When the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18/CMP8) opens in Doha today, HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah will assume the role of president of COP18/CMP8, a responsibility that will last until the meeting takes place next November.
In a special welcome message issued to Gulf Times, HE al-Attiyah, also chairman of Qatar’s Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, shared his hopes for the conference and also for the legacy that it will leave in Qatar:
“The nations of the world are once more gathering to push forward our common response to climate change and to pledge shared commitment to the future of our planet.
Through this international framework, national delegations and observer organisations will converge on Doha to transcend local thinking to find global solutions.
In our capacity as host country, we continue to do everything we can to ensure that the conference is open, inclusive and transparent in our endeavour to reach a balanced, fair and credible outcome.
Doha is immensely proud to hold the 18th sessions of these meetings, which mark the first time that they have been hosted in the Middle East and only the second time that they been hosted by an Arab nation.
Now more than ever, the issues at the heart of these negotiations are at the forefront of global debate and discourse.
All 7bn people living on the planet share a single challenge: climate change.
As we meet once more, we are aware of the dangers of climate change and the pressing need for us to work together to confront it.
Climate change and its adverse effects on our environment are issues that every leader now takes seriously. It is on the minds of everyone from heads of state to civil society leaders and community activists.
In our political debates, in our national and international conversations, in our economic forecasting, in our homes and in our streets, this pressing issue has forced its way to the fore.
The threat of climate change looming before us promises to lay waste to our environment, to sap our natural resources, to drown our cities, to ruin our crops, and to derail our economies.
It took great efforts and brave collaboration to bring our global dialogue to its current level, and it will take a great deal more to make progress in developing a concerted and timely solution.
As a coastal, dry land nation, Qatar is on the front line of this fight. Our country is almost 100% dependent on the sea for its water and more than 95% dependent on technology and trade for its food.
Qatar is also one of the 10 developing countries predicted to be most affected by rising sea levels. Climate change is a global issue that Qatar is working diligently to address.
Environmental sustainability is a key pillar of our National Vision, and our leadership on carbon capture and storage technologies received global recognition at COP16/CMP6 in Mexico.
We have made record commitments to cutting-edge solar and water technologies that will improve our national food security while forging a healthier path for sustainable growth for millions throughout the world.
In an effort to highlight the gravity of what we are dealing with, I would like to point out an oft-neglected factor of global climate change: its potential to wreak havoc in the form of social unrest.
In this region, we have watched as Arab peoples have taken to the streets against governments that did not reflect their will. Their continuing struggle has been one of a new educated, globally-connected generation revolting against an older order that refused to adapt to new realities.
When it comes to climate change, we are facing a similarly crucial tipping point. Will ours be the generation that gets ahead of the problems facing millions of our brothers and sisters? Will we be the ones to finally rise to the challenge of ensuring climate justice, defending those whose livelihoods, whose food and water security, depend on our resolve? Will our children live on a planet where the future looks brighter for everyone, developed and developing, northern and southern countries alike?
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.
I invite all parties coming to Doha to work towards successful negotiations; let us make sure that the words we speak in Qatar echo far beyond the walls of our convention centre, and that the ink we use marks a better chapter in our planet’s history.”
