DAILY NEWS Reporter, 14th December 2009 @ 12:00, Total Comments: 0, Hits: 516
AFRICAN civil society groups have led noisy demonstrations in the halls of the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark for the past two days, calling for a more ambitious global response to the threat climate change poses to vulnerable people.
"Climate change is already impacting the livelihoods of people all over Tanzania from mountains, arid areas to coastal zones," said Euster Kibona of Environmental Protection and Management Services (EPMS-Tanzania).
"Prolonged droughts, floods, landslides, and salinity in water in coastal areas are some of the visible impacts. These are resulting in food insecurity, water scarcity, diseases, and acute shortages of power," he explained.
Mr Kibona called on Tanzania negotiators to aim at coming out with a deal which would serve the need of vulnerable groups and enable them to have access to financing for adaptation.
Nearly 200 nations have gathered at the Copenhagen summit to hammer out a deal that is meant to limit dangerous climate change and help the vulnerable to adapt to impacts.
However, negotiating time is running out and many of the most vulnerable nations and hundreds of civil society organizations fear the deal struck will not be ambitious enough, will not be fair and will not impose legally binding commitments.
The African civil society organizations led raucous demonstrations this week. Their chants of "Two degrees: suicide. One degree for Africa" rang out through the crowded conference centre and attracted media attention from around the world.
The global average temperature has already risen by 0.7 degrees above pre-industrialized levels, leading to rising sea levels and a range of other impacts. A two-degree increase would spell trouble for Africa but this is the target that the European Union and G20 countries consider to be safe.
By contrast, more than 100 nations, including the Least Developed Countries and the Alliance of Small Island States, are calling for the rise in temperature to be limited to 1.5 degrees, and some of the protesters here in Copenhagen are calling for even more ambition.
UK Energy and Climate Change Minister Ed Miliband noted that nations will have worked together to reduce carbon emissions. “Our choice is now. We can choose a future we want for ourselves and our children or we can let events choose a less positive future for us,” he said.
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