Temperatures rise – and the ‘Danish text’ provide fuel for debate
The World Meteorological Organisation has announced that 2009 is likely to be one of the 10 warmest years since records began in 1850.Although the temperatures for November and December are not in yet, the WMO says the combined sea surface and land surface air temperature for 2009 is currently estimated at 0.44 degrees C above the 1961-1999 average of 14.00 degrees.
“The current nominal ranking of 2009, which does not account for uncertainties in the annual averages, places it as the fifth-warmest year,” says a statement from the UN agency. “The decade of the 2000s was warmer than the decade spanning the 1990s, which in turn was warmer than the 1980s.”
Meanwhile, in Copenhagen, temperatures at the summit are also rising. Wednesday's revelations included the leaked ‘Danish text’ draft agreement that, if implemented, would hand more power to rich nations, deliver financial control of climate change finance to the World Bank, sideline the UN's negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol.
Of course we couldn’t help but add this to our Global Youth Panel debate topics for the day (9 December), as: ‘The 'Danish text' shows that the Danish Government is failing in their duty to be an unbiased host’. The results so far indicate that 58% agree and 25% disagree, with good points being put by both sides, including: “while I do not think that Denmark, nor any other country, should be trying to force any treaty upon anyone, I do not feel that this entails failure in its duties as host” (against), and: “this piece of news will most probably cause the developing countries to lose trust in the hosts, and US/UK especially” (for). A key concern raised, is whether Denmark is so keen to see an agreement signed, that it will try and drive through any agreement rather than a good agreement.
Simultaneously, Wednesday saw a lively debate on: ‘ Should Bangladesh get 15% of any climate fund'. This topic was added following an announcement at a press conference on Tuesday (8 December) by Hasan Mahmud Khondoker, the state minister for the environment. He said it was entitled to the 15%, because at least 20 million Bangladeshis would be displaced if sea levels rose by 1 metre. He added that the country couldn’t itself afford adaptation. Currently 61% agree and 31% disagree.
On the subject of adapting: all of this debating is being held on Google Wave, which was launched in April this year (2009) and so is still a very new tool. It’s also a real innovation, demanding a slightly different approach to communicating, especially as it operates in real-time. For example this means that as you type, others can read (and reply if they want to). So all credit to our Global Youth Panel, who have rapidly grasped and embraced the concept of Google Wave as the platform for our debates.