Issue No. 13367

Education

 

THE SCENARIOS envisioned for life on this planet later in this century paint a worrying picture. Rising sea levels, more frequent heatwaves, heavy rainfall and an increase in natural disasters wrought by drought, tropical cyclones and extremely high tides are all in store for us if a cap cannot be put on the earth’s rising temperatures.

 

This is the gloomy projection of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), a scientific intergovernmental body established under the aegis of the United Nations. 

 

According to the IPCC, there needs to be a global effort to reduce carbon emissions in developed countries by 25-40 percent by the year 2020 and by 15-30 percent in developing countries, in order to avert an increase in average global temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius. 

 

Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Bulgaria stand to suffer most among the 27 EU members from the impact of the global rise in temperatures, according to a European Commission report issued on November 25.

 

Compiled by the commission’s Joint Research Centre, the report predicts that the effects would be most negative in the five southern European countries, in all the areas surveyed: agriculture, river flooding, coastal systems and tourism.

 

 

Experts warn that halting the rise of global temperatures depends on the outcome of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15), which runs on December 7-18. The meeting, to be attended by delegations from 191 countries, has the task of hammering out a new global climate change agreement that expands upon the terms of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which is ending. 

 

In what is a first for a Greek delegation to a UN climate change conference, Greece will be represented by Environment Minister Tina Birbili. Prime Minister George Papandreou has also committed himself to attending the summit’s most crucial sessions. 

 

The official attention given to the meeting stands in stark contrast to previous climate change meetings, when Greek delegations were comprised of only civil servants or, at best, deputy ministers. 

 

“We can now say that Greece is one of the more progressive voices within the EU,” said Dimitris Ibrahim of Greenpeace. “But much remains to be done. Greece must push the EU positions regarding Copenhagen as well as exposing the lagging behind of the US.”

 

 

At the meeting, the EU will commit itself to a 20 percent reduction in CO2 emissions, as measured against the 1990 levels in Europe, a figure the bloc is prepared to increase to 30 percent in the event of an international agreement. 

 

Referring to recent data, Greenpeace Greece said the EU is well on its way to reaching the 20 percent reduction target. “The bloc has already achieved a 13.6 reduction on the 1990 levels in 2008,” Ibrahim said, “not thanks to climate policy and climate measures but due to economic recession, warm winters and the deindustrialisation of the former eastern bloc.” 

 

But with only days to go before the Denmark summit starts, there appears to be little sign that deadlocks among developed countries, on the one hand, and the developed and developing countries, on the other, will be resolved.

 

“The worst-case scenario - an outcome that is looking increasingly likely - would be for COP15 to produce a political, non-legally binding agreement, without any concrete targets for reducing CO2 emissions in developed countries,” Ibrahim said.

 

His concerns were echoed by Greek President Karolos Papoulias on December 2. Describing himself as “part of the [environmental protection] camp”, the president said he saw “low clouds over Copenhagen” and expressed doubts that it could achieve anything more binding than a framework for action.

ATHENS NEWS 30/08/2010, page: 13