Obama Still Needs to Earn his Nobel Peace Prize

12.00.00am GMT Thu 10th Dec 2009

Today, Barack Obama travelled to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In doing so, he joined a long list of highly distinguished and inspirational figures such as Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and Desmond Tutu.

There has been criticism from many quarters that this award is, at best, premature. Although President Obama has been a breath of fresh air on the world stage, I must say I am inclined to agree with his critics in this case.

However, in the next week and a half, the US President has the chance to prove us doubters wrong and truly earn his Peace Prize.

The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference represents the last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change, the effects of which will be far greater than many expect (and do not just involve polar bears as the likes of Jeremy Clarkson would have us believe).

Climate change is a bigger threat to world peace than any nuclear weapons programme or international terrorist group.

As water resources decline in regions such as the Middle East, populations will go to war not because of religious belief or over land disputes, but out of the necessity to survive. No peace envoy will be able to settle this if we have also lost control of climate change.

We are also seeing increasing numbers of climate refugees, fleeing areas of desertification, water pollution and famine, all caused by climate change. In August the International Organization for Migration estimated there have so far been 24m of these refugees- but this figure could reach 1bn by 2050.

Even with belated best intentions, the strain of dealing with such levels of migration will be immense, if not unbearable. The chances are we will simply offer up an army of disaffected and desperate people from which extremist groups can recruit.

An agreement at Copenhagen currently hangs in the balance, mainly because of disputes over binding targets and compensation to developing countries.

The US Environmental Protection Agency handed the world a lifeline on Tuesday, by freeing Obama from the chains of oil-dependent Congressmen, and giving him a means to pledge cuts.

As the head of the 135-nation bloc of developing countries said yesterday, the $10bn currently on the table wouldn't even pay for the coffins of the developing countries' citizens.

I am proud that the EU is leading the way with CO2 cuts and financial support, but sadly this alone is not enough to secure a worthwhile agreement.

The US President needs to put the champagne back in the cellar, hot foot it down to Copenhagen ASAP, and demonstrate to the world why he really does deserve his award.

This week, my Liberal Democrat colleague Chris Davies MEP has been following events in Copenhagen. To read his report from the Conference,

http://www.winwithchris.org.uk/news/2009/December/copenhagendiaries.html

On Sunday 13 December, I will take over watch, and will be reporting back in the local press and through my weekly emailed newsletter. To sign up for this, email euro_office@cix.co.uk.