Historic U.N. Conference Commences

The United Nations’ Climate Change Conference kicked off on Dec. 7 with high hopes for an international agreement to come. This marks the historic pivoting point on how the world deals with global, environmental upheavals.

The United Nations’ website (www.un.org) states that 15,000 people and 110 heads of State will be participating in the conference, held in Copenhagen, Denmark. This summit will take place over a period of two weeks, and is going to be the largest get-together to date about the issues of climate change.

A principle force behind the decisive actions that are anticipated to be made at this conference is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). According to the UNFCCC website (unfccc.int), there are 193 parties in the UNFCCC, which gives them near universal membership.

UNFCCC is also the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. According to the UNFCCC website, the Protocol sets compulsory goals for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. So far, 184 parties of the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference have ratified it.

According to the United Nations’ website, there are three main goals for this convention. The first is to quickly implement immediate action on climate change. The second is to create ambitious commitments to decrease and limit emissions. The third is to make a long-term shared vision on a low-emissions future for everyone.

Michael Valdez, a Biology teacher at RHS, said,“I think it’s good that we’re part of the discussion. We need to be.”