From Ken Cloke:
The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference: What You Can Do
In December 2009, delegates from around the world will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark for the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Copenhagen will provide a critical opportunity for the world’s nations to reach a comprehensive agreement before the commitments set out in the Kyoto Protocol expire in 2012.
A recent report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change points to COP 15 as the focal point for decisive action by the world’s nations, in the effort to avoid a growing number of potentially disastrous environmental changes.
Yet a discussion of conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms is missing from the COP 15 Provisional Agenda, and the range and power of environmental mediation and similar techniques is not widely understood or agreed to by the parties who will be expected to sign the agreement that will replace the one adopted in Kyoto.
Article 14 of the 1992 UNFCCC negotiated in New York and Rio de Janeiro, which is reaffirmed in Article 19 of the Kyoto Protocol, states:
“… in the event of a dispute between any two or more Parties concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention, the Parties concerned shall seek a settlement of the dispute through negotiation or any other peaceful means of their own choice.”
However, the International Crisis Group, a nonpartisan conflict analysis advisory organization, has pointed out:
“[A] key challenge today is to better understand the relationship between climate change, environmental degradation and conflict and to effectively manage associated risks through appropriate conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms.”
It is clear to experienced conflict resolution professionals everywhere that conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms need to be a core part of the Copenhagen climate change negotiations and an indispensible element in international efforts to implement them afterward. Without these mechanisms, global solutions will be much more difficult to negotiate and implement effectively and the time available to us to implement effective solutions is running out.
It is therefore incumbent on conflict resolution professionals to join together, travel to Copenhagen if possible, and if not, initiate a set of local and international dialogues on how conflict resolution methods can be used to effectively resolve climate change disputes.
