Paisley Daily Express Column

Paisley Daily Express Column - 16 Dec 2009

WORKING FOR ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE IN COPENHAGEN

Here in Paisley we know a bit about flooding. In the early nineties we experienced the misery of devastating flooding, and one of my first roles as a new MP was winning extra cash for flood prevention defences around Renfrewshire.

Maybe that experience explains why people from Paisley joined people from all walks of life in Glasgow on December 5th in a public demonstration urging action on climate change. There were church people, trade unionists and concerned citizens united in their urging that the world comes together to take action in dealing with dangerous climate change.

The demonstration was on the eve of a summit in Copenhagen bringing together more than 190 countries in a bid to strike a deal to limit carbon emissions.

I was not surprised by the strong turnout on that cold December morning in Glasgow.

Just a few weeks previously I had joined Oxfam and the STUC in organising a public meeting here in Paisley to discuss the challenge of Climate Change. That event in the University’s campus in Storie Street convinced me that people here care about the issue.

This concern was reflected in the findings of a poll commissioned by the BBC Scotland, the results of which were released last week.

The survey revealed that a majority (63%) of people in Scotland believed immediate action was required.

A further 20% described climate change as more of a problem for the future. Yet for me, the importance of this Copenhagen Summit is not limited to its vital work in protecting our own community here in the West of Scotland.

My work trying to tackle extreme poverty around the world has taught me that for the world’s poorest people, climate change is not a future threat…it is a contemporary crisis.

In recent weeks I have met with Christian Aid, Action Aid, CAFOD, Greenpeace and Oxfam to ensure their case is heard.

Indeed as these discussions have confirmed to me, the tasks of tackling dangerous climate change and ending extreme poverty are now indivisible. One of the cruellest aspects of climate change is that the world’s poorest people – the people with the least responsibility for the present levels of emissions – are being hit first, and hit hardest.

So at the weekend I travelled from Renfrewshire to Copenhagen to meet with representatives from the developing world and European Development Ministers to give political momentum to the climate change talks. More than 180 countries are represented at the talks and the stakes, especially for the world’s poor, could not be higher.

Climate change is a defining political test of our era and getting the right global deal on carbon could be more vital to tackling global poverty than even the Gleneagles summit of 2005.

Drought in parts of Africa could reduce harvests by 50% by 2020. Glaciers could shrink by up to 60% and the rivers they feed could dry up, affecting the drinking water of around a sixth of the world’s population. Increases in global sea levels could cause severe flooding, with 94 million people across Asia facing the threat of losing their homes.

But climate change is not some future possibility for many of the world’s poorest people, it is a present reality. The Global Humanitarian Forum estimated recently that more than 300 million people are already seriously affected by climate change.

I have seen for myself the impact that climate change is having in the developing world. In Bangladesh I met families who have had their homes swept away by the rising waters. In Ethiopia, I met women who had been forced by drought to walk further each day to collect water until they were walking 5 hours simply to drink from a watering hole shared by people and animals alike.

Climate change is a defining challenge for our generation. It is not a future threat but a current crisis.

For many of the poorest people in the world, this final week of negotiations in Copenhagen is not a window of opportunity but a window of necessity.

SO LONG HEATHER THE WEATHER!

I was sorry to hear last week that Paisley born weathercaster Heather Reid is to leave her slot on Reporting Scotland.

I met her some time back at the opening of the MacMillan Cancer Support Facility in Renfrew and was struck by her easy charm and concern for the MacMillan’s work. So let me wish “Heather the Weather” all the best after 15 years on our screens. She’s done Paisley proud.