Global IssuesCOP18—Doha Climate Conference
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Introduction
November 26 – December 7, 2012, Doha, Qatar is the venue for the 18th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as the 18th Conference of the Parties — or COP 18.
Predictably and sadly, the same issues complained about at previous annual meetings for the past decade continue to recycle themselves:
- Lack of quality (if any) media coverage
- West stalling on doing anything
- Lack of funding
- Disagreement on how to address it
- etc.
As the past two decades have shown trying to get global agreement on tackling climate change seems to be futile. By comparison, more focused and limited interest of elites, however, are easier to push through, such as wars based on geopolitical threats (real and imaginary), or economic crises (where banks and other elites most responsible for the crises are bailed out by ordinary citizens).
Furthermore, as the West has generally shown in the past decade or more (even when their economies were doing good) paying now for something that seems to be a problem in the future is hard to accept. It is easier, therefore, to stall and keep blaming China, India and other emerging nations despite the historical inequality of those emissions. But ignoring that makes it easier to hope these emerging nations will pick up the burden of addressing emissions rises.
A summary from the Malaysian-based development organization, Third World Network, notes that once again there are disagreements on how to proceed with basic aspects of these climate discussions such as how to agree on the next round of emission reductions:
Developing countries want the Doha talks to produce increased ambition in emission reductions for the second commitment period (CP2) while developed countries seem set to maintain their currently weak targets, with uncertainty over the future review of those targets.
Developing countries are also insisting that the [new reduction targets] be established in a ratifiable legally binding amendment of [the Kyoto Protocol], that contains the quantified emission limitation or reduction objectives (QELROs) of each developed country Party.
Many developing countries also want a legal provision for provisional application of the QELROs from 1 January 2013 that developed countries do not support.
According to several developing country delegates, without provisional application on a legal basis, the reduction commitments would be rendered voluntary.
Media coverage
Generally speaking, media coverage of climate change issues and these conferences has been a mixed bag over the past decade. More recent years has seen increased interest and coverage (though many important issues are glossed over in mainstream media sound-byte style reporting).
When I wrote a similar page about a year ago regarding the previous conference, COP 17, I noted that (as with many previous conferences), I described mainstream media coverage as pathetic
and almost non-existent until the very last few moments.
I added that in reality money speaks and so short term and elite/establishment views tend to prevail, which is why governments can so quickly get the 99%
to bail out the banks and the top 1% with many trillions of dollars, while finding billions for fighting even more devastating climate change has taken almost 2 decades so far without any convincing results.
It seems like that will be the case again this year. As of writing, it is half way through the conference and scanning mainstream media headlines in the UK, I see no coverage of the conference (at least not as major news headlines). It is very possible I have missed it, but one would hope that a conference of such importance would not require much detailed look at mainstream media news headlines to find coverage of it.
Indeed, this comes at a time when the British press is facing threats of regulation following scandals about journalist practices by some tabloid papers. Ironically, the British press now fears regulation will hinder their free speech (a legitimate worry). But what free speech are they fighting for? For more narrow coverage and tabloid headlines?
It is worth quoting again an article from Media Lens about a year ago on the poor media quality coverage in recent years.
Media interest in the subject has crashed. Dr. Robert J. Brulle of Drexel University describes a
collapse of any significant coverage of climate change in the [US] media. We know that 2010 was a record low year, and 2011 will probably look much the same. If the media doesn’t draw attention to the issue, public opinion will decline.…
Equally disturbing is the variation in media performance across the globe. A wide-ranging Reuters study on the prevalence of climate skepticism in the world’s media — Poles Apart — The international reporting of climate skepticism - focused on newspapers in Brazil, China, France, India, the UK and the USA. The periods studied were February to April 2007 and mid-November 2009 to mid-February 2010 (a period that included the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen and
Climategate). Remarkably, the study concluded that climate skepticism ispredominantly an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon, found most frequently in US and British newspapers.…
And so we find that Britain and the US — the two countries responding most aggressively to alleged
threatsto human security in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya — are also the two countries least interested in responding to the very real threat of climate change.
It would be worth reading the media section of the previous conference to see more about media coverage.
President Obama was recently re-elected as President of the United States. It is not clear how much impact the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy had on climate change policies (and it may also be too early to tell), but many certainly felt that in the days leading up to the election it may have been a factor. Perhaps, importantly, for the first time, climate denial may become a political liability in the US, and it remains to be seen how much the Republicans will hamper Obama’s climate policies.
The more extreme news organization in the US, Fox News, was found to to have 93% of their climate reporting as misleading. And this channel is a prime channel for Republican leaning viewers. This is also despite promises by Murdoch many years ago to improve climate change reporting. But it is not just Fox News, although not media outlets themselves many other influential corporations have been actively supporting misrepresentation of the science around climate change, undermining the US public’s understanding of scientific consensus around climate change.
Numerous recent reports are finding that climate scientists, far from being alarmist and scaremongering, have somewhat underestimated the speed at which climate change impacts such as extreme weather and rising sea levels will happen and that many conditions match their upper estimates rather than any median or better-scenario estimates.
