Peoples' Movement on Climate Change-Bangladesh

Icon_article Udgivet: Tuesday 08 December 2009 13:52 af Peoples' Assembly Bangladesh

Tagget som: cop15
Område: 15 cdp change climate cop ibon movement peoples' pmcc protocol

People’s Protocol means a set of rules defined by the people. Climate change is already happening and represents one of the greatest environmental, social and economic challenges for the future. The people of Bangladesh are suffering some of the severest impacts of climate change but they have done the least to cause the problem. Therefore, they have the rights to call for a people’s protocol on climate change. The climate justice movement has made important contributions in advancing people’s concerns in the UNFCCC negotiations. For example, the climate debt concept has now been endorsed by over 50 countries.

Peoples' Movement on Climate Change-Bangladesh

The goal of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is ‘stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The positions on the medium- and long-term CO2 emission reduction are still clogged with huge differences from developing countries to developed countries. The lack of commitment from the Annex I countries are delaying to set the proposed scale of emission reductions for the second period of commitment. According to International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), emissions need to be cut by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2020.

The key challenge at COP-15 is to ensure that the Kyoto Protocol regime does not die an untimely death. While there is some flexibility as to what form the agreed outcome can take, at a minimum, a decision must be adopted at COP-15 in accordance with the Bali Action Plan, which requires action now, up to and beyond 2012. Therefore, an essential component of the agreed outcome at Copenhagen must at the very least involve a decision that amends Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol and which establishes Annex I Parties’ emission reductions that are deep enough to prevent global climate change disaster.

It is also important to clarify that the Kyoto Protocol itself does not expire in 2012, only the first commitment period. However, unless Parties reach an agreement on the second commitment period in sufficient time to ensure that there are no gaps between the first and second commitment periods, the global climate regime will be seriously and possibly irreversibly compromised. Further delays in the adoption of a legally binding and ratifiable outcome will have serious consequences for developing countries since delays will enable industrialized countries to continue to deplete the global carbon budget and to deny developing countries their fare share of atmospheric resources.

The agreed outcome at COP-15 must be satisfactory to address the substantive elements of the Bali Action Plan and enable enhanced implementation of the UNFCCC up to and beyond 2012. However the bottom line is that whatever the form of the agreed outcome, it must be grounded on a principled approach that is based on equity, justice and adequacy. The UNFCCC is grounded in fundamental principles of equity, justice and adequacy, which for largely economic and political reasons have been systematically disregarded by industrialized nations since the UNFCCC was adopted in 1992. That is why we need people’s protocol.

S. Jahangir Hasan Masum

Executive Director

Coastal Development Partnership (CDP), Bangladesh, Contact: masumcdp at yahoo.com

Email Kontakt-email: cdpmahbub@yahoo.com