Download Countdown to Copenhagen: Climate Change Policy and Advocacy

Countdown to Copenhagen:
Climate Change Policy and Advocacy
Climate Change
• What’s happening?
– Who’s responsible
– What is the impact
– Who is suffering
already
• What is the solution?
– Global Deal
– What’s Oxfam doing?
What’s happening?
“Climate change is the greatest
challenge of our time”
Mary Robinson, Honorary President Oxfam
International
The Science
Atmospheric concentration of greenhouse
gases and global average temperatures
The Urgency
Greenhouse
gas emissions
are rising
faster than
even worst
case
scenarios
Who’s responsible?
• Historic responsibility
for climate change
lies with richer
industrialised
countries.
– USA: 24 tonnes per
person
– Ireland 17 tonnes
per person
Oxfam and Climate Change?
Climate change in not just an
environmental issue….
• It is a human rights issue
• It is a development issue
• It is a justice issue
What’s the impact
• The Human Cost
• Those living in
poverty:
– Least responsible
for the problem
– Least able to cope
– Being hit first and
hardest by current
and future changes
in the climate
Hunger, agriculture, water
• Seasons are shifting,
rains are disappearing
• Failing harvests
• South African
government scientists
predicting 50% drop in all
cereal yields by 2080
• The Indo-Gangetic plain –
home to 200m people,
wheat production will
shrink by more than half
by 2050
“We expect rains and they do not
come, or we get heavy rains, which
only destroy”
Mukelabai Liywalii, Zambia 2009
Disasters and Displacement
Climate-related disasters –
storms, floods, droughts and
wildfires – increasing in
frequency
26 million people already
displaced 1 million more
people displaced every
year by weather- related
events
375 million people at risk
each year by 2015- a 50%
increase which could
overwhelm humanitarian
systems
“Heavy winds blow away our house”
Enless Nakhuba, Thomasi village, Malawi 2009
Health, labour and trade
Diseases like malaria
and dengue fever are
creeping into new areas
Heat stress is a
massive risk to farmers
and outdoor workers
Sub-Saharan Africa to
lose $2bn per year as
viability of just one crop
- maize - declines
Oxfam Climate & Poverty
•
•
•
•
•
•
Uganda
Viet Nam
South Africa
Malawi
Nepal
Bolivia
‘Now that the sun is so hot, the
glacier is melting, and we worry
that there will be no more water.
And even the rains that used to
come on time are late’
Valerio Quispe, Bolivia
Frequency of Drought: Uganda
Viable land in Uganda
What is the solution?
The Road to Copenhagen
• Kyoto Protocol 1997
– Binding targets for 37 industrialized countries
and the European community for reducing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions .
– An average of five per cent against 1990
levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.
– 184 countries signed on
– No USA
– Canada will not meet its target
Bali to Copenhagen
• Bali Action Plan
– ‘deep cuts in global emissions’
– ‘agreed outcome and decision’ at Copenhagen
– ‘mitigation commitments’ ‘by all developed country
parties’
– Appropriate mitigation actions by developing
countries’
• ‘adequate, predictable and sustainable financial
resources…new and additional resources’
– ‘reducing emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation in developing countries’ (REDD)
Oxfam Reports
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
People-centred Resilience – Nov 09
Beyond Aid – Sept 09
Suffering the Science – July 09
Hang Together of Seperately – June 09
EU Leadership or Losership – May 09
Right to Survive – April 09
Turning Carbon into Gold – Dec 08
Climate, Poverty and Justice – Dec 08
–Poznan December 08
–Bonn June 09
–Bonn August 09
–Bangkok October 09
–Barcelona November 09
Copenhagen: December
• Key global moment, 192 countries
• World leaders must agree a deal that avoids
climate catastrophe
– Responsibilities of rich and poor countries are “common
but different”
• Deal must address :
–
–
–
–
Mitigation
Adaptation
Finance
Technology
A fair & safe global deal
The deal must:
Limit global warming to 2 degrees C
Fair:
Developing countries are supported in their
efforts to cope with the impact of climate change
now and into the future and are supported to
pursue low-carbon development
Safe:
Rich countries must drastically cut their CO2
emissions and support developing countries.
And the role of business….
• Now or Never
• Sectoral Solutions or Carbon Cartels
• Global Sectoral Industry Approaches to
Climate Change: Helping or Harming?
What you can do!
• Join Oxfam’s climate campaign
• Get your friends, family, EVERYONE you know
to join the campaign!
• Spread the word, raise awareness
• Contact your political representatives – demand
a fair and safe global deal
More information
• www.oxfamireland.org/faceit
• www.oxfam.org/en/policy