The issue of climate finance is at the forefront of the UN talks after the Philippines and parts of southeast Asia were ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded.
The Philippines has been hit by 24 typhoons in the past year but the power of Haiyan was off the scale, killing thousands and leaving millions homeless. Is there even worse devastation to come?
The shadow of Haiyan looms over the UN climate talks in Warsaw.
So is climate change to blame for Typhoon Haiyan?
The Philippines’ climate negotiator, Naderev Sano, proceeded with a hunger strike he announced at the start of the conference, which he says he will continue until meaningful action is taken to address climate change.
Yeb, as he is known, is a scientist and head of his country’s national climate commission and had flown out of Manila just hours before the vastness of Haiyan had become apparent.
He took the floor and, in some trepidation in front of the delegates of 190 countries, gave an extraordinary, passionate speech in which he clearly linked super typhoon Haiyan to manmade climate change and urged the world to wake up to the reality of what he said was happening from Latin America to Southeast Asia and the US. He lambasted the rich countries, and dared climate change deniers to go to his country to see for themselves what was happening.
When he sat down, sobbing, he was given a standing ovation.
This was not just diplomatic theatricals or righteous grandstanding by a developing-country diplomat about the snail-like speed of the climate talks, which have dragged on for years and are not likely to conclude until 2015. What few people in Warsaw knew until Sano had nearly finished his speech was that even as he was addressing the UN, his brother was digging people out of the rubble of the ruined city of Tacloban and he and his family still did not know the fate of other relatives.
Just as significantly, his speech has reopened the growing debate about whether the extreme weather events seen around the world over the past few years, including Hurricane Sandy, the melting of the Arctic sea ice and heatwaves in the US, Russia and Australia, can be attributed to man-made climate change. If they can, the argument goes, then the urgency of addressing the problem becomes incontrovertible; if it doesn’t, then it allows countries to continue delaying action or reducing their commitments.
The consensus of climate scientists is increasingly that superstorms will become more frequent.
Evidence that climate change makes heatwaves, superstorms and droughts far more likely is growing.
Ordinary people have less trouble untangling climate change from natural events. What is certain is that extreme weather events are on the rise globally and that greenhouse gas emissions are rising inexorably.
China’s chief climate negotiator Su Wei said slow-moving UN negotiations on fighting climate change can advance only if rich nations fulfil their promise to provide billions of dollars in finance to developing countries. At the same time developed nations must step up efforts to reduce their emissions.