•  united nations
• Friday, May 13, 2011
• Inter Press Service

The global community needs to do much more to combat climate change, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, (UNFCCC) said emphatically at a press briefing on Thursday.

The work of governments towards dealing with climate change 'can and should pick up speed and focus on all fronts,' she said, adding, 'They need to get down to achieving concrete progress.'

Although countries have made progress recently, agreeing on general goals regarding climate change at conferences in Cancun last December and in Bangkok last month, they also left much to be accomplished in terms of the concrete steps and decisions that will bring countries closer to reaching set goals of reducing carbon emissions and other factors in climate change.

Figueres pointed out two 'encouraging trends' that are helping to combat climate change. The first is that governments 'are moving forward with new policies that promote low carbon growth.' The second is that the private sector is continuing to invest in low carbon business.

She also acknowledged the challenges that the international community will face in the coming months. They will have to address the 'open political questions over the Kyoto Protocol, the only agreement to date that captures the binding commitments by industrialized countries,' she said. They will also have to design institutions that can provide developing countries with 'adequate and efficient climate support.'

Another issue is the high likelihood of a ratification gap. In December 2011 the Conference of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Durban, South Africa. But even if countries do come to an agreement in Durban, governments still have to ratify it.

Figueres said that countries will have to come up with 'necessary transitional arrangements' to ensure 'regulatory continuity' during the period before ratification.

Despite the daunting political and economic challenges that combating climate change on an international level presents, 'What is not doable is to evade the responsibility of addressing climate change as a collection of countries as a community of nations,' Figueres declared. She believes that it is possible for countries to come up with an international agreement on climate change, in spite of the work that remains to be done.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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