Brussels, 02/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European political decision-makers were holding their breath, in Brussels on 2 April, at the opening of the work of the UN international working group on climate change (IPCC, or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), to finalise its scientific report on the impact of climate change, which is due on 6 April, as a contribution to the fourth assessment report of the IPCC (EUROPE 9398). This report, entitled “Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability”, will establish an alarming diagnosis of the major foreseeable consequences of climate change on the natural ecosystems, the economy and society in the principal continents, polar regions and small islands, and detail various scenarios to help preparations for avoiding the worst. Everybody knows this, and is counting on the scientific data of the second IPCC working group to breathe new life into the political decisions which are required at international level, so that the world, particularly in developing countries, which are most vulnerable to global warming, can adapt to a phenomenon which the Kyoto Protocol alone will be insufficient to offset. This report will sum up six years of work by 2500 scientists, including contributions from some 800 authors (including 450 principal authors) from 130 countries.
Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian prime minister, welcomed the fact that this high-flying scientific meeting was to be held in Brussels, the capital of Europe, because “Europe is the leader and is taking on its share of the blame for global warming”, as shown by the decision of the European Council of 9 March to “go further” than the Kyoto Protocol. “I applaud these ambitious decisions (…) and I launch an appeal to the political decision-makers of the other industrialised countries, particularly those of the United States, India and China, not only to sign the current Kyoto Protocol, but also to get involved in the necessary new negotiations on more ambitious objectives (…), which are eminently urgent, at global level. We cannot leave our planet in such a dramatic state to our children and grandchildren. This would be entirely irresponsible. Unpopular measures are inevitable. And it is up to today's politicians to take these measures. Not the politicians of a few countries, but of all”, he stated. He went on to plead for “everyone to take measures to change the behaviour of the governments, businesses and families”. As climate change raises vital issues and calls for resolute actions at all levels, it is essential constantly to optimise the use of research resources; the objective of such an approach being to “speed up the transposition of the results of scientific research into policies to preserve the environment”, Mr Verhofstadt stressed. “The consequences of climate change are clearer than ever. And its impact seems much more tragic than we had imagined up to now”, the Belgian prime minister observed. He welcomed the fact that today, thanks to Al Gore's film “An Inconvenient Truth”, “millions and millions of people understand that the huge number of hurricanes, floods and heat waves are not a coincidence, and that an increase in temperatures of just one degree can have many extremely serious consequences”. He said that the IPCC scientific reports are the other determining factor which, most fortunately, “has put an end to the debate, by establishing that climate change is incontestable and that humanity is responsible for it”.
Stavros Dimas, European Commissioner for the Environment, welcomed the commitment of the heads of state and government of the EU “on a historic package of energy and climate policies, and on objectives”- unique in its level of ambition and integrated approach. If the group of industrialised countries is to aim for a reduction of 30% in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the developing countries should also make efforts, but differentiated ones: the emerging countries must agree on binding reduction objectives, whilst no obligatory objective will be required of the least-developed countries, which have the lowest emissions levels, and which are in any case the most vulnerable to climate change. We must, on the other hand, “step up our cooperation with them, in order to help them to minimise the negative impacts of climate change”, via the clean development mechanism, the commissioner explained. “In talks, many countries are waiting for the others. The EU is not waiting in order to act”, as borne out by its unilateral commitment (-20% by 2020). “The United States must move to put an end to a negative attitude in international negotiations”, said the commissioner, stressing that this country is not reducing its emissions (which are 16% higher today than 1990 levels). “I cannot understand why Australia has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, even though 80% of the general public are in favour of this”, and a consultative report as indicated that with the ratification, the reduction of emissions would cost the country 30% less than today. “This is political pride”, said Stavros Dimas.
The commissioner, who is impatiently awaiting the finalised report of the IPCC, has announced that the Commission will publish “in a few weeks' time, a Green Paper on a climate change adaptation strategy”. (an)