MU professors to attend international climate change conference

The Copenhagen conference will host representatives from 192 countries.

By Pierce Courchaine

Published Dec. 1, 2009

Representatives from 192 countries will gather in Copenhagen from Dec. 7 to Dec. 18 to discuss the effects of climate change. MU geography professors Mike Urban and Mark Cowell will attend the conference.

"Cop15 is the culmination of negotiations that started in 1992 for a treaty that was signed by 192 countries," Urban said. "The 192 countries are getting together to negotiate how to deal with climate change. Part of that is hoped to be agreements on carbon emissions and how to protect vulnerable and at-risk nations from climate change."

Urban said Cop15 stands for the 15th meeting of the "conference of parties," with the parties being the 192 countries attending.

In order to be attendants of Cop15, Urban and Cowell filed applications and were selected by the Association of American Geographers as observers.

"We will be attending meetings that are more relevant to the science rather than politics," Cowell said. "We can inform other geographers what's happening at the meeting and what might be important for geographers to get involved in."

Ten other representatives from AAG are attending the conference and form a mix of graduate students, professors and professionals, Cowell said.

Urban said the last climate meeting as big as Cop15 was in Kyoto, Japan in 1997.

Carbon control proposals at Kyoto were rejected by the United States, China and India. Cowell said these three countries today account for nearly 50 percent of the carbon emissions in the world.

"One of the hopes of Cop15 is to deliver where Kyoto failed," Urban said. "It's the best opportunity for the international community to come to any agreement on emolliating climate change impacts before they get really bad."

UM system President Gary Forsee said in a letter to federal lawmakers, MU does not support cap and trade legislation going through Congress because it would cost the university too much.

Cowell said the U.S.’s decision in Copenhagen could affect other countries as well.

"The U.S. is the only country that hasn't really signed on to reduce their emissions," Cowell said. "(Cop15) will be a failure if a U.S. rejection would cause other countries to reject it."

Professor Grant Elliott said the U.S. presence in Cop15 is important.

"We are seen as world leaders," Elliott said. "The actions that we take, other countries will follow suit."

Jonathan Pershing of the U.S. State Department is the chief U.S. negotiator at Cop15. President Barack Obama will also make an appearance at the conference.

Elliott said climate control actions need to be proposed from the government but carried about by individual people and small institutions.

"On a global scale, it seems like an almost impossible task, you have to break it down," Elliott said. "How would you have one global solution? What works here won't work in India where people are trying to build up their way of life. That's why this conference is so good. Because it brings those situations to the table and gets the most powerful minds thinking about it."