January 15, 2008 | 12:00am
The new year is only a few days old and already, a powerful storm had hit several states in the US, like Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and most especially California. The powerful coastal storm also affected a large area in Western North America stretching from western British Columbia to the Tijuana, Mexico area. The super storm was responsible for flooding rains across many areas in California along with hurricane force winds as well as heavy mountains snows in Idaho, Utah and Colorado. The storms were responsible for the death of at least 12 people and extensive damage to utility services as well as to some structures.
It seems that this is another extreme weather event resulting from the global warming phenomenon affecting our planet. All over the globe, extreme events such as the one that recently hit the US are becoming more frequent, world leaders are getting increasingly concerned. In fact, a UN conference on climate change was held last month in Bali, Indonesia where global leaders and the world’s top climate experts congregated to discuss ways on how to combat global warming and its disastrous effects.
The conference brought together more than 10,000 participants, including representatives of over 180 countries together with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations and the media. The conference ended in the adoption of the Bali roadmap, which charts the course for a new negotiating process to be concluded by 2009 that will ultimately lead to a post-2012 international agreement on climate change. Ground-breaking decisions were taken which form core elements of the roadmap. They include the launch of the Adaptation Fund as well as decisions on technology transfer and on reducing emissions from deforestation.
However, the conference was also marred by controversy, including the US position being at odds with most of the other countries. Talk on how some rich countries wanting to avoid action until countries like India and China are subjected to similar emission targets also arose. This has been seen by much of the world as actually being unfair, especially because the rich nations have not reduced their emissions. The UN’s panel of scientists has said that climate change is already here. If left unchecked, it could spell catastrophic changes to our planet.
We understand the reservations of some countries, however, they have to toe the very fine line between their countries’ progress and the entire planet’s survival. Mankind must unite now for the common good or face certain extinction.
