NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURKEY WITHIN THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE REGIME

Over the last couple of decades, climate change has emerged to be one of the most complex challenges of the 21(st) century. As a result of the international cooperation achieved over the years, a global climate change regime has been established governed by climate politics. Over the last 50 years, the impacts of climate change have reached measurable dimensions. The fact that the average temperature of the earth's surface that is closer to the atmosphere has risen by 0.6 degrees C over the 20(th) century as well as 10-15% decrease in the glacier dimensions between 1950-2000 have given impetus to scientific research and international cooperation. This paper, after highlighting the major outcomes of the most recent international conference on climate change; the Bali Conference held in December, in Bali, Indonesia; attempts to evaluate Turkey's position within the global climate change regime. Accordingly, first, the critical time period until the end of 2009, emanating from the Bali Action Plan, has been underlined. The importance of conducting negotiations within this time period has been emphasized as a precondition for Turkey to become an active part of the global climate change regime in the post-2012 period with those terms which she can afford to deliver as well as an important complement of her sustainable development policies. In this respect, some alternatives have been proposed with the aim of holding some light on these critical negotiations.