From Narita Airport!

Apoligies for long silence - hbave had internet connections nightmares.Please find below a media release I've just written, pass onto anyone who might be interested.
cheers, Philippa
MEDIA RELEASE – SUNDAY 20TH DECEMBER
Clean Energy for Eternity Views on Copenhagen Outcomes
The world gathered in Copenhagen to watch COP15, the 15th Convention of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Despite the gravity of the climate situation, after days of high drama COP15 clearly did not strike the ‘fair, ambitious and legally binding deal’ called for by the people and required by the science to rapidly bring down global emissions.
What emerged from COP15 in the early hours of Saturday 19th December 2009 was the ‘Copenhagen Accord’, a political agreement brokered by the USA. The deal was struck by President Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Jacob Zuma.
It contains no legally binding agreement on targets for reducing greenhouse emissions. To quote UN climate chief Yvo de Boer: "The challenge is now to turn what we have agreed politically in Copenhagen into something real, measurable and verifiable.” In a UNFCCC press release he stated: “We must be honest about what we have got. The world walks away from Copenhagen with a deal. But clearly ambitions to reduce emissions must be raised significantly if we are to hold the world to 2 degrees.”
There were serious reservations about the process, where deals done behind closed doors by a few rich nations were presented as a fait accompli to the rest of the world. In the end, out of an absolutely unprecedented gathering of 115 Heads of State in Copenhagen, only five countries strongly opposed adoption of the decision: Tuvalu, Sudan, Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saw the accord and it’s recognition by the UN process as an essential beginning. Under the Copenhagen Accord, developed countries collectively commit to provide 30 billion US dollars in new, additional funding for developing countries from 2010-2012. Encouraged by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, developed countries also supported “a goal of jointly mobilizing 100 billion dollars a year” by 2020, with a significant proportion of this money to flow through the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund to developing nations.
Developed countries commit to reduce their emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050. All countries including China have to submit written plans for curbs in carbon dioxide emissions by January 2010.
Thankfully, what occurred in Copenhagen over the past fortnight was deeper and far-reaching even than the formal COP15 intergovernmental negotiations behind closed doors in the Bella Centre.
Civil society (you, me and the guy next door) from literally across the entire globe had an unprecedented opportunity to network and to organise, a chance to listen to testimonies of those suffering right now from the impacts of climate change – peoples of the Pacific Islands whose very islands are threatened; from the Himalayas and other alpine regions where rapidly retreating glaciers threaten water and food security; from Africa, where 80% of the population is already crowded into 20% of the continent and entire regions are now too hot and dry to even grow maize…
Thanks to the Klimaforum Meshwork team and a range of independent broadcasters (Climate TV, Positive TV and many others), much of the richness and diversity has been captured and documented to inform, strengthen and inspire future work.
And what does all this mean for Australia? It means the world is watching.
Our Australian PM had the dubious honour of joining the “guilty heads” held up in Climate Shame at OksenHallen. The Umbrella Group, which includes Australia, won a Fossil of the Day (awarded for contributing the most to blocking progress in the negotiations on climate change) for proposing Carbon Capture and Storage as a clean development mechanism. Australia won the Fossil of the Day on the second last day of the COP for putting pressure on our Pacific Island neighbours to accept disappearance under the ocean, to accept targets of 2C and 450ppm, levels that science indicates would make their islands unhabitable by the end of this century. Some islands in the Pacific are already becoming uninhabitable as sea level rise makes ground water too saline for breadfruit trees and where increased storm surges knock over the coconut trees one by one.
25,000 committed community representatives travelled to Copenhagen as part of the NGO delegation, and they travel home ever more committed to ensuring rapid action on climate change. In the wake of COP15, governments are put on notice that the world is still watching and tangible progress needs to be made soon. Where governments fail to show leadership, communities will have to lead the way.
For Interviews:
Contact Philippa Rowland Mob. 0429-828 412 Email woodlando@optusnet.com.au
Dr Matthew Nott Mob. 0428 564 415 Email matthewnottortho@gmail.com

Further Information:Copenhagen Accord text can be found at http://www.berlingske.dk/klima/copenhagen-accord
Developing Nations Slam Accord http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BH4VN20091218
EU reluctantly signs up to Copenhagen deal http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=3068