LET'S FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE (p.19) 23-08-08

Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE Danish Minister of Climate and Energy, Ms Connie Hedegaard, has called on all countries in the world to have sense of urgency in the fight against climate change.
She said it was about time the world moved away from the era of words to the era of action, and showed a greater commitment to curbing climate change and its consequences.
“All of us can contribute to solve the problem with our capabilities”, she said in an interview with the Daily Graphic last Thursday on the sidelines of the Accra Climate Change Talks, which are underway at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).
“You know, all these conferences are words and words, but now we have to turn the words into specific actions”, she added.
The Accra Talks are part of the negotiating process for a new international agreement on combating climate change, which is expected to be sealed in Copehnagen, Denmark, in December 2009.
Ms Hedegaard, a popular and award-winning journlist in Denmark before becoming a minister, said over the past three years, there had been good progress towards reaching a new agreement on climate change.
“We need to have an ambitious international agreement in 2009 and we should stick to our own deadline before we disappoint the people of the world”, she remarked.
Ms Hedegaard said whereas much was expected from developed countries in combating climate change, the better-off developing countries ought to decide which year they could stabilise their emissions, while the rest of the developing world ensured economic growth and sustainable development that integrated climate change solutions.
Making her first visit to West Africa, having already been to Mali and Burkina Faso, the Danish Climate and Energy Minister said the purpose of her tour of the sub-region was to encourage the creation of greater awareness on climate change and its consequences “because the more we know about climate change and its consequences, the better we can communicate to the whole world as to why it is important to act now”.
“One thing that I bring here is the sense that your politicians, NGOs and unions are aware of the problems and coordinate their efforts to combat climate change”, she said.
Ms Hedegaard, who had also held other ministerial portfolios for Environment and Nordic Cooperation, said although this was her first visit to Ghana, she observed some impacts of climate change in the country and called for a joint effort between the government and NGOs to deal with the situation.
She said in the past, around this part of th world, things could change and come back to normal, “but it seems for many years now, things have not come back to normal so the abnormal situation has become the normal thing”.
Ms Hedegaard underlined the long-standing relations between Denmark and Africa and stressed the need for greater collaboration between the two parties.
Denmark spends 0.81 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on development aid, 60 per cent of which is budgeted for Africa.
“That is a very deliberate policy because we want to give priority to Africa since in many ways, it seems that Africa has been a forgotten continent. So if we invest in other parts of the world, then we must also make sure that Africa is not left behind”, Ms Hedegaard indicated.