Deal is only a limited achievement - Climate change

Former president Mary Robinson is right to be critical of how little progress was made in Lima towards slowing the frightening pace of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Behind the strained UN talks in Peru, where a battle raged between rich and poor nations, the burning issue was whether or not our endangered planet can be saved. Unfortunately, the answer is no clearer in the aftermath of a life-and-death meeting which overran by two days in desperate search of a plan that might or might not work.

As the UN special envoy on this vital topic, Mrs Robinson yesterday hit out strongly at governments for doing “just enough” to keep the search alive. But she went on to say not enough was done at the conference to create confidence that the world is ready to adopt “an equitable and ambitious, legally binding climate agreement in Paris next year”.

Significantly, her trenchant views are surprisingly close to the stance taken by deeply sceptical environmental groups which saw the outcome as a failure, describing it as a weak and ineffectual compromise which suits the richer nations while militating against the interests of poorer states. In stark contrast, the EU has welcomed the conclusion as a success. But members of the elite EU club would say that, wouldn’t they? Perhaps the truth lies at some indeterminate point between these opposing positions.

After searching desperately for a formula that might work, forcing the event to overrun by two days, there can be no doubt the feeling of most delegates was one of relief that at least a deadlock was broken so that more realistic plans can now be made to combat global warming. But as the politicians talked, a real-life drama was being played out thousands of miles away where the polar bears are drowning because the ice they rely upon to stalk the seals they need to survive is rapidly melting. Unquestionably caused by global warming, it means the seas are rising, thus putting at risk the future of entire communities of threatened people who live on low-lying islands and in maritime areas of the continents where the seas are steadily encroaching.

Meanwhile, the world’s climate is changing radically, with droughts getting longer, effectively increasing the inexorable march of deserts that eat into traditional agricultural lands which the world needs to feed its exploding human population. At the same time, storms are getting more ferocious with every rising fraction of a degree, bringing torrential rainfall, floods, and hurricane winds of great violence.

Set against this depressing backdrop, it could be argued that the production of a document in Lima which sets out ways for countries to tackle global warming has to be seen as something of a success. But it represents a very limited achievement by the 190 nations, including Ireland.

People in embattled communities around the world will be crossing their fingers and hoping that UN member nations will agree on a meaningful plan to save the planet at next year’s summit meeting in Paris. Sadly, the Lima solution is reminiscent of the curate’s egg, good and bad in parts, with something for everyone in the audience.