From The Outrigger Issue 53, Summer 2010

Big efforts, small returns

The Islanders had a bitter taste in their mouths, reports Katja Göbel

THEY flocked to Copenhagen in December from all over the world for what was technically known as the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). There were 120 Heads of State and Government, over 10,500 delegates, 13,500 observers, and the proceedings were covered minutely by more than 3,000 media representatives.

  But what do these record numbers say about the results of the big event? Not too much.

Big efforts were made by delegates and observers to establish an ambitious, fair and legally binding global climate agreement for the period from 2012 when the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires.

  Whether at the Bella Center, where the conference took place, or at the "Klimaforum09". the alternative climate summit located near the central station in Copenhagen, non-gover mental organisations, governments and institutions were able to learn about different aspects of climate change and its consequences. There were various kinds of exhibitions, events and activities going on everywhere in Copenhagen. There were also many representatives and delegates (and also the youth) from the Pacific.

  Furthermore, organisations in Europe, which are interested in the region, demonstrated their solidarity with their Pacific friends in practical ways. The Pacific Information Desk in Germany, in cooperation with the Pacific Networking in Europe organisation, presented an exhibition, Land Submerged in the Pacific, at different sites in Copenhagen as well as at the Bella Center to raise awareness for the devastating consequences of climate change for the Pacific Islands.

  But in the end the conference "took note of the "Copenhagen Accord". The final document of the conference was not legally binding and did not contain any legally binding commitments for reducing CO2 emissions. The document only recognised that climate change is one of the great challenges of today's world, and that action should be taken to keep any temperature increase to below 2 degrees C, although it contained pledges for adaptation measures for developing countries.

  Most of the participants were frustrated, especially the representatives of the most vulnerable countries like those from the Pacific region. Their frustration was not only with the final result, but also about the way the conference was handled by the Danish government, in particular the drafting of the final document.

  Tuvalu complained to the conference president about non-transparent processes. Prime Minister Apisai Lelemia made no secret of his discontent

  "We came here with the intention of signing on the bottom line and working out true, legally-binding agreements," he said. "Unfortunately, this is not happening. The legal affects have been swept under the carpet...We came to this meeting expecting an open and transparent process. Unfortunately, this is not happening. We will leave this meeting with a bitter taste in our mouth, with the true victims of climate change not having been heard."

  Tuvalu, as all members of the AOSIS (Alliance of Small Islands States), demanded that temperature increases should be limited to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, but this was not considered in the outcome of the conference. Even with a current global warming of about 0.8 degrees C. low-lying islands like Tuvalu will suffer. Some of the islands will be uninhabitable in the immediate future. Fe'iloakitau Kaho Tevi, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches, emphasised the AOSIS claim by stressing "1.5 to survive...this is our future"

 .Representatives from the government of Kiribati as well as from the Australian-Pacific initiative, Pacific Calling Partnership, made big efforts to convince delegates about the threats to their countries. Tessie Eria Lambourne, the Kiribati Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, referred to the problem of leaving Kiribati due to sea level rise.

  "We are on the frontline of climate change, we are on the front of the frontline. We will be the first to go if nothing happens here in Copenhagen. We want to protect our homeland to make sure that our children and grandchildren can live in a country called Kiribati," she said, adding that the inhabitants of low-lying countries, with no chance of internal migration, faced an uncertain future.

  A lot has to be done to slow down global warming and to support the most vulnerable countries in adapting to the changes. This year, climate change talks will go on to bring the negotiations at the COP16 in Mexico to a satisfactory end. It would be encouraging to see that, by this December, all the parties will have been heard, and that that there will be a fruitful co-operation between the developing and developed countries as well as the countries in transition.

  Climate change is not only the business of vulnerable countries but also of developed countries like the USA (not a member of the Kyoto Protocol) or countries in transition like India and China.During a side event, Tangaroa Arobati, a teacher from Kiribati, found the right words: "My culture will be lost, lost to my people directly but also lost to the world...we hold each other's future in our hands."

Katja Göbel is Secretary of Pacific Networking in Europe based in Neuendettelsau, Germany.