Climate Change - No Change

The experts once again conclude that a climate change conference has been another failure.Cop22 in Marrakesh has now been described as an “extreme disappointment”

Isabel Kreisler, of Oxfam, said not enough money was being given to the world’s poorest countries to help them adapt to changes that are already happening because of global warming. “We saw a stubborn refusal from developed country ministers and negotiators to fill the adaptation finance gap and face the fact that the Paris Agreement doesn’t fully protect lives that will suffer the most from climate change," Kreisler said.  “Millions of people facing extreme and erratic weather can’t afford to keep waiting.”

Lidy Nacpil, of the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, said: “At the end of these two weeks we just want to express our extreme disappointment that no clear and concrete increases in climate finance pledges have been put forward by developed country governments. In Marrakech, all the developed countries did was try to evade and postpone their responsibilities, insisting on highly questionable methods for calculating their financial contributions to mask the paltry reality."

Andrew Norton, director of the International Institute for Environment and Development, said: “The outcome of the UN climate talks means that the world’s poorest people in the most vulnerable countries will have to continue their wait for another two years before substantive decisions are made on how the Paris Agreement is put into action...The main obstacle is the lack of funding available to poor countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change,” he said. “It is vital that developed countries provide this finance to the poorest countries.”

David Turnbull, campaigns director for Oil Change International, noted that the declaration "failed to meet the urgency of the climate crisis," given that the emissions reductions targets agreed to in Paris are voluntary, and even then will still allow global temperatures will exceed the crucial 1.5°C limit. "The lessons of Marrakech are clear,” said Turnbull. “Don't look to bureaucrats or climate-denying Presidents to take the lead on global climate action. Look to the people in the streets and in communities around the world. These are the people-powered movements resisting fossil fuels and building a renewable energy future, and this is the path to victory."

COP23 will take place in November 2017 in Bonn Germany and will be co-chaired by Fiji. Its Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, has been outspoken on the threat posed by climate change in recent times, accusing the global community of abandoning the Pacific island nations to sink below the waves.

However, it takes no great powers of prophesy for SOYMB to predict that the COP23 Summit will be another unsuccessful conference. For sure, the issues raised are and will remain genuine issues of life and death for humanity but the resolutions will not match the urgency or the seriousness of the problem. The people who do not have enough to eat will not and cannot prevent governments and corporations who are accountable to no-one from destroying Nature.