For example, the conference comes at the end of a year that saw record Arctic sea ice melting, multiple global weather and climate extremes, and high temperatures.
For years countries have worried that funding for adaptation and mitigation is not affordable (rich and poor nations alike) and yet, as time goes on, adaptation and mitigation costs will be even higher.
Even the World Bank has chimed in noting that
Coal, oil and gas companies and their backers in the financial and investment industry must stop putting billions of dollars into finding and extracting new sources of fossil fuels. If they don't shift their investments, temperatures will soar four to 10 degrees C higher, devastating many parts of the world, the World Bank said Monday.
Despite years of this, things do not seem to change much. Perhaps it is because there isn’t an emotional attachment to the issue; it is distant, vague, complex. However, as David Robert notes,
Climate change is not only the economic and ecological crisis of our time, it’s also a moral crisis. What we are doing to our descendants is a moral crime. Finding ways to help people get that, feel it in their guts the way they would if someone threatened their own families, is a precondition for serious, sustained action.
More information
As the conference is still underway as this page is written, more information will be added here after the event is over.
For more about the issues from other organizations, here are some starting points:
- Climate Change coverage from Inter Press Service (IPS). (This web site carries an IPS feed.)
- Official COP 18 website
- Updates from the Third World Network
- Coverage from Democracy Now! including useful news videos
News stories from IPS
Below is a list of stories from Inter Press Service related to the Durban climate conference and its aftermath.
Climate Change Gets Its Day in Court
- Inter Press Service
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, May 25 (IPS) - As a matter of global justice, the climate crisis has rightfully made its way to the world’s highest court.
On 29 March 2023, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) unanimously adopted a resolution asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue an advisory opinion on the obligations of states on climate change. The initiative was led by the Pacific Island state of Vanuatuone of several at risk of disappearing under rising sea levels. It was co-sponsored by 132 states and actively supported by networks of grassroots youth groups from the Pacific and around the world.
Climate Change Threatens Kenya's Historical Sites in Coastal Region
- Inter Press Service
MOMBASA, May 09 (IPS) - Along coastal Kenya, historical sites and monuments are threatened due to the impacts of climate change—structures along the Indian Ocean are falling to ruin or collapsing into the ocean because of high tides.
Tuberculosis Risk Factors Exacerbated by Climate Change
- Inter Press Service
BRATISLAVA, May 02 (IPS) - While there is no established causal relationship between climate change and tuberculosis (TB), studies have begun to highlight the potential impact its effects could have on the spread of the disease.
Guterres convenes meeting in Doha to discuss key issues in Afghanistan
- UN News
UN Secretary-General António Guterres will be in Doha, Qatar, on Monday to host a two-day meeting on Afghanistan, bringing together special envoys from various countries.
Human, economic, environmental toll of climate change on the rise: WMO
- UN News
The relentless advance of climate change brought more drought, flooding and heatwaves to communities around the world last year, compounding threats to people’s lives and livelihoods, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday.
Climate change making Earth ‘uninhabitable’ Guterres warns
- UN News
Humanity is facing a “difficult truth” the UN chief said just ahead of World Meteorological Day, marked on Friday – the damage already being caused by climate change is “making our planet uninhabitable.”
Sticking to ‘cold, hard’ climate facts can end global warming: Guterres
- UN News
World leaders need to listen to and act on solid scientific guidance to urgently reduce global warming, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video message at the opening of the new session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Monday.
World’s Largest Oil Corporation to Lead Climate Change Talks in 2023
- Inter Press Service
QUITO, Ecuador / LA PAZ, Bolivia, Feb 27 (IPS) - The Chief Executive of the twelfth largest oil producer - Sultan Al Jaber of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) - has been appointed as president of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) COP28the biggest climate change conference that will take place in November, 2023 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
From the Field: Weathering climate change in Sudan
- UN News
Women in arid parts of rural Sudan, where water is becoming increasingly scarce due to climate change, are learning techniques to adapt to new weather patterns which will build their resilience for the future, thanks to support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
World Leaders, Private Sector Urged to Establish an International Green Bank to Win Climate Change Battle
- Inter Press Service
NAIROBI, Feb 15 (IPS) - As the effects of climate change escalate and natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and droughts become more frequent and severe, threatening lives and livelihoods, humanity is losing the climate battle.
Climate change: WMO unveils plans for sustainable monitoring of greenhouse gases
- UN News
A UN-led plan to tackle climate change by radically improving the way heat-trapping atmospheric pollutants are measured all over the planet, is being given serious consideration by governments and the international scientific community, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday.
Conflicts, Climate Change Threaten Sprouting of Africas Great Green Wall
- Inter Press Service
BULAWAYO, Jan 06 (IPS) - Escalating conflict and climate change threaten the implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI), an ambitious land restoration project across Africa.
Global cholera surge likely accelerated by climate change, warns WHO
- UN News
Climate change has driven an “unprecedented” number of larger and more deadly cholera outbreaks around the world this year, the UN health agency, WHOsaid on Friday.
