Global Warming the Copenhagen Summit

Global warming can be defned as the increase of the average temperature

on Earth. As the Earth gets hotter natural disasters like foods, earthquakes
and hurricanes get more frequent. In the last centur, measurements of
temperature taken b instruments on land and sea have revealed that during
the !" centur the Earth#s surface and lower part of the atmosphere has
seemed to have warmed up b an average of ".$ %entigrade. Green house
gases emissions that are man made like nitrous o&ide, carbon di o&ide and
methane have increased because of deforestation and burning fossil fuels
for transportation and energ uses. 'his causes damage to plants and can
hurt animals and human beings to the e&tent of their ding because the
cannot tolerate the climate changes.

G(EE)*+,-E E..E%'/ 0hen the heat and light from the sun is trapped in the
atmosphere, the temperature rises and this is called the greenhouse e1ect.
-ometimes temperature can change in a wa that helps us. 'he greenhouse
e1ect makes the Earth an appropriate place for us to live on2 the same
beneft is for animals and plants too. 0ithout it the Earth would be either
free3ing or ver hot, but e&cessive greenhouse gas emissions can harm us. If
the climate gets to e&treme conditions of heat or free3ing because of global
warming crops cannot grow, animals cannot live and as a result our food
suppl will lessen and cause human e&tinction. It a1ects oceans and life in
the oceans. All ecosstems on Earth will be a1ected dangerousl.
'hese are some of the concerns about global warming that are discussed
worldwide regularl. )ations have reached agreements to reduce the impact
of greenhouse emissions b an average of fve per cent between the period
!""45!"6!.'he .ramework %onvention on %limate %hange 677! and the
8oto 9rotocol 677: represent the frst steps taken b the international
committee to protect the climate on Earth from deadl man made inventions.
; adopting the concept of sustainable development which can be defned as
development toda that will not a1ect future developments steps can be
taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereb reduce the danger of
global warming.
%+9 6<, %+9E)*AGE)
,) %limate %hange %onference !""7
'he %openhagen -ummit was held at the ;ella %entre in %openhagen,
=enmark between =ecember :564, !""7.'he %onference included the 6<
th
conference of the parties %+9 6< and the <
th
>eeting of the parties
?%+9@>+9 < A to the 8oto 9rotocol. A framework for climate change
mitigation beond !"6! was to be agreed upon there b the nations of the
,).%%%.In >a !""7, the ,) -ecretar General ;an 8i >oon attended the
0orld ;usiness -ummit on %limate %hange in %openhagen and organi3ed
b the %+% and requested its councilors to attend the )ew Bork Cs %limate
0eek at the -ummit on %limate %hange on -eptember !!, and discuss the
issue of climate problems with the di1erent heads of government. 'he
9resident of the -ummit till =ecember 6$, !""7 was %onnie *edegaard,
before she handed over the position to the =anish 9rime >inister Dars Dokke
(asmussen during discussions between heads of states and governments.
,-A, %hina, India, -.Africa and ;ra3il drafted the %openhagen Accord and it
was considered to be a meaningful agreement on =ecember 64
th
b the ,-
government. According to ;;% news sources the %+9 6< resulted in a
document called the %openhagen Accord. 'he conference as a whole Eust
took note of it, but did not commit to adopt it. +n a positive note for the frst
time in political histor man nations like %hina and the ,- united in an e1ort
to curb greenhouse emissions and bring about climate change. 'he Accord
sas that developed nations will aim to mobili3e about 6"" billion dollars b
!"!" and this is to address the needs of less developed countries. +n the
other hand the summit failed to result in a legall binding deal on the parts of
countries as to what the would actuall do to reduce greenhouse emissions
b !"<". 'he Accord is not clear about how global targets will be achieved,
for emission reductions and how the goal of spending 6"" billion dollars on
developing nations would be achieved.
According to .o& news, 9resident +bama called it a meaningful beginning to
a new global consensus towards limiting green house gas emissions, but
acknowledged that the talks failed to produce a legall binding pact, and
doing so an time would be ver hard.
Each nation pledged to meet future pollution reduction targets, but the
agreement reached is not a treat and has no internal or e&ternal
enforcement mechanism, according to news sources. =ue to be approved b
67F countries, the deal seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions suGcientl
to prevent temperature hikes of not more than ! degrees centigrade b !"!".
'he details about how nations would go about achieving their individual goals
remain unclear and fuid.
A core group of top economic nations, according to news sources are due to
vote informall on the te&t before it is presented to the members of the 67F
nations gathered for the most intense talks in global pollution histor.
Achievements of the -ummit according to ;;%.
-everal world leaders present to discuss a single issue on the
agenda. 'his is trul signifcant historicall.
%limate change has been singled out as central to political
thinking globall.
Awareness of public about the climate has increased.
;oth developed and developing countries have announced low
carbon economic plans that are now moving forward.
0hat the -ummit did not achieve, according to news sources.
'here seems to be no quantifed target for reduction of
emissions, like a certain percentage at the end of !"<".'argets
are et to be announced and the might be at the lower end of
what has been promised.
)ations do not seem to want to be answerable to anbod but
themselves.
.or the frst time actions b nations can be assessed globall,
but there is no verifcation of the undertaken actions in the
developing countries unless the are paid for b the developed
nations.
'he Accord states that it will aim to reduce global warming to ! % above
industrial temperature standards but it is not clear as to how this will be
achieved b !"<".'he deal as of toda leaves a pathwa for the
temperature in the world to reach F% and above.
A review of progress will be made in !"6< which will o1er opportunities to
make an adEustments of targets.
=ec !""75'he ;ritish >et +Gce has predicted !"6" to be the warmest ear
on record. >an made climate change will be a factor and natural weather
patterns would contribute less to !"6"#s temperatures compared to 6774,
current warmest recorded temperatures in the world. *owever, according to
news sources e&perts are divided on the prediction.
Apart from countries unitedl working towards the goals of the %+9 6<
-ummit, citi3ens of the world can become more aware and do their part in
this global issue, b adopting small changes even in da to da living.
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