“16 days away from the biggest negotiations the world has ever seen” says Andy Atkins

• Nov. 20 by Alice Tidey (1)

Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, Andy Atkins, stopped by Birmingham yesterday to chair in a meeting organised as part of the Climate Justice UK tour.

Andy Atkins who has been leading the internationally known organisation since March 2008, was joined by Mohammed Shamsuddoha from Equity Bangladesh and Hilary Thorndike of the West Midlands Refugee Council.

“We are 16 days away from the biggest negotiations the world has ever seen”. It is with this sentence that Andy Atkins opened his speech in front of 60 people assembled at the Birmingham University in Edgbaston to hear about Climate Justice in the run-up to the Copenhagen Climate Conference.

Both Atkins and Bangladeshi Shamsuddoha stressed the fact that the fight against climate change was heavily chained down by politics and especially the distrust poor countries felt for their wealthier counterparts who have broken many of their promises in the past.

With “little room for manoeuvre” as Atkins put it, putting pressure on politicians is fundamental. One of the major question hanging over the Copenhagen conference remains whether or not the US will ratify its treaty. But for it to happen, both panel members emphasised the need for a legally binding deal. However, Obama faces a tough challenge ahead of him as signing the treaty and agreeing to more than the Senate is likely to agree to, would only irritate the latter which might retaliate by not signing his legislation on carbon emissions. It might also severely affect his party chances at the mid-term elections of 2010.

Furthermore, Shamsuddoha went on to explain the economic impact climate change has had on its country, as natural disasters (particularly floods) had struck more often than the country was used to, taking in its wake billions of dollars that could have been used to fight poverty.

Therefore, they argued,  climate justice would have to be implemented as for emerging countries to be allowed to develop in a green way they would have to be helped. The main points to ratify would be a 40% carbon emissions reduction by rich countries before 2020, adaption money to be given each year to poor countries to develop, combined with international technology cooperation and transfer.

Final speaker of the evening, Hilary Thorndike offered a new interesting perspective on climate change. As part of the Refugee Council, she explained that as of today environmental migration was not recognised by international law but that by 2050, about 150 million people would be displaced because of global warming. These migrations will mostly occur in the South and will be the source of many conflicts as people will have to fight for food and water.

In order for these migrations to be contained, support will have to be given to poor countries to protect their people. She ended the evening by stating that there were “no borders when it comes to climate change and we are kidding ourselves if we think there are”.