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Additionally, Qatar has significantly upped the stakes in setting itself up as a regional leader. Including playing a significant role in the Libyan revolution by being one of the most vocal supporters of assistance to the Libyan rebel movement in the GCC and Arab League, while unilaterally offering diplomatic and financial support, and a visit by the Qatari Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, to Gaza.
In September this year Qatar also offered a $18bn loan to the Egyptian government, over and above the $2bn pledged earlier, and has invested in several projects in Tunisia, a sign of its growing bid for pan-regional leadership and influence. More recently, Doha played host to the conference of Syrian opposition groups that culminated with an anti-Assad umbrella organisation supported by the GCC.
UNFCCC COP 18 objectives
The Doha-hosted COP 18 has specific objectives set around it, including top-level ambitions such as finding a consensus among the varying factions deciding international policy in response to climate change, and agreeing commitment terms for the second Kyoto Protocol (KP2), which is due to begin in January 2013. Delegates will be looking to firm up resolutions begun in previous meetings.
The French ambassador for Climate Change Negotiations, Serge Lepeltier told Gulf Times in an interview earlier in November that Qatar was ideally placed to build a bridge between developed and developing nations. "It will be very necessary for Qatar to move towards mediating in issues relating to reduction of impacts of climate change and this will change the atmosphere of negotiations because the two most important countries in the world - China and the US - are very much involved in this issue and if Qatar should make a move, both countries will not have an excuse to do nothing".
With 195 countries now party to the Convention, the conference is going to be the largest one ever held in Qatar, and 5,000 volunteer and support staff are expected to participate around the clock. A major part of the build-up to COP 18 has involved enfranchising the wider Qatari society to participate, with a focus on the regional youth movement - those most affected by the outcome of the talks.
"We are proud to see young Qataris turning out in force to assist us in hosting this historic Conference. This is an opportunity for Qataris to learn about the impact of climate change and then deliver the message to the wider community about the importance of this issue," His Excellency Fahad Bin Mohammed Al-Attiya, a member of the Higher Organising Committee for COP18/CMP8 and the Chairman of the Organising Sub-Committee, said during the interview process for volunteers, which saw 2,000 people apply.
According to the UNFCCC, in 2007 the IPCC released its Fourth Assessment Report, following an unusual number of severe weather-related disasters, and a consecutive number of annual record-breaking heat statistics. The report found that almost every year any child under the age of 10 in 2007 had been alive on Earth had been among the hottest in living record.
The region's young people are particularly aware of their obligations concerning climate change. The Arab Youth Climate Movement was launched in mid-November, shortly before the opening of COP 18, and plans to galvanise popular opinion to push Mena nations into accepting their responsibilities and understanding the importance of signing up to legally binding agreements to reduce their carbon emissions.
Staff