COP27: Climate Change Exacerbates Vicious Loop of Human Rights Inequity
- Inter Press Service
SHARM EL SHEIKH, Nov 16 (IPS) - Climate change is worsening injustice globally, and the poor and vulnerable communities are the most affected. It is time the world acted on fulfilling human rights and building a liveable planet, says Yamide Dagnet, director for Climate Justice at Open Society Foundations.
Climate Change is No 'Future Scenario' for Pacific Island Nations; Climate Change is 'Real'
- Inter Press Service
SHARM EL SHEIK, Nov 15 (IPS) - Pacific island countries are highly vulnerable to climate change, and several have disappeared – and more could sink under the sea owing to a rise in water levels.
Sustainable food cold chains reduce waste, fight climate change: UN report
- UN News
Greater investment in sustainable food cold chains is needed to reduce hunger, provide livelihoods to communities, and adapt to climate change, two UN agencies said in a report published on Saturday.
COP27: Bolsonaros Defeat is a Triumph for Climate Change Advocates
- Inter Press Service
NEW YORK, Nov 09 (IPS) - The electoral defeat of Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro is a triumph for everyone who is concerned about the peril of climate change. Bolsonaro’s well-deserved defeat could help save the Amazon rainforest, which has been ravaged under his criminal rule, and the process of reversing the looming climate change catastrophe can begin
Young people reconsidering parenthood due to climate change, UNICEF poll reveals
- UN News
Climate change is forcing nearly half of young Africans to rethink their plans to have children someday, a global poll conducted by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed, underlining their uncertainty about the future of a planet in crisis.
COP27 begins a ‘new era to do things differently’, UN climate change chief declares as pivotal conference gets underway
- UN News
The UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, should shift the world towards implementation of previously agreed plans to tackle humanity’s greatest challenge, Simon Stiell, the new Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Convention (UNFCCC), said on Sunday at the opening of COP27.
Climate change much deadlier than cancer in some places, UNDP data shows
- UN News
The impact of climate change on health if carbon emissions remain high, could be up to twice as deadly as cancer in some parts of the world, according to new data released on Friday by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Climate Impact Lab.
COP27 President Envoy on Youth: With Hurricanes, Floods, Heatwaves, Climate Change Cannot Be Ignored
- Inter Press Service
Cairo, Oct 27 (IPS) - COP 27’s official Youth Envoy, Dr Omnia El Omrani, realised the impact of climate change in 2017, and Hurricane Irma slammed Miami.
Countries’ climate promises still not enough to avoid catastrophic global warming: UN Report
- UN News
While plans submitted by most signatories of the Paris Agreement would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, they are still not ambitious enough to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, a new report by UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) warned on Wednesday.
INTERVIEW: Connection between human rights and climate change ‘must not be denied’
- UN News
The right to life, food, development, self-determination, water and sanitation, and adequate housing, is being denied to millions of people because of climate change, the first UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection of Human Rights in the context of Climate Change, has told the General Assembly in his first formal report to the body.
Climate change heightens threats of violence against women and girls
- UN News
Climate change and environmental degradation are escalating the risk and prevalence of violence against women and girls across the world, a UN-appointed independent human rights expert warned on Wednesday.
Climate Change Crisis Nonacceptance
- Inter Press Service
PORTLAND, USA, Sep 19 (IPS) - Many people around the world, especially those among the political far-right, do not accept the climate change crisis. Over the years their thinking, behavior, and policies dismissing climate change have largely continued and impaired global efforts to address global warming and environmental degradation.
Climate Change Conclusion: Time for Bold Action
- Inter Press Service
PORTLAND, USA, Aug 10 (IPS) - With climate change bringing about increasing numbers of human deaths and untold sufferingand rising economic, social, and environmental consequences worldwide, it’s time for governments to take bold action to address the climate change emergency.
Climate Change is Putting Women & Girls in Malawi at Greater Risk of Sexual Violence
- Inter Press Service
LONDON, Aug 01 (IPS) - It is often those least responsible for causing climate change that suffer the most from the impacts. And such is the case with women and girls in Malawi - one of the world’s poorest and lowest carbon-emitting countries but ranked fifth in the Global Climate Index 2021 list of nations worst affected by climate-related extreme weather.
US Supreme Court ruling on environmental protection ‘a setback in our fight against climate change’
- UN News
The ruling by the United States Supreme Court against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday, is “a setback in our fight against climate change” said the UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
Climate Hypocrisy Ensures Global Warming
- Inter Press Service
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 28 (IPS) - Rich country governments claim the high moral ground on climate action. But many deny their far greater responsibility for both historic and contemporary greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, once acknowledged by the Kyoto Protocol.
Who Should Be the Next UN Climate Change Head?
- Inter Press Service
NEW YORK, Jun 20 (IPS) - Patricia Espinosa’s six years as Executive Secretary of the UN’s climate change secretariat ends on July 15th. During her time in charge, she has led efforts to operationalize the 2015 Paris Agreement and inject greater urgency into the diplomatic process. Although progress has been difficult, COP26 in Glasgow added some momentum and arguably brought the UN process to the start of its next stage: implementation.
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