THE COPENHAGEN TALKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE MUST SIMPLY SUCCEED!

The news from Copenhagen, Denmark is not good. The African countries, "in a dramatic move", walked out of the ongoing United nations Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) taking place in Copenhagen, at one time, having discovered that the developed countries were planning to "sabotage" the process of saving the planet from global warming, "by abandoning the Kyoto protocol".

The Kyoto protocol binds the developed countries to certain minimum levels of gas emissions. But because the technicalities of determining these levels of gas emissions are so complex, figures can easily be conjured up to confuse the unwary. Worse, the emission numbers can be linked to payments to be made by the rich countries to the developing countries, to diminish the levels of emission by the rich countries. Are you still with me? Ok, then -- the "savings" made from developing countries would be used to balance up, or exchanged for, payments the developed countries would make in place of giving up more of their own emissions.

Who at all thought of this magnificent trap? Anything that involves money brings trouble. Why not simply say, “You contribute the most to emissions. So cut down by 30 or 40 percent, as the case may be. And everyone else cannot go over say, 10 percent of Figure X. And finish with it? Selling emissions to save the planet? My God.

These technicalities are used at all sorts of meetings -- especially those dealing with world trade, where technical experts drone on and on, boring the delegates of developing countries to death, until out of sheer mental fatigue, they append their signatures to agreements they had barely understood. Next come the interpretations. And sheer trouble!

The same tactics have now appeared at the Copenhagen Conference, which is the last chance of the people of the earth to partially save themselves from the calamity they have invited on to the planet, through their careless and stupid emission of carbon dioxide into the earth's atmosphere. Even as�bland a character as Britain;secretary for the Environment, Mr Ed Milliband, managed to say something quotable: the Copenhagen talks had reached "midnight", he said. A midnight leading not to dawn, but to a descent into a black hole.

The African countries, led by Nigeria and Algeria, said at a press conference that they were "disappointed" with moves by the developed countries that would "collapse" the Kyoto protocol, and pursue, in its stead, other "non-binding agreements". On TV, they looked pathetic as they struggled with the words to make their extremely serious point. Their spokesman was a diplomat from the Democratic Republic of Congo, trying to speak English. He tried hard, but... Oh, oh, dear.

The Kyoto protocol (you may recall) was adopted on December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and it entered into force on February 16, 2005. As at November 2009, 187 states had ratified the protocol. But it doesn't have the complete support of the United States, the biggest emitter of all! The US always talks about what China and India should do. Great point, but why can't it do its bit and expose the Chinese and the Indians, if they won't play ball?

The delegates of the industrialised countries usually cause confusion by procrastinating, and, according to the London Guardian, willonly "hammer out a large part of the deal on the last day, when the heads of state arrive". One senior African negotiator told the paper: "It's a ploy to slip through provisions that are not amenable to developing country efforts. It's playing dirty."

Another added: "It is as serious a situation as it ever has been. It is more than probable that many heads of state will not come if the negotiations are not complete [for them to sign]. Why should a head of state come to sign an agreement that is basically a non-agreement?"

High level Chinese and Indian representatives indicated to newsmen that their top men would be in Copenhagen, but they wanted key points agreed before the leaders arrived. They also wanted to avoid a situation where Western leaders jetted in and steamrollered the main points of the agreement on the very last day of the conference, when everyone would be dog-tired -- tactics the Western countries have used again and again I other international conferences.

Mr Su Wei, China's top climate negotiator, was quoted as saying that he hoped there would be no outstanding issues by the time his country's premier, Mr Wen Jiabao, arrived. "I hope the only question we will leave for [the] leaders is how to pronounce Copenhagen," he said.

Indian representatives also said their Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, would come to the summit, but emphasised the urgency of having negotiators produce a text in advance. Mr Jairam Ramesh, India's environment minister, said: "We are saying that heads of state should not be negotiating a draft text. We must have a draft text already finalised. The heads of state should come to leave their imprint on the deal."

As stated earlier, the UK's Environment Secretary, Mr Ed Miliband, acknowledged that there was some way to go before a workable deal was reached. "We're now getting close to midnight in this negotiation and we need to act like it. That means more urgency to solve problems, not just identify them."

