UNifeed: CLIMATE CHANGE / COPENHAGEN

CLIMATE CHANGE / COPENHAGEN

Duration:02:32Date:18 December 2009

Categories:

United Nations Television, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environmental Programme, LAND FORMS AND ECOSYSTEMS, ENVIRONMENT, United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, International Fund for Agricultural Development, United Nations World Food Programme

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Full Script

STORY: CLIMATE CHANGE / COPENHAGEN 
TRT: 2:32 
SOURCE: UNTV / UNEP / IFAD / MEA / UNDP / TV MALDIVES / WFP 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: RECENT / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – UNTV – DATE UNKNOWN – ARCTIC POLAR ICEBERG

1. Various shots, polar icebergs melting

FILE – UNDP - NOVEMBER 2009, KIRIBATI

2. Wide shot, Kiribati 
3. Wide shot, sea-water coming inland

FILE – IFAD - JUNE 2009

4. Wide shot, waves lapping into homes

RECENT - UNEP – 2 NOVEMBER 2009, NAIROBI, KENYA

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP): 
“If Copenhagen does not provide such an agreement, it will slow us down, and the cost of losing that time will be enormous. Enormous in terms of the physical consequences of global warming, the social consequences, but almost unaffordable in economic terms. And that is why time does matter.”

FILE – UNTV – NOVEMBER 2007, ANTARCTICA

6. Wide shot, polar icebergs melting 
7. Med shot, UN Secretary-General checking depth of ice 
8. Med shot, UN Secretary-General holding “Copenhagen Seal the Deal” sign

RECENT - UNTV – 2 NOVEMBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: 
“I was never an environmental activist and so on. I was purely driven by scientific curiosity. But now, since I’ve worked twenty years in this field, I’ve become so scared myself about the problem that I simply feel it’s our duty to speak up, and not just to say ‘it’s not my issue, it’s not my thing’.”

FILE - MEA – DATE AND LOCATION UNKNOWN

10. Various shots, pollution

FILE – TV MALDIVES – 17 OCTOBER 2009, MALDIVES

11. Various shots, underwater cabinet meeting

RECENT - UNTV – 21 SEPTEMBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohammed Nasheed, President of the Republic of Maldives: 
“Those who have the funds should assist others who don’t have, India and China as much as the United States and the European countries.”

13. Various shots, aerial view of Maldives

FILE – WFP – 20 OCTOBER 2009, MANILA, PHILIPPINES

14. Wide shot, aerial view of flooded fields outside Manila

FILE – WFP – 19-20 OCTOBER 2009, CANDABA, PAPANGA PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES

15. Tracking shot, flooded community center 
16. Various shots, two children riding a canoe on flooded street 
  
RECENT - UNEP – 2 NOVEMBER 2009, NAIROBI, KENYA

17. SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP): 
“Climate change, unlike any other environmental change phenomenon that we are familiar with, is premised upon collective action. Neither the largest economy, the United States of America, or a small island state like the Maldives can solve climate change on their own.”

FILE – UNTV – DATE UNKNOWN – ARCTIC POLAR ICEBERG

18. Various shots, polar icebergs melting

STORYLINE:

As world leaders wrap up the climate talks in Copenhagen today, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that the longer it takes to reach an agreement, the more "enormous" the consequences of climate change will be. 
  
Achim Steiner, head of The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says that the cost of not coming to an agreement could be enormous and that timing is crucial.

SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP): 
“If Copenhagen does not provide such an agreement, it will slow us down, and the cost of losing that time will be enormous. Enormous in terms of the physical consequences of global warming, the social consequences but almost unaffordable in economic terms. And that is why time does matter.”   
And scientists in the field of climate change are keenly aware those consequences.

SOUNDBITE (English) Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research:

“I was never an environmental activist and so on. I was purely driven by scientific curiosity. But now, since I’ve worked twenty years in this field, I’ve become so scared myself about the problem that I simply feel it’s our duty to speak up, and not just to say ‘it’s not my issue, it’s not my thing.”

In Copenhagen, emissions reductions and financing remain the key issues in the talks on a new agreement.

Countries like the United States and Russia have agreed to raise and contribute billions of dollars to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change. But how much, under what terms and when it will be delivered still remains on the table.

President Mohammed Nasheed of the Maldives, involved in the ongoing negotiations, welcomed funds.

SOUNDBITE (English) Mohammed Nasheed, President of the Republic of Maldives:

“Those who have the funds should assist others who don’t have, India and China as much as the United States and the European countries.”

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Maldives is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise. Without a global pact, financing and new technology, the small low-lying island faces the threat of submerging under-water by the end of the century.

The UN says that small island states like the Maldives, which contribute only 0.6 percent of all global warming pollution, suffer disproportionately from the effects of climate change.

Big emitters like the US and China have so far not offered any new commitments to cut emissions.

Many developing countries gathered in Copenhagen, stressed on a collective approach to negotiations and action. They demanded that talks not be taken out of the hands of negotiators and run behind closed doors through selective consultations.

With all of the negotiations these past twelve days, UNEP’s Achim Steiners says one thing is crystal clear.

SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP): 
“Climate change, unlike any other environmental change phenomenon that we are familiar with, is premised upon collective action. Neither the largest economy, the United States of America, or a small island state like the Maldives can solve climate change on their own.”

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