YEARENDER: Governments to face the heat of climate activists in 2011

By Chris Cermak Dec 27, 2010, 12:15 GMT

Cancun, Mexico - It has been a tough year for those seeking a breakthrough on ways to confront climate change, especially with an economic and debt crisis focusing attention more on pocketbooks than a warming planet.

A depression that gripped the environmental community in the aftermath of the 2009 UN summit in Copenhagen, where world leaders failed to agree upon a new global treaty to set limits on global greenhouse gas emissions, didn't help matters.

Action on climate change also stalled in the United States as lawmakers failed to pass legislation that would have curbed global warming. President Barack Obama was dealt an extra blow in November congressional elections, which will bring in new conservative lawmakers sceptical of the underlying science behind the threat.

Those dampeners made 2010 something of a rebuilding year, with government negotiators looking to restore trust in a badly shaken international process, while environmentalists began shifting strategies to keep the issue alive in the public consciousness.

The international talks were salvaged toward the end of the year, as negotiators kept the process alive by agreeing upon a modest package of proposals to confront climate change at a summit in Cancun, Mexico.

That summit created a Green Climate Fund and took other steps to help poorer countries deal with the threat of global warming.

Now, environmentalists are retooling to step up the pressure on governments to complete the process.

For example, the economic crisis led many to make a conscious shift away from doomsday messages about a warming planet. Instead, they now tout economic opportunities in green energy as they look to play down the costs those might mean for ordinary families.

'People in a difficult economic time are not prepared to take on issues that they perceive are going to be bad for the economy and bad for them,' said Barry Coates, aid group Oxfam's New Zealand director, who has also worked in the US and Europe.

'The feeling was that if environmentalists or climate activists more generally are out there shouting alarm all the time and, you know, there's a terrible future and it's all going to go to hell in a hand basket, then that has a kind of limited impact over the long term,' Coates told the German Press Agency dpa.

But the effort has had mixed results, helping firm up support in Europe, but leaving the door open for climate sceptics in the US, where the public's belief in global warming has never been as assured.

The reputation of scientists also suffered after a damaging 'climate-gate' scandal towards the end of 2009, in which private emails of British and US climate scientists appeared to show a dismissive attitude toward colleagues who questioned global warming.

Sceptics pounced, especially in the US. The whole affair further eroded public confidence, despite the vast majority of scientists who still believe global warming is taking place.

It also means scientists are still rethinking their own communications, both internal and external, as they enter the new year.

'The role of the scientist is changing,' said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center. 'We have to become more involved. We have to become better communicators.'

In the US, climate groups are also in the process of a serious rethink of their strategies in the wake of the collapse of legislation to deal with global warming. Activists are looking for ways to make clear to Americans the threats of a warming planet.

'We need to redouble our efforts to build awareness about the science of climate change and what it's telling us will happen to human communities,' said Duncan Marsh of the US-based Nature Conservancy.

For environmentalists, convincing governments to act on global warming in 2011 starts with convincing the public. Stepping up the pressure will be key as the international process gears up for another possible stab at a new global climate treaty at a UN summit in December 2011 in Durban, South Africa.

But unlike in the run-up to Copenhagen in 2009, supporters of a global treaty are keeping their expectations low as they head into another year of tough climate negotiations. Elliot Diringer of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change said negotiators in Cancun were right not to set another firm deadline for completing the talks.

'Any near term deadline would be a mistake,' Diringer said. 'It would be setting up another Copenhagen.'