One key point of contention is the US and EU insistence that emerging economies such as India, China and Brazil, should agree to peak their emissions by 2020. Other developing countries, who are striving to industrialise to the level of China, Brazil and India, fear that agreeing to this would set a precedent that would lock them into poverty. Being locked into poverty is bad enough, but what about seeing your habitat and livelihood disappearing into the sea for ever?

I travelled once, more than 40 years ago, to Keta with my friend, Charles Segbefia, to see his birthplace completely inundated by a major flood. Forty years ago -- before climate change had even set in. It was a sight from hell. We had to go from house to house by boat! It was a scene that made one remember the calamity that befell the world in Noah's time. It really scared the daylight out of me. There is major work going on right now in Keta to try and save as much of the town and its surrounding villages as possible.All the work may be for nothing, of course, if climate change continues at its current level. Ada and some of its neighbouring villages are also seriously threatened.

An NGO website,
www.StopKillingUs.com,
has some amazing pictures and reports about some low-lying areas in Ghana that its teams have visited and photographed, which can educate readers about the dangers we face.. So please, if you do have the means,do visit

www.StopKillingUs.com.
I'll just give you tidbits of what I found on the website: "In August 2008, we [StopKillingUs] organized a visit to a village called Totope in the Ada area for members of some NGOs and international press, who were taking part and observing the climate change talks [then taking place] in Accra. The purpose of the visit was to highlight the problems that many coastal communities are experiencing in Africa due to coastal erosion and rising sea levels…

" [Picture of: House now abandoned because of the sea encroachment]

"In recent times climate change seems to be top on the world agenda. Scientists have made observations that a rise in sea levels could be a consequence of the warming of the earth surface, due to the increase of carbon dioxide and other gases trapped in the atmosphere.

"Forests which serve as sinks for these gases are reducing at an alarming rate. In Ghana about 70% of the original forest cover has been removed. Most of this forest cover has been removed due tobushfires started deliberately for land clearance for subsistence farming and charcoal production; a major source of energy for cooking.

"The Kyoto Protocol which has set binding targets for 37 developed nations to reduce green house gases comes to an end in 2012. There have been previous negotiations towards the establishment of a deal that will replace the Kyoto Protocol. This… led to the hosting of one of such meetings in Accra from the 21st – 27th of August 2008 in Accra…

"The three communities we visited along the Ada coast are Alavanyo, Pute and Totope. The Totope village community appears to be the community closest to the sea and, being squeezed between the sea and the Songor Lagoon, is the most vulnerable....According to the residents almost half of the houses in Totope have been washed away.

"The stories that were told were that of hopelessness for the future as most of the young people have left."

I felt like weeping after reading that, Suppose you were born there and grew up when the places were lovely and habitable. Our fondest memories of life come from our infancy. When the house in which you grew up vanishes, half of you goes with it. I know it: my house is now part of a tarred road, and I have never felt at home in my home town ever since. I have never, in fact, felt able to sleep in the house my father built to replace the old one that was razed down to make room for the road. I don't care what anyone thinks.To me, it's just too painful. That's why I empathise so much with the people who have been driven out of their homes by ever-rising waters. And remember this: it's only the beginning.

Some of the pictures on the website will actually haunt one, unless one is made of stone.

And yet as all this is happening, meaningless technicalities are being employed to delay an agreement in Copenhagen -- an agreement which, even if acceded to, may, in any case, come too late to save people who live and fish in the low-lying areas of the West African coastline, as well countries as far afield as Bangladesh and, especially, the Maldives islands and Tuvalu.

The real tragedy is that some of the bureaucrats sitting in huge offices chewing fat cigars don't actually believe that there is any danger to worry about. And, of course, there is no chance l of getting them to go and visit Keta, Ada or Totope to see things for themselves, Even if they saw it, I bet they would find arguments to rationalise away the effects of global warming.

It is so frustrating. Especially if you have beautiful children and grand-children, and realise that there may be no future on a habitable Planet Earth for them.

The 20th and 21st century generations -- just two or three generations on a Planet Earth that is about 4.55 billion years old, and on which mankind (homo sapiens) has lived for only about 150,000 years -- have succeeded, with their selfishness, and even worse, their self-centredness, in ruining the Planet irretrievably. And they do not even want to know about what can be doe as a mere palliative that may delay the ruination but not completely end it.

Sorry, but I can't help drawing your attention to these depressing thoughts.

It would be remiss of me not to.