Noel Levi, shared his thoughts regarding the United States position and where the region may be heading. "We have expressed some unhappiness about the US position. But ... we are concerned about life. "With rising sea levels, we will be the first people to go, and some of our small islands will be the first to go. I think the leaders have taken a position that the developed countries would need to reduce their emissions, so the Kyoto Protocol, was for the Pacific, one of the first real measures in the world to try and control Green House Gas emissions that has been caused by industrialisation. So it is an issue that CROP will be looking at," he said.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Klaus Toepfer says: "This is not just an environmental negotiation but an historical one as well. Future generations will suffer if we fail to adequately deal with the very real threats of climate change today. For the sake of the Earth and all its inhabitants we simply cannot afford not to act."
To be enforceable the Protocol - to which a number of Pacific Islands countries have already joined - must be ratified by at least 55 parties to the United Nations Climate Change Treaty. But so far only 30 parties have signed the agreement. The outcome from these forthcoming talks should leave some clear signs as to whether or not the Kyoto agreement will have a chance of coming into force or not. Since 1997 one of the region's responses to the issue has been through the Pacific Islands Climate Change Programme (PICCAP) within SPREP. This was a concerted effort by participating countries to address concerns about climate change, primarily through building the capacity of national human resources, training awareness and understanding. PICCAP was also first in that it enabled the linking of technical studies to policy development on climate change in the Pacific region.
Last month SPREP facilitated a ministerial and official consultation on the forthcoming UNFCCC Resumed COP 6 Meeting for Pacific Islands countries. The idea was to share with Pacific Islands negotiators and Ministers the latest information and events in order to enable them to prepare for the resumed COP 6. The outcome of the meeting was a ministerial declaration on Climate Change that will be forwarded to key regional meetings, such as the Pacific Islands Leaders Forum and the forthcoming COP Meetings.
While the Kyoto Protocol falls short in terms of emission targets that developed countries should comply, to drop the Protocol at this time after nearly a decade of international negotiation would really set the alarm bells ringing across our region. For Pacific countries the time is ripe once again to step forward and assert their concerns on the international stage, while utilising every opportunity and grouping of countries in the negotiations for highlighting the plight of small islands states.
I am hopeful that the resumed COP 6 will bring forth a decision that will improve the situation for the region, and for the future of our planet¹s environment and our very lives.
-Tamari¹i Tutangata is Director of South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) based in Apia, Samoa.
