What did happen in the Climate Change Conference in Paris?
The past few weeks took place in Paris the COP 21. A highly anticipated appointment.
The last time they met for the weather was in Lima in 2014. It did not help much.
In Paris there was a lot of pressure to get something positive, from many environmental groups, from governments in archipelagos in the process of disappearing, but above all from the mother Earth, which can not wait any longer.
The whole society is already aware of recycle, reuse and renewable energy. That is the future, no discussion, even the sceptic admit it. So why is it so difficult to reach an agreement?
We have lived a historic moment, 195 countries signed a document to commit to change things. Happiness! Joy! Euphoria! Hope! The triumph of diplomacy! That's what they tell us, but the agreement is enough? Which is exactly what they have signed?
Some people see the glass half full and others see it as half empty. On the half full positive side it is very important that all countries signed the agreement and with just that we should be happy.
There are three very important positive points in the agreement:
- The main goal of curbing global warming and maximum temperature rise between 2°C and 1'5ºC end of the century.
- The money that they are going to give the least developed countries to enable them to pollute less and to deal with the climate change damages. 100,000 million dollars per year from 2020.
- Reduce the confrontation between rich and poor countries. The richest will further reduce their emissions in the future.
On the other side of the ring, some people show their anger for the following reasons:
- Everything is for the future, instead of starting to implement the agreement now, will begin in 2020. As if we had not had enough time...
- The text is made to please everyone, it is full of ambiguous and flexible language. No specific strategies to achieve the objectives with phrases like “reduce emissions as soon as possible”. As soon as possible? Really?
- Do not touch important subjects such as energy. Neither speak to start leaving fossil fuels, nor promote renewable energy, or anything that is concrete or that might hurt someone's pocket.
- Not binding. Each country will establish its own goals, chosen by the government of each state. The only mechanism established to “force” countries to improve their strategies is to “to name and shame“. As in the simpsons when Nelson points and says “ha-ha”.
It is an important agreement, a little step to regain a greener planet. But for me it has also been sad disillusioning disappointing, a missed opportunity to make a significant change. All that's left for later and trusted technologies that do not yet exist and are only seen as a business opportunity. The objective before the summit was to establish a binding agreement, but now we have to wait for it to apply from 2020... And we must cross one's fingers wait and hope that the next US president agrees with the treaty, how nice!
The people of Tuvalu will continue to struggle against the force of the sea and we will continue waiting in the “Volkswagen cases”. We will keep fighting, we have no choice, we can not surrender…
As an Indian proverb says “The earth is not inherited from our parents, we borrow it from our children”.
We will continue to pressure and we continue with ecology in our daily lives. To finish a link to a short film to change some minds and create new ones.
Short-Film: Change
Enjoy it!
Spain
Germany