UNICEF youth delegates from South Africa at the COP17 climate talks in Durban. @UNFCCC/2011.
COP17, an important meeting in Durban, South Africa, where politicians from around the world talked about how to fight climate change, ended last weekend. What happened - and what does it mean for children and young people around the world?
The talks ended with three main decisions to help us in the fight against climate change:
- A 'Green Climate Fund' was set up, Money will be put into this fund by rich countries, and it will go towards protecting children in poor countries against the dangers of climate change, such as flooding. This is something we campaigned for with our Get Children Climate Ready campaign.
- An agreement to continue the Kyoto Protocol, a set of rules agreed by countries to cut their emissions of harmful greenhouse gases to slow down global warming.
- A decision to reach a new, improved agreement on fighting climate change by 2015. This agreement will come into force by 2020.
What’s next?
Now that the Green Climate Fund has been set up, money needs to be found to fill it. We want the UK Government to find new money for the fund, for example by introducing a
Robin Hood Tax - a small tax on banks that could raise billions of pounds in the UK.
It’s great that the Kyoto Protocol will continue, but we need the Government to push for more cuts in harmful emissions. That way, we have a better chance of keeping global warming to a safe level of only two degrees.
Jazmin Burgess, UNICEF UK's Climate Change Officer, said: "We hope the UK will continue to show strong leadership, particularly in securing new money in 2012 to be put into the Green Climate Fund and reducing CO2 emissions."
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