Place on Earth in the middle of the urgency to act after the Copenhagen Climate Accord

Haring Woods Studio Associate Jan-Gustav Strandenaes, participated in the Copenhagen COP, experienced the intensity of the negotiations, felt the frustration among civil society and saw how the Place on Earth project can help build momentum towards the next UN conference on environment, governance and global warming. Here are some of his impressions >>

We need to stop global warming and do it now. Despite a few reluctant delegates, casting some doubt on causes to and consequences of global warming, this sentence sums up the sentiment of agreements that surfaced at the end of the December 2009 Copenhagen COP. Most nations also shared the opinion voiced by scientists that the situation is about to get out of hand. The urgency of acting now to halt greenhouse gas emissions all over the world cannot be exaggerated. And translating the agreements from Copenhagen into actions at grass roots level is what the Place On Earth, the POE, project is about.

An outcome short of expectations
The outcome from Copenhagen fell dramatically short of many participants’ expectations. No nation would commit to the recommendations by science, seen as the only way to stabilise the climate and safeguard the future of this planet. Many condemned this lack of commitments from a great many nations as tantamount to betraying humanity’s future. But in the midst of this political debris, there are plenty of tasks and jobs to be done, all of which touch on the essence of the Place On Earth project. Translating the drama of Copenhagen into legible and easily understood language for everyday men and women is what is needed now. The messages from Copenhagen, the urgency of halting global warming, the options to act, the opportunities for people to translate their concerns into political messages and send them on to the UN’s climate organisations, despite all the opportunities for us to get involved, none of this has been made apparent to everyday man and woman on this planet. Place On Earth is about this as well. As Mohamed Nasheed, President of the small island state, the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean said to the COP plenary when he concretised the issues of mitigation and adaptation: “After all, it is not carbon that we want, but development. It is not coal we want, but electricity. It is not oil we want, but transport.”

A matter of life and death
Many spoke about the need to solve global warming now and not wait until it was too late. President Mohamed Nasheed, of the Maldives again: “For us this is more than just another meeting. This is a matter of life and death. The science is clear. Carbon concentrations higher than 350 parts per million, and temperature rises above 1.5 degrees (Centigrade), will submerge my country, dissolve our coral reefs, turn our oceans to acid, and destabilize the planet’s climate. Anyone who says that agreeing these numbers is impossible, is also saying it is impossible to save my nation.”
The Copenhagen Accord including the decisions made on all the other agenda points constitute the sum total of the COP 15 outcome. No legally binding commitments were had, though a consensus decision among all 193 nations to work to limit the global average temperature increase to a maximum of two degrees. But even such an agreement will have consequences for all nations on this globe. Because there is an agreement on this target, limitations to greenhouse gas emissions, causing the temperature to rise must be agreed on.  Such political agreement globally needs to be translated into nationally relevant policies and  subsequently translated into practical actions understood and embraced by all.

A system for the people but not of the people?
The COP meetings on the climate convention started back in the early 1990s and are designed to review and upgrade the climate convention annually. In theory issues that concern people can be translated into messages relevant for negotiators and brought to them. And the outcomes of the annual COP meetings should be made available in understood and relevant language for people at large. The next COP to follow Copenhagen, COP 16, will be held in Mexico in December this year. In 2011 the UN will organise COP 17, end of November that year in Johannesburg, South Africa. An important outcome from these COPs is the basis for a new action plan to which all nations in this world will commit. Based on this global action plan, every nation will develop national action plans to change their society into carbon neutral societies. The plan should be operative in 2012, and will in effect concern all people.

Place on Earth connects the UN and the people
The idea behind POE is to function as a vehicle for communication between people at grass roots level and the global climate negotiators and between the outcome from the COP negotiations and the new 2012 plan and people at grass roots level. As is stated in the POE programme: “Place on Earth is a new international initiative which uses the arts and culture to empower young men and women to gain a greater awareness and understanding of the complex issues of climate change, governance and urban development.”

Education on climate with POE
Developed in cooperation with UN Habitat, POE will help provide people with an understanding that their individual actions matter in a globalised world. Household consumption contributes to around 40% of all CO2 emissions. Our individual choices in consumption matters. Buildings consume around 25% of all energy on the planet. Making sure our homes are energy efficient matters. Transportation emits almost 20% of all CO2 in the world. Working to develop and using carbon neutral modes of transportation matters. The sum total of all individual actions constitutes development. This development has to be carbon neutral. Only when we understand the energy-carbon nexus and the consequences of our decisions at all levels of society, can we help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce global warming and stabilise the climate. Understanding these issues is contingent on information and education, two central elements of the POE.

POE ownership, and climate change
Only when people own the political issues will policy change. POE contributes to popular ownership of the fight against global warming. Such ownership will contribute to keeping the climate issue on the global agenda. An educated and committed people will keep their representatives sensitive to their needs and ensure the practice of good governance, another central element of POE. POE will contribute to communication between its participants, politicians and climate negotiators, locally and globally, and help propel the outcome of the Copenhagen Accord into a legally binding commitment at the next COPs and hopefully a new climate protocol serving the needs of humanity will be signed at the UN Summit on Sustainable development in 2012 in Brazil.

Copenhagen, December 2009