World Federation of UN Associations Resolutions August 2009

Resolution on Climate Change

Climate change affects us all. Nine out of every ten disasters recorded are now climate related. Rising temperatures and more frequent floods, droughts and storms are impacting millions of people’s lives. Science has documented the human impact on climate; therefore it is also for humans to remedy the situation. This is the reason for the United Nations 15th conference of the parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP-15), to take place in Copenhagen, December 2009.

Convinced that, as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has declared, “Climate change, and how we address it, will define us, our era and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations” we as the World Federation of United Nations Associations wish the outcome of COP-15 to include decisions to:

Reduce carbon emissions by 25%-40% by 2020 compared to the 1990 levels, requiring major and enforceable reduction targets particularly on industrialized countries, as well as commitments by major developing countries to limit their growth, in order to ensure that global emissions peak and begin to decline by 2015 in order to reduce the average temperature growth rate so that it does not rise above 2 Celsius;

Ensure significant financial resources to developing countries to ensure that they can meet obligations to limit their own emissions while achieving economic growth needed to raise living standards and lift their people out of poverty;
Create an efficient institutional mechanism for disbursing these funds and an equitable and accountable governance structure;

Enhance climate adaptation programs to reduce the negative impact of climate change and protect lives and livelihoods, particularly in small island developing states and least developed nations, especially in the marginalised communities and indigenous groups;

Promote global co-operation on the development, financing, transfer and diffusion of sustainable technology;

Scale-up programs and initiatives to deliver environmental outcomes that benefit rather than burden the poor;

Provide investments to bring electricity and cleaner cooking fuels to large segments of world population still deprived of such essential services;

Promote climate-friendly and climate-change adaptation technologies;

Promote selective bio-fuel development based on global comparisons of energy ratios and impacts on land, water, deforestation and food prices of different options;

Ensure effective conservation to reverse the loss of natural resources and significantly reduce biodiversity loss.

To this end we as the World Federation of United Nations Associations in the months leading up to COP-15:

Calls upon member nations of the United Nations, civil society organizations, commercial entities, and citizens of planet earth to join together at this momentous period in human and planetary history to take all possible steps to arrest the downward drift in global climate conditions;

Urges government leaders at the September 22nd UN Summit on Climate Change to declare their commitment to, and negotiators at the Copenhagen conference to agree on a comprehensive program to combat CC with specific and enforceable measures to;

Gives our support to UNEPs “Global Green Deal”, which aims to inspire and enable governments to begin the shift towards a global economy driven by massive job creation from the growth of resource- and energy-efficient construction, transport, agriculture, energy and waste management;

Will rally support behind the UNs “Seal the Deal”-campaign, including prompting people to sign the “Seal the Deal”-petition;

Urges the UN, the UNFCCC-secretariat and the host-country to make proper provisions for meaningful NGO-involvement in the COP-process, building on the experiences of major groups’ involvement in the UNs Commission on Sustainable Development;

Urges the participating countries in the COP-process to maintain a close dialogue with the NGOs, as well as include NGO in the national delegations COP-process-meetings;

Commends the Secretary-General of the United Nations for providing continuing personal leadership and giving high priority to Climate Change related issues on the UN System agenda.

See the whole Resolution at: http://www.wfuna.org/atf/cf/%7B84F00800-D85E-4952-9E61-D991E657A458%7D/R...