Climate, 'Nobody's baby':

'Save the world from gas emissions'

By Lionel YODASINGHE in Doha

The main stakeholders responsible for global emission failed to find a significant breakthrough during the past 11 days as the UN Climate Change Conference 2012 (COP18) was set to wind up last Friday. The failed previous summit in Copenhagen in 2009 has come to Doha and the rich nations and other high carbon emitters maintained silence as time was running out to declare their stand to prevent an imminent global calamity that was looming large over the planet, its inhabitants, fauna and flora.

The "beat the bush attitude" was what was happening while the core issues were buried deeply since the sessions started on November 26. Qatar as the host nation of the COP18 is expected to contribute a constructive share towards the aim of the meeting seemed to do its propaganda lavishly.

As one of the top oil and gas producers in the world, and one of the richest and fast developing countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Qatar boasts that it has included the climate issue in its National Vision 2030, thereby introduced various energy saving and environmental friendly methods in their development drive, but no clear signs were given as to how it was going to cut large gas emissions directly.

The conference is more pomp and pageantry as well as a publicity stunt for the small but wealthy Gulf nation to put the country in the world map ahead of the scheduled extravagant sports event FIFA World Cup in 2022.

A Qatari environmentalist Dr. Saif Ali al-Hajri told journalists that more actions were needed than talks to achieve the carbon emission targets. "Actions can be achieved if we use the resources at our disposal to solve the problems of carbon emission.

If more actions are considered, and then I am sure we can cut by half the costs of organizing meetings like COP18," he told the media.

He said Qatar is committed to making the environment friendlier by signing any agreement related to the environment, but he did not mention the country's clear stand on its plan to reduce its carbon cut.

The snail-paced talks were feared by the observers from the beginning that the Doha Summit too would not find any significant breakthrough but end uncommitted as its previous sittings in Copenhagen.

Meanwhile political leaders, delegates and official speakers at the COP18 called for urgent actions, and their speeches proved that they have realized the gravity of greenhouse gas emissions which would turn into extreme weather demons stronger and ferocious than the recent "Sandy" and devastate human life, deteriorate earth's bio-diversity, destroy foods and contaminate water resources.

The top emitters, China, United States, the European Union and India have not announced their plans to limit emissions at Doha despite wide pleas for actions, Head of the UN panel of Climate Scientists Rajendra Pachauri told the Conference.

He said the UN meeting is struggling to overcome disputes about how to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the existing plan for cutting emissions by developed nations that will otherwise expire at the end of December this year.

The EU, Australia and a few other countries are willing to extend but Japan, Russia, and Canada have pulled out, and arguing that it is meaningless unless emerging nations led by China and India also sign up.

The U.S. never ratified the 1997 Kyoto pact and without an extension of Kyoto developing nations say they won't work for a global deal applicable to all and meant to be agreed by 2015 and be effective by 2020.

The U.S. and E.U. even refused any commitment to concrete climate funding for poor nations during the conference. What the U.S. said it had already "doing what agreed to do" while E.U. insisted tight finances prevented it taking on near-term commitments as a bloc. Earlier during the Summit talks, NGO experts warned that a number of worrying fault lines have emerged which have potential to derail the Doha negotiations if they are not resolved immediately.

Another announcement at the Conference is that Poland which is playing a leading role to block further climate action in Europe leading to destabilise the current negotiations in Doha has been named the host to the next climate talks, COP19.

Anja Kollmuss from Carbon Market Watch said the Polish government was trying to win respect as a climate leader by hosting the COP19 next year, but the truth was that they were singlehandedly preventing the European Union from raising its emission reduction target to 30 percent and from finalizing a long term strategy to deal with climate change.

Another question on focus is whether rich governments will release funding of climate action to developing countries to reach the US$100 billion commitment by 2020. Tim Gore of Oxfam said despite the aftershocks of economic slowdown faced by many developed countries, there were options available for them to fund climate action, such as a Financial Transactions Tax to be implemented in 12 EU countries next year, or a fair carbon change on the emission from international aviation and shipping.

Gore warned that failure to do this by next week, the COP would start to collapse. The developed countries committed to provide 100 billion dollars annually by 2020 and make a down payment of $30 billion over a three-year period for 2010-2012. "And there is no clarity on what the roadmap is between 2013 and 2020,' Gore told reporters.

He said this 'Fast Start Finance' fund of US$100 billion will end by next month while a similar fund set up for the same purpose 'Green Climate Fund' at Cancun talks in 2011 still remains empty.

According to Oxfam 43 percent of known Fast Start Finance has been released as grants, most in the form of loans that the developing nations have to repay at varying levels of interest. Only 21 percent of known funds have been earmarked to support adaptation programmes to help communities become more resilient to the effects of climate change. Gore said these funding shortfalls, extreme weather and the end of the Fast Start Finance period in December should force political leaders to work with urgency and ambition to increase climate finance in Doha.

A revisit to the Copenhagen summit and feedback of the conference should be collateral before new talks are taken place, but such a move was conspicuously in its absence at Doha is clear proof to the no-tangible achievement during the last three years.

The summit would walk to Poland next year in its posh form risking the lives of over seven billion people on the planet as no concrete steps to prevent the anger of nature gods and avoid the ravages of climate change caused due to the man's unending passion for wealth and power were initiated in Doha.

It is high time the rich and the poor implemented down to earth actions if they need their economies to thrive, breathe pure air and save the earth from danger for generations to come. The decision is in the hands of a few, and others are only onlookers. Else, UN Climate Conference will become just another UN tamasha.