Climate change is of real concern in all parts of the world, but there is disagreement over whether the problem is urgent enough to require immediate, costly measures or whether more modest efforts will be satisfactory, according to an international poll released on Wednesday.
The poll, conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org in cooperation with polling organisations around the world, was carried out in 17 countries containing more than 55% of the world population, although not all questions were asked in all countries.
Twelve countries were asked whether steps should be taken to address climate change.
Ninety-two percent of Australians favoured measures to combat global warming, making it the country with the largest majority of its population believing immediate action should be taken to reverse climate change.
Surprisingly, China, whose environmental policies are often criticised, and Israel were the next most inclined to favour such measures, with 83% of their populations in favour of immediate actions to reverse trends in global warming.
The lowest level of support for taking steps to address global warming was found in India, with 49% of the population supporting immediate action while 24% were opposed.
Arguments against the validity of global warming as a scientific fact did not fare well, with fewer than one in four people in any country endorsing the statement ”Until we are sure that global warming is really a problem, we should not take any steps that would have economic costs.”
Countries with the highest percentages favouring inaction included India (24%), the Russian Federation (22%) and Armenia (19%). Countries with the smallest percentages favouring inaction included Argentina (3%) and Thailand (7%).
Important threat
In a separate question, asked in 10 countries, strong majorities in all of the countries said climate change is an important threat, with small minorities calling it unimportant.
The highest percentage of climate-change sceptics were in Armenia (16%) and Israel (15%).
Majorities called climate change a ”critical” issue in Mexico (70%), Australia (69%), South Korea (67%), Iran (61%), Israel (52%) and India (51%).
Larger numbers agreed climate change is ”critical” in Armenia (47%), China (47%) and the United States (46%), while Ukraine was the only country split about whether the problem is ”critical” (33%) or ”important but not critical” (33%).
In five of 12 countries polled, the most common view was ”Global warming is a serious and pressing problem. We should begin taking steps now even if this involves significant costs.” These included Australia (69%), Argentina (63%), Israel (54%), the US (43%) and Armenia (37%).
The most commonly held view in another five countries was that ”The problem of global warming should be addressed, but its effects will be gradual, so we can deal with the problem gradually by taking steps that are low in cost.”
Proponents of the ”go-slow” and ”low-cost” approach included the Philippines (49%), Thailand (41%), Poland (39%), Ukraine (37%) and India (30%).
The polls were split between those who favoured less expensive measures and those who believed the problem merits action involving significant cost in China (low cost, 41%; significant cost, 42%) and Russia (low cost, 34%; significant cost, 32%).
Equity
The poll attempted to address the issues of an equitable approach to climate change by asking sample groups in five developing countries — China, India, Argentina, Armenia and Thailand — ”If the developed countries are willing to provide substantial aid, do you think the less-developed countries should make a commitment to limit their greenhouse-gas emissions?”
In all five countries, majorities said they should, but most significant responses were observed in China (a 79% majority), and in India (48% agree, 29% disagree).
All five of these countries have ratified or accepted the Kyoto Protocol to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, but are not defined as industrialised countries under the treaty.
Their developing country status under Kyoto means they are not legally obliged to cut emissions of carbon dioxide or other pollutants, but could be eligible for various schemes and funds that pay developing countries to reduce carbon emissions. Just last month, a report released by the United Nations called attention to the rising flow of greenhouse gases released by the economic powerhouses of India and China.
By 2009, says the International Energy Agency, China will have overtaken the US as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases that are energy-related.
Aid
Three developed countries were asked the same question about providing aid to less-developed countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Respondents in all three showed high levels of support for such programmes: 64% of US citizens, 84% of Poles and 72% of Ukrainians.
All three countries are considered industrialised countries under the Kyoto accord, but the US has refused to ratify it, arguing that it would be too costly to the US economy and that large developing countries such as China and India are unfairly exempted.
The following countries were included in the poll: China, India, the US, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, Poland, Iran, Mexico, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Argentina, Peru, Israel, Armenia and the Palestinian territories.
An additional poll released on Thursday by the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies reinforces the Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll, finding that 83% of US citizens now say global warming is a ”serious” problem, up from 70% in 2004.
The recent poll data suggesting an increased awareness that global warming requires immediate action comes on the heels of a report released last month by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — the leading international network of climate scientists — which confirmed the scientific evidence behind global warming and urged prompt action to slow and reverse the dangerous build-up of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. — IPS