COPENHAGEN TO SHAPE THE WORLD

"If there is one lesson to be learned from the climate crisis and the other crises of the past year – food, fuel, flu, financial – it is this: We share one planet, one home. As people, as nations, as a species, we are in this together." – UN Secretary – General Ban – Ki Moon.

In recent times both internally and internationally, discussion on climate change and their subsequent impact on planet earth have engaged the minds of many people. The discussions on climate change have gained more prominence because of the impending United Nations Climate Conference to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 7th December 2009. The Copenhagen treaty is expected to replace the Kyoto Protocol which was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997 and entered into force on 16th February 2005. The Kyoto Protocol which had binding targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emission was signed and ratified by 184 parties of the UN Climate Convention. The only noticeable exception to the protocol then was the United States of America. It is, however, a happy moment now that the US is set to come back into International Climate change process discussions. More sensitization and education have been done domestically in the United States to bring to the fall the realities of climate change to its citizens. The rejection of Kyoto Protocol then by the United States mainly centered on two reasons: Firstly, the United States felt that the Kyoto Protocol did not involve actions on the part of major developing countries and secondly, it was felt by the Bush administration that Kyoto Protocol would be harmful to the economy of United States. The non-participation of United States in the Kyoto Protocol was a serious setback to the protocol more so that the US is the biggest economy in the world, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and biggest per capita emitter in the world.

There are huge expectations of people from all over the world – both developed and developing that Copenhagen would shape the world and makes it a better place to live. According to Mr. Yvo de Boer, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), “the United Nations climate change conference in December, this year may not yield a new global climate treaty with every minor detail in place. But hopes that it will close with agreement on four political essentials, thereby creating clarity the world – not least the financially struck business world – needs”. On the basis of this notion, the four political essentials calling for an international agreement in Copenhagen are outlined as 1) how much are the industrialized countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases? 2) how much are major developing countries such as China – the world's second largest emitter and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emission? 3) how is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed? and finally, 4) how is the money to be given to developing countries going to be managed? I’m very sure that these technical issues would be extensively dealt with at the conference. There are, however, many proposals which include tying Official Developing Assistance (ODA) to the reduction in emissions. This proposal actually subject aid to how committed a country is towards a reduction in emission. Another proposal has to do with the thinking that transfer of technology from developed countries to developing countries would invariably help reduce emission, thus developing countries would be more fuel usage efficient and through that, there will be the reduction in global emissions. All this are some of the proposals flying over in environmental economics literature as some of the ways developed countries could use to help developing countries.

So, what are the expectations of Africans and African Leaders on Copenhagen? I wish to humbly remind the leaders of Africa that the impact of climate change will be severe in Africa especially among the poor. There will be the worse form of hunger, floods, and disease, just to mention but a few. This demands that African leaders quickly and urgently take pragmatic steps towards adoption and mitigation of climate change. It is against this backdrop that I was particularly elated when Mr. Meles Zenawi, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia said that “binding political agreement” as a steppingstone to a treaty will be agreed later. He goes on to talk about the fact that Africa needs to be compensated for the damage caused by global warming and that “Africa has set a minimum amount beyond which we will not go… But I’m not in a position to tell you what that minimum figure will be”. His statement enforces hope for most Africans that Copenhagen will shape the world and makes it a better place to leave. We can only hope for the best for Africa and we count on our leaders to state our case in clear and unambiguous terms for us.

I wish to conclude by wishing all the prospective participants in Copenhagen fruitful deliberations and they should always remember that their decisions today could shape the face of Planet Earth and make it a better place to leave. Leaders of developed countries should not reduce the conference to lips talk and that they should make the commitment to specific targets at the reduction in emissions. Developing countries such as China, India, South Korea, and South African should also make frantic efforts at reducing their emission level. We should do so against the backdrop that Earth is the only planet we have and that we should protect it. We can only expect a better offer for Africa.
"The article was published before the Copenhagen Conference"

Henry Kyeremeh
Accra