United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poland, December 2008

Reposted from: http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_14/items/4481.php

It says, I quote:

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań, 1-12 December 2008

"The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań on Saturday 13 December with a clear commitment from governments to shift into full negotiating mode next year in order to shape an ambitious and effective international response to climate change, to be agreed in Copenhagen at the end of 2009. Parties agreed that the first draft of a concrete negotiating text would be available at a UNFCCC gathering in Bonn in June of 2009.

At Poznań, the finishing touches were put to the Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund, with Parties agreeing that the Fund would be a legal entity granting direct access to developing countries. Progress was also made on a number of important ongoing issues that are particularly important for developing countries, including: adaptation; finance; technology; reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD); and disaster management.

A key event at the Conference was a ministerial round table on a shared vision on long-term cooperative action on climate change. Ministers gave a resounding commitment to achieving an ambitious and comprehensive deal in Copenhagen that can be ratified by all. The next major UNFCCC gathering will take place next from 29 March to 8 April next year in Bonn, Germany."

Unquote.

Global impact on society - UK Government

source: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/fightingpoverty/climate_key.asp

Climate and environment - Ensuring the environment is managed in a way that helps to reduce poverty.

The document from the UK Department for International Development takes a global view of the impact of climate change on communities around the world. It cites 2 sources of information: the Stern Report and UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

The DfID document says...

• Sea levels are rising at a rapid rate (having risen by 20cm over the 20th century); in Asia, the homes of 94 million people could be flooded by the end of the century, leading to large-scale migration.

• The area of the world stricken by drought has doubled between 1970 and the early 2000s. In Africa fertile land is already turning to desert. By 2020, climate change is predicted to reduce some African farming harvests by 50%

• Storm surges in coastal areas are a threat to the economies of low-lying countries like Egypt and Thailand, where many factories and offices are less than a metre above sea-level.

• Natural disasters can set back a country’s economy by years. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch hit more than 25% of households in Honduras and led to a 7% drop in agricultural output. The number of people living in poverty in Honduras is now growing.

• Climate change brings the risk of increases in serious diseases such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever and polio. Longer rainy seasons have already led to increased malaria in parts of Rwanda and Tanzania.

• Temperatures in 2100 could be 1.4 to 5.8° higher than in 1990 if emissions aren’t curbed now.

• A temperature rise of 2 to 3.5° in India would reduce farmers’ incomes by between 9 and 25%.

• By 2025 two-thirds of the earth’s population will suffer water shortages.

• The costs of ignoring climate change have been estimated at more than that of the two world wars and the Great Depression (5 to 20% of GDP) (Stern Report).

• The cost of tackling the problem, however, could be around 1% of global GDP if mitigation policies are well-designed (Stern Report). Recent figures from the UNFCCC put the costs of adaptation for developing countries at between $28 to $67 billion in 2030.