This blog is not intended to provide or spread any other opinion than, “be sensible about what you read and who wrote it.”
It is just that I am very aware about what is happening to our Planet that I provide you with a few quotes from different organisations on the results of the negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar (COP18). The conference ended yesterday, one day later than foreseen, because the Parties (UN member states) had some problems to agree upon a final outcome text.
Some developed countries have made a mockery of the negotiations by backing away from their past commitments and refusing to take on new ones. And to make matters worse, it was only a handful of countries - such as Poland, Russia, Canada, the US and Japan - who held the negotiations to ransom.
Read the press release of World Wildlife Fund (WWF Global) here.
Where is the urgency? The pace of progress is glacial. The inability of governments to find common ground to combat a common threat is inexplicable and unacceptable. It appears governments are putting national short term interest ahead of long term global survival.
Read the press release of Greenpeace International here.
Doha has opened up a new gateway to bigger ambition and to greater action - the Doha Climate Gateway. Qatar is proud to have been able to bring governments here to achieve this historic task. I thank all governments and ministers for their work to achieve this success. Now governments must move quickly through the Doha Climate Gateway to push forward with the solutions to climate change.
I congratulate the Qatar Presidency for managing a complex and challenging conference. Now, there is much work to do. Doha is another step in the right direction, but we still have a long road ahead. The door to stay below two degrees remains barely open. The science shows it, the data proves it.
Read the press release of United Nations Environment Programme here.
A more objective view should be provided by Reuters. So, let's have a look at some quotes from a recent article published on Reuters' website:
Much much more is needed if we are to save this process from being simply a process for the sake of process, a process that simply provides for talk and no action, a process that locks in the death of our nations, our people, and our children.
It's clear to me that this process is the only global framework we have and since this is a global problem, it has to be addressed globally. But obviously, this can't stand alone. Nations can't continue to hide behind the process. There's a direct link between what we deliver at home and here. We desperately need to combine action by regions, municipalities, citizens with this global approach. That is becoming more and more evident.
Read the Reuters article from December 9 here.
So, draw your own conclusion on what really has been achieved there in Doha!
