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Can’t Afford Failure in Copenhagen

This comes just when world leaders are gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark for the much-awaited United Nations summit on 
Climate Change.

The UN conference that opens today in the Danish capital and is being attended by top scientists, climate experts and officials in addition to world leaders is intended to hammer out a globally binding climate treaty that replaces the Kyoto Protocol and sets targets for carbon emission cuts 
by all nations.

The Nielsen/Oxford university survey findings therefore come as a shock, running against growing concerns and frustration of the scientific community and environment groups over the rising threat to the planet. Clearly, it’s business as usual for many in rich, industrialised countries. Only 37 per cent of more than 27,000 people surveyed in 54 countries said they were ‘concerned’ about climate change — down from 41 per cent in similar poll two years ago.

This is shocking, but not surprising given the tendency of many governments of industrialised nations, including the United States, to underplay the threat posed by global warming. Successive governments in America, that was until recently the world’s biggest contributor of green house gases or carbon emissions, have over the years refused to admit that human activity is to blame for rising temperatures, let alone take steps to check the threat. The world’s biggest industrial power and sole superpower never joined the Kyoto Protocol, the current climate treaty that was signed nearly 11 years ago by most UN member states in the Japanese city. Things began changing in Washington only under President Barack Obama, who has signalled a break from the past and has called for global efforts to prevent the 
climate peril. After initial reservations, both United States and India, the rising Asian giant that refused to be dictated on emission targets by the West, have signalled their willingness to be part of a new deal to check the global warming. China, which currently enjoys the dubious distinction of being the greatest polluter, has already offered to do its bit by pushing for a target of 25 per cent emission cut by 2020. Both Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have decided to attend the Copenhagen summit in the final phase. This means if all goes well and negotiations go smoothly as planned, Washington and Delhi may after all sign on the dotted line.

This looks like a historic opportunity to secure the planet’s future. Yet fears persist that there could be still many a slip between the lip and the cup between now and a final treaty in Copenhagen before Christmas. The world community of six billion people looks to President Obama, President Hu Jintao, Prime Minister Singh and other world leaders for coming up with that desperately needed solution. They just can’t afford to let us down. Copenhagen can’t be a failure.