ACTIVITIES |
ACTIVITIES |
International
Climate Change
Conference
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) and Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol
Copenhagen, 7-18 December 2009
The International Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark,
in December 2009 became a major event in the international calendar,
debating the global response to the challenges of climate change. While
it was only one step in an ongoing process and did not live up to many
of the hopes of those who called for dramatic action to reduce the
threat of damaging climate change, it did make some significant
advances and laid a foundation for further progress. It also
highlighted the weaknesses in the present procedures for international
decision-making, where the national considerations of sovereign states
still take priority over the common interest of all humanity.
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Bella Conference Centre and exhibits area
The issues were seen as so important to the planet's future that the
event grew beyond a manageable size. Around the complex negotiations
among official governmental delegations, there were exhibits by many
governments and organizations, side events to discuss topical issues,
press briefings, and intense networking within the conference complex.
While the conference centre capacity was 15,000 people, the UN had to
close registration when it reached 34,000, including 15,000
representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These
included a delegation of 21 from the Baha'i International Community
(BIC), co-led by Tahirih Naylor of BIC and Peter Adriance of the US
Baha'i Community (and IEF board member), and led the second week by
Duncan Hanks of Canada (another IEF board member). At least 14
International
Environment Forum (IEF) members attended the conference in one
delegation or
another, and we organized a few informal meetings and an IEF Governing
Board
meeting during the conference. Thousands of other people came to
Copenhagen
to participate in side events and parallel activities for
non-governmental organizations, including a Climate Expo and an NGO
Klimaforum with its own two-week schedule of panels and other events.
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IEF lunch with Sylvia Karlsson, Irma Allen, BIC
delegates, Peter Adriance, Arthur Dahl, Duncan Hanks, Onno Vinkhuyzen,
Jeff Thimm; IEF and PERL posters in Climate Sustainability
Platform exhibit
Four members of
the IEF, Victoria Thoresen, Sylvia
Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, Onno Vinkhuyzen and Arthur Dahl, participated in
the Climate Sustainability Platform
at the pre-conference Climate Expo
on 3-6 December 2009. This was organized by Uchita de Zoysa of Sri Lanka
with about 40 people of diverse backgrounds from all parts of the world
whom he had recruited with donor support. There were four days of
plenaries and workshop sessions, leading to the drafting of a final
message and press release to be delivered to the Klimaforum in an
event on Tuesday afternoon 8 December. Arthur Dahl spoke in a panel on
"Mitigation and Adaptation Challenges in a 2050 World", and gave a
plenary talk on the last day on Climate Ethics. He was also part of a
three-person drafting group that prepared the final message. The IEF
was mentioned with its logo on a poster among the platform
organizations and in the Climate Sustainability Platform's exhibit at
the NGO Klimaforum the following week. There was a daily page on the platform
in the Stakeholder Forum "Outreach"
distributed throughout the
conference, with the first issue on Monday 7 December quoting
specifically from Sylvia's and Arthur's presentations.
Victoria Thoresen, Sylvia
Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, Onno Vinkhuyzen
At the request of the BIC, Arthur Dahl joined Professor Don Brown's Collaborative Program on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change (http://rockethics.psu.edu/climate/) activities in Copenhagen (along with Peter Adriance and Tahirih Naylor), including an all-day seminar on the ethical dimensions of the Copenhagen Agenda on Thursday 10 December, and a half-hour press briefing and webcast in the conference centre on Friday 11 December, presided over by Peter Adriance, where the final statement was presented (see http://climateethics.org/?p=320 and UNFCCC Webcast at http://www3.cop15.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop15/templ/play.php?id_kongressmain=1&theme=unfccc&id_kongresssession=2433).
The Baha'i International Community
organized an event on the "Moral
and Ethical Dimensions of
Climate Change"
at the Klimaforum on Saturday afternoon 12
December,
with Philo Morris (Medical Mission Sisters), Don Brown (Rock Ethics
Institute at Penn State University) and Arthur Dahl (IEF) (see Dahl
powerpoint presentation on Ethical
Dimensions of Climate Change 3.1mb)
as speakers and Irma Allen (Swaziland) as Chairperson
(see photo right). Nearly 50 people attended, and
there was a good exchange.
There were also many informal meetings to brief officials and diplomats on the
moral and ethical challenges of climate change, the opportunity it
presents to move towards improved forms of international governance,
the importance of gender justice, and the roles of both science and
religion in addressing climate change. The BIC representatives called
on member states to
show moral courage and leadership and demonstrate a commitment to the
prosperity of all, particularly the most vulnerable populations, as
they strived to reach a fair, ambitious and binding agreement. Arthur Dahl has prepared a paper on Climate Ethics and the Copenhagen Summit summarizing some of the ideas presented at the different events and reflecting on the outcomes of the conference.
The European Baha'i Business Forum
issued a statement during the conference on "An ethical perspective on
the environment" (http://ebbf.org/ebbf_climate_change.html)
calling on business to lead in finding solutions to climate change
issues.
The Baha'i Community of Denmark opened its National Centre in
Copenhagen every evening for events, including devotional gatherings
and talks by IEF members Victoria Thoresen, Peter Adriance, Minu
Hemmati, Irma Allen and Arthur Dahl. We also participated in other
outside events such as the World Economic Forum young global
leaders evening, and an Education Caucus Event on the UN Decade of
Education for Sustainable Development.
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Baha'i World News Service: Climate ethics is talking point at Copenhagen conference: http://news.bahai.org/story/742
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Last updated 12 January 2010