As he summed up Turkey's efforts within the UN to help reduce the adverse effects of climate change, he highlighted the country's role as a contributor to a new and legally binding agreement that would finally mobilize all parties signatory to it to take measures towards “saving the earth."
Speaking after the approval in Durban, South Africa, of a roadmap for a post--2012 climate change regime, Rende expressed hope that efforts would soon result in a document that would be legally binding on all parties to it. As a result, he hopes that the foreseeable adverse effects of climate change might be kept to a minimum, before it is too late. “Turkey knows the danger of the approaching change in our climate and is taking solid measures to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions [GHG]," Rende said as he declared that Turkey was among the countries which took climate change “very seriously," due to it being situated in a highly vulnerable zone.
Although predictions point to a possible meltdown in the world ecosystem if anthropogenic interference with the world's climate is not reduced immediately, Rende is optimistic that all parties would be legally bound by the new document to keep the average increase in global temperature below 20C, after which the results of climate change might prove too catastrophic for the continuation of human existence on the planet.
“Turkey, through its own means and domestic resources, has reduced its GHG emissions by 20 percent since 1990," Rende said of Turkey's progress on the road to drastic reduction in the emissions of GHG, concentrations of which in the atmosphere are believed to be the main trigger of temperature increase on earth. On the other hand, Rende noted, Turkey has also invested $2 billion in forestry over the past few years, and the positive effects of that are not included in the country's GHG reduction statistics. Although Turkey has only opened a few chapters in its EU accession process, climate is one of those few. This is a sign that the country is quite concerned with what the world might face in a matter of only a few decades.
The Durban meeting in November was the most recent addition to a long series of meetings held annually under the title of Conferences of the Parties (COP), which convenes as part of The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), an environmental treaty that was brought to life in 1992. “Climate change has evolved to the level of a global threat, with manmade causes and with results that will affect the whole of humanity," Rende explained the start of the process back in 1992, which drew the world's attention after the Kyoto Protocol fell short of creating the desired effects due to gaps in participation. “The reason why the Kyoto agreements were not sufficient in tackling climate change was because the total emissions of the countries that made a commitment to the protocol were causing only 32 percent of the total damage," Rende said, concluding that although Kyoto was well intended, “it would not do the job" without the participation of major emitters. Read the full report here.
Source: Ceren Kumova, Ankara, Today's Zaman.
