Commonwealth MPs call for action on Climate Change
Posted by AlexT - 15/10/09 at 06:10 pmIn a joint article for the Commonwealth Conversation, Meg Munn MP, leader of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (UK) study visit summer 2009, and Moana Kalosil Carcasses, Member of the Parliament of Vanuatu, and former Foreign Minister, describe the effects of Climate Change in the Commonwealth countries of the South Pacific.
Climate change is regularly mentioned in the news, and the frequency will increase as we approach the Copenhagen conference in December. This international summit is charged with coming up with a plan to replace the 1997 ‘Kyoto Protocol’ – which set voluntary targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. A new plan is urgently required – we used to think that climate change was about the future, it’s now clear it’s a problem of the present and that huge numbers of people are suffering.
A new report estimates that around 300,000 people die each year due to climate change, with a further 300 million adversely affected. (Climate Change, Global Humanitarian Forum Geneva 2009). Amongst those affected are the people of the small island nations in the Pacific, living in a region comprising nearly a third of the world’s surface area. They have become one of the front lines of climate change.
Meg Munn recently led a small Commonwealth Parliamentary Association delegation to study the effects climate change is having on some of the smallest countries of the world. The group visited Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu and Tuvalu - all members of the Commonwealth. Tuvalu is small with a population of 11,000. Kiribati has a population of 98,000, the Tongans number around 110,000, while Vanuatu is much the biggest with a population around 230,000.
Both Tuvalu and Kiribati comprise a number of low-lying islands, much more vulnerable to the effects of the weather than large continental landmasses. While extreme events in the UK, such as flooding, receive extra government resources and are regarded as wake up calls about climate change, in the Pacific extreme weather brings death, severe hardship and can mean the end of a village community.
Many people of the islands told the study delegation about how the effects of climate change are making their daily life much more difficult. Some were angry that they suffer the effects of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, whilst having contributed virtually none themselves. Experts at the University of the South Pacific described it as one of the most profound issues across the Pacific.
A boat ride across choppy waters took the group to Marou on Emau: a small island in Vanuatu. The village is built on a promontory and Daniel Kaltava, a provincial councillor, showed us how the land is being eroded. Already the village relies on harvested rainwater as their ground water has been contaminated by the rising sea. Funds from international organisations have provided reinforcement for the coastline, but the villagers live with the fear that a storm could destroy the defences lining the coast.
The Pacific islands are relatively poor and less able to cope with the extreme weather that is becoming more frequent. Their economies are shaped by the changes brought by climate change - changes setting back attempts at sustainable economic development. Local people lack the resources needed to be resilient to these new weather events.
It is often portrayed as an issue of the sea rising, with the low-lying islands disappearing under water. But long before that the people will have had to move; already in Vanuatu one small island’s population has been relocated. Rising salty seawater contaminates the drinking water, meaning that rainwater has to be collected. On the main island of Tuvalu, Funafuti, the local council confirmed that families are currently rationed to six buckets of water each morning and evening.
Crucially over time the land becomes saturated with salty water, making it impossible to grow food. At the moment around 70 - 80% of the people on these islands are reliant upon agriculture. In Tuvalu the island now regularly experiences high tides leading to flooding. How can a small farmer keep animals or sow crops when fertile soils and freshwater are contaminated with salt from rising seas?
Having to import food means costs increase, putting pressure on the economy of these small nations. Across the South Pacific the issue of food security has risen in importance. Experts from the Vanuatuan Metrological office stated that their consultation on climate change showed this to be the number one issue for local people.
Does it really matter if these people have to leave their islands? The Prime Minister of Kiribati is already publicly talking about his people having to move. If left unabated climate change refuges will increase in numbers ? not just in the Pacific region but also across Africa, north India and Bangladesh. Whether due to rising seawater or draught, the inability to grow food will force people on the move.
