To say that 2014 was a year for change would be quite an understatement, but when it comes to climate change this year has perhaps been the most dynamic. From the UN Summit in New York held earlier this summer, to the nomination of a new Messenger of Peace (actor Leonardo DiCaprio), members of the United Nations (UN) have sought out an effective way to best approach the changing climate looming over future forecasts. This past Saturday, Dec. 13, these discussions came to a climax as negotiators from the world's 196 countries who have been staying in Lima, Peru for the past two weeks haggled over the final elements to be implemented in a draft of a climate change deal that will potentially, for the first time in history, commit all nations in the world to limit emissions greatly impacting global warming.
Though the United Nations officials were expected to propose the framework which will guide next year's treaty scheduled for the UN summit in Paris, longstanding divisions between nations of differing socioeconomic standings kept discussions well into Saturday afternoon. But in the end, the officials expect that their detailed international policy plans will effectively cut emissions of greenhouse gases, beginning to take hold on the global stage by the end of this decade-2020.
According to models the atmosphere of Earth in the post-industrial age is expected to raise in total by roughly 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, so strategists and international delegates are expecting for major changes to be implemented in upcoming years to mitigate these changes. In fact, in order to best prevent the drastic changes in temperature that could potentially wreak global disaster, experts say that emissions will likely need to be cut by roughly half the current levels.
"Nobody here thinks an agreement will be a silver bullet that eliminates this threat" United States Secretary of State, John Kerry says. "But we can't get anywhere without an agreement."
Nations with particular vulnerabilities due to their small sizes or developing socioeconomic systems, were especially vocal in the discussions held this past weekend. Though plans discussing compromises to mitigate their concerns continued to go questioned. Leading the developing nations, China and other smaller countries denied proposals that would allow for aggressive outside monitoring and approval of each nation's climate change plans. Though, in the end the proposal expected to be released on the United Nations website officially, and discussed more in depth at the summit in Paris next year, is still a compromise for all parties involved, and not all nations are excited about the plans.
"It's the weakest option" climate policy expert with aid group Oxfam, Jan Kowalzig says. "It's not totally bad, but it's mediocre."
Lead Russian negotiator Oleg Shamanov, who spoke on behalf of President Vladimir Putin at the proceedings, added that the constant back and forth between nations at the summit may have put the process of forging a deal back because of such harsh criticism.
"Unfortunately, again and again, we step on the same rakes" Shamanov says. "The draft is not bad, per se. We strongly support the idea of having meaningful deliverables [but] we are one of the few countries doing it."
