COP15 report from Jennifer Hawkins.
Jennifer is a local (well, regioanlly speaking!), a member of Australian Women in Agriculture (AWIA) and currently completing her Nuffield Scholarship on "The implications of Carbon Policy for Australian Agriculture". She has kindly allowed us to reproduce some of her impressions from the conference.
I have been here for 3 days and have seen many displays, information, lectures covering a huge cross section of factors that different groups believe impact on Climate Change Policy. Desmond Tutu spoke today what a wonderful 'show-man' he is and his grasp of humanity and humour was knock out. He had the people in the palm of his hand with simple messages " If the world disappears we disappear with it " It is a pivotal moment in history and the commitment of great people to this process makes the Climate sceptics look frivolous in their mindset. This is what I have learnt - that the modelling and the science is fragile ---but the issues of food security, poverty, political stability, adaption/mitigation, trade, economic systems,commodity trading, third world development, credit access, land tenure, population growth, education, etc these are the issues that have grown out of "globalization" and are propelled by our basic human relationships with our environment. So what ever they say to distract you from your commitment to the world being more sustainable in the true sense of the world we need to drown out their negativity.
I went to the IFAP Ag & Rural Development day yesterday and had a saturation of agricultural issues. Bumped into David Crombie over a cup of tea !!! ( first Australian I have met in 5 weeks ) I spent much of the day quietly writing until some bloke from US Sect Ag from California got up and said that Australian Ag had collapsed !! So at that point I waved for the mic. I had 2mins what did I say - " farmers will listen and learn from farmers all over the world. I am very lucky to be a female farmer in a developed world and part of the 70% of the demographic that feed the world. I want to share my opportunities and knowledge with them directly. Women farmers need each other across the world - the capacity building starts there. Then I used the example of our 6 years of drought to provide the guy from the US with some correct info " Australian Ag has not collapsed as my husband & I are experiencing our 6th yr of drought we ADAPT all the time to the challenges its thrown us. Its a gradual process of adaption to our changed environment - and we have still managed to produce food for Australia to eat and export as well. "" Then I sat down..................
suffice to say the issues discussed included:
• business as usual is not an option MDG's & global food security will not be achieved
• Ag practices & use of natural resources are not only part of the challenge but also part of the solution
• effective ag adaption & mitigation activities offer the propsetcs of win-win outcomes
• Major gaps in knowledge about ag & climate change must be addressed
• the climate change,food security & rural development agendas need to be coherent
• Ambitious financing & policy reforms are needed
so for those of you that THINK AG HAS A BLEAK FUTURE THINK AGAIN..... the last word of the discuss on went to a "lady farmer from Australia " who said that the "Literacy of Climate Change Policy " need to be addressed so that all farmers can understand the issues. To speak in an understandable language that brings the science into action. And when at the end of the day that got into the recommendations ( communique round up ) well I nearly cried with delight !!!
I hope you have found this interesting and when I get home and get drawn into the vortex of my life ..I will ponder upon my visit to COP 15 and know that each one of us can sometimes make a difference, but better in numbers....hope my report may have given you some insight into Copenhagen lets hope they get some outcomes because there are plenty here ......
