mokkikunta: Local actions in global climate change struggle

Monday, May 19, 2008

Local actions in global climate change struggle

Video from Odense, Denmark. To guide the cyclists, Odense has developed a 'running light' that makes a green wave.

Local actions in global climate struggle. This is the central theme for the 3rd Nordic Sustainability Conference, “One Small Step”. On 15-17 September 2008, Odense (Denmark's 3rd largest city) hosts the Conference, which aims to gather experience and ideas from the public and the private sectors, researchers, politicians, NGOs and citizens in the Nordic countries with the purpose of launching actions that will prevent the worsening of the climate conditions. Proposed concrete measures can be taken by, for example, local councils and businesses to limit carbon dioxide emissions.

The municipality expects that 600 people will attend the meeting, which will debate the climate and local plans along 5 main tracks distributed along 3 themes: Visions, Options and Actions.

transport, mobility and accessibility

urban planning and construction

consumption

biodiversity as a climate regulator

energy efficiency and sustainable energy

The practical measures the delegates at the meeting come up with will be collected in a catalogue for the UN major climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009, the COP15. The countries of the world, if all goes according to plan, will adopt a new global climate agreement at the summit in Copenhagen.

The COP15 conference is the fifteenth Conference of the Parties under the United Nations’ Climate Change Convention. The conference will take place from 30 November to 11 December 2009. The overall goal for the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference is to establish an ambitious global climate agreement for the period from 2012 when the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires.

"When considering sustainability, the climactic challenges are among the most urgent. It’s not enough that the government has climate policies and enter into international agreements. We must all make an effort – including the municipalities, the citizens and the private sector.", stated Connie Hedegaard, Danish Climate and Energy Minister.

One of the special features of the Nordic countries is their decentralized organization and thus the proximity of the government to the citizens. Indeed, the municipalities are the State, since they collect most of the tax revenues. The traditional institutes of the authoritarian state, like the army, police force and judiciary are on a more distant level to the normal citizen in his everyday life.