Copenhagen conference was in wrong hands

"The Danish government was incompetent of conducting the climate change conference," says a disappointed Kartikeya Sarabhai, director of Centre for Environment Education, CEE on her return after attending the climate change conference in Copenhagen. Sarabhai was disheartened by the outcome of the much anticipated meet in the Danish city.

"The Copenhagen summit is likely to end with one official document asking all the country heads to meet on a later date to discuss further on the issue as the main countries cannot agree on the key question of how to share the burden of cutting emissions to a safe level.

The Danish government simply lacked the appropriate diplomatic skills
required to conduct the conference" says Sarabhai.

The overall aim of the Copenhagen Agreement which was to conclude a binding agreement that would set the path to limit global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius appears to be going haywire without a solution in sight.

"This was a unique and unmatched engagement of the world's heads of state and government at the Copenhagen and an opportunity to grab which they failed to do. The plans at the COP15 had earlier appeared to be ambitious and comprehensive but as with the Copenhagen meet coming to an end, I do not have much hope from it" says

Jesangbhai from Maldhari jan Andolan who was present at the Copenhagen conference.
Even as world leaders met during the early hours of December 18 in Copenhagen in a last effort to reach an agreement before the end of climate change talks, what seems to be the end result of the conference is a political statement without the start-up of a new deal on climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol. "The main objective of the conference was to establish a binding agreement that would set greenhouse emission targets but it appears as though the conference has failed us.

Several pressure groups have been formed at the Copenhagen conference where they are pressurising the developed countries to put in their effort in curbing global warming as several rich countries, including the US, want the bigger developing countries, including India, to make commitments to reduce the rate of growth of their emissions" says Geeta Desai from Maldhari jan Andolan who was present at the Copenhagen conference.

Shifting towards a green commitment would bring in employment with it for thousands in the country, suggested Sarabhai. "We should also look at the issue of climate change with an industrial point of view. Revamping of buildings and transport to make them eco friendly in the country would offer jobs to a large number of Indians" said Sarabhai.
“However, on the environmental aspect of it, technology alone cannot balance out the volatile change in environment. It is imperative for people to change their lifestyles too along with the government aid. I was disappointed to see that no budget allocation has been done in the recently announced municipal budget for the construction of cyclists lane" he further adds.