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by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Friday, 23 November 2007
Analysis: Figueres will spearhead a team of Gulf environmentalists on an Arctic expedition that will assess the impact of climate change.
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This is about life on the planet, nothing short of that," intones His Excellency Jose Maria Figueres, leaning forward in his chair. "And you know what? It's going to be very interesting indeed."
In January of next year Figueres, the former President of Costa Rica and one of the world's most high-profile environmental figures, will lead a five-strong fellowship team to the Arctic. There the group - consisting of prominent members of the local Arab community, as well as employees of Kuwait's National Projects Holding Company (NPHC), the company behind Dubai Recycling Park - will undertake research studying the impact of global climate change. Yet while the expedition itself is unlikely to offer any immediate solutions, Figueres hopes that its consequences will be far-reaching.
"We can continue not only to be agents of change with respect to mitigating climate adversity, but we can also bring back a narrative of what is happening," Figueres enthuses. "I would hope to bring back from the Arctic a compelling presentation that we can then showcase within the region, and show people what is going on."
Under Figueres' leadership, the Gulf fellowship will observe and assist the world's largest environmental volunteer association, Earthwatch Institute, as it studies the impact of climate change on the Arctic's edge in Canada.
Earthwatch already has partnerships with a number of major international corporations, including HSBC, Starbucks Coffee, Alcoa, UBS, and Wells Fargo.
"Participating with a responsible, conscientious organisation such as Earthwatch on behalf of a responsible proactive business such as NPHC, is bringing both together in a way where we can further appreciate what is happening in the Arctic," suggests Figueres.
"In this way, I would say that the Arab world is at the forefront of having a team up there that can look at things first hand, and come and hopefully disseminate the much wider message."
Figueres has spent much of his life disseminating that wider message. A close friend of Al Gore, he was Chairman of LEAD as well as FUNDES Internacional, and has also served as a director of the World Wildlife Fund, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, and the Stockholm Environment Institute. He presently serves on the Board of the World Resources Institute, and the Earth Council Geneva, was the first recipient of the Global Prize from the World Bank's Global Environmental Fund for his leadership and efforts for the environment, and has also received a prestigious award from the Climate Institute in Washington DC. In January this year, Figueres gave the keynote speech at the Middle East's inaugural Climate Change Conference in Dubai. Since then, he argues, the region has shown real commitment to addressing the environmental issue.
"I think that there is a tremendous amount of awareness today in the Middle East that there wasn't before," he says. "For example, Abraaj Capital, a leading private equity firm in the region, contacted NPHC. They asked us to come down and brief their executives and their investment teams on the issue of climate change, because it is something that they are now beginning to look at, and factor in as leaders in the field of private equity.
"It's not only in business circles, but also educational centres - we have given presentations here in the Middle East at schools and universities," he continues, noting also the commitment of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to sustainability and green building development.
"I continue to believe very strongly that this region, which if you take into consideration its very important carbon footprint, can become an example of carbon mitigation and true responsibility with respect to climate change," he says. "This is an opportunity for the private sector to work together with governments, which can provide the frameworks through which we begin to have better environmental legislation. Not better in a restrictive sense, but better in a way that provides the amplitude for the private sector to make carbon mitigation a good business opportunity."
Climate chaos why the arctic?
"When we talk about the environment and specifically climate change, it is important to recognise that we have had exactly the same climate pattern on this planet for the last 10,000 years since the last glacial period. Within that climate system, the Arctic plays a very important role, in at least two ways.
"First of all, it acts as a giant reflector. The tremendous cap of ice on the arctic ricochets the sun's rays as they are coming in and acts as a giant mirror sending those rays back out. If we begin to lose ice mass, if we begin to lose part of that giant reflector, we are going to be ricocheting less rays back out, and therefore accelerating the process of climate change.
"The second very critical role that the Arctic plays in our climate system is that as wind currents blow over the Arctic and get cooler, coming down over the Atlantic between Europe and North America, they cool down the ocean currents. This sets them back in motion as colder water currents along the coast of North America and eventually around different parts of the world, where they gather heat, bring it back up, and then the cycle begins again. If you lose ice mass on the Arctic, you are losing the capacity to chill these winds that chill the water over the North Atlantic.
"Both together are therefore critically important in terms of conserving our present climate system. I think it's also an issue of the fact that until quite recently, most of us were not critically aware of the important role that the Arctic plays in the climate system. Now we have a much better understanding that the preservation of the Arctic ice cap is critical to maintaining climate change below two degrees centigrade, which is what we need to do to maintain the climate system that we've had for the last 10,000 years."
"When we talk about the environment and specifically climate change, it is important to recognise that we have had exactly the same climate pattern on this planet for the last 10,000 years since the last glacial period. Within that climate system, the Arctic plays a very important role, in at least two ways.
"First of all, it acts as a giant reflector. The tremendous cap of ice on the arctic ricochets the sun's rays as they are coming in and acts as a giant mirror sending those rays back out. If we begin to lose ice mass, if we begin to lose part of that giant reflector, we are going to be ricocheting less rays back out, and therefore accelerating the process of climate change.
"The second very critical role that the Arctic plays in our climate system is that as wind currents blow over the Arctic and get cooler, coming down over the Atlantic between Europe and North America, they cool down the ocean currents. This sets them back in motion as colder water currents along the coast of North America and eventually around different parts of the world, where they gather heat, bring it back up, and then the cycle begins again. If you lose ice mass on the Arctic, you are losing the capacity to chill these winds that chill the water over the North Atlantic.
"Both together are therefore critically important in terms of conserving our present climate system. I think it's also an issue of the fact that until quite recently, most of us were not critically aware of the important role that the Arctic plays in the climate system. Now we have a much better understanding that the preservation of the Arctic ice cap is critical to maintaining climate change below two degrees centigrade, which is what we need to do to maintain the climate system that we've had for the last 10,000 years."
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