Environmentalists from different organisations take a rest after participating in a march for climate justice when the Trans-African Caravan of Hope campaign passed through Malawi on November 18, 2011. Photo: James Akena/PACJA
On the final day of the climate summit, a last minute 'huddle' between the EU and India finally produced a consensus which has been hailed as a 'historic deal to save the planet'. . However, as Harjeet Singh, ActionAid's Climate Justice Coordinator stated this morning; while "COP17 did make a small step forward to save the climate...it failed to deliver practical support where it is needed most".
The new deal committed to in Durban means that for the first time every county in the world is committed to cutting carbon – however the legal framework for the deal won't be signed up to until 2015 and will not come into force until 2020.
For the people of Africa, who are suffering from the devastating effects of climate change right now, much more immediate support is needed. As Singh stated; "It is disgraceful that a climate summit, held in Africa, delivered so little for Africans.
"Governments had an opportunity to not only tackle climate change, but also the climate driven food crisis sweeping across the continent. Instead they riddled negotiations with solutions which let off rich countries with weak targets for slashing emission and no climate cash commitments for poorer nations.
"The US should be ashamed that their actions at these negotiations effectively rendered the Green Climate Fund an empty vault.
"How pitiful that a 'hard days work' for US negotiators consisted of de-railing other countries efforts to meet their $100 billion a year promise.
"How many more years will poor people have to suffer for the failure of rich governments to do what's right?"
So, in the aftermath of a rather disappointing COP17 it's important that we continue to pressure our world leaders to stop leaving the poor in the lurch. In tackling climate change, it's not enough to talk about emissions targets, percentages and protocols. The world also needs to think about the human suffering that climate change is causing right now, and look for practical solutions to alleviate it.
If you support a practical solution to the effects of climate change, check out our HungerFREE campaign and sign our Last Famine Petition.
