Today the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP16) begins here in Cancun, Mexico. For the next two weeks, countries will continue to bargain their way towards a deal in hopes of addressing climate change. However after the disappointing outcome of COP15 last year, it is not expected that a binding agreement will happen this year in Cancun.
This is much to the dismay of people who are already suffering from the effects of climate change, which is wrecking havoc on their communities.
Unfortunately the Canadian government has consistently hindered progress towards a fair just and binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally. During COP15 it was widely recognized that the Canadian government had become a climate laggard where the Harper government was given the Fossil of the Year Award on a number of occasions throughout the conference.
But as governments like Canada and the US continue to stall this process and refuse to take action on climate change, people will continue to be impacted by this inaction. Every year over 300, 000 people DIE from climate change and in 2009 already over 26 MILLION have been made climate refugees.
Today Greenpeace launched a series of ‘climate tickers’ to highlight the human cost of political inaction to address a growing climate crisis. The tickers are based on yearly estimates and provide a running counter of the economic loss and the number of people that will die and become displaced due to the climate crisis.