The international community, especially those interested in development and protecting the environment, gaze at Doha where the 18th COP is taking place, particularly because it’s the first time that such a meeting is held in an Arab country, let alone a Gulf country with a remarkably comfortable standard of living corresponding to the high income attained from oil revenues.
Everybody aspires that Qatar, through hosting this conference, will lead the way to carbon emissions reduction. While Qatar’s emissions are less than 2 percent of the global emission, Qatar occupies the first place worldwide in emissions per capita. Statistics claim that over 17000 people participate in this conference, representing governments, nongovernmental and civil organizations, private sector, media, youth groups, and various UN organs. The question remains: can we achieve the goals that congregated this huge number? Is it possible to agree on a binding global mechanism for 2015, effective by 2020? Is it possible to mobilize the needed resources for the Green Climate Fund, estimated at US$100 billion? Will countries commit to a second period of Kyoto Protocol? This year’s climate talks are the key to achieve progress towards formulating a global conformity on emissions reduction. If achieved, Doha would be the host of the global conference able to accomplish the minimum needed; if failed, Doha will suffer the same fate Copenhagen did in 2009.
Although Russia committed to the second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol, the past few days reveal the difficulty to reach such decisions. In fact it’s unprecedented in the history of COP meetings that main discussions are not open to all participants. The number of participants for each country was determined to a maximum of four. This means that most participants are unable to attend the core of such conferences.
Fast approaching its end, the conference witnessed the birth of many international and regional initiatives for mitigation and adaption for climate change. One of those was the launching the World Bank’s regional report “Adapting to a Changing Climate in the Arab Countries”. The report seeks to provide, for the first time, a coherent assessment of the implications of climate change to the Arab region and the resultant risks, opportunities, and actions needed. The information highlighted within the report explains the potential impacts of climate change and the adaptation responses needed in key sectors such as water, agriculture, tourism, gender, and health, as well as in urban and rural settings. This report attempts to advance the discussion by providing adaptation guidance to policy makers in Arab countries. It does this in three ways. First, it proposes the Adaptation Pyramid Framework on how to move forward on this agenda. Second, it presents a typology of policy approaches relevant to the region, which would facilitate effective policy responses by decision makers. Third, a matrix is provided, which outlines key policy recommendations from each of the chapters. Another initiative was launched: “Climate Change Vulnerability and Impact Assessment: Initiatives for Adaptation in the Arab Region”. This initiative is supposed to strengthen the abilities of Arab Countries in dealing with climate change challenges. A number of other initiatives on using renewable energy were announced, especially solar energy in desert countries. Among these was one initiative inviting companies to bid for building a 1800 megawatt solar plant in Qatar in 2014, with an estimated cost of US$10-20 billion. Wednesday, an agreement between Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research was signed. It’s a memorandum of understanding to explore potential of establishing a climate change research institute in Qatar, in addition to launching an annual climate global forum, to be held annually in Qatar.
The race continues between various organizations and parties to put forward new programs and projects relating to climate change and adapting mechanisms. The toughest race, however, is to reach global uniformity on the three focal points pertaining to the future of the negotiations on climate change. The most important question remains: what is the feasibility of future meetings if the parties couldn’t reach an agreement in Doha?