Many are under the wrong impression that climate change is a purely environmental issue. Wrong.

I was first drawn to it from a geo political and geo strategic angle when shadowing Foreign Affairs.

This apart, people are progressively coming to learn that climate change has other dimensions, linked primarily to economics, health, our well being, as well as our quality of life.

Kofi Annan commenting in his capacity of President of the Global Humanitarian Forum recently reminded us that millions today are already suffering because of climate change while the deathly silence of this crisis is a major impediment for international action to end it.

In fact he has recently endorsed a report called ‘The anatomy of a silent crisis’ that does exactly that – serve as a human impact report on climate change and also try to document the impact of climate change on human life globally.

It has been described by many experts as the most plausible account yet of the current impact of climate change today.

What is most preoccupying is that while polls already show that people worldwide are concerned about climate change and communities on the climate frontlines already see and feel the change, awareness about the impacts of climate change, remains low, particularly among the poor.

It is even more worrying that in industrialised nations which are meant to have far better educated citizens than elsewhere, climate change is still considered a solely environmental problem.

This tends to get some to dismiss it as mere pet hobby horse for tree huggers while others even worse tend to see in it, a distant threat that might or could affect our future.

The repeated views of glaciers and polar bears in my opinion might have a counter productive effect since pictures of suffering humans might lead to a far more increased impact.

It was timely that the world was presented with a wake up call to the human face of this dangerous problem.

The effects of pollution driven by economic growth in some parts of the world are now driving millions of people into poverty elsewhere.

Few realise that climate change is also endangering the Millennium Development Goals.

For those living on the brink of survival, climate change is a very real and dangerous hazard.

It is not an everyday occurrence that one comes across an all encompassing threat like climate change that directly affects the environment, the economy, health and even safety.

Although many think that the two degrees centigrade threshold is the benchmark for tipping into a crisis zone, in actual fact climate change is already highly dangerous at well below one degree of warming.

If there is a silent crisis on the anatomy of this issue I believe there is a stronger crisis at international leadership level. If few people are aware of just how much is at stake we cannot blame it on their indifference but solely on the governments of the day and their poor, inconsistent, spluttering and under funded educational and awareness campaigns.

A report like this on the health aspect of climate change should dispel the views we also had locally that climate has no direct effect on health.

If read, studied and digested, the report should and will change political attitudes, spur public debate and even lead to more research.

Even if the chances are that there will be no binding agreement at all, Copenhagen needs to be the most ambitious international agreement ever negotiated.

The alternative is not just or mere political logjam but mass starvation, mass migration and mass sickness.

On climate issues national leadership must indeed go beyond the next elections and far beyond the national boundaries.

It is now high time to prove to one and all that we really accept the fact that we all live in one big global village.

In conclusion may I emphasise the importance of realising that the least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions are the ones who are suffering most from it – the poorest communities on earth.

This is inherently and fundamentally unjust.

Regardless of whether we are social democrats, liberals or conservatives we must ensure that in order to build the global framework every one is talking about the end result must be based on the principles of fairness and equity.

People everywhere deserve what is now being termed as climate justice.

(This is the third in a series of articles on climate change issues in the run up to the December Copenhagen Summit. Concluded)

Leo Brincat is the Main Opposition Spokesperson on the Environment, Sustainable Development & Climate Change.

[email protected]

www.leobrincat.com