Road to COP15 in Copenhagen

His Excellency Einar Hebogard Jensen, the Ambassador of Denmark to Bangladesh has written a very important and interesting article published in the daily Star of 28 August 2009. His unique expression on the topic particularly raising the responsibilities of the Bangladesh delegates in the event held from December 7 to December 18, 2009 deserves praise from people of Bangladesh. He has proved his broadness of mind saying that in Copenhagen, Bangladesh's voice will be more important than ever and the presence of a strong team of negotiators is of vast importance. As a forefront country in addressing challenges of climate change, it is crucial that Bangladesh plays an active role at the conference in order to demonstrate the consequences of climate change to the world and to represent a voice for the developing countries. Global warming is threatening the habitats of plants and animals, pressuring food production, and melting ice caps in Greenland and the Arctic, causing sea level to rise. If the amount of Carbon-di-Oxide in the atmosphere not reduced, the damage caused by global warming will be irreversible even in Bangladesh. 

According to announcement, COP15 will be one of the biggest UN conferences ever held outside New York and Geneva, with an estimated attendance of between 12,000 to 15,000 delegates, including NGOs and journalists. Their main aims will be to create support for a new global climate deal and drawing attention to the fight against climate change. There will be scopes of having Danish example -- towards an energy efficient and climate friendly economy. The country's sustainable growth has been created by a combination of investments in technological development, green taxes and a political effort to promote the use of renewable energy. From 1990 to 2007, economic activity in Denmark increased by more than 45%, while CO2 emissions decreased by more than 13%. The capital city - Copenhagen is also famous for its bicycling population, as a staggering 36% of inhabitants rely on bicycles as their main means of transport. They are also conscious about their food while 51% of food consumption in public institutions. 

The Ambassador has compared COP15 as a window of opportunity to act on climate change that is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. In his article, he has raised the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the objective being to stabilize the atmospheric content of greenhouse gases at a level that prevents dangerous human-made climate change. From his descriptions, it is clear that this event may open unique opportunity for Bangladesh in respect of climate change that has become a great threat for the nation, particularly for the people who live in the coastal regions and the nearby islands. The focus of negotiations in Copenhagen will be the need to agree upon a new fair ambitious and global agreement on the climate change. The action plan set out the structure of a future agreement with a long-term shared vision and four building blocks for a new agreement - the blocks are technology, finance, mitigation and adaptation. It is the ambition that a new global climate change agreement will regulate the generated part of global greenhouse gas emissions in order to curb global warming. The negative effects of climate change are felt all over the world, with heavy rainfalls, devastating storm and increasing droughts --he mentioned in his article.

Denmark is going to host COP15 and the Danish Minister for Climate says, "To host such an event is a great honour. We will work for an ambitious result. As hosts, we have the special obligations. We must listen and mediate in order to make sure that we reach an agreement and that all countries are on board". The minister's statement is a positive signal for the countries   mainly affected due to climate change. It means the hosts will enable the affected countries to raise their problems in the event. This is the unique chance for the countries like Bangladesh to present the problems created due to lack of science and technology based supports from the international organizations. In this case, Bangladesh government must prove their intelligence and wisdom in selection of delegates who will participate in the face to face dialogue at the Copenhagen meeting. Previous experience reminds us the failures in such opportunities just because of wrong selection of the delegates. Now time and technology both have changed and things have become more transparent. Just a decade ago, the highest number of delegates from Bangladesh in the Asian region attended the World Congress spending huge public money but came back empty handed without reaping any benefit from the congress. The reasons of failures were criticized by one world famous scientific journal. They showed how the government of a poor country wastes their public money in the name of science and technology development. We should remember during the last four decades, hundreds of scientists, researchers, technologists, professors of the concerned departments have developed from among the Bangladesh origins and they are working all over the world. Technologies of today have enabled them to observe how the Bangladesh delegates utilize the opportunities for the national interests. Ten years ago, the foreign journalists criticized the activities of the government of a poor country. The Bangladeshi citizens, by the time, improved their expertise enough to criticize in Bangla as well as foreign languages. The authority concerned, is advised and requested to keep the issues in knowledge before making the list of delegates. If needed delegates be searched from among Bangladeshis wherever they may be located now. We need delegates who have vast knowledge and awareness about the regions where people suffer due to climate change, power to diagnose the causes of problems and prescribe the solutions of the problems. They must have courage and abilities to raise the issues and fight in the battle- field (discussion tables) to make the decision makers understand the real problems created mainly by others (foreign countries), and not by self. They must speak with full confidence and knowledge on the subject matter keeping in mind they are attending the event with the flagship carrying from a member country of the United Nations.