GBM Blog

This blog was written by GBMI-Europe intern Erin Hostetler

Nearly a month ago, former Irish President, Mary Robinson, commanded that the global community needs a “platform for solidarity” in the international campaign against climate change. In her conversation with the host of Democracy Now!, an award-winning independent American news programme, Robinson claimed action needs to be taken to secure “economic, environmental and social sustainability”.

Founder of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, the former President of the Irish Republic stated that “climate change is injustice for the least responsible.”

Warsaw, Poland has presented such a platform this year. November 11-22 marks the nineteenth annual Conference of the Parties (COP19) hosted in the Polish capital. Coming together on the inalienable issues of climate change, representatives of government from all over the world, NGO’s and high level experts discuss the impending situation. Arguably, the recent devastation in the Philippines and Typhoon Haiyan is at the heart of the Conference. Greenpeace International, 700 Belgian environmental advocates and various other activist groups have descended upon the city in order to express their concerns about current climate change hot spots.

As the global community narrows in on the current United Nations Millennium Development Goal deadline of 2015, the COP19 conference will discuss interdisciplinary policies that will provide for a “climate neutral future”. The seventh of the out of eight Development Goals is to “ensure environmental sustainability.” True environmental sustainability is the paramount conclusion that must come from these COP19 events.

Climate change organizations from across Africa attending the COP19 stressed the vital importance of the preservation of natural forests and wooded areas across the continent as one of the main drivers of climate change.

What will come next after the COP19? Will we start seeing change on a larger scale? What will the future of Africa hold? While scientists and experts from all over the world are trying to answer these questions, we at GBM are passionately working on doing the small things, planting trees.