Third World Climate Conference

Third World Climate Conference concluded with four-point declaration
Climate change poses a potential threat to the whole living world. Many species of animals have already been endangered by its ugly claws. The whole world in general and developing countries in particular are the worst sufferers of the effect of climate change. Now it is an established fact that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of green house gas emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity. This concern has led the world leaders and scientists to take measures to address the issue pragmatically. As an upshot of it the third World Climate Conference was held in Geneva from August 31 to September 4. Heads of state and government of at least 15 countries along with policy makers, stakeholders, NGO leaders participated in the conference.
The week-long meeting, organized by the World Meteorological Organization, aimed to help nations cope with climate change by improving the way climate information is collected and shared among governments. The Conference concluded with adaptation of a four-point declaration aimed at establishing a global framework for climate services to strengthen production, availability, delivery and application of science based prediction and services. The declaration also included request of the secretary general of WMO to convene within four months of the adaptation of the declaration an intergovernmental meeting of member states to approve the terms of reference and to endorse the composition of the task force. It decided that the task force after consultation with governments, partner organizations and relevant stakeholders, prepare a report including recommendations on proposed elements of the framework within twelve months of the task force being set up. During the meeting, Michael Jarraud, Secretary General of WMO, expressed fear over rapid changes of world’s climate and emphasized taking concerted efforts to save the world from global warming caused by huge carbon emissions. He said the international communities should be united to protect the next generation from global warming as it is not possible for a single nation to face the challenges of the climate change alone. Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, underscored the need for sharing of regional information on climate issue to cope with the situation.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said “ our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading towards an abyss.”. He visited the Arctic to witness first hand the changes wrought by global warming the same week and warned that many of the more distant scenarios. He continued,“ Scientists have been accused for years of scaremongering. But the real scaremongers are those who say we cannot afford climate action- that it will hold back economic growth. They are wrong. Climate change could spell widespread disaster. Ban has carried out several climate related visits since he took the helm of the world body, including Antarctica, to see advancing deserts in Chad and the diminishing Amazonian rainforest in Brazil. Visibly sobered by his Arctic visit this week, he warned that rising levels partly generated by melting ice in the polar region would threaten major cities and potentially up 130 million people.

Some grim indications were uttered in the conference. About 20 million Bangladeshis would require relocation due to climate change impacts by 2050. A metre-rise of sea level would inundate a third of Bangladesh and this would result in mass migration northwards, imposing increasing pressure on land loss livelihood of about 40 million. The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction has ranked Bangladesh as the most vulnerable country to floods, third most to tsunami and sixth most to cycles in terms of human expose.
The first world climate conference was held on 12-23 February in 1979 in Geneva and sponsored by the WMO. It was one of the first major international meetings on climate change. Essentially a scientific conference, it was attended by scientists from a wide range of disciplines. In addition to the main plenary sessions, the conference organized four working groups to look into climate data, the identification of climate topics, integrated impact studies, and research on climate variability and change. The conference led to the establishment of the World Climate Programme and the World Climate Research Programme. It also led to the creation of the intergovernmental Panel Change by WMO and UNEP in 1988.The second climate conference was held on 29 October to 7 November in 1090 again in Geneva. It was an important step towards a global climate treaty and somewhat more political than the first conference. The main task of the conference was to review the WCP set up by the first conference. The conference issued a Ministerial Declaration only after hard bargaining over a number of difficult issues. The declaration disappointed many of the participating scientists as well as some observers because it id not offer a high level of commitment. Eventually, however, developments at the conference led to the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Of which the Kyoto Protocol is a part and to the establishment of the Global Climate Observing System.
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement lined to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This amounts to an average of five percent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 20008-2012. The major distinction between the Protocol and the Convention is that while the Convention encouraged industrialized countries to stabilize green house gas emissions, the Protocol commits them to do so.
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. 184 Parties of the Convention have ratified its Protocol to date. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at in Marrakesh in 2001, and are called the ‘Marrakesh Accords’.
Scientists predict the world will get hotter over the coming decades. A major conference in Copenhagen at the end of the year will focus on ways to mitigate the worst affects of global warming. It will present measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow this process. But the WMO says mitigation alone is not enough. Largely overlooked in this process is the need for adaptation. WMO Secretary General Michel Jarraud says countries must have the tools to adapt to a changing climate. They must be able to respond to a world that is likely to experience more extreme weather events, such as floods and hurricanes. For the health sector, it will be to be ready to cope with a disease, which will spread in areas where they do no spread or which may become more serious. Farmers in certain parts of the world have to adapt to a dryer climate. He says they might have to modify irrigation systems or consider growing crops that do not require much rain. He further says that global warming is likely to increase the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. Therefore, better and timelier information on these phenomena are essential to make decisions on climate variability and change.
Md. Masum Billah
Senior Manager: BRAC Education Programme, PACE
(the writer regularly writes on various national and international issues)
Phone: 9355253 (res), 01714-091431(cell)
Email: mmbillah2000@yhaoo.com