Expectations for Bali
By David Nussbaum, Chief Executive, WWF-UK  

Climate change and environmental degradation are not only environmental crises. They are fundamentally development challenges. Only a few weeks from now, from 3^rd to 14^th December, representatives of some 190 governments will gather in Bali , Indonesia , to discuss the future of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). The stakes are exceptionally high. To avoid catastrophic runaway climate change we must act now. Never before has there been so much scrutiny and expectation for a successful outcome, as governments and civil society across the globe have woken up to the disastrous human and ecological impacts climate change will have and is already having upon developing countries and their development prospects.    

The International Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) states that “Over the next half-century, it is very likely that climate change will impede achievement of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).”^[i] Climate change impacts include higher temperatures, unpredictable weather and melting of the ice caps which, in turn, cause droughts, lower agricultural yields, sea level rises floods and other environmental and developmental disasters. Developing countries have done the least to cause climate change and yet they will be the worst affected. The development challenge is becoming more daunting and more urgent the longer that global leaders delay serious action to mitigate climate change and put in place adaptation plans for people and the environment.

WWF, together with other organisations through the global Climate Action Network (CAN), is campaigning hard in the run up to Bali to ensure that the international community commits to global temperature rises staying as far below 2°C as possible to avoid dangerous climate change. This requires dramatic emissions reductions globally of 50 to 85% by 2050. However different countries have different historic responsibilities with regard to causing climate change and WWF believes all developed countries must make further, deeper and binding commitments to emissions reductions. However, it is now increasingly clear that even strong actions in the developed world are insufficient. All major developing country emitters must also participate in the global agreement, within the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and capabilities.  

WWF wants Governments in Bali to agree to conduct credible and ambitious negotiations to agree in 2009 on a binding post-2012 agreement that builds on the Kyoto Protocol  It will be an incredibly complex process that must consider not only the mitigation of industrial emissions but also a myriad of other issues such as adaptation to the impacts of climate change, deforestation and investment in low-carbon technologies whilst also making them available to developing countries. The ultimate objective of the agreement needs to put in place a comprehensive, fair and equitable framework, that takes into account the principles of historic responsibility and equity, and that puts the world on a path to prevent dangerous climate change, enables sustainable development and protects the poor and vulnerable from the worst impacts to come.  

Climate change highlights a stark reality. For a long time, industrialised nations have been living as if there is no end to the planetary resources being consumed, but climate change shows that we are reaching a tipping point at which we begin to fundamentally alter the planet. But there is more to creating a sustainable future than tackling climate change. The recent Global Environmental Outlook of the UN Environmental Program (2007) provides evidence that many other ecosystems are also being threatened resulting in water shortages, degraded land, loss of forest cover, dwindling fish stocks and loss of biodiversity. WWF’s own Living Planet Index shows an overall decline in biodiversity of 30% since the 1970s. This assault on the environment is threatening human development and undercutting the global fight against poverty.  

At the same time, WWF’s Living Planet report also shows how the world's ecological footprint - the demand people place upon the natural world - has more than tripled since 1961. We are consuming more natural resources than the planet can replenish. As with climate change however, this is largely a result of unsustainable use of resources and production of waste in industrialised countries. If everyone lived like people in the UK , we would need the resources of three planets to sustain us. On the other hand, people in least developed countries live lifestyles which do not even satisfy their most basic needs. To tackle today’s global environmental threats and to ensure we share natural resources fairly with developing countries in the fight against poverty, we need to start making the connection between our lifestyles and the impacts on the natural environment. To do this, WWF-UK has launched the One Planet Future campaign, which aims to reduce our ecological footprint, whilst living fairer, healthier and happier lives.   

The UN Framework Convention meetings in Bali are crucial to set the world on the path to tackling climate change, and there is no doubt about the vital importance of agreement on the negotiations and their outcomes. Other environmental threats also need to be tackled with increased urgency to stop the breakdown of ecosystems on which human beings, and especially the poor, depend.  We only have one planet, so we better start looking after it.  

More information on WWF’s One Planet Future campaign

More information on WWF’s Climate Change Campaign

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