COP21 conference wraps up Day 2

Tuesday marked the second day of a world-wide conference, which invited world leaders to Paris, France in order to tackle the issues of climate change.

Leaders from 150 nations along with 40,000 delegates from 195 countries are attending the conference, called COP21. “COP” stands for the Conference Of Parties.

“This is an economic and security imperative that we have to tackle now.” President Barack Obama said Tuesday.

Talks opened Monday, November 30 and will last through December 11.

According to Salisbury University professor Dr. Sarah Surak, leaders agree limiting global temperature rise 2 degrees celsius will off-set a lot of damage, but nations are approaching the problem with what she described as a “ground-up” strategy. This means states are making individual commitments based on what’s feasible for them.

Dr. Surak says multiple competing interests can make it more difficult for an entire group to achieve the overall goal.

“At this negotiation table, China is agreeing to level out their energy production at 2030 and then move to 20% renewables which is something we haven’t see before,” She explains, “But India’s stance on this is saying we have a lot of people still without power…we’re going to develop.”

Even so, leaders in Paris have already stated the stakes are too high to end the conference without a binding agreement. According to the Assateague Coastal Trust, places on Delmarva are already seeing the ripple effects of climate change.

Executive Director Kathy Phillips says places like Assateague Island are bracing themselves for the future sea level rise.

“A lot of the infrastructure on the island has been rebuilt so that it’s portable. Bathrooms, showers, that sort of thing are able to be moved away from the shore line or even moved inland if they have to.” Explains Phillips.

Before departing Paris Tuesday,  President Obama told the press that he was optimistic about the COP21 conference.  The issue, according to him, is pace and knowing how much damage is done before fully applying new policies.