Pressure will grow for the larger countries in the Pacific to take in climate change refugees from the smaller island nations. But the reality is that no Pacific nation will be unaffected, no matter how large. More than half the population of the islands of the region live within 1.5 km of the shore. A regional organisation, which maps climate change, showed us that within 20 years heavily populated areas of many nations in the region would be uninhabitable.
Some of these islands have begun to prepare for the future. For instance Vanuatu has prepared a National Adaptation Programme for Action, but due to lack of funding has not been able to implement much. It’s important the UK supports the Pacific people as they try and adapt to a future determined by the changeable weather, changeable because of our actions in pumping out gas emissions. These communities are poor and vulnerable; they are victims of climate change.
The people of these islands welcomed the study group, and were open about the devastating effects that climate change is having on their lives. The study group encouraged them to take an active part in the deliberations in Copenhagen ? their experience has to be heard and acted upon. The urgency of the situation in the Pacific should not be missed. It has been said that the Pacific is ?the canary in the coalmine? warning the world of future disasters
Photo: The island of Funafuti, Tuvalu’s main island, from the air showing how low-lying it is.
Category : Climate Change & Environment
Tags: climate change
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October 15th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Rather than what they are saying (which we have heard before) it is interesting to see the benefits of Parliamentary links in action. The question though is whether fact-finding like this actually leads to change.
Are these trips organised through the Commonwealth or merely a result of the Commonwealth?
October 16th, 2009 at 2:41 am
I sincerely believe that the issue of climatic change is of paramount importance to the world at large. It will undoubtedly affect each of us severely and no one will be spared!
I hold all world leaders in high regard for a wide variety of different reasons. However, and i say this not intending to be offensive i doubt much is being done so EFFECTIVELY deal with the issue of climate change. It is an extreme global phenomenon, and as is it cannot be reversed BUT we can begin to plan sensible mitigation efforts for the inevitable consequences of climatic change. As a teenager I do not know everything but it is my opinion that while treaties are being signed and conferences held not much is actually being implemented. The accquisition of knowledge is meaningless if it is not being used. I also belive that many nations are being inconsiderate their actions, or lack thereof imply that they are indiffernt to this terrible crisis that is climate change. They apparently believe that it will not affect their citizens and so they approach the matter with gr4eat inertia. Appalling- indeed it is!
The fact is that we will all be affected directly or indirectly; no man is totally independant of another; no nation is fully independant of another. In modern times unity and co-operation are vital to the advancement of our society. WE, the people of the world especially our able leaders need to come together to realise an ever important goal. They need to develop effective mechanisms and strategies to manage climate chenge. Climate chenge is now inevitable due to previous actions. HOWEVER, future impacts can be minimised by present actions and the only way we can accomplish this is through co-operation.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 pm
We need more than awareness on climate change. Sustainable development concerns about the future generation to meet thir needs and climate change risks this. I would think, that while we are providing the solutions for the future, the future generations need also to be equiped with environmental issues right away from their youngest stages possible. A custom based curriculum on climate change and environment can be developed which may be taught right way from primary school up to college. The challenge is that if we leave the young ones to learn about such issues at say college level, only those who are interested in that area will specialise but they may not be necessariry the ones who influence decisions that impact the environment. Climate cange and environment is more of a management issue that the technocracy.we should let people to specilaise in such at university level for technical solutions but we also need to equip everyone else who is a pontentail future decion maker so that they should take into consideration about the environment in every decion they make. Environment is a cross cutting issue and every organisation needs to have an environmental policy regardless of what it is doing.If we do not let the young people to grow with environmental management,it will be too late to train them when they are in management positions. Wisdom words say rain a child while is young and will not depart from that knowledge in his old age. The challenges we are facing to address the issue of climate change is becuase our past education system taught us project managemnet, innovation, mathematics,economics and any other field we apply in boosting the global economy and global technology, but we were blind enough to undestand see the impact of our good formulae for economic growth on the natural cycles we also learnt in class. We need to take serious measures about this beacuase right now the earth is really in the intensive care unit and our current steps are not even taking it out of the hospital completely but jsut moving it from the ICU to the other wards still in the hospital and we need to take the earth of this hospital. It may be proper to say that earth was made with its systems depending on the sun and we upset this dependence by choosing to depend on fossil fuels.. we underated the ability of the ancient wind water pumping systems (instead of developing the technlogy) and replaced it with steam engines running on fossils to accelerate growth but to slowly ill the earth. We may be surprised what makes west africa, for example, to be using much natural gas for generating its electricity yet its hydro potential can provide its electrity demand for the next 10-20 years..it is really a question of decision making. We are where we are today because of the decions we made long time to go and todays decisions will continue haunting us into the indefinate future…. Cry!!! my beloved earth
