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The Durban
Climate Summit
"Climate change is the
greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our times, causing suffering to
hundreds of millions of people worldwide," – Kofi Annan, former UN secretary-general
and president of the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF)
“The latest science is telling
us we are in more trouble than we thought.” –Janos Pasztor, UN climate
adviser
The annual ritual of discussions
to restrict global warming to within 2 degrees was performed at Durban from
November 28 to December 9 2011. Thousands of experts, government negotiators,
campaigners, and businessmen gathered and talked, talked, talked… There was
considerable skepticism if ever the “dirty boys” of the planet would learn to
behave responsibly.
What is the
basic issue?
The temperature on the Earth is rising due
to global warming, and it is rising at a speed which scientists attribute to human
actions leading to excessive emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that
trap heat. This has changed, and is changing the weather patterns everywhere. The
prediction is that a global temperature rise beyond 2 degrees Celsius can lead to
catastrophic climatic disasters beyond control.
Evidence of
Global Warming?
The statistics from the International
Disaster Database found out that in the last 5 years of the 21st
century, there were more global disasters recorded than in during the last 200
years. In the period of time between 1900 and 1910 for example, there were just
28 disasters recorded. Everyone is realizing that the weather is changing more
often and is becoming harder to predict year by year.
The question is whether summits like the
Durban one can change something in human behaviour in order to change the
climate…
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