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| President of 18th United Nations Climate Change Conference, Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Atttiyah, addressing participants at the opening ceremony in Doha, Qatar. [PHOTO: COP18/Special Arrangements] |
Doha: The 18th United Nations Climate Change Conference has opened
in Doha, with a call for action from the President of the sessions.
Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Atttiyah told participants at the
opening ceremony of the 18th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC that
“Climate change is a challenge for humanity” and that the Conference was a
“golden opportunity - we must make best use of it”.
At the opening ceremony there were speeches from Maite
Nkoana-Mashabane, the outgoing President of the conference, Christiana
Figueres, the UNFCCC Executive Secretary and Al-Attiyah.
The opening ceremony of COP18/CMP8 Doha comes after months
of anticipation, planning and hard work, as Doha prepared to welcome the world
the vital meeting.
With 17,000 participants coming from across the world, the
Conference has involved an immense organisational effort. Conscious of the
responsibility that comes with hosting the world’s most important climate
change conference, organisers have endeavoured to ensure that this year’s
sessions will be environmentally friendly.
COP18/CMP8 in Doha will be the first UN Conference on
Climate Change to implement the UN’s PaperSmart programme. Participants will be
provided with digital copies of documents, so that they print only the
documents they need.
To cut down on traffic pollution, a fleet of buses will take
delegates and other participants from hotels to the Qatar National Convention
Centre, the Doha Exhibition Centre, and some of the city’s top tourist
attractions. One hundred of the buses will run on gas-to-liquids fuel, a
cleaner form of fuel. Additionally, two buses that run on compressed natural
gas and six hybrid buses will operate on a “green route” between the QNCC and
Doha Exhibition Centre.
In addition, COP18/CMP8 Doha will strive to leave a green
legacy in Qatar. A Sustainability Expo will highlight the green technology
projects of local and international businesses. A network of information pods
will provide resources about climate change throughout Doha. And Conference
organisers have declared that the whole event will be carbon neutral: whatever
carbon emissions are generated will be offset by investment in carbon reducing
or absorbing projects. Together, these and other initiatives intend to point
the attention of Qataris and visitors to the potentially dire consequences of
climate change and the measures needed to fight it.
Staff and volunteers at the Qatar National Convention
Centre, where the Conference is being held, were ready from dawn to welcome the
world. Up to 150 Liaison Officers were in place to act as VIP and protocol
liaison points and escorts for high-level delegations and heads of state from
around the world.
As a coastal, dry land nation, Qatar is one of the 10
developing countries predicted to be most affected by rising sea levels.
“Now more than ever, the issues at the heart of these
negotiations are at the forefront of global debate and discourse. All seven
billion people living on the planet share a single challenge: climate change,” Al-Attiyah
has said. “This is why we gather at the highest official levels in an
international framework; this is our mission. If we do not make the changes we
need to now, it will soon be too late. We must decide whether we let our
lifestyles jeopardise our life.”