Climate change is again top of the agenda as decision-makers begin to prepare for the Copenhagen 2009 conference which will dictate the world’s response to the growing challenges of climate change.  UNPO was in Brussels to hear senior European parliamentarians and experts debate the urgent issues at stake.

Below is an article written by UNPO:

11 June 2008, Brussels – With the days counting down to climate change talks in Poznan, Poland and Copenhagen, Denmark, attentions in Brussels are being drawn to the issues at stake and the need for concerted action to combat the threats of rising sea levels, deforestation, and drought amongst others. 

The non-governmental organization Friends of Europe assembled a panel of government and European Parliament figures under the title of ‘Climate Change and International Security: Can Copenhagen 2009 lead to a Global Deal?’ to debate the questions that are likely to need addressing.  UNPO was in attendance to witness the debate and assess how decision-makers in Brussels and beyond are responding to the new challenges of climate change and natural resource scarcity. 

Opening the discussion, Norwegian Minister for the Environment and International Development, Mr. Erik Solheim, dispelled notions of climate change as a ‘new terrorism’ [Garton Ash] and emphasised climate change’s role as a threat multiplier which had the potential to precipitate conflict over resources and the disruptive displacement of people.  These effects would be felt most by those fragile states who were least well equipped to deal with them, Mr. Solheim stated.  As a consequence it was essential that “we must have American leadership” when talks begin in Copenhagen in 2009 if countries such as China were to take discussions seriously.

Mr. Mogens Peter Carl, European Commission Director General for the Environment, took up the discussion, focusing on the issues of international development and the need for targeted aid disbursement in areas of Africa, Bangladesh, and low-lying Pacific islands which stood to be threatened most immediately by climate change.  Moreover, the Copenhagen talks would be critical to put much needed impetus into the responses to climate change after a decade of what Mr. Carl called “talk about talk” which had led nowhere. 

The third member of the discussion panel, Rebecca Harms MEP, Vice-Chairwoman of the European Parliament Committee on Climate Change and the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, took up the debate with particular attention on the growing issue of biofuels and the effect their promotion was having on staple commodity prices around the world.  Mrs. Harms reiterated the call of the Green Party for a moratorium on the development of biofuels until there had been a global food security assessment which could be used to judge any future worldwide biomass strategy.  This was necessary to ensure the sustainability of current responses to climate change, which Mrs. Harms maintained had all too often proved to be inadequate.  The solution therefore lay on a successful outcome to the talks scheduled to be held in Poznan, which would have to ensure that the developing world received the aid and technological transfer needed to combat climate change effectively.  This had to be a priority given that Mrs. Harms had observed that “we are watering down all the proposals” in the decision-making process associated with climate change, thus making concerted action essential. 

Mrs. Harms’ position on biofuels drew qualifications from Mr. Solheim who emphasised the need for a holistic approach to energy generation.  Further questions came from the floor, with Mr. Paul Hobson of the European Commission noting that the link between biofuels and rising commodity prices required clarification, stating that the price for sugar, a basis for biofuels, had actually fallen while those of rice, which is not, had increased.  In a debate which revealed the contentions likely to surface in Poznan and Copenhagen, Mrs. Harms emphasised the effect of biofuel promotion on not just sugar but also palm oil, corn, and soya all of which were important staple crops in the developing world. 

Further questions from the floor served to show the wide-range of debate and immense variety of concerned parties.  Carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems featured prominently, but attention was also drawn to deforestation and the need to develop adequate schemes that could give forests a tradable value.  Speaking on the issue, Mr. Solheim noted that Brazil was at present the only state pursuing such a scheme, but that it was still in its infancy.  There was thus a pressing need to find a way of safeguarding the forests of Papua New Guinea and the Congo from the ‘slash and burn’ farming which was unsustainable and ravaging swathes of invaluable rainforest to the cost of future generations and exacerbating contemporary climate change. 

By the close of the debate it was clear that while the issues surrounding climate change are gaining in visibility and the facts underlying these changes are increasingly accepted there are major questions remaining.  Chief among these is the disproportionate impact climate change is going to have on indigenous peoples and their ability to voice their concerns at the national and international levels.  UNPO will therefore be aiming to highlight these concerns at the forthcoming European Parliament Agora on Climate Change to be held in Brussels on 12-13 June 2008.