Prague, 15/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - For the first time, an informal meeting of the ministers of the EU for the Environment has raised the issue of adapting to the effects of climate change. According to Martin Bursik, President of the Environment Council and Deputy Prime Minister and outgoing Environment Minister of the Czech Republic, "we must change the way we think and include adapting to climate change in our policies, from agriculture to energy and insurance via water management". This message was supported by Jacqueline McGlade, director of the European Environment Agency, who stated that this "comes quickly and in different ways to Europe (...), which urges us to act faster than we thought".
In turn, the ministers of eight Member States (Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) spoke of measures taken, or to be implemented, in their countries. The UK minister, for example, pleaded for electronic sockets to be placed higher up and not at ground level, in order to prevent short-circuits in the event of floods. In a working document, the Czech Presidency pleaded for an increase in the consumption of tea (which takes 30 L of water for a 25 cL cup) to the detriment of coffee (for which the entire production cycle requires 140 L for a cup of 4.5 cL). Taking its inspiration from the White Paper published by the European Commission earlier this month, the ministers stressed the fact that the consequences of climate change differed greatly from one country to the next, and even from one region to the next in some cases, and that as a result, adaptation measures needed to be taken at national level for the most part. This vision was, however, slightly nuanced by the President of the Environment Council, who stated that there were three main reasons to coordinate the actions of the Member States "Firstly, climate change has a cross-border impact, particularly on the rivers. Besides, there are sectors, such as agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries, which are highly integrated in Europe and for which we have common policies. And the third reason is mutual solidarity between the Member States".
The ministers stressed the importance of mutual exchange of information, an objective which may be reached by introducing a common mechanism of local centres for the exchange of information, as proposed by the European Commission.
They also stressed the need to improve the current information systems which are used as a basis to draft effective adaptation measures, particularly for the concrete effects of climate change, but also their social and economic impact and, lastly, the analysis of the costs and contributions of bringing in the various types of measures. Martin Bursik went on to add that "we must also review current policy and legislation such as the framework-directive on water, the Common Agriculture Policy and the Natura 2000 programme, so that they are better prepared for the next effects of climate change".
The Environment Ministers then discussed preparations for negotiations on the future international climate agreement, to take place in Copenhagen this December. All of the ministers present acknowledged that reaching an international agreement was of vital importance and, as French Secretary of State for Ecology, Chantal Jouanno, said, that "this informal meeting in Prague was a crucial turning point in preparations for Copenhagen, stressing the fact that the EU remains the leader on the dossier of climate change, but that we do not all agree that we are open to a co-leadership once other countries adapt to our level of standards". "Today, the EU is the furthest forward and, so far, the only region of the world to have adopted an ambitious raft of measures to face up to climate change, and a detailed position towards the future Copenhagen climate agreement, but we call upon the other countries to join us", added Andreas Carlgren, the Swedish Environment Minister. The Czech Presidency has led the Union in bilateral negotiations with India, Japan and the United States, and in multilateral talks, the most recent set of which took place last week as part of the meeting of the United Nations in Bonn. "Despite the current problems in the Czech Republic, the Presidency will continue to lead the debate on this issue during the meetings of the United Nations or of the G8 in the months to come", pledged Martin Bursík.
An initial proposed draft of the Copenhagen agreement will see the light of day next May, whilst the United States begins to define its position. "We know more about the American position and this is vital", said Stavros Dimas, the European Commissioner for the Environment, "because the success of Copenhagen resides in concrete and realistic measures for the developing countries, to be paid for by the developed countries".Bursik noted that it “is perfectly clear that rapidly developing economies like China, India and Brazil will feel that moving to a low carbon economy is too much to ask if they do not receive the financial and technical backing of the developed world, particularly the EU, the United States, Japan and others”. On the thorny issue of funding the necessary measures, which, from the end of the decade, will amount to several tens of billions of dollars per year, the EU is proposing “a fair contribution from the EU to measures to adapt and to reduce emissions, as a part of the Copenhagen agreement”, without giving any further details before the Copenhagen negotiations begin. Bursik and Dimas announced “initially an informal environment/finance meeting of directors general and deputy ministers, then a ministerial meeting if necessary”. This informal meeting is expected to take place as early as next month. (P.B./transl.fl/rt)