Don’t Sign Bad Climate Deal, Maathai Tells Leaders
December 15, 2009
By David Akana
As negotiators at the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen scramble to strike a last minute deal, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner and respected environmentalist Wangari Maathai has warned leaders not to sign a deal if it is not “inclusive” and negotiated in a “transparent” way.
“We do not have to leave Copenhagen with a document that does not reflect the wishes of the people. If we cannot agree, we have to agree that we cannot agree and move it to next time”, she said. “If leaders feel the deal is not worth signing, they should not sign it. They can always sign it another day.”
Heads of State have been arriving in Copenhagen for the closing of the 2009 climate change talks amidst high hopes that an ambitious, comprehensive and legally binding agreement will still crown the meeting.
The Danish government has been desperately working behind the scenes to ensure that the meeting is successful. Earlier the G77+China group reacted with fury to a draft text which they claimed shortcircuited the UN negotiation system and undermined their demands.
A major contentious and sticky issue has been money. Developing countries have asked for hundreds of billions of dollars, not only to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to mitigate its causes but also in reparation for what they claim is the industrialized countries’ historic responsibility for polluting the atmosphere.
Wangari Maathai echoed that view. “I think that in some countries like in Africa and small island states, people are already suffering, and I think that the rich countries have a responsibility to do what is morally right, just and fair.
“It is a matter of social justice to support these countries because rich countries are largely responsible for what is happening. Let us hope they are not going to slap us in the face.”
Even though the executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Convention, Yvo de Boer, has consistently downplayed any rift between the various negotiating blocs, some unease still lingers. But while Wangari Maathai thinks groups in such big meetings may not always agree, what is important in her opinion is that all work in collaboration and do not “point fingers – you caused it and you are responsible for it”.
She also acknowledged that developing countries ought to understand that the money they are seeking is taxpayers’ money, which means that leaders of industrialized countries must persuade their citizens of the moral rightness of assisting poor countries.
World Will Not Come to End without a Deal
Stakes at the Copenhagen summit have been high since the Bali conference in 2007, and for over two years the international community expected the world to deliver an accord that would be legally binding and ambitious enough to solve the climate change dilemma.
But with only a few months to Copenhagen it became clear that the summit might not meet its objectives. For Wangari Maathai, the world will not end if a deal is not reached.
“It is important that we do what is right when we go back home. In the final analysis, it is we who must dig those holes and plant those trees and refuse international timber companies coming from the same countries that are now refusing to commit money”, she said.
Professor Maathai however remains guardedly optimistic that some results may be achieved. “More than a hundred Heads of State are coming to Copenhagen and I don’t think that they can come here and agree on something that can tomorrow be thrown into a waste paper basket,” she said.
“These are responsible leaders who know the science; they know what is happening all over the world. They cannot say they don’t know. So I think that they are not coming here for a dance.”
See this article on the Climate Change Media Partnership website.
As negotiators at the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen scramble to strike a last minute deal, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner and respected environmentalist Wangari Maathai has warned leaders not to sign a deal if it is not “inclusive” and negotiated in a “transparent” way.
“We do not have to leave Copenhagen with a document that does not reflect the wishes of the people. If we cannot agree, we have to agree that we cannot agree and move it to next time”, she said. “If leaders feel the deal is not worth signing, they should not sign it. They can always sign it another day.”
Heads of State have been arriving in Copenhagen for the closing of the 2009 climate change talks amidst high hopes that an ambitious, comprehensive and legally binding agreement will still crown the meeting.
The Danish government has been desperately working behind the scenes to ensure that the meeting is successful. Earlier the G77+China group reacted with fury to a draft text which they claimed shortcircuited the UN negotiation system and undermined their demands.
A major contentious and sticky issue has been money. Developing countries have asked for hundreds of billions of dollars, not only to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to mitigate its causes but also in reparation for what they claim is the industrialized countries’ historic responsibility for polluting the atmosphere.
Wangari Maathai echoed that view. “I think that in some countries like in Africa and small island states, people are already suffering, and I think that the rich countries have a responsibility to do what is morally right, just and fair.
“It is a matter of social justice to support these countries because rich countries are largely responsible for what is happening. Let us hope they are not going to slap us in the face.”
Even though the executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Convention, Yvo de Boer, has consistently downplayed any rift between the various negotiating blocs, some unease still lingers. But while Wangari Maathai thinks groups in such big meetings may not always agree, what is important in her opinion is that all work in collaboration and do not “point fingers – you caused it and you are responsible for it”.
She also acknowledged that developing countries ought to understand that the money they are seeking is taxpayers’ money, which means that leaders of industrialized countries must persuade their citizens of the moral rightness of assisting poor countries.
World Will Not Come to End without a Deal
Stakes at the Copenhagen summit have been high since the Bali conference in 2007, and for over two years the international community expected the world to deliver an accord that would be legally binding and ambitious enough to solve the climate change dilemma.
But with only a few months to Copenhagen it became clear that the summit might not meet its objectives. For Wangari Maathai, the world will not end if a deal is not reached.
“It is important that we do what is right when we go back home. In the final analysis, it is we who must dig those holes and plant those trees and refuse international timber companies coming from the same countries that are now refusing to commit money”, she said.
Professor Maathai however remains guardedly optimistic that some results may be achieved. “More than a hundred Heads of State are coming to Copenhagen and I don’t think that they can come here and agree on something that can tomorrow be thrown into a waste paper basket,” she said.
“These are responsible leaders who know the science; they know what is happening all over the world. They cannot say they don’t know. So I think that they are not coming here for a dance.”
See this article on the Climate Change Media Partnership website.