Όποιος θέλει στα Ελληνικά ΕΔΩ
PRESS RELEASE
REGARDING THE DOHA2012 UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
(COP18) 26/11 - 7/12/2012
21.11.2012
"The struggle against climate change is now
becoming struggle of survival and reversal of policies that lead millions of
people into poverty and misery"
From November 26th until December 7th the 18th
international UN meeting on climate change is being held in Doha, Qatar. The
COP18 following the tradition of previous meetings in Durban, South Africa
(2011) in Cancun, Mexico (2010) and Copenhagen, Denmark (2009) seemingly will
seal the failure of the international community to take action regarding the
expected expiry of the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.
Within the international context of the global economic crisis from 2008
onwards efforts regarding binding agreements that oblige states of the North
and the rapidly developing countries of the South to reduce greenhouse gases
remain fruitless as the growing competition and the search for new markets at
all costs has withdrawn the issue of climate change from the agenda of
governments. The environment is now seen as a major area of profitability and, as shown by the recent developments
in Greece, the crisis is being used as an excuse for further privatization of
ecological fields that are essential for the reproduction of human societies
(energy, water, forests, etc.). Peoples' access to environmental goods is
controlled by market rules, resulting in growing segments of the population
being excluded from the possibility of decent living and in many cases even
survival.
Indicative of the prevailing atmosphere surrounding the international
conference in Doha are the statements of the Brazilian ambassador who believes
that there is no scope for further reductions in emissions during this period.
The second phase of the Kyoto Protocol will be developed with the participation
of even fewer states than the original 1997 agreement. In the original
agreement the U.S. signed but not complied with the agreement since no
restrictions were imposed on developing economies such as China, India and
Brazil. Recently, other countries such as Japan, Russia, Canada and New Zealand
have declared that they will not sign up to the second commitment period.
According to a scientific study recently published by the World Bank,
the planet moves rapidly towards a temperature rise of 4 ° C at the end of the
century if the global community fails to act on the issue of climate change.
The international scientific community since many years has raised the
threshold of 2 ° C as a maximum temperature rise beyond which developments in climate
are expected to be non-linear with unpredictable consequences. The increasing
occurrence of intense climate events (heat waves, declining global stocks of
food and drinking water, rising sea levels, tropical cyclones, irreversible
loss of biodiversity, etc.) already affects millions of people around the world
and along with the recessionary trend in the world economy, the impacts on the
poorest sections of the population will be dramatic. Agricultural production,
human health and sensitive ecosystems are expected to be affected to a non
reversible and not easily predictable degree if the threshold of the 2o
C is not guaranteed.
It is now clear that the role of social-ecological movements is
especially important at a time when the ecological crisis interweaves with the
economic crisis resulting in devastating consequences for societies. Especially
in the European neighborhood austerity policies implemented during the last
years dispossess wealth while limiting the available democratic paths to address
the complex problems we are facing. The battle against climate change is now a
struggle of survival and reversal of policies that lead millions of people into
poverty and misery. The environment is the field of reproduction for human societies and its protection is an indisputable
condition for ensuring a decent life not only for us but also for future
generations.
The Greek Network of environmental and social organizations,
"FRIENDS OF NATURE" participates in this struggle to address climate
change and declares its willingness to cooperate for environmental and social
justice.
The Greek Network of Social and Environmental
Organizations "Friends of Nature" was founded in 2007 and is part of
the international environmental organization Friends of Nature / NFI (1895). 50
national organizations from around the world with more than 500,000 members
participate in NFI http://www.nfi.at. The NFI are part of GREEN10/G10, which
are the ten largest environmental organizations in the world.
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