The climate threat is real. The Paris summit opening Monday is one important opportunity to avert it.

With an unusually heavy climate, engendered by repeated terrorist attacks, Paris, one of the best tourist destinations in the world, is picking up pieces and bracing itself to host what is literally a last-ditch initiative to address the world climate catastrophe looming in the horizon. The city has not lost any of its glamour except for the very strict security checks visible at airport entry points, subways or what is referred to here as the metro, mass transportation services, hotel check-ins and access to mass leisure localities such as cinema and theatre halls as well as public parks. Even the mythical Tour Eiffel has remained closed following the terrorist attacks two weeks ago. As we went to press late yesterday evening, finishing touches were being made at the conference facility at Le Bourget in the north of Paris where the summit will take place under tight security; understandably.

Some 150 monarchs, Heads of State and government are expected here for the summit and Paris is expected to be a veritable beehive of activity beginning tomorrow when the world leaders begin to arrive. The United Nations Conference on Climate Change as the come-together is formally referred to or simply as COP ’21 with reference to the 21st conference of partners who have been following the negotiations on climate change which have gone on uninterruptedly since 1994 following the decision to hold these annual conference of parties taken at the world earth summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. Cameroon has been an active participant at the various negotiations since Rio? But what is even more significant has been not only the participation of the Head of State, President Paul Biya at several summits devoted to climate change, but more importantly his steadfast commitment to seeing the climate change issue properly addressed through numerous and pertinent declarations he has had to make on the issue each time an opportunity came up. Already at the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2005 in New York he had begun sounding the necessity to preserve the quality of life on our planer through the introduction of meaningful policies that protect the environment.

Said he at that occasion: “I would like to recall that Cameroon and other countries of the Congo Basin, which is the second largest forest reserve in the world, have adopted management policies which sustainably conserve the environment and the ecosystem… Our countries are therefore happy to contribute, in this manner, to the improvement of the quality of life on our planet… But will be necessary, for equitable reasons that the considerable loss of revenue in the exercise be justly compensated for.”

The Main Issue

The main issue at the Paris summit will be to see how far the world has gone with the decision to contain global warming at the maximum 2°celsius as prescribed at the Copenhagen summit of 2009. The next summit held in Cancun, Mexico in 2010 enabled the creation of specialized bodies dedicated to the enforcement of the Copenhagen conclusions especially on adaptation, the green Fund for Climate or the technological mechanism. At the COP 17 summit in Durban, South Africa, the decision to act collectively and respect the objective of maintain warming at 2°C was manifested with the creation of the Durban Platform which had as objective, assembling around one negotiating table, developed as well as developing countries, so as to arrive at a protocol or a juridical instrument with the force of law which will be binding or applicable to all the parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change.

The Paris summit is therefore working on this document which, if adopted, will be binding on all parties as from 2020. The summit is opening under favourable auspices. The Warsaw conference of 2013 marked an important moment on the way to achieving an universal agreement on climate in Paris in that is succeeded in obtaining from the various countries, their specific contributions to reducing global warming; therefore reducing the work of the Paris summit.