October 25th, 2009 at 8:50 am
For Bangladesh climate change appears to be one of the biggest threats at the moment. cyclone, hurricane, devastating floods, storm etc are some of the common phenomenons that cause hundreds of deaths every year, thousands of houses to be destroyed. The Rhetoric the evergreen Bangladesh is too vogue now because of the consequences of some greedy and morally blinded politicians, government officials and business persons who are involved with illegal tree logging. There seems to be still lack of awareness about the environment among a large number of people. Some parts of the capital city are now so overpopulated and polluted?it?s too hard to expect a good life expectancy. It is very true that the government is not well equipped yet to cope with this problem because of lack of proper resources. At the same time the country is also being affected by some natural causes and due to the result of global warming. Still there seems to be no proper rules and regulations for the operation of industries and other factories especially in the cities. Climate Change is without doubt the greatest threat of the next millennium. If we do not co-operate, we will never be able to save our world from this great disaster. So even if we think of ideas to solve it, we can never carry it out without everyone?s help! 1. Here I thought of using the greenhouse gases as a useful material to help the people and the society. Air-conditioners (AC) and machines like these release green house gases and heat. And now in this world almost everyone have ACs in their homes and flats. That means more addition of greenhouse gases into the environment. To prevent this we can attach a pipe from where the heat releases. And by making a pathway of the pipes in our own homes we can use the heat of the air conditioners to make hot water. The same goes for refrigerators. 2. Now how about using the sun?s energy to brighten up our lives? Solar energy has been used in our world for a long time. Although not many people recommend using this method, but to me it really is of major importance. The heat of the sun gets trapped in our world as a result the temperature increases. Why not use the heat of the sun instead? All we need are some glasses and silicon doped with boron, gallium, phosphorus, or arsenic. Or even hydrogenated amorphous silicon which has shown promise in producing economical cells for converting solar energy into electricity. My idea includes a glass and beneath that, small wires of silicon, which will act as an electricity generator and has enough energy to light small rooms. Beneath the silicon a glass will be attached and after that another glass having a layer of air between them and using the air?s slow heat conducting properties we can trap the heat. Since dirt traps heat so by having a glass made of silicon we can easily polish or spray the dirt away from the glasses, as well as use the sun?s energy to produce electricity. 3. Clouds are really good in reflecting sunlight so we should find ways of making the clouds bigger so that we can lower the earth?s temperature. 4. If atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is not quickly reduced and rising of temperatures brought under control then rising sea level might submerge any country. Machines which filter the carbon dioxide from the air and stores it underground could be the holy grail of climate science. 5.The world will face major ecological and social problems in the coming century, including population pressure, pollution, water shortage, urbanization, etc. To solve these problems requires changing human behavior and their way of thinking. If we do not act now to protect member states, by cutting carbon emissions immediately, improving flood defenses and emergency rescue programs, and preparing for the worst by creating training opportunities for ordinary people to learn how to sustainably and independently survive in an emergency situation, we will be held responsible by future generations for ignoring the warning signs and consigning mankind to a new Dark Age. Global warming is having a tremendous effect in the rising of sea level. Especially in Greenland the ice is melting and getting mixed with the sea at an enormous rate. Enough to flood Texas in a year! Some geo engineers are trying to cover the sides of Greenland with geotextile blankets which minimize the rate of the ice melting and have all the properties to fight against the forces of nature. Like this we should find other ways to prevent the ice caps and the ice lands melting if we really want to save our world from this upcoming disaster. So I want common wealth organization to help the world understand and carry on methods similar to these so that we can have a disaster free life and knowing that you have 30% of the world?s population working with commonwealth, I guarantee there?s no other and faster way to prevent the global warming. And also this organization will evolve even more by holding hands and helping the Mother Earth.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Anthropogenic global warming, long since discredited and now maquerading as “climate change” is well known to be a hoax. The hysterical thieves in Parliament and UN sponsored NGOs who have used this hoax as a means to robbery will answer for it.
