What ís the big deal about a bunch of official looking people discussing stuff at a conference? Ok, here’s the deal. Earth’s climate is changing drastically and something quick must be done about it or else! This change in climate is actually due to a sure and steady increase in Earth’s annual temperature. This increase is mainly caused by the high magnitude of the green house effect whereby tons of green house gases, especially carbon dioxide, absorb heat and prevent it from escaping. This disrupts normal climatic patterns worldwide which is definitely something to worry about! So, to send our worries away delegates from various countries are meeting to discuss exactly what solutions are required to stop this rapid change in the climate.

This overheating of the Earth is resulting in the melt down of polar ice caps and glaciers which in turn is resulting in the rise in sea level which will lead to coastal areas and islands being submerged forever. Phew! That’s a lot. Plus disruption in normal climatic patterns might even effect our very own Monsoons. Without Monsoons our country’s economy will suffer along with the death of millions due to starvation. If only one country suffers so much for just one change in the normal climatic pattern, imagine the entire world’s condition with a total change in the climate. Our ecosystems would change and biodiversity would be affected. Some species will become extinct while others will have to adapt to their new environment. These are but a few consequences of climatic change - the list could go on and on and nothing on it looks pretty.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climatic Change (UNFCC) holds conferences to discuss this very issue of how to deal with this change in climate. They discuss possible ways of how to reduce green house gases and bring about a better environment while keeping everyone happy. It’s hard job but everyone’s trying their best! Till date there have been 7 Conference of Parties and the eighth one is being held in Delhi right now. At these conferences heated debates take place over sensitive topics between countries but most of the time the really important and sensitive topics are never discussed. For example the possibility of equal rights to the atmosphere for all is never talked about and made to take the backseat all the time.

The KYOTO PROTOCOL is one of the main topics of discussion where developing countries are trying to persuade developed countries to sign this treaty whereby they’ll have to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by at least 5.2% of their 1990 emissions. Not everyone’s convinced enough to sign and USA has point black refused to do so. Somehow if Russia is convinced enough to sign then the quota of 55 countries will be fulfilled and Kyoto becomes international law.

Right now everyone’s crossed their fingers in the hope that the above does happen. Everyone attending the conference is hopeful but they all doubt any major outcome of this event.

As the citizens and the future of the world we must take this situation into our hands and fight for our rights. Don’t we want a clean and nice world to live in? Don’t we want clean, sustainable development? Don’t we want to breathe clean, non-polluted air? Don’t we want to live in a world without the adverse effects of the greenhouse effect? We must begin to pressurise our government to adopt policies for the betterment of the environment. We must begin our protests now and fight it out till the end when finally we’ll get things to work our way for a better future. It’s our world, our future and we must save it!