CLIMATE CHANGES

1.    First of all; what is climate change?

Climate change or what we also call global warming is the result of changes in weather patterns due to increases to the Earth's average temperature. There are lots of things that can cause this change like fossil fuel, intensive agriculture, etc.

This problem that we are dealing with, we can say that it started being one more less 50 years ago, even though the Earth's climate has been changing over the last century.

Earths climate change is something that is happening in the whole word and that eventually if we don’t star acting will affect our environment, our communities and our economy.

2.    RECENT INTERNATIONAL EVENTS RELATED TO THE TOPIC

As I said before, this is something that involves the whole planet and because it can be such a threaten in the future there are lots of organizations that are already trying to solve the problem.

This problem shows in the rise of .76ºC Earth`s average surface temperature since 1850 caused by the CO2 and human activity which was discovered by the AR4 (Fourth Assessment Report) of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and that estimates that if we continuo the way we are in this century it will be rising from 1.8ºC to 4.0ºC rising till 6.4ºC in the worst case and it will cause catastrophic changes.

As I said before, there are organizations that are trying to work on this problem. An example is The European Union, who is now working to get a global agreement to control climate change and is taking domestic action to achieve substantial reductions in its own contribution as well as developing a European strategy for adapting to climate change. They also helped in the development of the two United Nations climate treaties, the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997. In 2007 EU leaders committed to transforming Europe into a highly energy-efficient, low carbon economy.

3.    DESCRIPTION OF YOUR COUNTRY´S ACTIONS OR DECLARATIONS ON THESE EVENTS (How has your country reacted to those events?)

Generally, Africa is more exposed to climate change because of the wide spread of poverty and unsustainable use of natural resources.

Sierra Leone in the pre-colonial era was known for its conductive atmosphere; but today, the country is facing big problems like agriculture, biodiversity and food security cause by climate changes, leading to hunger and poverty.

All these problems come from the changes in temperature that are making the weather patterns change creating drought, flood, dry season, etc.

During the dry season African rivers dry quickly and lead to lose of biodiversity; Animals that before were more abundant are now disappearing like the elephants and lions due to this problem; Lands that farmers used to plant are more difficult to be used, because is very difficult to know the exact time of planting because of the inconstant climate.
Another problem is that the capital city is overcrowded and because of the big population there is a lot of deforestation.

4.    LEGAL FRAMEWORK (Treaties, UN resolutions, official declarations, etc.)

Sierra Leone as I said before is a very poor country, and because of that, they need help to control the problems of the climate changes but there is little evidence of international donor support. A single project - the development of “climate-proofed” is going to start until 2011. The government of Sierra Leone has expressed frustration at the slow pace of assistance by those countries responsible for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions.

Because Sierra Leone is a country that is affected and will be strongly affected by this problem, the governments of the country have reacted to this and they are now members of some organizations that help to solve this problem. ICCt (International Council on Clean Transportation), OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons), UNWTO (United Nations World Tourist Organization) and WMO World Meteorological Organization), are the organizations that as i said, are now helping to reduce the consequences of the climate changes.

“Captain Bob Tarrant, Commanding Officer of a Royal Navy, has disclosed to pressmen that it is apparent that climate change will affect Sierra Leone harshly within the next 10 to 15 years. During a press briefing on Friday 5th September 2008 onboard the HMS Endurance ship, the Captain intimated that the country will in the not too distant future experience hotter temperature and a reduction in rainfall, due to what he referred to as human activities, especially scientific actions and widespread deforestation.” (Awareness Times)

5.    POSITION (What is your country´s perspective on the issue?)

We think that because rich countries are the one who usually contribute about 75% of greenhouse emissions in to the atmosphere and we, the poor countries only contribute about 3.6% (Community biodiversity development and conservation program in Africa report - 2008) and usually feel the majority of climate change impacts, we think that we should get some help from other countries or organizations and that what some of them are doing.

6.    PROPOSAL (What does your country propose to solve or improve the issued that is being discussed)

A single project - the development of “climate-proofed” is going to start until 2011. The government of Sierra Leone has expressed frustration at the slow pace of assistance by those countries responsible for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions.