Balkan States ‘Passive Observers’ at Copenhagen Talks

Up to 100,000 protesters rallied up in Copenhagen last Saturday to express support for a binding agreement by participating countries in the UN-sponsored climate talks.

In the Balkans, however, environmental awareness is far from the top of the political agenda, judging by the level of response to the talks.

Delegations from the region have so far been inactive at Copenhagen, a position that local environmentalists warn is not in line with the threats that changing weather patterns will pose to Southeast Europe.    

Most countries represented at the climate talks have closed ranks around one of several lobbying groups: the group of 77, an organization of 130 developing countries, the African Union, the Association of Small Island States, OPEC countries, China and the United States, large developing countries like Brazil and India, the European Union, the Rainforest Coalition and the former Soviet republics.

Western Balkan countries have not sided with any major groups, however, and none has forth any proposals about curbing the emission of greenhouse gasses.

“They have not been very active because they are not formally part of any negotiating group and their voice is not very well heard in the negotiations,” Katerina Husova, a climate change coordinator for the regional environmental organization CEE Bankwatch Network, said.

Husova said the countries in the region, most now seeking EU membership, should pay closer attention to the negotiations, as they would soon need to adopt national environmental legislation in line with the EU.

Experts warn that in future drought and floods are likely to have a severe impact on the Balkans, with strong variations in the water supply and large forest fires during summer, both direct consequences of a warming planet.

“The [communist] dictatorship is nearly 20 years behind us but the tangible impacts of climate change lie less than 20 years ahead,” Camille Nuamah, Albania’s World Bank country manager, warned recently.

Because the region is still preoccupied with recovering from the armed conflicts of the 1990s, it is not preparing for what the future holds, and which could have a devastating effect, experts warn.  

“With scarcer resources from the environment there will be increased pressure on all the [regions] governments and the local population,” Husova said.

“There is a general risk with climate change that it could eventually spur regional conflict over disputed resources,” she added.