What do we want from Copenhagen?
You’ve heard a little bit from us at ONE about the Copenhagen Climate Change negotiations that will be taking place in December. As policy makers prepare to meet to negotiate a global climate deal next month in Copenhagen, everyone at ONE will be doing their utmost to ensure the best possible deal for the world’s poorest communities, especially in Africa. We want to share what we hope emerges from the Copenhagen negotiations.
In advance of the meeting ONE has released a new policy paper ‘Africa and the Global Climate Deal’ that outlines the key elements of ‘good’ deal for Africa.
On helping developing countries cope with the effects of climate change, we agree that scaling up to the World Bank estimate of $75-100 billion annually is appropriate. This should come from both private and public finance sources, with contributing countries ensuring that the money is truly additional to pledges that have already been made on development assistance.
We also want to see the global community agree to invest in Africa’s potential for clean energy and “carbon sinks.” A carbon sink is a tool that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound and can be used to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (for example, forests and soil). You can read more about the technologies involved and the mechanisms used to invest in these types of resources in our policy paper, but in short, Africa possesses great opportunity to contribute to offset some of the existing carbon emissions.
Climate change is not a crisis of Africa’s making, yet it is Africans, especially the poorest, who will suffer the first and the worst. Not only does it add yet another challenge for those struggling to combat extreme poverty and disease by exacerbating the conditions of poverty, but it threatens to erode the gains that have been made in recent years.
We need the negotiators at Copenhagen to simply know that they cannot afford to fail the world’s poorest people.
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November 12, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I would like to see an agreement,signed by all members of the conference, to achieve one, specific and realistic goal of 350 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surrounding the planet by a realistic deadline. In addition, the signatories to the agreement should agree to develop a joint website that allows citizens throughout the planet to post case studies, success stories, business opportuntiies, wiki-entries, and training opportunities dedicated to promoting the accomplishment of this one, specific goal. Then, every two years, the signatories should meet again to assess the progress they have made toward the achievement of this one, very achievable goal. If other specific goals spin off this activity in support of ensuring Earth’s sustainability, so much the better. Thanks to the internet, the achievement of a common, very specific goal like this is now within the realm of possibility for this generation of humanity. Let’s not squander this opportunity, for the sake of future generations.