Copenhagen summit fails to address real issues:experts
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The Copenhagen summit on climate change in 2009 failed to address the real issues emerging due to climate change, Pakistani analysts said.
Speaking at a seminar on Copenhagen and Post-Copenhagen Politics in Islamabad on Monday, experts said it demonstrated a lack of commitment on part of donor countries providing aid package without agreeing on from where the money would come.
They said that the Copenhagen Accord was agreed on outside the mechanism of the summit, without mentioning the Kyoto Protocol or technology and not ensuring emission cuts, adding that the Copenhagen Accord has no legal affect despite expression of support to it, which committed countries to reduce emissions by 87 percent.
They said in the summit it was realized that a legally binding agreement was not possible so the focus was on a political framework which would then serve as a background if not the bases for discussion for a legally binding agreement.
Shafqat Kakakhel, Deputy-Executive-Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said that despite a lot of euphoria regarding the Kyoto Protocol, the U.S. did not approve the treaty as it did not ensure compulsory cuts.
Kakakhel, who attended the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen last December, said that the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a law on climate change but the Senate could not do so under the Obama administration.
He said that Pakistan should exploit renewable sources of energy which are available, adding that prices of photo-voltaic units reduced after Chinese entry into the market.
Kakakhel told Xinhua that China played a very constructive role and has been making very impressive efforts in developing renewable sources of energy.
"China is already a major producer and leader in solar energy, it is trying very hard to develop wind technology, wind power generation and hydro-powers and others," he said.
He said that a meeting would be held later this week on how to start negotiations on the issue and environmentalists are expecting a legally binding agreement in Mexico later this year.
Dr. Mahmood A Khawaja said that climate change impacts are visible more on water, energy and economic issues.
Khawaja told Xinhua that warming would lead to more new diseases and civic problems, and China, South Korea and Japan are cooperating in reducing magnitude of yellow clouds emanating from industry which is a trans-boundary problem.
Khawaja also discussed the dumping of chemical waste, saying that the Pakistani people are wasting water in industrial areas because of wrong practices despite the impending water crisis.
He stressed on the need of new policies about water reduction and waste recycling, saying that Pakistan should look into handling the release of chemicals into environment.
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