To scientists and environmental groups, the outcome of the recently ended U.N. climate talks in Durban is a big disappointment.
Ostensibly, the two-week-long conference, which was attended by more than 190 countries, delivered results. It produced a package of agreements, including, among other things, the extension of the Kyoto Protocol for another five years.
The delegates also agreed to launch negotiations next year to hammer out a new legally binding treaty by 2015. The envisioned pact is aimed at forcing all the nations of the world to begin cutting emissions in 2020.
The talks also made headway on the design of the Green Climate Fund, which is designed to channel up to $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poorer nations cover the cost of adapting to global warming.
Yet critics assert these accords lack substance. They have a point. For instance, although the Kyoto Protocol was extended until the end of 2017, it still leaves out key polluters, including China, the United States and India.
Furthermore, Canada declared on Monday it would pull out from the treaty. Russia and Japan are expected to follow suit, further undermining the already troubled global pact.
The agreement on a new legally binding treaty is also disappointing as it would be implemented starting in 2020, which means action will be delayed for years, putting the Earth at great risk of damage from rising temperatures.
Hence, environmentalists say the Durban talks failed to offer any guarantees that would reduce emissions to a level necessary to avert a climate disaster.
Yet this cannot and should not be a reason for slowing efforts to fight climate change. A delay in the implementation of a new legally binding treaty should not distract governments from the measures that they need to take now.
Korea is no exception. It needs to push ahead with its programs as planned. Korea has all the more reason to step up emissions-cutting efforts. In Durban, Korea proposed to host the secretariat of the Green Climate Fund and expressed its willingness to cover the expenses needed to launch the fund. Furthermore, Seoul has been chosen as the venue of the second meeting of the fund’s 24 directors following the first one next year in Switzerland.
As Korea is seeking to play more of leadership role in global fight against climate change, international expectations on Korea are rising. It should strive to live up to these expectations.
