The world is on standby on climate change, says expert

The willingness to tackle climate change that had started with the Paris deal has been disappearing, according to an expert on
environmental and climate change policies.

"[U.S. President Donald] Trump's position pushed others to be more hesitant," says Semra Cerit Mazlum of Marmara University's Department of Political Science and International Relations.

"States are on standby position. Everyone is waiting to see whether Trump will be reelected or not," she added.

Let's start with a short evaluation of Madrid. The general view is that Madrid was a failure.

It was unsuccessful, but we can still look at it as a gain from loss. It was better to have no decision than having a decision based on the least common denominator, which could have created negative consequences for climate change.

The fact that there was no deal gives hope that next year there could be better conditions for decisions more in line with the Paris agreement reached in 2016.

In general, we are faced by a very negative situation as the gap is getting bigger between the requisites of the Paris deal and what is being done in reality.

You have been participating in these meetings since 2009. Do you think the trend is getting worse in terms of taking action?

There is an awareness all over the world on levels unseen before. The states are also aware that they have to take measures. But there is discrepancy between the need and the will to take action.

Even if the Paris conference did not provide a framework that met the expectations, at least it had secured a sense of multilateralism. It provided a roadmap on how to continue international cooperation based on a set of rules. Today, there is a risk of...