Today’s official negotiations at COP-15 saw an emotional and powerful submission by a minister from Tuvalu, the world’s fourth smallest state at the front line of the devastating effects of climate change: “It has been one week since our proposal was put on the table and yet we see no progress. I woke up today, crying, and it takes a lot for a grand man to come here and tell you that.” The EU responded with an empathic recognition of the devastating reality facing Tuvalu.
The background to this unusual and emotionally moving exchange is a new target proposed by Tuvalu, and backed by AOSIS (The Alliance of Small Island States, 43 countries especially at risk from climate change), stating that a rise of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels was not negotiable. It has been predicted that global rising sea levels at above the 2 degrees increase in global temperature, which is the current goal of the conference, would submerge and sink the island completely within the next decades. The Tuvalu target was rejected earlier in the week by the Danish President of the Conference of the Parties, Connie Hedegaard, but received objections from key players (and major polluters) China, US and India. According to UN Dispatch, this is what led to the protests by other countries that halted one track of the major negotiations until the target proposed by Tuvalu was brought back on the agenda following the backing of 100 other climate vulnerable nations. Countries such as Bolivia, Togo, Benin and Kenya urge that the Kyoto Protocol is not killed off in the process of these negotiations, with majority support of backing the pleas of small island states. The continued existence of entire islands, populations and cultures are at real risk of disappearing completely, within our life time. We are reminded of the human impact of climate change and the crucial deal that must be struck with priority respect and attention to those who are worst affected.
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