Next year will be a year of multiple anniversaries of utmost significance and the Government should be commended for thinking ahead about commemorating such important milestones as best we can – collectively.

At the same time I think this year we are duty and morally bound to pay tribute to another landmark achievement.

This is the initiative taken a quarter of a century ago by the then foreign minister, Ċensu Tabone, who had acted on the advice of Professor David Attard in requesting the UN to take action to protect the global climate. A proposal entitled Protection Of Global Climate For Present And Future Generations Of Mankind had marked the beginning of a complex process that led to two international legal instruments: The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

As things stand today, on the eve of a high level Ministerial Conference of the Parties meeting in Warsaw in November, the UN itself is feeling a strong urge to make every attempt possible to ensure that any existent deadlock will be broken.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who has always put climate change high on his agenda, is working hard and is expected to resort to a high risk strategy with many world leaders in New York. This is particularly so since there is worldwide concern that international action has failed to keep pace with the strong rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

The Ban Ki Moon initiative should not be seen and gauged as mere lip service or a knee jerk reaction. On the contrary, his eyes are most likely set on two other important dates. These are 2014, when a summit is expected to be held for crucial talks to pave the way diplomatically for a new global treaty on climate, and 2015 when the new climate deal should hopefully be wrapped up.

If the language is restricted to foretelling a doom and gloom scenario it could easily be a turn-off

As in the case of foreign affairs and diplomacy in a globalised and interdependent world, such a deal can only come about if all the leading nations including the US, China and the EU countries can get round to agreeing on the broad outlines of a new climate accord.

Paris 2015 will seal the fate of climate change.

Another important event immediately ahead of us will be held later this week. At the same time as world leaders are in New York for the UN General Assembly, the UN body of world leading climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change, is expected to present its latest report – the first since 2007 and only the fifth such assessment since 1992.

Most eyes will be on the findings of the report particularly regarding the extent and sensitivity of carbon in the atmosphere.

While one cannot deny the fact that disasters could result from global warming and constantly rising greenhouse gas emissions, I think that the whole issue needs to be tackled differently in terms of public perception. If the language is restricted to foretelling a doom and gloom scenario it could easily be a turn-off.

The other day a lead author on the subject reached an important conclusion. That there is plenty of evidence showing that in many countries, the public finds scientific uncertainty difficult to understand and confuses it with ignorance. This makes it even more onerous on us all to analyse dispassionately the comparative costs and risks inherent in the various policy options available.

Even ahead of the publication of the IPCC report, several scientists say that the case for climate change remains overwhelming.

On the other hand, we cannot exclude the fact that attempts will soon be made by sceptics and those with commercial interests, set on undermining the whole process, to try to discredit such scientific findings.

People need to be better sensitised to the inherent threats that such uncertainties inevitably create.

As in other areas, like sustainable development, I feel that the determining factors are the political will to get things done and the right mix between education and communication.

From a Maltese perspective, I think that beyond the number crunching, we need to focus more and more on capacity building. I am convinced that the present government will give such a challenge the attention it deserves.

Leo Brincat is Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change.