GENEVA, December 19, 2009 –The Global Humanitarian Forum notes with regret the failure of the governments in Copenhagen to reach a strong agreement on climate change. The results represent a neglected opportunity to come to terms with the crisis in a meaningful way, and many smaller nations feel marginalized by the process. Nevertheless, the fact that the major economies of Brazil, China and India were able to agree on a “Copenhagen Accord” with the U.S., with which they were previously in opposition, represents decided progress.

Much more work remains to be done to reach the kind of international agreement the world needs. However, the Global Humanitarian Forum believes Copenhagen represents an important step forward in humanity’s effort to deal with climate change and its human impact. The reason is simple: Because of Copenhagen, the world became truly engaged on the issue for the first time.

“Copenhagen is a milestone in the world’s ability to focus on an issue of global importance,” said Walter Fust, CEO and Managing Director of the Global Humanitarian Forum. “There has never been an effort like this, and considering where we all were a year ago, it is a big step forward. But we have a long way to go, and we have to move quickly to avoid more human suffering.”

For its own part, the Global Humanitarian Forum was instrumental in putting climate justice high on the political agenda in 2009, and it notes that now the theme has been adopted by many. The Forum launched the climate justice movement and supplied its signature logo, the tck tck tck symbol, which was adopted by more than 200 civil society organizations. The Forum’s own tck tck tck Time for Climate Justice campaign and its partners collected more than 12 million digital pledges of support for action on climate change.  This important cause of climate justice became a major theme in Copenhagen, taken up by a large number of organizations, media and people.

The Forum also brought the human impact of climate change into focus with its landmark study The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis. The report made headlines with its finding that climate change has been a major factor in the deaths of 300,000 people per year. The Forum’s Youth Forum got young people thinking about solutions to the climate change problem. The Weather Info for All initiative for adaptation to climate change in Africa, started by the Forum, worked in the background to bring businesses, governments and international organizations together to implement a practical solution for climate change in that continent. 

“We are thankful to all those who joined the cause to reduce the human suffering caused by climate change,” Fust said. “Many organizations, businesses, governments, international institutions and people have made investments for the future of our planet. We and our allies still plan to push for a fair, robust and binding agreement.” 

Fust added a note of caution. “The Global Humanitarian Forum supports the principle that those who contribute to climate change should take responsibility,” he said, “but this ‘polluter pays’ principle should not be used as an excuse to only look back. The future should be our primary focus. We expect 2010 to be an important year in the continuing effort to secure climate justice for all.”

The Global Humanitarian Forum

Founded in 2007 and led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Global Humanitarian Forum brings together leaders from government, civil society, international organizations, academia, business and other sectors of society to help solve humanitarian challenges. Located in Geneva, the Forum’s initial focus is on the human face of climate change and how to alleviate the damaging effects of global warming, especially on the world’s most vulnerable populations and communities. The Forum’s work ranges from research and awareness-raising on how climate change affects people, to practical action to reduce the harmful impact of climate change, such as providing weather information to the African continent on mobile networks. The Forum unites and challenges young people in a Youth Forum to seek more effective ways to address humanitarian challenges, including climate change. The Forum also leads a global effort to make the public more aware of issues of climate justice. For more information see www.ghfgeneva.org.

For more information:

Keith Collins

Director of Communications

Global Humanitarian Forum

Keith.Collins@ghfgeneva.org

+41 22 919 75 48 (office)

+41 76 703 53 33 (mobile)