Greenpeace ark for climate refugees
As
the governments of the world gather in Buenos Aires for the latest round of
talks on climate change, Greenpeace unveils a 30 metre long wooden Ark. A
symbol of the suffering already caused by the impacts of climate change and
a stark reminder ofthe millions more lives and livelihoods at risk in the
future if governments fail to do the right thing.
There is no doubt that climate change is upon us and equally little doubt that those who are suffering the impacts first and with devastating effect are the poorest nations in the world. We have witnessed drought in sub-Saharan Africa, floods in China and India and nearly a tripling of people affected by extreme weather and other natural disasters around the world in the last twenty years. Those affected are almost all in the developing world, those most vulnerable and least able to cope.
But
responsibility for the problem lies elsewhere, mainly in the wealthy countries
of the world but more and more with rapidly industrializing countries. Greenhouse
pollution from the last two hundred years of industrialisation has ensured
that the some level of climate change is unavoidable and the world will have
to adapt to this.
The question is, are we prepared to act to prevent even worse impacts of climate change and at the same time provide help for the most vulnerable to adapt or will we consign millions to their fates in an uncertain and unstable world?
Keeping the global average temperature increase below 2°C should be the goal of climate policy. That will still be dangerous to millions of people but it is now probably the best we can do.
By staying below 2°C we can limit damage to coral reefs; limit the risk of the Greenland ice sheet collapsing; and limit the rate and extent of sea level rise. Hunger, water scarcity and disease risk seem to accelerate with higher temperature. It isn’t too late to pull the world back from the brink but it soon may be.
We certainly cannot afford a repeat of the ten long years it took to agree the Kyoto Protocol and make it legally binding. In spite of the refusal of the USA (the biggest greenhouse polluter of all) to take any responsibility for climate change or reduce its emissions, the rest of the world must move ahead with rapid and radical cuts.
Using the US in position as an excuse to do nothing will create a stalemate and within 5-10 years there will be very little chance of being able to meet a 2°C target. There would be a slowdown in the development of new technologies and developing countries would be locked in to dirty fossil fuel technologies. It would be very difficult to make up the lost ground.
There is no choice. Governments must act now to save lives
and the environment or no amount of ‘Arks’ will be able to deal
with the resulting deluge of climate refugees.
