Global warming and changes in global climate have their sworn defenders who by referring to scientific statistics warn that humanity is threatened with extinction. They also have their sworn enemies, reminding that human civilization was born precisely because of global warming and modern hysteria about it is not the result of scientific analysis, but ecological propaganda. Mediterranean countries, however, believe that these changes in global climate are not a threat that lurks around the corner from them, but they are reality in which the region has already been living for the past ten years. Or at least that is what their representatives claimed who gathered in Athens to announce the Mediterranean initiative against global warming.
Various experts agreed that as the world is increasingly moving away from reaching a general agreement on global warming, the regional initiatives for joint environmental policies are becoming more important. Professor Jeffrey Sachs, president of the European Institute at the University of New York warned that in the U.S. major change in environmental legislation cannot be expected in the coming years. And after the partial elections in November, when Democrats are expected to suffer significant losses this will become even more difficult. "So the world must continue without the U.S.A.," concluded Professor Sachs. And that means that also the world is moving away from general agreement on climate changes. Such position also shares the representative of the European Commission Peter Vis, who said: "The European Union still wants a global pact on climate changes. But our expectations of the summit of the countries of the UN in Cancun, Mexico are much more modest than our expectations for the one in Copenhagen. We rather see this as another step towards achieving this agreement. In Europe, we have to work very hard to achieve energy independence. If Cancun fails, there will be great doubt whether it is at all possible to reach a global agreement on this issue.
President of the European Investment Bank Philippe Maystadt explained with the precision of a financier what the problem is with the environmental energy projects: "They do not bring any revenue, they are not profitable and therefore it is difficult to find investments for them. We must find the key to the transition from an economy based on high consumption of carbon dioxide to a stable economy based on renewable sources of energy. "Philippe Maystadt is the head of the financial institution which is perhaps the biggest supporter the environmentally friendly energy. Last year alone, it provided 17 billion euro for such projects in the Mediterranean, including modern wind farms in Cyprus, Morocco, Egypt.
According to the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who is the initiator of the forum he climate changes may become irreversible, to take human lives and cause enormous economic losses. Therefore they must be prevented. Papandreou, who is also president of the World International believes that production based on low-emission of harmful gas may become an economic reality by means of Public Private Partnership. "We must not take climate changes only as a threat but also as an opportunity for new development based on renewable energy," he said. Greek Prime Minister declared his position for the humanization of globalization, which according to him has led to large misbalance in the distribution of wealth.
For the slow pace with which the world is moving towards international agreement on climate change spoke Dr. Rajendra Pachauri from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He stressed that successful examples of business ideas need to be found which counteract climate change and at the same time bring also economic benefit to find a model of growth that is environmentally friendly. And Maged George, minister of ecology of Egypt has openly admitted that the biggest problem facing the green energy is the lack of funding and access to new technologies. His colleague from Cyprus Dimitris Eliadis spoke about the lack of water and deforestation on the island of Aphrodite. "We started to build plants to recycle water. We conduct educational programs to teach people to conserve water and not to waste even a single drop of drinking water. Fires are a big problem. We are constantly planting trees," he said.
Tomorrow the Mediterranean initiative for the changes in global climate continues with a meeting of investors and entrepreneurs working in the field of clean energy sources.