Bexhill & Hastings UNA Branch - May 23

CLIMATE change was the subject of a talk given by Hazel Dawe, chairwoman of Kent Green Party, on May 17 to Bexhill & Hastings United Nations Association. She spoke about last December's Bali conference of the parties to the UN climate change convention.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd May 2008, 14:14 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 20:13 BST

Disagreement over emission targets was a prominent source of friction at the conference. USA, Canada and Japan lined up against the EU, which had demanded that industrialised countries agree to cut emissions by 25 to 40 per cent by 2020. When a compromise was tabled, the US delegation first rejected it, then reversed its position, following pressure from other delegates and the UN Secretary-General.

Finally, the 187 countries present agreed a 'roadmap' for holding four further talks this year and a summit in Copenhagen.

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Ms Dawe had been shocked that the going was so difficult at the conference that the US delegation was booed and conference organisers broke down in front of the TV cameras.

Yet she thought that the fact that the US had stayed at the conference gave its next president the chance of taking a more constructive line. Bali had put climate change at the top of the international agenda. It had also got the developing countries on board. They had agreed to participate, but wanted a fair balance of cost with the developed countries.

Ms Dawe recalled that the UN was founded after World War 2 to preserve the peace, but thought its current member countries lacked political commitment to reduce climate change. The world needed a radically-different economic model. Low carbon meant high employment.

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