Tiempo Climate Newswatch

"The potential for conflict arising from the consequences of global warming" represents a major trend that "we now see", warns Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme. "If global warming trends continue,... they will have significant impact on where people can live, grow food and whether people will have to leave," he said in an interview with Reuters. Steiner was attending the Second Intergovernmental Review of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities in Beijing, China.

The Beijing meeting saw the release of a new report on coral reefs, entitled Our Precious Coasts. The study underlines the importance of protecting the natural resilience of coral reefs in order to strengthen their resistance to long-term climate change. "If we fail to protect the coastlines from unchecked piecemeal development, or protect the water sheds from deforestation, huge amounts of sewage and sediment loads will reduce the ability of reefs to recover dramatically. Once they are overgrown, it is difficult for them to recover, and over time they change or even die entirely," says Christian Nellemann, from UNEP GRID-Arendal in Norway.

"At present, the financial resources provided to developing countries do not suffice to meet the needs for mitigation and adaptation as required under the United Nations Climate Change Convention and its Kyoto Protocol," says Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the climate treaty Secretariat. Addressing participants at the conference Make Markets Work for Climate held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, he called for a long-term legal framework to provide security for carbon markets and climate investments. "Whilst the Clean Development Mechanism has been gaining speed very rapidly, there would be a significant risk for the value of carbon beyond 2012 without a long-term provision for the carbon market," he warned. "To guarantee continuity for investments, a post-2012 agreement is urgently needed."

Kofi Annan, head of the United Nations, has warned that the true test of international environmental agreements remains implementation and enforcement. In a message to an environmental law colloquium in New York, in the United States, he said that "action on climate change is particularly urgent, given its profound implications for virtually every aspect of human well-being, from jobs and health to growth and security." "Until we stop treating climate change as a strictly environmental concern, and instead recognize the full nature of this threat, our action will fall short," he continued.

The Pew Center on Global Climate Change has provided a guide for corporate decision makers, Getting Ahead of the Curve, that presents an in-depth assessment of the development of corporate strategies that take account of climate-related threats and opportunities. Authored by Andrew Hoffman of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in the United States, the report concludes that businesses need to engage actively with government in the development of climate policy. "If you look at what is happening today at the state level and in the Congress, a proactive approach in the policy arena clearly makes sound business sense," said Eileen Claussen from the Pew Center. "In the corporate world, inaction is no longer an option."

As Japan reported that its greenhouse gas emissions have risen by 0.6 per cent over the past financial year, carbon credit trading between companies began under the nation's new voluntary scheme. "It's the first trial of a real emissions cap and trading system in Japan," reported Yasushi Ninomiya of the Ministry of the Environment. There are, though, criticisms of the scheme. "Our company will not join the voluntary emissions-trading scheme next year," said Nippon Electric Glass spokesman Kuniaki Kimura. "The government subsidies are not well linked to business investments to install equipment to cut emissions."