CHINA,NORWAY & UN’s NEW CLIMATE DEAL

[Anonymous]

China, Norway and UN ink deal on climate change
BEIJING
– China, Norway and the UN Development Program signed an agreement on
Monday to develop programs to combat the effects of climate change in
China’s rural areas, including the melting of glaciers in Tibet.The
programs will help provincial governments assess potential risks caused
by climate change and develop ways to respond, the UNDP said in a
statement.The signing ceremony was witnessed by Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao and visiting Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.”The
presence of the two top leaders shows the strong commitments of both
governments to responding to the global challenge of climate change,”
Khalid Malik, the UNDP representative in China, was quoted as saying in
the statement.

The statement said program will look at ways to
help local governments mitigate the effects of glacial melting in the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Glaciers are the world’s second largest store of
fresh water and feed seven of the great rivers of Asia, but are
receding at a faster rate than any other glaciers in the world.”The
project will help in particular the poorest and most vulnerable regions
and communities in China to adapt to the adverse effects of climate
change through developing and implementing provincial strategies and
associated actions and measures,” Malik said.

The US$2 million
(euro1.5 million) project will be funded by Norway and is expected to
be launched by the middle of the year by the National Coordination
Committee on Climate Change of the National Development and Reform
Commission, the country’s top economic planning agency, and the
UNDP.The statement also said the project will look at ways to cut
greenhouse gas emissions in the largest coal-producing provinces of
Shanxi and Inner Mongolia by improving efficiency in regional
industries.In Ningxia and Gansu provinces, the project will work with
governments to develop crop adaptation techniques and increase water
efficiency.

[Author]

March 29, 2007 at 10:58 AM