It’s too bad Communist China has no extradition treaty with the US. I’d love to see noted traitor and fraudster Maurice Strong in the dock.
wattsupwiththat dot com
climatechangefraud dot com
and many more
October 30th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Anthropogenic global warming, long since discredited and now maquerading as ”climate change” is well known to be a hoax. The hysterical thieves in Parliament and UN sponsored NGOs who have used this hoax as a means to robbery will answer for it. It’s too bad Communist China has no extradition treaty with the US. I’d love to see noted traitor and fraudster Maurice Strong in the dock. wattsupwiththat dot com, climatechangefraud dot com and many more
October 31st, 2009 at 2:18 am
Not a particularly helpful attitude. Whether or not you believe in climate change, human impact on the planet is already obliterating our rainforests, making fertile land un-farmable with intensive cultivation, filling our oceans with pollutants and tearing down our mountain ranges to fuel the furnaces of Chinese Industry. It’s worth noting that the worst of Carbon emissions is yet to come – most models are based on the principle that the up-and-coming development in China, India, Brazil etc. will continue unabated, as will traditional Industrial sources in Westernesse.
The inability of the European Union to provide a decent collective position on Climate Change has left the door open for the Commonwealth. If Member States can offer a collective position on severe, not to say draconian, Climate change reduction, not only will it demonstrate that the Commonwealth has brought itself up-to-date but it will also show that both MEDCs and LEDCs can cooperate, defying the stereotype, on Climate Change.
Prince Charles is right – we have to act now, or it’s future generations who will pay. Put your heads together, Commonwealth!
October 31st, 2009 at 6:10 am
I hope something effective is actually done to stop climate change and global warming within the next 10 years, or the effect could be devastating. Some Commonwealth nations could even sink beneath the waves if the current pattern keeps up.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:57 am
The Commonwealth should stay out of the ‘Climate Change’ nonsense or it will look ridiculous. ‘Climate Change’ or ‘Global Warming’ are unproven theories whipped up by environmentalist socialists. Man’s activity causing climate change (if it indeed exists) has not been proven. It is junk science. Even the Canadian Government disagrees with it. There is a strong possibility that change in climate is not caused by man’s activities, but is caused by natural phenomenon that is beyond our control. It would be far better for the Commonwealth to set up a science council to do research into new technologies objectively. I will not support the Commonwealth getting involved with environmentalist fanatics.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
It has been decades since “climatic change” has been on international agenda. Except few players, the rest deliver empty promises in terms of climatic change. To some players “environment” is used as one of the elements of their economic development.
November 17th, 2009 at 3:57 am
What is desperately and critically required in Copenhagen is a legally binding and enforceable agreement. Without this in place, political pronouncements and expressions of intentions can only be viewed as fine spun nothings. Leaders may prefer to wait but climate change is not certainly going to!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:37 am
There is no question about human induced climate change, all the evidence is there. The solutions are partially there, what is needed is the political will. This seems to be the biggest hindrance. It seems that the populations of developing countries are not aware as the populations of developed countries are about the implications of climate change. This is worrying. The people of developing countries are the ones who will be most affected by climate change. Decision makers in developing countries need to consider climate change in decision making. The time to act is now. If we procrastinate, we will suffer severe consequences.