Since the very start of the awareness about the environmental issues, concerns for the future of the world, humankind and the planet have been the focus of everyone’s attention. Even though at present, the issue has worn out its welcome among the public, a number of organizations have been discussing the possible outcomes of global warming and the climate change which will inevitably follow. Of all the major organizations dealing with the notorious issue of climate change, the one this essay will be discussing is the United Nations Organization.
Because of the multiple issues which the UNO is trying to touch upon when dealing with the climate change issue, the entire project becomes highly questionable, mostly because it demands the cooperation of all the countries involved. Therefore, taking a closer look at the UNO course of actions, one can possibly see the flaws of the venture and suggest the means to improve.
To assess the UNO policy towards climate change, it is necessary to understand what the organization means when saying that there is a certain objective which the UNO is trying to reach. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, “The ultimate objective of this Convention and any related legal instruments that the Conference of the Parties may adopt is to achieve, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” (United Nations, 1992, p.3).
Thus, it is clear that the key focus of the UNO concerns for the planet nature revolves around the notorious issue of greenhouse gases and the destructive effect it has on the Earth atmosphere. In addition, it is quite important that the organization promises to take immediate measures to stop the effects of climate change as long as these effects prove negative; meanwhile, the changes which do not harm the environment are not going to be addressed: “The Parties should take precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent or minimize the causes of climate change and mitigate its adverse effects” (United Nations, 1992, p.4).
The given aspect is, no doubt, a considerable strength. However, the key limitation of the given measure is that the UNO has not yet come up with the strategy of classifying the effects of the climate change and whether UNO is able to embrace the entire palette of the climate change effects. While the change of temperature or humidity can be deadly to one kind of species, it can cause other species to develop.
It is important to stress that the UNO is taking a very careful approach to the issues in question. The members of the UNO state that “policies and measures to deal with climate change should be cost-effective so as to ensure global benefits at the lowest possible cost” (United Nations, 1992, p.4), which means that the organization takes the issue extremely seriously.
Speaking of the measures which the UNO has undertaken so far, it is essential to mention that these measures concern not only the environmental issues but also the political, economical and financial ones, which is a doubtless strength. For instance, it is quite important that the UNO has created the organization that aims at precisely one thing, i.e., ceasing the destructive effects of the climate change: “Created in 1972, UNEP represents the United Nations’ environmental conscience.
Based in Nairobi, Kenya, its mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations” (UNEP, Cities Alliance, UN-habitat, World Bank Launch Knowledge Centre on Cities and Climate Change, 2010).
In the course of its work, the UNO has offered a number of major results in the given sphere. Even though the effects of climate change are still evident and the process is still going on, UNO seems to have done everything possible to make the change of the environment as painless as possible. According to McMuller’s report (2009), three years ago, the major effects of the climate change were addressed, namely, the ice caps melting, the ocean levels rising, the unique ecosystems changing and rare species put under the blast. Also, the impact of climate change on poultry and cattle have been discussed (Goodland & Anhang, 2009). In addition, the UNO has considered the impact of climate change on indigenous nations (Climate change and indigenous peoples, 2007).
Offering their solutions to the problem, the UNO seems to pin its hopes on sustainable development. However, according to Drexhage and Murphy (2010), “The concept and idea of sustainable development are widely accepted, and good progress has been made on sustainable development metrics; yet the implementation of sustainable development has been largely unsuccessful” (Drexhage & Murphy, 2010, 12). However, there are considerable financial limitations to this solution.
Mostly because the major companies, whose funding is crucial for the UNO efficiency, do not see sustainable development as profitable and rewarding, the strategy can possibly fail. Nevertheless, the strength of this approach is illustrated by the fact that the strategy seems to help address the energy consumption issue, which means that the UNO needs to search for the ways to promote it more efficiently: “Current patterns of energy production and consumption are unsustainable and threaten the environment on both local and global scales” (AGECC, 2010, 7).
Nevertheless, even with all the results achieved, one must admit that there is a lot to be done. While the UNO focuses on the ice caps melting, there is still the deforestation (UNFCCC, 2011) and pollution (Nellenmann, Hein & Alder, n.d.) issues which need resolving. It seems that the organization needs more affiliates that could deal with specific problems rather than the UNEP which aims at tackling every issue and cannot handle all of them.
Thus, it is obvious that UNO is trying to hit too many targets when solving the issue of climate change. The chosen strategy does seem legitimate, since climate change, which is the result of global warming, is induced by a number of related factors and leads to a range of various outcomes in different spheres. Thus, to make the climate change process as harmless as possible, one needs to address each of the elements, which the UNO actually does.
However, in doing so, the organization misses on a number of details. In addition, engaging every single country of the world into the process is practically impossible, which is another reason for concerns. Thus, the UNO seems to be on the right track; however, the organization needs to reconsider a number of issues and change its policy towards a less general strategy, which will possibly lead to the most inspiring results.
Reference List
UNEP, Cities Alliance, UN-habitat, World Bank Launch Knowledge Centre on Cities and Climate Change, 2010. Web.
AGECC, 2010, Energy for a sustainable future. Web.
Climate change and indigenous peoples. 2007. Web.
McMullen, CP, 2009, Climate change 2009. Science Compendium. Web.
Goodland, R & Anhang, J, 2009, Livestock and climate change. Web.
United Nations, 1992, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Web.
UNEP, Cities Alliance, UN-Habitat, World Bank Launch Knowledge Centre on Cities and Climate Change, 2010. Web.
UNFCCC, 2011, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Web.
Nellenmann, C, Hein, S, & Alder, J, n.d., In dead water. Web.
Drexhage, J & Murphy, D, 2010, Sustainable development: from Brundtland to Rio 2012. Web.