Living Planet: Environment Matters Around the Globe

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DATE : Thu, 3 Dec 2009 16:30:00 GMT
Entered in Database : 2009-12-03 16:30:00
length : 14577550
Link to the Show / Show Notes

This week on Living Planet we speak to the head of the UN's climate secretariat, take a look at where the EU stands ahead of the climate summit, learn how the Dutch are hoping to combat the rising waters, and find out how REDD could bring Madagascar a little more green.
Copenhagen is all or nothing, says de Boer

The head of the United Nations climate secretariat tells Deutsche Welle that the upcoming summit in the Danish capital has to be a success.

For two weeks the world will watch as heads of state and government representatives debate and discuss the final details of a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

This summit, like many that have come before it, is organized under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC. There has been a lot of speculation about how this summit is going to play out.

Living Planet speaks with the head of the UNFCCC, Yvo de Boer, to get his take on it.

Interview: Peter Craven

The European Union is collectively the third largest carbon emitter in the world, but what do EU leaders think of the climate summit?

Not everyone has been totally optimistic about how successful the summit will ultimately be. Which shouldn't be all that surprising. There have been four plenary meetings this year in the run-up to Copenhagen: two in Bonn, Germany; one in Bangkok, Thailand; and one in Barcelona, Spain.

Each time the participating countries have failed to agree on climate targets or how the burden of combating rising CO2 emissions should be divided. The European Union has willingly taken on the leadership role in climate negotiations but that hasn't stopped bickering within the bloc itself about emissions cuts and financing.

Report: Christoph Hasselbach / Clare Atkinson

The Netherlands have been fighting their land away from the sea for centuries, now a Dutch firm wants to make it easier to cohabitate with the water.

As global temperatures rise, so do sea levels and though it's pretty safe to assume that any new climate agreement will contain stipulations that will ensure that average temperatures don't rise more than 2 degrees Celsius, there are several low-lying countries preparing for the worst.

Among them is the Netherlands, one of the smallest and most densely populated countries in the European Union. The Dutch have always had to fight their land away from the sea. Without dikes, more than half of the country would be flooded, including the large cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

As the waters continue to rise, politicians, architects and city planners have adopted a new motto: Don’t fight the water – live with it!

Report: Susanne Henn

Much of the world's rainforest lies within some of the least developed nations. Saving these rainforests would not only helps the planet, it could also be good for the countries' bottom lines.

Deforestation is responsible for some 20 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions and for a country like Madagascar, which has been stripped of 85 percent of its forest cover, preserving the remaining rainforest is imperative.

One possible solution is to use the carbon market as a means to protect the world’s remaining rainforest through a scheme known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). Money raised by the international carbon market would provide local communities with an incentive not to cut down trees.

Conservationists say Madagascar could stand to gain as much as $5 million (3.3 million euros) a year through the carbon market. But first, local communities need to be convinced to protect the remaining forests.

Report: Victoria Averill

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