Klimaatconferentie Kopenhagen
Toespraak van minister Cramer, gehouden tijdens de 15e Conference of Parties (COP15) op 17 december 2009 in Kopenhagen, Denemarken.
Mister president, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
The Dutch have a long and sometimes tragic history of living below sea level.
In my childhood, thousands of inhabitants of the province of Zeeland, the native soil of our Prime Minister, drowned when the dykes collapsed in a tempestuous and stormy night. Many more lost their homes, their farms, their livestock.
President Nasheed, we feel your pain. The clear and present danger threatening your country and so many others, is no abstraction for the people of the Netherlands.
But there’s hope. When the waters in Zeeland had returned, our nation faced the enormous task of rebuilding our dikes, containing the sea, and safeguard the land.
The Dutch joined forces in an impressive social enterprise to reconstruct a major part of our nation. For the people on the safe grounds, it was a matter of pure solidarity with the people in the devastated areas.
This spirit of shared providence and mutual responsibility was one of the strongest forces ever unleashed within our society. It is this spirit that we need today, to guide us to a binding agreement on climate change.
Mister chairman, not all nations present here at COP15 are so fortunate as the people of Zeeland after the 1950´s. They lack the means to protect themselves. They need our support. Support from the industrialized countries that caused the problem of climate change in the first place.
The Netherlands accept this historic responsibility. Let me make myself absolutely clear. We are determined to keep the rise of global temperatures below 2 degrees. We are ready to commit ourselves to binding reduction targets of 30%. We are willing to provide new and additional resources on the short term. And we are prepared to contribute to predictable long term funding of climate policies in developing countries with governance under COP.
Mister president, the task at hand is daunting, yet surmountable. The technology is available. Knowledge is abundant. Funding is within reach. But the asset most needed here and now is political will. We can only prevail if we set our differences aside, join forces and show unprecedented determination. Future generations deserve no less than that.
The past few days we haven´t shown the world our best performance. But it´s not too late. It´s not too late to seal a deal .
The people of Zeeland have a saying in Latin, luctor et emergo. I struggle and prevail. Let this be a source of inspiration for all parties.
Thank you Mister President.